Please post your two questions and response to your peers' questions
about chapter 7 of the Bedford Book of Genres by commenting on this
post!
Remember: post your questions no later than 10pm the night before our class meets to actually receive credit!
What are some key differences between the MLA and APA styles?
ReplyDeleteWhat are the best steps to take in order to prevent plagiarism in a work?
ReplyDeletePersonally I find the most effective method to avoid plagiarism is reading a source and then waiting a few days to let the information settle. Once this is done sit down and try to write using the source from memory. This helps the mind synthesis your thoughts with the information of the source.
DeleteHow important is it to use quotes in your texts and to more importantly, use them properly for your audience?
ReplyDeleteUsing quotes in your text help your readers know that you have an idea of what you're talking about and that your opinion is backed up by other opinions or facts. Sometimes if quotes aren't used or information from sources, your readers may not take whatever you're talking about seriously because there is no context to what you're claiming. Quotes/sources definitely help add ethos to your paper and thats and essential part of every text. Its important to use them properly because most importantly you don't want to come off as claiming someone else's idea aka plagiarizing so its important that you display quotes as quotes i.e. in quotations and properly cited. It's also important to use quotes only when necessary because you don't want to bombard your reader with so many quotes that it just seems like you're talking about someone else opinion/information rather than your own which would be the point of creating your own text.
DeleteWhat are some ways you plan to avoid plagiarism, and aside from it being a violation of school code, how does it negatively impact your composition?
ReplyDeleteWhen writing something like a research paper it is important for it to be accurate. For it to be accurate you need to use sources beyond yourself. This allows the work to give a different precise perspective on the topic. When using research in a piece the writer needs to be careful of plagiarism. The best way to avoid plagiarism is to cite all work you use from other sources. It is simple, yet so widely unused. Many people will just restate what a source says which is plagiarism. It makes all the difference by simply citing any piece of evidence you use in a paper. Absolutely anything. That is what I plan to do to avoid plagiarism. Plagiarism is not only wrong, and not only against the school code, but it takes the originality out of your paper. It makes a paper hackneyed and repetitive. The composition loses the respect it would have gained if it was properly cited and all the appropriate sources were given credit.
DeletePlagiarizing other's work not only represents you as a fraud but it also diminishes your opportunity to grow as a writer and a thinker. It hinders your ability to think critically on your own as well as for yourself. It is easy to avoid plagiarism but not taking other's work. For example, when conducting my research paper, I have bullet pointed out phrases or main ideas from passages, returning to them later, and then writing from those bullets. This way I am forced to come up with my own phrasing. It greatly reduces my risk of plagiarizing others and I am able to better retain and understand the material.
DeleteI plan on avoiding plagiarism by citing my sources accurately and quoting things correctly when necessary. Plagiarism negatively impacts composition by not allowing the writer to accurately and completely get their thoughts out because they're thoughts can only be expressed through the passages they plagiarize and are an inaccurate representation of their views. While providing an easy way out plagiarism is very unethical, lazy, and completely discouraged in the literary and scholarly world. This cheating discourages freethinking and the generation of new ideas. This discouragement hurts your ability to grow as a writer because you are not coming up with your own ideas and you are just stealing them from a third party. With the ethical code of the school prohibiting plagiarism one could have points taken off their paper if caught with lowers one’s grade and hurts the composition overall due to the composition in this situation because one of its purposes is to get a good grade along with the practice at writing. One’s academic record could be marred by one moment with a lack of judgment and one can be expelling under the worst circumstances. Plagiarism of any kind is terrible and never should be done by anyone.
DeleteHow important is it to make sure your voice is heard instead of being overshadowed by your sources you cite from?
ReplyDeleteCiting sources can sometimes cause a composition to sound choppy or awkward. If one's voice in a work is casual and targets people who know little to nothing about a topic, inserting a quote from a high-level journal about the topic can be confusing and inefficient. Similarly, when paraphrasing, it's important to present the work in one's own voice so that the writing stays consistent. Choppiness in a paraphrase can sometimes indicate plagiarism. It is important to keep one's voice constant as it helps to keep the attention of the audience. It also helps to cater to the proper audience, rather than the ones sources might be targeting. Especially when writing an argumentative essay, one's voice may reflect their passion and knowledge of the topic, which helps the essay to really impact an audience. If one's voice is overshadowed by the sources, the essay might not have as great of an impact.
DeleteYour voice is the soul of your composition. Without having a strong voice all the goals of the piece can be lost in the writing. The audience can often become uninterested if the majority of a piece is just bland writing thats only purpose is to fill the page. A writer’s voice is what makes writings unique and is the foundation of a good author. Good novels only become popular and get published because of the great writer that is behind the words strong appealing voice. Granted, generally novels do not use sources so it is a slightly different scenario then a research paper. However, the same principles still apply on how important voice is to ones’ composition. Of course finding good sources and making use of them in your research paper is crucial, but it still has to be your own, have your own uniqueness to it. A spin on the information used in the sources has to be put on it in an individual way for the piece to stay engaging.
DeleteWhen writing any sort of paper or composition in which you need to pull in from outside sources quotes or even ideas (paraphrasing and summarizing) citing can become a problem detrimental to your unique voice and style. In order for the element of voice in writing not to be lost one needs to cite the sources and include them in a way that they flow evenly. Citing should be a complement to what you are trying to argue or discuss not the overall idea. It can be tricky because adding citations or quotations can be in a complete opposite style than yours but if there’s a reason for you to choose it then it should be able to emphasize your main point in a way that the reader understands what you are trying to say and understands some of the underlying meanings as well. Voice is one of the crucial parts of any writing composition and shouldn’t be gone to waste.
DeleteWhy is there such a fine line between paraphrasing and plagiarism?
ReplyDeleteThe line between paraphrasing and plagiarism is such a fine line due to what paraphrasing is defined as: restating what you read from a text. In this restating, especially in regards to the restating of simple texts, it can be hard to communicate the main idea without using the exact same language. In trying to match the formality and vocabulary of the original source, trying to use your own words can prove difficult. Forgetting to use in-text citations that are also reflected in a works cited page is an easy mistake that unfortunately gives way to plagiarism, intentional or not. Proper documentation of material is key in walking the fine line between plagiarism and paraphrasing.
DeleteWhat are the advantages of having different documentation styles for certain disciplines versus using a single documentation style across the board?
ReplyDeleteDifferent documentation styles for certain disciplines allow different types of genres to have specific citation formats. These different types allow uniformity within their appropriate genre, and provide certain requirements to ensure every paper is easily comparable in structure to the other papers. With one single type of style, it would create every paper to be the same in structure, but varying differently in content. The genre's have certain styles to have specific content within it that people can review and read, in an organized format. A single documentation style would provide dissatisfaction to many people who oppose it, and would create a monopoly on documentation styles. MLA format provides a good structure for english compositions, and is very common in schools. APA is reserved for social science courses or peer-reviewed journal, due to the material required for that category. Chicago is set for history course/peer-reviewed journals, and science papers typically will use a style of their own.
DeleteWhile both use the same strategies of application, what is the difference between summarizing and paraphrasing?
ReplyDeleteThe textbook defines paraphrasing as "when a writer takes the ideas of a source and puts them into his or her own words. A paraphrase rewords without significantly condensing a specific passage." And it later defines summarizing as "condensing material significantly and focuses only on the point made, not the details that support or illustrate the point." So the difference is simple; summarizing focuses on a main theme throughout a passage, while paraphrasing focuses in on one specific idea or group of sentences and simply condenses them into the same tone the writer wants to use in his or her paper. Summary is mainly used when a writer is trying to focus in on the author of the source’s central argument, rather than the specific details that the author used to back up his argument. That is where paraphrasing would come in. Say you wanted to use a specific idea from another source to back up your argument, but maybe the article was an academic article that used large words that wouldn’t flow well with your paper. In that instance, you would want to paraphrase in order to keep the flow of your language and tone throughout your paper while also getting the correct idea across to your readers. In both instances you would still have to cite your sources, even though you are using your own words. The underlying idea is the fact that although the words are your own, the idea and/or point getting across to your audience came from someone else’s work.
DeleteWhat are the advantages of having different documentation styles for certain disciplines versus using a single documentation style across the board?
ReplyDeleteHow does integrating sources enhance your work? How does it diminish it?
ReplyDeleteSources are very powerful in research essays. They have they power to make or break your argument. It’s not all about choosing the right sources either (but this is still a must). It is the quantity as well as the quality of sources that you incorporate that can enhance or diminish your work. Lots of sources are good because they back up your argument with a more credible voice. If your paper is almost entirely sources, however, it is almost as if you don’t have a voice and you are using others to make a point for you. The paper is no longer your argument anymore. Sources are meant to strengthen your argument, not to do all of the work for you. Relying too much on sources can show that you do not have a strong argument yourself and it may even seem like you don’t know what you’re talking about. This is not to say don’t use sources, though. The use of sources is extremely important. They can bring your argument to the next level and strengthen in by giving it scholarly insight and credibility.
DeleteIs there a benefit of using one documentation style versus another? How so?
ReplyDeleteWhy do we even need different methods of citation?
ReplyDeleteDifferent methods of citation are necessary to accommodate the different types of writing we come across. The documentation style of the Modern Language Association (MLA) is widely used in the humanities, since the style is well-suited to literature and archival sources. The American Psychological Association (APA) documentation style is most typically used in the social sciences, since the style is well-suited to quantitative studies and analysis. The Chicago Manual of Style is actually 2 separate styles, one with footnotes or endnotes, and one with the author-date system that is better suited for humanities. Basically, authors write for different purposes and different audiences, and so the citation styles reflect that. We continue to use different citation styles for disciplinary differences and tradition. Researchers in different disciplines cite different types of resources, and different disciplines place higher value on different criteria. For example, most researchers in the social sciences are more likely to cite a scholarly article than any other type of source, while a researcher in the humanities might need to cite a variety of source types, such as archived personal letters or first-edition works.
DeleteIs one method of citation more beneficial.
ReplyDeleteWhat are some ways in which you can avoid plagiarism in your own compositions?
ReplyDeleteWhat are the key differences in paraphrasing and summarizing?
ReplyDeleteHow can you make sure that your voice and style is not lost while citing a source?
ReplyDeleteWhy is it important to show how source material relates to other source material?
ReplyDeleteWhen is it necessary to use parenthetical citations?
ReplyDeleteIn what type of situations would paraphrase rather than using a direct quote from a source?
ReplyDeleteHow do different document styles vary for different organizations who use them?
ReplyDeleteWhat are the best reasons for quoting directly from a source, rather than summarizing or paraphrasing?
ReplyDeleteDo you think that plagiarism can sometimes be more subjective than objective?
ReplyDeleteWhen is more appropriate to use APA vs MLA? Why?
ReplyDeleteWhy do writers urge against quoting too much, and what could excess quoting imply?
ReplyDeleteIn what way(s) is paraphrasing a better alternative to quoting, and why?
ReplyDeleteIn what cases is it better to quote a source rather than paraphrasing it?
ReplyDeleteWhat is the problem with using too many quotes and too many examples from sources? Or do you believe that this isn't a problem, and "the more, the merrier" is true when quoting in research papers?
ReplyDeleteWhat are the major ways to not plagiarize when working with an online source?
ReplyDeleteHow can you avoid being accused of plagiarism while paraphrasing another author's work?
ReplyDeleteThe reason for having MLA and APA styles is to distinguish between the subject of the source you are working on. For example most english classes and use MLA formatting and most social science classes use APA. MLA uses works cited instead of references and the in text citations are different as well. It all depends on the subject that you are interpreting and using. MLA and APA are the two most popular forms of formatting yet they are completely different.
ReplyDeleteWhat are the main differences between summarizing and paraphrasing?
ReplyDeleteIs it possible to add too many quotes a research paper?
ReplyDeleteTo what degree can a quote strengthen your stance in a research paper? Would paraphrasing or summarizing yield the same effect?
ReplyDeleteIn what way can someone write a research paper in APA style without adopting an overpowering scholarly tone?
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