wgu lat mod1

7/25/2019 Wgu Lat Mod1

1/19

SummaryofConceptsLanguage

and

Communication:

Research

WhatIsResearchWriting?

TopicandQuestionSelection

Writersoftenusewordsandphrasesliketopic,researchquestion,andthesisstatementasiftheywereinterchangeable,buttheyaren't.Thetopicofyourresearchpaperisageneralfieldofstudy;theresearchquestionasksaspecificquestionwithinthetopic;thethesisstatementisthemostspecificofthethree.Yourthesisstatementisaonesentencestatementthatanswersyourresearchquestionbymakingaclaimandprovidesthemainreasonsforwhichyoucameto

the

conclusion

you

did.

These

reasons

are

also

called

major

points.

KeyTerms

Research,likeanydiscipline,hassomespecializedterminology,butdifferentwordsappealtodifferentpeople,soyoumayheardifferentpeoplereferringtoresearchterminologyusingdifferentwords.Thetablebelowlistssomeresearchtermsandpopularsynonymsandexplainswhatwemeanbytheseterms.Thislearningresourcewillconsistentlyusethetermsintheleftcolumn,thoughitwillremindyouoftheotherterminologythroughout;youmayhearotherstalkingabouttheseconceptsusingthetermsinthesynonymcolumns.Examplesofthesetermsareprovidedbelow.

Term

Synonyms

Definition

mainclaim positionstatement,topic Yourmainclaimistheheartoftheresearchpresentation,anditistheanswertoyourresearchquestion.Itisasufficientlynarrowedquestionthatyoucananswerwithintherequiredlengthofyourpresentation.Provingthismainclaimisthereasonyouarewritingyourpresentation.Youshouldavoidcallingyourmainclaimyourtopicbecause,asexplainedbelow,atopicisgenerallyconsideredamuchbroaderfieldofinquiryratherthananarrow

researchquestion.

1LanguageandCommunication:Research

2010MindEdge,Inc.


2/19

majorpoints

mainpoints,supportingpoints,pointssupportingthesis,subtopics,reasons,subclaims,mainsupportingpoints

Majorpointsarethereasonsthatyoubelieveyourmainclaimholdstrue.Majorpointsshouldsupportyourmainclaiminthewaythatthelegsofatablesupportthetable.Withoutmajorpointsprovidingreasonsthatshowthatyourmainclaimistrue,yourmainclaimisjustanopinion.

evidence details,supportinginformation,research

Evidencereferstotheresearchthatsupportsyourmajorpoints.Evidenceneedstoberelevant,sufficient,andauthoritative(whichmeansitshouldbecredible).Thenextfewassignmentswillexplainwhatthismeansinmoredetail.Yourreaderswillnotbelieveyourmajorpointsifyourevidencedoesnotproperlysupportthem.Ifyourmajorpointsaren'tbelievable,yourreaderswillnotbelieveyourmainclaim.

thesisstatement

thesissentence Yourthesisstatementisonesentencethatanswersyour

research

question

and

explains

why

your

researchledyoutothatanswer.Thethesisstatementincludesyourmainclaimandabriefstatementofyourmajorpoints.Nomatterhowlongyourpresentationis,youshouldbeabletostateyourmainclaiminonesentence.

ChoosingaResearchQuestion

Whenyoudeveloparesearchquestion,askyourselfthefollowingquestions:

Whowillcareaboutmyquestion?Isthescopeofmyquestionpersonal,local,regional,national,orinternational?(Avoidtopicsthatarepersonalorthosethatwillaffectonlyafewpeople.)

Istheanswertomyquestionalreadyknowntomyaudience?Iftheaudiencealreadyknowstheanswertoyourquestion,youshouldchooseanotherquestion.

DoesmytopicrequiremetodefineacomplexandcontestedtermorconceptbeforeIevenstarttomakemyargument?Avoidtopicsthatrelyonpersonalbelief,opinion,orexperienceinordertosupportyourargument.Forexample,topicsthatrequirethatyoufirstargueforaparticulardefinitionoftaste,morality,ethics,orsinwillbehardtoarguebecauseyouwillrarelysucceedatfindingananswertoyour

question.

WherewillIfindevidenceformytopic:books,journals,newspapers,magazines,websites,orothersources?

Agoodtopicisonethatinterestsyou.Perhapsyouaremostinterestedinsports,aparticularbattle,anovel,agenreoffilm,socialmedia,abusinessconcept,ecology,orInternetsecurity.

Almostanytopicisagoodtopic,butextractingaresearchquestionfromyourtopicrequires


2010MindEdge,Inc.


3/19

morethought.Agoodresearchquestionwillbeonethatyouhaven'tformedanopinionaboutalready,anditwillbeabletobeansweredthroughresearch;whenbrainstormingresearchtopics,youshouldthinkabouttheresearchyouwouldneedtodotoansweryourquestion.

Severalsetsofexampletopics,researchquestions,theses,andpotentialmainpointsareprovidedbelow:

Topic ResearchQuestion

Thesisstatement Majorpoints/reasonsthatcanbeproventhroughresearch

Vaccinations Shouldparentsvaccinatetheirchildren?

Parentsshouldvaccinatetheirchildrenbecausethepositiveeffectsofvaccinationsoutweightherisks,andparentsareresponsibleforotherchildrenwhomaybecome

sickafter

coming

into

contact

with

anunvaccinatedchild.

Theriskofachildgettingsickorbeingharmedfromavaccinationislow.

Vaccinationsreducethechances

that

achild

will

getsickvaccinationssavelives.

Parentswhochoosenottovaccinatetheirchildrenputotherchildrenatrisk.

Urbanagriculture

Shouldcitydwellersbe

allowedto

keepbees?

Citydwellersshouldbeallowedtokeepbeesbecausetheyare

relativelyharmless,

they

produce

honeywithhighnutritionalvalue,andtheyhelppollinateurbangardens.

Certainbeespeciesaretameenoughtobekept

inthe

city

because

they

poseverylittledangertocitizens.

Naturalhoneyhasmorepositiveeffectsonpeoplethanmassproducedhoney.

Beekeepingcanhelpkeepurbangardensproducing.

You'llnoticethateachthesisstatementbothanswersthequestionandgivesabriefoverviewofwhythewritercametohisorherconclusion.Themajorpoints(youcanalsothinkofmajorpointsasreasons)intherightmostcolumnshouldallbeabletobeproventhroughresearch.Asyourefineyourtopicintoaresearchquestionandthesisstatement,besurethateachof


2010MindEdge,Inc.


4/19

yourmajorpointscanbesupportedbyresearchratherthanpersonalbelief,opinion,oryourownexperience.Ifyourthesiscannotbesupportedwithoutrelyingonpersonalbelief,opinion,oryourownexperience,it'snotagoodthesisforaresearchdrivenpaper.

Asanexampleofaresearchquestionandthesisthatwouldnotbeagoodquestionforaresearchdrivenpaper,considerthequestion,"Isownershipofpetsethicallywrong?"(Sometimesyou'llhearthesedifficulttoproveresearchquestionsphrased"Isownershipofpets

wrong?"

or

"Is

it

bad

to

own

pets?")

If

you

forecast

your

main

points,

you

will

quickly

realizethatyouneedtodefineethicsfirst.Unlessyoudoaverygoodjobofdefiningethicsinawaythatresonateswithageneralaudience,yourpaperisdeadinthewater.PETAmaybelievethatit'sunethicaltoownapet,butethicsisatopicthatisopentosomanypointsofviewthatyou'reunlikelytomakeadentinyourreaders'ownbiasesaboutethicsinaresearchpaper.Yourpaperwillonlyappealtothosewhobelievedyoutobeginwith.

Asyouaskyourresearchquestionandnarrowyourscope,you'llwanttocreateaquestionthatappealstoasmanypeopleaspossible,soyou'llwanttosticktoclaimsbasedonresearchacceptabletoageneralaudienceanaudiencedefinedonlybyitsdiversity.Tryrefiningyourquestionto,"Whataretheenvironmentalimpactsofowningapet?"Youraudiencewilllikely

havefewer

preconceived

notions

about

this

topic

because

the

evidence

will

be

research

based.

Topic ResearchQuestion

ThesisStatement Majorpoints/reasonsthatcanbeproventhroughresearch

Petownership

Whataretheenvironmentalimpactsofowning

a

dog

or

cat?

Ownershipofdogsandcatsisharmfultotheenvironmentbecausetheirfoodrequiresa

large

amount

of

carbon

emissions,theydisruptnaturalecosystems,andtheycanspreaddisease.

Dogsandcatseatmeatbasedfoodsalmostexclusively,andthisfood

requires

agricultural

land

andcarbonemissionstoproduce.

Dogsandcatsdisruptthenaturalecosystemandbiodiversityofland.

Petfecescanleadtodiseaseandpollution.

Awritercanmaketheprecedingmainclaimabouttheownershipofpetsbecausethewriterisabletodrawuponsourcesacceptedbyageneralaudienceasauthoritativeandnonbiased.Researchcantellushowmuchfoodtheaveragedogorcateatsperyear,andagriculturaldatacantellustheresourcesthatarerequiredtocreatethatfood.Environmentalimpactstudiescantellushowpetsaffectecosystemsandbiodiversity,andmedicalstudiescantellushowpetfecesinpublicareasmightimpactourhealth.Allofthesepointscanbeprovenwithouthavingtofirstdefineethics,sothequestion"Whataretheenvironmentalimpactsofowningadogor


2010MindEdge,Inc.


5/19

cat?"isabletobeansweredinaresearchpaperwhilethequestion"Isownershipofpetsethicallywrong?"isnot.

Writerswillencounterthesameproblemwhenaskingquestionsthatrelyondefinitionsoftaste,belief,opinion,orsin.Forexample,supposeyouweretochoosetheresearchquestion"Ispremaritalsexasin?"Ifyouforecastyourresearchprocess,youwillrealizethatyoureallyneedtodefine"sin."Youwilldiscoververyquicklythatdifferentaudienceswillrefertodifferent

texts

to

define

sin

and

that

some

audiences

don't

accept

"sin"

as

avalid

concept

at

all!

Startingoutyourresearchpaperwithasignificantnumberofreadersdisapprovingofyourdefinitionofatermthatyourelyontomakeyourmainclaimisnotagoodwaytostartaresearchpaper.

So,youmightnarrowthequestionto,"AccordingtoChristianfaith,ispremaritalsexasin?"You'vesolvedoneproblemyouaren'toverreachingwhatyoucanprovewithresearchthatyouraudiencewillacceptascredible.Ontheotherhand,you'renowmakingapointthatisn'treallyworthresearching.IfmostChristiandoctrinesayspremaritalsexisasin,andstandardChristianthoughtisthatpremaritalsexisasin,youalreadyknowtheanswertoyourquestion

beforeyou

begin

your

research

writing.

Theresearchquestions"Isownershipofpetsethicallywrong?"and"AccordingtoChristianfaith,ispremaritalsexasin?"arebothexamplesofquestionsthatcanonlybemadesuccessfullyifyouare"preachingtothechoir."Thatistosaythatyouareunlikelytochangeanyone'smindabouttheanswertothesequestionsinashortresearchpaper,soquestionssuchastheseshouldbeavoided.

Besidesthefactthatboththeprecedingtopicexamples("Ispremaritalsexasin?"and"Isownershipofpetsethicallywrong?")areexamplesofpreachingtothechoir,theyshareanotherfactorincommon:theybothcomeattheresearchpaperbackwards.

Youshouldn't

know

the

answer

to

your

research

question

to

begin

with,

though

you

can

have

a

hunch.Thepointofresearchwritingistolettheresearchspeakthroughyouandtotellyoutheanswertoyourquestion.Ifyoustartwithaquestionthatcanberesearchedratherthanwithapreconceivedanswer,youwillbeworkinginharmonywiththeresearchprocess.Asaresult,yourresearchpaperwillbemuchmoreinterestingandeffective.

TheAnnotatedBibliography:SummarizingandEvaluatingtheAuthorityof

Sources

Anannotatedbibliographyentryisacombinationofareferencespageandashortsummaryandcritiqueofthevalueofaparticularsourcetoyourresearchquestion.Annotated

bibliographies

can

have

any

number

of

entries,

and

writing

one

will

help

you

think

critically

aboutyoursourcesandconsidertheauthor'scredibilityandhowthesourcewillhelpyouansweryourresearchquestion.

Eachannotationiscomposedofareferencesliststylecitationandoneparagraphthatsummarizesandevaluatesthesourceauthor'scredibility.Eachannotationshouldhaveanintextcitationattheendoftheannotation.Annotationswillhelpyouknowwhetheryouhaveadequateresearchandwhetheryouarecitingrealexpertswithtiestotheresearchcommunity


2010MindEdge,Inc.


6/19

inyourtopic.

BecauseoftheInternet,writershaveunprecedentedaccesstoinformationintheworld.Asaresult,researchwriterscommonlyforgettothinkcriticallyaboutthesourcestheyincorporateintotheirwriting.

Whenwritersdon'tquestionthecredibilityoftheinformationtheyfind,theyruntheriskof

usingfaulty

evidence

and

drawing

unfounded

conclusions.

Your

job

as

aresearch

writer

is

to

determinewhetherasourceisauthoritative(alsoreferredtoascredible)andrelevant,andtheannotatedbibliographyhelpsyoutodothat.

Summary

Whencreatinganannotatedbibliographyentry,youshouldfirstwriteabriefsummaryabouthowasourceisrelevanttoyourtopicexplaintoyourreaderinasentenceortwowhataboutthesourcemakesitrelevantorusefulinansweringyourresearchquestion.

Readthetitleandsubtitleifthesourcehasone.Whatdothesetellyouaboutthemain

point?

Identifythemainclaimofthesourceandthenidentifythemajorpoints.

Statethemainclaimofthesourceinonetotwosentences.

Identifyevidenceorexamples(includingcharts,tables,orothervisualaids)and

counterexamples.Makesureyoudon'tgetconfusedbetweenexamplesand

counterexamples.(It'sconsideredabestpracticeofresearchwriterstoaddressinthe

research

papernotonlyevidencethatsupportsthewriter'sownmainclaimbutalsoto

brieflyaddressevidenceorargumentsthatdonotsupporttheclaim.Thispracticeensures

thatwritershavenotignoredsignificantargumentsagainsttheirarguments.Inyourbrief

summaryforyourannotatedbibliography,youdon'tneedtogointothespecificsofhow

writersdeal

with

counterexamples

unless

it's

relevant

to

your

argument,

but

don't

be

confusedaboutthewriter'smainclaimwhenyoucomeacrossacounterexampleinyour

reading.)

Isthereanydatathatwillbeessentialinhelpingyouproveyourpoint?Summarizethis

informationintheappropriatelevelofdetailforyourpurpose.Foryourannotated

bibliography,

you

won't

be

able

to

include

much

detail,

but

be

sure

to

take

notes

for

later

inclusionintoyourwriting.Don'tforgettocite:ifyouloseacitation,youmayneverfindit

again,andyoucan'tusethesourceinyourpaper!

Yoursummarymustbewritteninthethirdpersonvoice(no"I,""me,""my,"or"you.")

There'salot

of

information

that

you

could

put

into

your

paper,

but

if

information

isn't

relevant

toyourresearchquestion,it'sjustwastedspacenotevidence.Informationfromasourceonlycountsasevidenceifitsupportsyourmainclaimorapotentialmajorpointyourthesisstatement.Ifyourmajorpointsarenotproperlysupportedbyevidence,yourmainclaimwillnotholdtogether.

Summariescanvaryinlength,andthelengthofthesummarywilldeterminethelevelofdetailthatyoursummaryshouldprovide.Longersummariesmightincludequotationsand


2010MindEdge,Inc.


7/19

paraphrases,butthe150wordsallottedforyourannotatedbibliographyentrieswillprecludeincorporatingdirectquotationsintoyoursummaryfocusonthebroadideasinstead.

Inyoursummaryofthesourcefortheannotatedbibliography,youdon'tincludeyouropinionsorbiasesaboutthetopic;yourjobistosummarizebrieflywhattheauthorissayingaboutyourresearchquestionandthenmoveontoananalysisoftherelevanceandauthorityofthesource.

Evaluation:

Peoplesaythingsthatareunfounded,untrue,anddownrightnonsensical.Yourjobasawriteristofindauthoritativeevidencetosupportyourmajorpointstheauthorsshouldbecredible.

Authority(alsocalledcredibility)comesinmanyways.Inacademia,whetherasourceispeerreviewedornotisastrongindicatorofcredibility.

Mostofthesourcesthatyouaccessthroughthelibrary,librarydatabases,andGoogleScholarwillhavebeenpeerreviewed,sotheytendtobemorevaluableforuseinyourresearch.

Foundationwebsitesorwebsitesrunbyorganizationscanalsobehelpful,aslongasthosewebsitespresentfactualinformationwrittenbyanexpert.Beware,though:foundationsandorganizationscanalsohavetheirownbiases.Questioningtheauthorityofeachsourceandusingavarietyofsourceswillensurethatyourresearchwritingisstrong.

Youshouldnotusewikis,blogs,personalwebsites,opinionwebsites,orwebsiteswrittenbyanonymousauthorstosupportyourclaims.Thesewebsitesarenotrequiredtogothroughtheprocessofpeerreview,sotheinformationcontainedinthemmaynotbetrue

ormay

be

only

partially

true.

IntroductiontoAPAFormatandCitingSources

Yourresearchpaperwilluseacombinationofyourquotation,paraphrase,summary,andsynthesisskills.You'llpracticetheseskillsmoreinfutureassignments,butthesenextfewassignmentswillfocusoncorrectlycitingyoursources.Anytimeyousummarize,quote,orparaphrasetheideasofanotherauthor(asyouwillberequiredtodoforyourannotatedbibliography,paraphrase,synthesis,outline,andresearchpaper),youneedtocorrectlycitethesource.

Whycitations?

Whenwritingaresearchpaper,thewritermustparaphrase,summarize,orquotesourcetextsandsynthesizethemintosomethingnew.Youwilllearnaboutparaphrasingandsynthesizinginalaterassignment,butfornow,it'sonlyimportantthatyouunderstandthatresearchwritersusealloftheseskillsinordertowriteaboutresearch.Anyinformationthatisnotcommonknowledgemustbecited,andbecauseyourresearchpaperisdrivenbyresearchandevidence,youshouldmostlikelybeciting23timesineachparagraph.Theformatofyour


2010MindEdge,Inc.


8/19

citationwilldependonwhetheryouarequoting,paraphrasing,orsummarizing:

Aquotationisthemostprecisewaytotellyourreaderwhatasourcesaid.Whenyouquoteasource,youusetheexactwordsoftheoriginalauthor,andyouincludethesewordsinquotationmarkstoshowyourreaderthattheyoriginatedwithyoursource.Allquotationsshouldbecited;thenextassignmentwillexplainAPAconventions.

Quotationscan

be

run

into

the

body

of

your

paper,

or

they

can

be

set

as

ablock

quotation

if

theyare40wordsorlonger.

Quotationsshowyourreadertheflavoroftheoriginalsource,andtheyaregoodifyoucouldn'tpossiblystatetheinformationasconciselyastheoriginalauthor.Youshouldalwaysprovidecommentarybeforeandafteraquotationdon'tjustthrowdataatyourreaderwithoutescortingthereaderthroughthedata.Quotationsarebulkyafterall,youarewritingyourownpaper,andaquotationisameanstoanend.Youruseofquotationsshouldbelimited.(Usuallynomorethan10%ofyourresearchpapershouldbedirectquotations.)

Aparaphraseismoreconcisethanaquotation.Itissimilartoaquotationinthatitcovers

limited

ground

of

the

original,

but

it

is

different

because

you

don't

use

the

same

words

as

the

author.Youdon'tusequotationmarksaroundthewords,butitisessentialthatyoucitethesource,includingthenameoftheauthorandthedateofpublication.

Asummary(sometimescalledadistantparaphrase)usesthesameskillsasparaphrasingexceptyousummarizethemainideaoftheoriginalwork.Fortheannotatedbibliography,yoursummaryshouldbecursory,highlightingjusttheideasthatareimportanttoyourresearchquestion.

Shortsummariesshouldnotusetheexactwordsoftheauthor;sosummarizedcontentdoesn'tneedquotationmarksaroundit.However,youdoneedtocreateanintextcitationsothatyourreadercantellwhenyouaresummarizinganauthor'sideasandwhenyouarepresenting

yourown

or

those

of

adifferent

author.

Summariescanvaryinlength,andthelengthofthesummarywilldeterminethelevelofdetailthatyoursummaryshouldprovide.Longersummariesmightincludequotationsandcloseparaphrases,butthe150wordsallottedforyourannotatedbibliographyentrieswilldefinitelyprecludeincorporatingquotationsintoyoursummaryfocusonthebroadideasinstead.

Thestudentispartofacommunityofscholarsorknowledgeproducers.Whetherinauniversitycommunity,inabusinessenvironment,orinasocialenvironment,citingsourcesisanimportantmatter.

Common

Knowledge

Allinformationthatisnotcommonknowledgeneedstobecited.Verylittleofwhatyouwriteinyourresearchpaperwillbecommonknowledge.Ifyouweretowriteyourresearchpaperwithmostlycommonknowledge,you'dhavelittlereasontowriteyourpaper.Commonknowledgeisknowledgethatisuncontestableorfact.Afewexamplesofcommonknowledgearelistedbelow:

BarackObamaisthe43rdpresidentoftheUnitedStates.


2010MindEdge,Inc.


9/19

ChristopherColumbusfirstlandedintheAmericasin1492. TheCivilRightsActof1964madethesegregationofschoolsillegal. e.e.cummingswasapoet. Humangestationaveragesninemonths.

Asyoucansee,yourresearchpaperwouldnotbeveryinterestingifitonlyincludedfactsofcommonknowledge,butyoucanrelyonuncontroversialfactssuchasthesewhenusingyoursources

to

support

your

arguments.

Youdon'tneedtocitecommonknowledge,butsomeknowledgethatseemsuncontroversialisinfactnotasclearcutasitseems.Forinstance,intherecentdecadesPlutohasgainedandlostitsstatusasaplanet,andtheargumentsthatsurroundthisdebatearecompelling.Citeyoursourcesifyouareatalluncertainabouttheextenttowhichyourassertionisacceptedbyageneralaudienceasanuncontestedfact.

Citationslendauthoritytoresearchpapers,andtheygivecreditwherecreditisdue.Propercitationhelpsthewritershowreadersthatthewriterhasdoneduediligenceinbecominganexpertonthetopicandiscontributingtotheconversation.

WhatisAPAformat?

APAformatisanagreeduponstyleofcodingyourresearchandwascreatedatHarvardUniversity.ItisofficiallyrepresentedtodaybytheAmericanPsychologicalAssociation.Thereareotherformats(MLA,CSE,andChicagoarealsopopular)butWGUusesAPA.MostsocialsciencesuseAPAformat.

Eachstylehasitsownconventions.Ononehand,APAisjustastyle,butitmustbefollowedinorderforcitationstobeusefulandforyourpapertobeacceptabletothescholarlycommunity.

Differenttypesofsourcesneeddifferenttypesofinformationtoidentifythem.Eachofthe

sources

you

use

will

require

an

in

text

and

a

reference

citation.

APA

formatting

has

a

specific

setofrequirementsforcitationsandforformattingthepaperingeneral.

APAformattingrequirements

Titlepage

o runninghead

o pagenumber

o titleofyourpaper

o yourname

o youruniversityaffiliation

Bodypages

o runninghead

o pagenumber

References

o runninghead

o pagenumber

o citationsinAPAformat,usingahangingindentstyle


2010MindEdge,Inc.


10/19

Allpages

o 1"marginsontop,bottom,left,andright

o Doublespacesbetweensentences

o Noextraspacebetweenparagraphs

o TimesNewRomanfont,12pt

o Indentsof.5inches

Formattingyourassignmentstherightway

Formattingcanbefrustratingifyoudoitincorrectly.Somestudentsusethespacebarinsteadofthetabkey,andtheyusethereturnorenterbuttoninsteadofallowingtheprogramtheyareusingtodoublespaceautomatically.Thismakesyourpaperlookunprofessional,anditcausesyoumorefrustrationintheendbecauseyou'reworkingagainstyoursoftwareratherthanwithit.Thetutorialtothetoprightwillexplainhowtoformatyourpaperandhowtoformatyourannotatedbibliographyassignment.

PracticewithIntextAPACitations

Howdo

Icreate

an

in

text

citation?

Intextcitationsarecitationsthatyouseeinthetextofthewritingratherthanonaseparatepageinthelistofreferences.Whilethereferencescitationprovidesalltheinformationaboutthetextthatthereaderwillneedtofindthesourceyouusedagain,ifheorshehasquestionsaboutitthatyourwritingdoesn'taddress,theintextcitationshowsthereaderwhichspecificwordsandideascomefromtheauthoryouareciting.Eachsourceyouuseinyourresearchpaperwillneedatleastoneintextcitationandafullcitationinthereferenceslist.Intextcitationsworkasacodeinthepapertoconnecttothereferencesattheendofthepaper.

Youshouldcite2 3timesperparagraphtomakesureyourreaderunderstandsthatyouaresupportingyourclaimswithresearch.

Therearethreedifferentwaystocreateanintextcitation:

Refertotheauthor'snameinthesentenceandincludethedateofpublicationin

parenthesesaftertheauthor'sname(goodforparaphraseorsummary);

insertaparentheticalnotationwiththeauthor'sname,thedateofpublication,andthe

pageorparagraphnumberattheendofthesentence(goodforparaphrase,summary,

ordirectquotations);

useablockquotationforquotations40wordsorlonger.Theauthor'snameanddateof

publicationshouldintroducethequotation,andaparentheticalnotationwiththepage

numbershouldfollowtheendingpunctuationofthequotation.Blockquotationsbreak

upthe

flow

of

your

paper

and,

most

of

the

time,

summaries

or

paraphrases

would

betterhelpyourreaderunderstandwhytheideasinthesourceareimportanttoyour

topic.Asaresult,blockquotationsshouldbeusedsparingly.

Creatingintextcitationsisntjustamatterofformattingyourparentheticalcitationscorrectlythoughthat'scertainlyaconcern.Wheninsertinganintextcitation,youneedtogiveyourreaderenoughcontextsothatheorsheunderstandswhetheryouarequotingor


2010MindEdge,Inc.


11/19

paraphrasingwordsorideas.Readersalsoneedtounderstandwhyyouarecitinganotherauthor:Areyougivingvoicetoacounterargument?Orareyouprovidingevidenceforamajorpoint?

Signaltoyourreaderwhyyouarecitingbyusingintroductoryphrasessuchastheoneitalicizedintheexcerptbelow:

Thus began a stalemate that took its toll in many ways.Strachan (2003) writes that, even when the front

lines that divided the troops were merely yards apart, the commanders saw major offensives as the only option.

Theitalicizedsentenceexplainswhythecitationisimportantthewriterofthispaperwantedhisreaderstoknowthathe'sabouttogivesomebackgroundinformationaboutwhythisstalematecontributedtoanAlliedlossinthebattleofGallipoli.Hefollowsupthatintroductorysentencewiththecitedinformation,whichyouwillnoticeintroducesthesourceauthor'sname,providestheyearofpublicationofthebook,andfollowswiththeparaphrased

information.

Everytimeyouciteasource,youwillneedtoincludetheauthor'sname,thedateofpublication,andthepagenumber(ifyouarequoting).

However,thelocationinwhichyouprovidethisinformationwillchangedependingonwhetheryouwritetheauthor'snameaspartofthesentenceornot.Alaterquotationbythesameauthorinthesameparagraphwouldnotnecessarilyneedtoreiteratetheauthor'snametointroducethequotedorparaphrasedcontent,butitwouldneedtoincludethenameoftheauthor,thepublicationdate,andthepagenumberintheparentheticalcitationattheendofthephraseorsentence.Theexamplebelowshowsyouthepassageabovealongwiththerestofitsparagraph.

Thus began a stalemate that took its toll in many ways. Strachan (2003) writes that, even when the front

lines that divided the troops were merely yards apart, the commanders saw major offensives as the only option.

Strachan (2003) asserts that it is difficultif not impossibleto arrange an offensive, let alone win it, when

troops are in such close proximity to one another. However, the Turks had learned to effectively neutralize the

supporting Allied naval cannons by digging in as close as possible to the Allied trenches, making it impossible

for the cannons to be used for fear of hitting their own troops. Staying in close proximity became a major

Turkish strategy (Strachan, 2003).

Ifyourparaphraseislongerthanoneparagraph,youshouldincludeacitationattheendofeachofyourparagraphs.Ifyouarecitingmorethanoneauthorinaparagraph,besuretoincludeadequateintroductionsandcitationssothatyourreaderknowswhenyouare


2010MindEdge,Inc.


12/19

transitioningbetweentheideasofyourvariousauthors.

Alternately,youmightquotecontentdirectlyifyoufeelthattheauthor'soriginalphrasingoffersatoneoraconcisionthatyouwouldnotwanttodisrupt.TheparagraphbelowusesaquotationthatlistsinquicksuccessiontheproblemsthattheAlliesfaced,sothewriterofthispaperchosetokeepthequotationintactbecauseitoffersmoreconcisionthanhecouldreplicate.

Other Allied mistakes that directly affected the outcome can be traced to the very first day of the land

invasion, which came in April. According to Strachan (2003), "The army relied on ship-based artillery support,

but the navy confronted considerable difficulties in providing it. The maps it was using were inadequate; the

ground itself was steep and intersected; and observation of fire inadequate" (pp. 121122). Combined with the

fact that the Allied powers had very few airplanes in the area, the weak naval support made it hard for the

Allies to observe Turkish maneuvers, contributing further to their diminishing prospects (Strachan, 2003).

They were unable to ever gain a solid foothold on the peninsula, and they spent much of the campaign on the

shores, unable to advance deeply into the interior (Strachan, 2003).

Youwillnoticeintheexcerptabovethattheauthorstillusesanintroductorystatementtoexplainwhythequotationisimportanttohismajorpoint.Afterreadingthefirstsentence,weknowthequotationisgoingtotellusmoreaboutAlliedmistakesthatledtotheirloss.Theconclusionsentencefurtherexplainswhythequotationandparaphrasedcontentareimportanttotheresearchpaperasawhole.

Youmightwanttousepartofaquotationinsideofasentencethatisparaphrasedorsynthesized

in

your

own

words.

The

sentence

below

contains

aquotation

in

the

middle

of

a

sentence.Payspecialattentiontothewayinwhichthisquotationiscited.

Historians like James (1965) are in near unanimous agreement that Churchill was responsible for the

debacle of Gallipoli, going so far as to say that because of Churchill's "excess of imagination, a layman's

ignorance of artillery, and the fatal power of a young enthusiasm to convince older and slower brains" (p. 352),

the Allies lost the war. However, this opinion undercuts the superb leadership skills of the otherleader in the

war, Mustafa Kemal.

Thispassagehasanintroductionthatexplainswhothewriteriscitingandthedateofpublication,butitalsoexplainswhatthequotationwillillustrate.Then,becausethesentencedoesn'tendwiththeendofthequotation,thepagenumberisplacedaftertheclosingquotationmark,beforethenextsentencepunctuationinthiscaseacomma.


2010MindEdge,Inc.


13/19

Rememberthat,regardlessofthepunctuationthattheintextcitationprecedes,theclosingparenthesisofthecitationfallsbeforetheclosingpunctuation.Neverplacetheclosingpunctuationofthesentenceinsidetheparentheticalcitation.

Theconclusionofthepassageabovealsoexplainswhythefactisimportanttotheresearchpaperasawhole.ThelastsentencetellsthereaderthathistorianswhoblameChurchillareunderestimatingtheleadershipskillsoftheTurkishleader.Readersshouldalsoexpectthattheresearch

paper

writer

is

transitioning

to

talking

about

Mustafa

Kemal.

Rememberthatwhenyouuseaquotation,youmuststillwritecompletesentences.Everysentenceofyourwritingmustbegrammaticallycorrect.Whenyouusequotations,youneedtoincorporatethemintoyourownsentences.Evenifyouuseonlypartofasentencefromyouroriginalsource,itisyourresponsibilitytousethecorrectgrammarsothatitfitscomfortablyintoyourownwriting.Breakquotationsintosmallerpiecesifyouneedtoandcombineparaphraseswithquotations,butensurethatyoudon'tchangethemeaningofthequotationbyeliminatingimportantwordswhenyoutrimquotationsdown.

Finally,onveryspecialoccasions,youcanuseablockquotationtoincludedirectquotationsof

40or

more

words

within

your

research

paper:

A biographer of the Turkish leader Mustafa Kemal remarked on the how the Allied perspective of their

Turkish enemies changed from one of disregard to one of admiration after the battle:

The Turks, whom they at first underrated, had turned the weapon against them. The first surprise was the

emergence, at the crucial time and place, of a Turkish commander equal, if not superior in military skill

to their own. The second surprise was the Turkish soldier himself. Besides a sure grasp of tactical

essentials, Kemal had shown a shrewd understanding of his men. He knew the psychology of the Turk,

and thefighting spirit of which he was capable, once he had faith in his leaders and his blood was

roused; and he knew how to rouse it. Thus between them, Kemal and the Turkish soldier saved the

Gallipoli Peninsula. (Kinross, 1964)

So while many have written off the battle of Gallipoli as an Allied loss, the fighting spirit of the Turkish

soldiers and their fearless leader should not be ignored.

LanguageandCommunication:Research

2010MindEdge,Inc.

13

Blockquotationsshouldbeindentedasablock,andthefirstsentenceofthefirstparagraphisnotindentedfurther.Thefirstsentenceofanyadditionalparagraphsintheblockquotation,

Introducing Words

acknowledges concludes elucidates offers

admits contends expresses presents

advises criticizes illustrates refutes

agrees demonstrates implies rejects

argues describes insists replies

asserts disagrees lists reports

believes discusses maintains responds

claims disputes notes suggests

concedes emphasizes objects writes


14/19

however,shouldbeindented.Also,pleasenoticethatblockquotationsaretheonetypeofquotationinwhichtheendingsentencepunctuationprecedestheparentheticalcitation.Thereisnopunctuationaftertheendingparentheticalcitation.

Again,pleasenoticethatthequotedmaterialaboveis"chaperoned"bysentencesbeforeandafterthatexplainwhyitisimportanttotheresearchpaperaswhole.Inaddition,readingthroughthepassage,thereadergetsasenseoftheadmirationthesourceauthorhasfortheleader;

this

tone

is

why

the

research

paper

writer

left

this

quotation

intact

as

ablock

quotation.

Healsoexplainedintheintroductorysentencethatthisnewfoundadmirationisanimportantpartofhispoint.

Rememberthat,ingeneral,blockquotationsareaninefficientuseofspace.Youshouldonlyusethemwhenparaphrasingthematerialwoulddiminishtheeffectivenessofyouruseofthatevidence.

Youshouldnowhaveagoodunderstandingofafewrules:

Allcitedmaterial(quotationsandcloseordistantparaphrases)needstobe

accompanied

by

an

in

text

citation

consisting

of

the

author's

name,

the

date

of

publication,and(whenitcoversapageorfinitepagerange)thepagenumberornumbers.

Anytimeyoustateanauthor'snameinyourwriting,thedateofpublicationshouldcomeafteritinparentheses;thepagenumberthenwouldbeplacedafterthecitedmaterial,beforethenearestpunctuation(whetherthat'sacomma,aperiod,oranotherpunctuationmark).

Directlyquotedmaterialshouldbeusedonlyinspecialcircumstanceswhentheauthor'soriginalphrasingimpartsatoneoraconcisenessthatyoucouldn'timprove.

Directlyquotedmaterialmustalwaysbeenclosedwithquotationmarks,andthe

citationmust

include

the

author's

name,

the

date

of

publication,

and

the

page

number. Youshouldincorporateintroductorywordsintoyoursummaries,quotations,andparaphrases.Tryusingwordsfromthetabletotheright.

PracticewithAPAReferencesPage

Inadditiontointextcitations,APAformatrequiresyoutoincludeareferencespageformattedinacertainwaysothatreaderswillbeabletofindthesourcesyoureferredtoiftheyhaveanyquestionsthatyoudidn'taddressinyourwriting.YourannotatedbibliographywillalsorequirethatyoucreateareferencesliststyleAPAformattedcitationattheendofeachentryforpractice.NormallyanannotationdoesnotincludeanintextcitationinAPAstylesincethefull

referenceis

given

above

the

annotation.

Thereferencespageliststhecompletecitationinformationofeachsourceyouusedinalphabeticalorderaccordingtothefirstletterofthecitation(whichmaybeanauthor'snameorthetitleofthesourceiftheauthorisunknown).Thoughdifferentsourceswillrequireyoutoincludedifferentinformation,thereisageneralpatterntoallreferencespageentries:


2010MindEdge,Inc.


15/19

Last name, First initial. (Date of publication). Title of work.Relevant publication or retrieval information.

Averybasicreferencecitationwouldbe:

Shirky, C. (2008).Here comes everybody: The power of organizing without organizations. New York: The

Penguin Press.

Placetheauthor'slastnamefirstifitisavailable.Useonlytheauthor'sfirstinitial.Booktitlesareitalicized,andarticletitlesarenotitalicizedandhavenoquotationmarks.Onlythefirstwordandpropernamesarecapitalizedinbooktitles,andaperiodcomesattheendofthetitle.Periodsareplacedaftertheclosingparenthesisofthedate.Thepublicationcity(orcityandstateifthecityisn'taworldclasscity)isseparatedfromthepublisherbyacolon,andaperiodfollowsattheveryend.Theentryusesahangingindentedstylethesecondandall

subsequentlines

are

indented.

Sometimesbookshavemorethanoneauthor.Theentryisjustaboutthesame:

Buderi, R., & Huang, G. (2006). Guanxi: The art of relationships.New York: Simon & Schuster.

Usean&symbolbetweenauthors'names,andbesuretolistthenamesinsameorderinwhichtheyarelistedonthebookthepersonwhosenameislistedfirsteitherdidmoreworkoristhemoreprofessionallyrecognizedauthor.Besuretoincludesubtitles(thepartofthetitleafterthecolon).Thefirstwordofthesubtitleshouldbecapitalized.

Sometimesabook

will

be

an

edited

collection

of

articles,

but

you

may

have

found

the

whole

bookortheeditor'spieceshelpful.Inthiscase,thecitationisprettysimilar:

Fraginals, M. (Ed.). (1984).Africa in Latin America(L. Blum, Trans.). New York: Holmes & Meier

Publishers, Inc. (Original work published in 1977)

Allabbreviatedforms(Ed.for"editor";Trans.for"translator")haveaperiodafterthemtoindicatetheabbreviation;anotherperiodfollowstheclosingparenthesis.Theoriginalpublicationdateisplacedattheendofthecitationwithnoclosingpunctuation.

Ontheotherhand,ifyouonlyuseonearticleinaneditedbook,youshouldcreateanentryforjustthearticlethatyouused.

Aretz, I (1984). Music and dance in continental Latin America, with the exception of Brazil. In Fraginals, M.

(Ed.),Africa in Latin America(L. Blum, Trans.) (pp. 189 226). New York: Holmes & Meier


2010MindEdge,Inc.


16/19

Publishers, Inc. (Original work published in 1977)

Theauthorofthearticleyouusedcomesfirst.Thearticletitleissetinromanfont(noitalics)withnoquotationmarksaroundit.Sentencecapitalizationisused(since"LatinAmerica"isa

proper

noun,

it

is

capitalized

in

both

the

article

title

and

the

book

title),

and

a

period

follows.

Write"In"beforetherestofthecitationfortheeditedbook.

Periodicalsandmagazinesfollowsimilarlogic.

Birnbaum, C. (2007, September). Cultivating appreciation.Dwell, 7,196.

Facing up to China. (2010, February 6). The Economist,11.

Eggertson, L. (2010). Lancet retracts 12-year-old article linking autism to MMR vaccines. CMAJ: Canadian

Medical Association Journal, 182,E199E200.

Manyarticlesinmagazinesornewspaperswillnotlisttheauthortheauthorityforthearticlecomesfrombeingpublishedbyanauthoritativesourcelikeawellknownnewspaperorperiodical.Ifthedayisavailable,andthesourceisanewspaperormagazine,includethepublicationdateoftheperiodicalinthecitation;otherwise,theyearandmonthisfine(2010,February).Thepagenumbercomesattheend.

Articlesthat

you

find

online

follow

the

same

logic,

but

you

need

to

include

more

information

aboutthedateandmethodofretrieval.

Ifthesourceisformattedexactlythesame(pagenumbersandall),thecitationonlychangesslightly:

Facing up to China. (2010, February 6). The Economist, 11. Retrieved from http://www.economist.com

Frank, R. (2010, February 20). A small price for a large benefit. The New York Times. Retrieved from

http://www.nytimes.com

Eggertson, L. (2010). Lancet retracts 12-year-old article linking autism to MMR vaccines. CMAJ: Canadian


2010MindEdge,Inc.


17/19

Medical Association Journal, 182,E199E200. Retrieved from http://www.cmaj.ca/

YoushouldincludetheURLforanyresourcesyoufoundonline.Ifyoufoundthearticlethroughadatabase,youshouldnotcitethedatabase.Instead,usethelinkforthejournalorperiodical's

homepage.

You

may

need

to

add

a

space

in

the

middle

of

the

link

to

allow

the

link

to

break

overmultiplelines.Youshouldalsopreventyourwordprocessingsoftwarefromunderliningorhyperlinkingthelink.Usually,youcanbackspacerightafterthesoftwarechangesthetexttoalink.Ifthatdoesn'twork,presscontrolwhileclickingthelink,gotoHyperlink,EditHyperlink,andclickRemoveLink.

Sometimesajournalwillusethedigitalobjectidentifier(DOI)systemtoidentifytheparticulararticle.Thesystemassignsauniquesetofnumbersandsometimesletterstoidentifyoneuniquearticle.YoucanseeintheimagebelowthattheDOIishighlighted.NotallarticleswillhaveaDOI,butwhenanarticledoes,youcanlisttheDOInumberattheendofthereferencecitation,asyouseebelow.NoperiodcomesaftertheDOI,andyoudonotneedtolisttheretrievalURLortheissuenumber.Thecitationbelowtheimageshowsyouhowthisresourcewould

be

cited.

Kyriacou, A. P. (2010). Intrinsic motivation and the logic of collective action: The impact of selective

incentives.American Journal of Economics & Sociology, 69, 823839. doi:10.1111/j.1536-

7150.2020.00722.x

Moremediaismovingonline,andsometimes,youwillfindjournalsthatareexclusivelyonlineandavailabletoall,suchastheoneintheexamplebelow:


2010MindEdge,Inc.


18/19

Blankenship, T., Boon, R. T., & Fore, C. (2007). Inclusion and placement decisions for students with special

needs: A historical analysis of relevant statutory and case law.Electronic Journal for Inclusive

Education, 2(1). Retrieved from http://www.cehs.wright.edu/resources/

publications/ejie/Winter_Spring_2007/HTML_Files/1Fore_Inclusion.htm

Theexampleaboveusesthedirectlinktothearticlebecauseitisastablelinkthatisavailabletoall.Tocompare,theEggertsonarticlethatprecedesthisexampleisonlyavailablethroughdatabases,butyourreadermayhaveaccesstoadifferentdatabasethanyoudo,whichiswhyyoulinktothehomepageofthejournal.

ERICisapopulardatabasethathostsresearchinthefieldofeducationthathasbeenpublishedbyjournalsorselfpublished.APAhasaspecialformatforarticlefromERIC:

Savich, Carl. (2008).Inclusion: The Pros and ConsA Critical Review.Retrieved from ERIC database.

(ED501775)

Asyoucanseetheaccessionnumber(auniquelocatornumber)isprovidedbythedatabaseandshouldbeincludedattheendofthecitation.

Untilthispoint,wehavemostlyprovidedexamplesfromeditedandpeerreviewedsources

found

in

print

or

through

database

searches.

The

Web

does

have

a

lot

of

additional

content

to

offer.ThenextfewexampleswillshowyouhowtociteWebcontentthatisfreelyaccessible.(Rememberthatfreelyaccessiblecontentisn'talwaysauthoritative.)

Center for Disease Control. (2009).Recommended immunization schedule for persons aged 0 through 6 years.

Retrieved from http://cdc.gov/vaccines/recs/schedules/downloads/ child/2009/09_0-

6yrs_schedule_pr.pdf

Toyota USA Newsroom. (2010, March 15). Toyota offers preliminary findings from technical field

examination of alleged "Runaway Prius" in San Diego. Retrieved from

http://pressroom.toyota.com/pr/tms/toyota/toyota-offers-preliminary-findings-155268.aspx


2010MindEdge,Inc.


19/19

LanguageandCommunication:Research 19

Thepreviousexampleshadaninstitutionalandacorporateauthor,andyoucanincludethedirectlinkbecauseitislikelytobestableandremainfreelyaccessible.TheToyotaexampleincludedadateintherelease,soyoushouldusethatasthedate.

Often,ontheWeb,youwillneedtolookcloselyforinformationaboutthedateandtheauthor.Whenthedateisn'tavailable,youcanuse(n.d.),shortfor"nodateavailable,"asintheexamplebelow:

Vasilikiotis, C. (n.d.). Can organic farming feed the world?Retrieved from

http://www.cnr.berkeley.edu/~christos/articles/cv_organic_farming.html

How to enjoy hummingbirds. (n.d.). Retrieved March 24, 2010, from http://howtoenjoyhummingbirds.com/

Rememberthat

websites

with

no

authors

are

not

usually

worth

using

to

support

research

anyway.Thewebsiteaboveisdefinitelyaselfpublished,noncrediblewebsite.It'sanextremeexampleofselfpublishedwebsitesthatmixresearchwithopinion,buttherearemanyoutthere.Ifyoucan'tfindanauthor'snameorinstitutionalauthor'snameanywhere,chancesare,youshouldmoveonandfindmoreauthoritativeinformation.

wgu lat mod1

Documents