For this blog post, you are going to create a scenario much like Haller did in her chapter on sources. Pulling from the reading, generate a conversation between me and you about a misconception you have about how to use sources (i.e. work from your *own* misconception not one you read about). As the chapter did, walk through how to counter that misconception and how to move forward from it.
Response to your peers: agree or disagree with your peer's scenario and my response to it.
DUE by class time on Thursday, January 22 EVEN THOUGH we aren't having a traditional class.
Helen: After finding appropriate sources, I'm confused as to how to include them in my paper. What is the proper way of using quotes or paraphrasing in an inquiry based essay?
ReplyDeleteDr. KT: Good question. I've come across a few papers over the years that were not familiar with the conventions of quote inclusion, and I wish they'd asked me this. There is one major rule when it comes to using quotes in an essay: never, ever drop them in on their own. I can't stress the importance of including your quotes naturally in your analytical discourse. A quote should never be its own sentence; a quote should flow within your paragraph. The quote should behave as part of a sentence, should be introduced, and then properly cited.
Helen: What if the quote doesn't naturally fit within a particular sentence?
Dr. KT: There are ways around that. If the quote seems too long or not able to flow within a sentence, a quote can be introduced after a colon.
Helen: And what about paraphrasing? How does one go about this.
Dr. KT: It is imperative that one never plagiarizes another's work. If you decide you want to include information from another author, what you paraphrase must be in your own words. This does not mean changing one or two short words-the sentence must be original, only the idea can be similar. Additionally, whenever you are including a fact that is not common knowledge (i.e you came across it in your research, it is not something you previously knew) then it must be cited!
Helen: Thanks for you help Dr. KT. You are a great professor <3
Hi Helen! You did a good job playing both roles in your post. I think everything you put above was on point in terms of how you should deal with including various sources in your paper. Well done! :)
DeleteHiya Helen! I really liked your scenario and the responses that your Dr KT gave. I always have trouble on including quotes from outside sources into research papers in particular and your dialogue really helped me You were super specific and that was very helpful. Awesome Sauce!
DeleteJ: Hi Dr. KT! So I’ve realized that I’ve got a few sources that aren’t totally reliable. How should I deal with this?
ReplyDeleteDr KT: Hi Joules, so one way of dealing with unreliable sources is to simply discard them. If you think there is some good information in the article that you want to use, try researching the publisher or the author to see just how reliable it is.
J: Okay, so if the author has pretty solid credentials and it’s been published by a reputable publisher, I should be okay to include it? Would I need to acknowledge any uncertainty about the source?
Dr KT: If you feel like you need to acknowledge uncertainty about a source explicitly, you probably shouldn’t use it for an academic paper. But if you check the publisher and the author and it all seems legit, then you should be good to use the source as usual!
J: Thanks Dr. KT.
This is great advice for someone who has found relevant information on a site like Wikipedia, but isn't sure how to go about citing it. It never hurts to check what Wiki referenced as its own sources, sometimes you can find reputable sources from a shady site such as Wiki. Very relevant, thanks for sharing.
DeleteEmma: Dr. Kt, when I was looking for sources and came across a few which had a lot of great information, but weren't from necessarily credible places, can I still use them?
ReplyDeleteDr. Kt: Well what was so valuable about these sources in particular?
Emma: They dealt specifically with my topic but were opinion pieces, so they came from individual's experiences on the topic.
Dr. Kt: An opinion may lend itself to your topic, but it typically cant provide a huge amount of credible facts on the subject. You could still use sources like this, but make sure that when you include the opinions from these pieces that it is used only as an opinion and that this in some way lends itself to your point.
This example is a perfect example of how people use opinions as "facts and information". It is a common mistake that should be addressed, nice!
DeleteJason: Hi Dr. KT I was wondering how paraphrasing works. If you change up a sentence from your source but it still has the exact same meaning, is that considered plagiarism? Do I need to still site where I got it from?
ReplyDeleteDr. KT: Well if the information you talk about is common knowledge, or if you and the reader might know the information without referring some source, then it is not considered plagiarism. However, whenever you use someone else’s work that is not common knowledge to you, you should site that source.
Jason: Okay, well I know how to do a bibliography, but how do you exactly write correct in-text citations? Sometimes sources have no author, so how am I supposed to cite this source?
Dr. KT: If there is an author for the source, you would write the quote that you’re using and then the author’s last name in parenthesis and page number (if it’s a book). If there is no author, you would write the title of the book in parenthesis and the page number.
Jason: Alright, what if the author got a quote from someone else, or a graphs and statistics from another source? Are you supposed to site this source or the other source?
Dr. KT: This is called a secondary source. You use in-text citation for the secondary source, but also include the other source in your bibliography.
Jason: If I found a .gov website and there is no author or credibility for the article, is it smart to still use it as a source?
Dr. KT: .gov sites should be reliable for the most part but make sure to try and do a little digging to see if there is any credibility for the site in general. If there is, it might not be a bad idea to use it as a source.
Jason: Wow thanks Dr. KT! You da bomb!
I'm glad that you included how to write in text citations because I am really awful at those! I didn't know that you include secondary sources in text but also in the bibliography.
DeleteSara: Dr. Kt, I found this really great website that I can use for my article and it is from a very credible source. I changed a few of the words to make it my own writing. Is this alright?
ReplyDeleteDr. Kt: No, this is not the correct way to write a research paper. Paraphrasing is still using the author’s original material, but rearranged in a way where it looks like the work is your own.
Sara: What should I do to fix it or to improve?
Dr. Kt: You will need to reference the original author directly and use quotation marks to directly quote the original work you are using as a source. Also, make sure to use in text citations and avoid using the original words. However, keep in mind that just using synonyms for a few words here and there is also considered plagiarizing.
Sara: Thanks Dr. Kt, you’re the best professor ever!!!
Sara! im glad you clarified this because I actually forgot how this was supposed to work when paraphrasing items.
DeleteHey Sara! Nice example, and really relevant considering we are going to have to write a research paper and quote facts in text!
DeleteDimitrius: Dr Kt, I finally found what it was that I was looking for on google, but many of the websites lead to me a different website, which don't seem very credible to me. Is there anything that you think I can do, to get to the exact things that I want?
ReplyDeleteDr Kt: Well, I know that there is an advanced search engine on google, that allows you to literally pick and choose what it is that you want.
Dimitrius: But won't that give me items that are all broken up into different phrases etc, what about the website endings?
Kt: I mean if will if you don't know what you're doing, but I think you know what you're doing. As far as the websites go, you can literally pick and choose what websites you want to show ".edu" or ".gov" preferably.
Dimitrius: Ohhh, I see what you're talking about now. So, I tried this technique and it actually worked! Now I dont have to worry about clicking page after page looking for specific website endings, and I no longer have to worry about being brought to different pages from within a different website. Thank you so much! you saved the day.
Jenna: Hey Dr. Kt! So I found some information about my topic in a book and I want to include it in my paper, but this information seems like it’s common knowledge. If everyone might know it, do I still need to site the information?
ReplyDeleteDr. Kt: If you are quoting someone else’s work, it needs to be cited, even if the information seems like common knowledge. “You” may know the information, but others may not, and not citing the information is taking credit for others work,
Jenna: Okay Dr. Kt. Thanks that makes sense. But what if the information really is common knowledge? Or the information is quoted in the book? Do I quote the author I got the information from, or the person they got it from?
Dr. Kt: If the information really is common knowledge then it doesn’t need to be cited, and maybe doesn’t need to be in your report. If the information is quoted in the book, you should cite the author of the book, as they will also have the citation for the original source, unless you want to find the original source and quote that instead.
Jenna: Thanks again Dr. Kt. You’re a lifesaver!
Hey Jenna! I think your scenario was very realistic. It seems like a very fair question to ask and the response that you gave as Dr. Kt was very believable as well. The question was a very relevant one, as it helped me and I'm sure a few other peers get past the idea of citing common knowledge.
DeleteHey Jenna. Thanks for clarifying that for us, I always get mixed up on the whole, "Common knowledge vs cited knowledge" thing, and I feel that it rarely gets addressed, if at all. Now I feel pretty confident as far as knowing when I should be citing my sources. Also I wish you luck on your research and on your paper.
DeleteTresdon: Hi, Dr. Kt. I think that using sources is pretty easy when it comes to persuasive works, but I'm having trouble trying to visualize how I'd use them in a research paper. Would I just study them thoroughly then put my new ideas on paper or would I use them to say something like "Well this person said so, so it must be true."
ReplyDeleteDr. Kt: I think that using a source in a research paper is in the middle of those two options. You want to give credit to your sources, to add credibility to your paper and to give credit where credit is due. You also want to form ideas and opinions that go beyond the source's ideas, while making sure to stay relevant to the sources. You also want to make connections between the information in the sources that will be your own ideas. You'll explain how you made these connections and what sources contributed to them.
Tresdon: Okay, so I think I get it. I guess it's not that different from a persuasive essay then in that I'm writing my own paper with my own ideas and using my research to support that. So then how should I cite my sources? Should they be talked about in the text or should I just include them after the paper?
Dr. Kt: I'd say that some of that is up to style and some is just up to how the source is being used. Using footnote annotations can be very appropriate and helpful. Sometimes talking about the whole source is going to be more useful because you can get across more background for your own ideas.
Tresdon: Thanks, Dr. Kt, that really helped me understand more clearly how to cite sources and how exactly to use them in this context. I really appreciate it.
Alex: Hey Dr.T, I was doing some quick searches through Google and while I've found a lot of information on my topic, I can't seem to find any information from credible, or peer-reviewed sources. Any ideas on how to improve my search?
ReplyDeleteDr.T: How about instead of using the standard Google search engine, you use Google Scholar. Google Scholar serves a similar function to Google, except that it only searches for articles from peer-reviewed journals. Also if you type in your University when you search for your topic, it'll tell you which results your school has access too. If you want to improve your search even more though, maybe you should check the library.
Alex: Thank you Dr.T! But, how should I go about searching the library for information? There are so many different books, and sections, I feel like I’d just get swallowed up by it all.
Dr.T: Have you tried asking a reference librarian?
Alex: What’s a reference librarian?
Dr.T: Reference librarians are there to help people do their research. They come from a wide variety of backgrounds and disciplines so I’m certain there’ll be one that can help you with your research. They know the library better than anyone, so if anyone can help you find your information, its them. Also you should check the research center in the library. They’re there to help you with your research whether it be just starting out, or how to cite your sources once you’ve found them. With that said, now there should be no reason why you can’t find the proper research for your paper!
Alex: Thank you Dr.T! I’ll be sure to use all of those in researching my paper, and if I run into any more problems I’ll be sure to ask you or the research center.