Week 7 2024 - Academic Writing I PDF

CM4203 Academic Writing I Week 7, 2024 Dr. Caoilfhionn Ní Bheacháin Today: Introduction to Academic Writing  Academic Discourse  Key Terms  What makes a source authoritative?  When to Cite a Source  Bibliographies – what they look like  Plagiarism and Turn...

CM4203 Academic Writing I Week 7, 2024 Dr. Caoilfhionn Ní Bheacháin Today: Introduction to Academic Writing  Academic Discourse  Key Terms  What makes a source authoritative?  When to Cite a Source  Bibliographies – what they look like  Plagiarism and Turnitin Reports Review: Discourse community A group of people who share assumptions about what channels, formats and styles to use, what topics to discuss and how to discuss them, and what constitutes evidence  Different audiences must be approached in different ways – communication strategies Consider:  What are the features of academic writing?  Whatmakes it different from a novel, a newspaper article or a trade magazine? “Should I remove my soul before I come inside?” Her first line upon arrival. It had been a compromise: Amy demanded we rent, not buy, in my little Missouri hometown, in her firm hope that we wouldn’t be stuck here long. But the only houses for rent were clustered in this failed development: a miniature ghost town of bank-owned, recession-busted, price-reduced mansions, a neighborhood that closed before it ever opened. It was a compromise, but Amy didn’t see it that way, not in the least. To Amy, it was a punishing whim on my part, a nasty, selfish twist of the knife. I would drag her, caveman-style, to a town she had aggressively avoided, and make her live in the kind of house she used to mock..  We’re only just beginning to understand how the air we breathe affects not just our physical environment, but our mental capacity as well. And the air we breathe is changing in the long term, as well as the short. Rising carbon dioxide levels – the main driver of climate change – aren’t just a hazard to the earth and other living creatures, they’re also affecting our thinking. At higher levels, CO2 clouds the mind: it makes us slower and less likely to develop new ideas, it degrades our ability to take in new information, change our minds, or formulate complex thoughts. The extent to which the education and career path one chooses reflects personality and abilities has attracted considerable interest in applied psychological research. At least one major theoretical framework (Holland, 1985) explains educational and vocational interests as reflections of personality traits and proclivities. This model has been complemented by research documenting differences in the personality traits (e.g., De Fruyt & Mervielde, 1996) and abilities (e.g., Ackerman, 1997; Darcy & Tracey, 2003) of people following different career paths or having different occupational interests. Recently, within a wider discussion of the importance of emotion in occupational settings (Barsade) & Gibson, 2007), scholars have pointed to the importance of examining affective factors (Ackerman & Beier, 2003; Kidd, 1998) and EI in particular (Brown, George-Curran, & Smith, 2003; Mayer & Geher, 1996) in career-related processes. The two studies presented here are the first that examine systematic relationships between different education and career paths and EI abilities and traits. Academic Writing / Referencing  Genre:  one of the categories, based on form, style, or subject matter, into which works of all kinds can be divided. For example, the detective novel is a genre of fiction.  A class of writing that has a characteristic form or technique Academic writing is  Typically- scholarly writing that aims to present an objective stance, clearly states the significance of the topic, and is organized with adequate detail and evidence.  “The academic essay… is a kind of game in which the writer, according to the extent to which he or she is familiar with the rules and is able to use them, seeks to satisfy the demands of the marker”  (Houghton 1984, p, 21)  “Writinghas an apprenticeship like a stonemason’s. You need to do it for some time before you can start thinking about it. It’s experiential learning. You need to try it and then read about it.” Standard forms in academic writing:  The college essay  The conference paper  The dissertation  The research thesis  The abstract  The book  The journal article Academic Writing  You will be evaluated on:  How you state your argument  How you back up your argument with evidence  How you analyse / critique what the opposition says  How you weigh up all your evidence – both supporting and opposing your claims  Referencing Skills  Writing Skills  The integrity of your process (is there plagiarism? Or inappropriate use of AI tools?) “All writers go through much the same process on the way from woolly thoughts to satisfactory coherent text that they are willing to release to the general public. I would use ‘the writing process’ as an umbrella term which includes almost everything – finding a place to work and a way of writing, reading, researching, thinking, planning, generating structures and outlines, managing time, generating drafts, staying motivated, managing ups and downs, rewriting and revising, negotiating feedback, editing, improving style, etc, etc. Amateurs and “Writing is a messy and complex business, like so many other processes. If you watch people cooking a meal, they are all over the place. They may be preparing one part of the meal, cooking another, thinking about the guests, cleaning the kitchen as they go, thinking about what dishes to use, etc. And everybody goes about it in a different way.” From: https://www.rlf.org.uk/resources/what-i s-the-writing-process/ Writing Process – Steps:  Cracking the code (what is being asked in the essay question?)  Gathering the information / content (by research)  Putting your ideas together (drafting / checking the argument structure)  Tidying up and checking (proofreading) Academic register and evidence of learning Other considerations for a project The sources and resources you will use you should delimit your field of enquiry, showing where the project begins and ends How the project will develop you might indicate some of the possible ways in which the project could develop, perhaps by giving a broader or narrower version depending on what materials and issues you uncover Academic Writing A good argument depends on the quantity and quality of its supporting evidence.  Research is crucial for any argument outside your own experience: getting facts, examples, statistics and informed opinions from experts. Terminology  Citing means formally recognising, within your text, the resources from which you have obtained information.  Bibliography is the list of sources you have used.  Reference is the detailed description of the item from which you have obtained your information. Ferguson, Ann (1989) Blood at the Root. London: Pandora. Foucault, Michel (1977) Language, Counter-Memory, Practice: Selected Essays and Interviews by Michel Foucault, ed. Donald Boucard. Cornell, NY: Cornell University Press. Foucault, Michel (1980a) The History of Sexuality Vol. 1. New York: Vintage. Foucault, Michel (1998) ‘The Dangerous Individual’, in Lawrence Kritzman (ed.) Michel Foucault, Politics, Philosophy, Culture: Interviews and Other Writings 1977–1984, pp. 125–51. London: Routledge. Fuss, Diane (1989) Essentially Speaking: Feminism, Nature and Difference. London: Routledge. Ginsberg, Carlo (1989) Clues, Myths, and the Historical Method. Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press. Sources  Primary Sources: the first time something appears - company reports, Dáil reports etc.  Secondary Sources: subsequent analysis – books, journals etc.  Search tools to help you find the relevant primary and secondary literature – indexes, abstracts, bibliographies  Making an academic argument  Focus your investigation on building your argument  Look for at least two pieces of evidence to support each point you make.  Use a variety of sources.  Be sure your sources are authoritative.  Don’t let your sources’ opinions outweigh your own. Keep your research under control!  Have you enough evidence for each point you make?  Have you enough types of sources - newspapers, web, books, journals, interviews, etc.? Undergraduate research  The Library: most common resource for under-graduate students  CD ROMs, newspapers, journals, books etc.  But also - field research: interviews, surveys, questionnaires, personal observations, etc. Authoritative Source - Clues? Authoritative Source?  Clues:  Publisher of book  Status of journal  Recommended by lecturer  Sponsor of web-site  Who funded the research?  Scholarly or popular? Authoritative?  Refereed Journal vs. magazine  Popular publications like magazines – usually written by non-experts for a general audience  Other questions: Is there a bibliography? Is information carefully documented?  How was the book received by critics? Check the web?  Is the author an acknowledged expert in the field? ‘Peer Review’ Process for Journals  Academics write their paper and decide on journal  Review submission guidelines and prepare final draft  Submit several copies to Editor  Editor does initial review and then sends to multiple Reviewers (removes front page)  Recommendations back to Editor  Editor’s Decision/Reply including Reviewers’ comments Pyramid of Library Sources Most Specialise Authoritati d ve Knowledg e Less General Authoritati Knowledge ve Evaluating Library Sources – General rules  Choose Journal articles over Magazine articles  Look for often-cited authors  Examine books critically When to cite a source: When to cite a source:  Whenever you use factual information or data you found in a source.  Whenever you quote verbatim – including two or more words in a row, or even a single word or label that is distinctive and striking. Whenever you summarize, paraphrase or otherwise use ideas, opinions, interpretations or conclusions arrived at by another person.  Whenever you make use of a source passage’s distinctive structure, organizing strategy or method.  Whenever you mention, in passing, some aspect of another person’s work. When you are in doubt as to whether to cite a source or not, cite. Note: Diagrams, pictures, graphs etc. should be referenced in the same way as quotations.  When not to cite  When dealing with common knowledge. - For example: Ireland joined the EEC in 1973  When you use phrases that have become part of everyday speech. ‘all the world’s a stage’  When you draw on ideas or phrases that arose in conversation. Integrating Sources: three principles  Usesources as concisely as possible, so your own thinking isn’t crowded out by the presentation of other people’s ideas. Integrating sources - 2  Neverleave your reader in doubt as to when you are speaking and when you are using materials from a source. Integrating sources - 3  Alwaysmake clear how each source you use relates to your argument. Why bother referencing? Why bother referencing?  Referencing:  demonstrates the depth of your research  guides the reader in further investigation  acknowledges your sources of information  protects you against charges of plagiarism Misusing sources  Plagiarism: using the ideas and writings of others and representing them as one’s own.  Mosaic plagiarism: mixing uncited / unacknowledged words and ideas from several different sources into a pastiche.  Improper collaboration  Misrepresenting evidence  Inappropriate use of AI tools like ChatGPT Turnitin report References – how they look  In-text citation: Gibbons (1996) argues that discourse is central to our evaluation of……  Bibliography: Gibbons, L. (1996) Transformations in Irish Culture, Cork: Cork UP  Summary  Research and academic writing skills  Key terms – plagiarism, source, referencing etc.  Key skills – critical reading, compiling information, identifying a ‘good’ source, referencing etc.