Writing Workshop

Writing Workshop August 7, 2012

Agenda • Finish your writing from last week • Feedback on last week’s assignment • Paraphrasing/Summarizing • Plagiarism • Naysayers

Finish last weeks project • Take 15-20 minutes to finish the writing you started on Thursday • Then we will go over some of them as a class

Practice • Given the following question • Chose an issue in your country (or any country) that needs to be resolved and then • Chose and audience • Tell why this topic is appropriate for the audience you chose • Write a topic sentence • Write 4 points that you would include. Be sure they are appropriate for your audience • This problem could be fixed by_________. • A problem in _____ country is ________, • Give a general idea of the organization of this if it were an essay

Articles • What did you think of the Articles? • Was there anything interesting? • Do you have any questions?

Choosing Quotations • Before we talk about paraphrases/summarizing it is important to know what kinds of evidence will help an argument • The information you choose needs to be able to be explained in a couple sentences. • If it takes more than a few sentences then you should chose different information.

Practice • Do the quote exercise on the back of the handout

Summary/Paraphrase • What is a summary? • What is Paraphrase? • What is the difference? • When do you use each of these?

Paraphrase • A paraphrase is when you restate someone's point in your own words • Remember that if it is too similar to the original it will be considered plagiarism. • Replacing the original words with synonyms will not be a good way to paraphrase. *Be very careful using synonyms, sometimes a thesaurus may give you words that don’t mean the same thing as the one you want. Always double check these.

Tip • Decide what is important. • Read the point and then without looking at it try to write it in your own words. • This will help you to prevent plagiarizing anything

Practice • “Plagiarism is best defined as a deliberate activity– as the conscious copying from the work of others.” (Feak and Swales)

Practice • Although many people think that car accidents are more likely due to slick roads and high speeds, research shows that the majority of serious accidents occur on dry roads and at speeds of 60-100 km/h (Van Zanten, 2002)

Practice • Ever increasing traffic forces the driver to process a growing amount of information and, at the same time, to take more, and quicker decisions. Thus, in critical situations, the amount of information may exceed the drivers effective processing capability.

Summarizing • A summary is when you take a larger work and shrink it down to a few sentences. • This is especially useful in literature reviews • Again you should read the paragraph, chapter, article, then put it aside and write your summary without looking back at it.

Practice • Read the conclusion of “image manipulation as research misconduct” then set the article aside and summarize the conclusion it 2 sentences.

Practice • On page 96 of “Telling a Research Story” Summarize the section called “Summarizing” • Remember your summary should be shorter than the text given

Practice • Read this article and write about a paragraph summary of what it is about. • http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/08/education/analysis-examines-disabled-students-suspensions.html?_r=1&ref=us

Summary/Paraphrase • Both summaries and paraphrases will be used in literature reviews. • A paraphrase when you want to talk about a specific point someone made • A summary when you need to talk about an entire article or section of an article.

Quotes • There are times when you will need to use an exact quote • When do you think this is? • How should you do it? • Butterfly Model

Plagiarism • Anytime you use any part of anyone else's work in your own without giving credit • When you do use an exact quote, or exact wording you must put it in quotes.

Example

Plagiarism • Page 81 Do task 27

Naysayers • What is a naysayer? Why would you want to use this in your writing? • In general, how would you use a naysayer? • Do you think this strengthens or weakens an argument? Why or Why not?

Naysayer • A Naysayer is when you put something in your paper that someone could say against it, you anticipate objections • It is important when planting a naysayer that you respond to it, defend yourself • This is true even if you do not have a strong defense • This will strengthen your argument because you can explain the reason for someone's objection before they actually object to it.

Examples

Practice • On page 90, Do exercise 1

Homework • Read rhetorical grammar • Answer the discussion questions

Writing Workshop