Module 4: The Writing Workshop

Workshopping is a two-way street. During this stage of the writing process, you'll be perfoming two roles:

-First, you'll be reviewing the work of one of your classmates, and you'll give them feedback that will help them begin to draft their paper. -You'll also be receiving feedback, which will help you begin your own draft. Let's focus on each of these roles a bit more.

The PIE Method:

At times it can be difficult to know what information from your sources to include in your paper. The PIE method can help you make decisions about how to structure your writing to make sure you are providing enough evidence at the appropriate times. The following graphic describes the PIE method of paragraph formatting.

E= Explanation

Finally, make it clear why the information supports the point you introduced at the start of the paragraph. You should not assume your audience will understand why the information presented is supportive of your point without an adequate explanation.

Reading and Video: Workshopping Writing

The Value of Workshopping

P=Point

The first thing you should do in a paragraph is to clearly state the point you will be making. This point should be clearly related to your overall project.

Synthesis: Black Swan

The movie Black Swan offered its viewers a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at the cut-throat world of dance. Natalie Portman's preparation for the role is a marvel in itself, and the plot shows how dancers have to sacrifice physically and personally for success. The movie may not be appropriate for some, however, because many of the scenes were quite disturbing.

Unknowing plagiarism (and sometimes knowing plagiarism) occurs when summaries are phrased too closely to?

source materials, so be sure that your phrasing is sufficiently different.

Introduction to Summarizing:

Why Summarize?

Responding to Workshopping Feedback:

You will be receiving feedback from one or more of your peers. -Some of that feedback may contain constructive criticism. -Keep in mind that this feedback is intended to make your writing as clear and effective as possible.

However, there are multiple ways to integrate that information into your writing, and some of those methods are more?

appropriate than others in particular circumstances.

Overquoting can result in stilted writing where the author contributes too?

little.

What is important to remember is that you are their first line of defense:

providing constructive criticism gives them insight into what is working and not working as they prepare to draft their paper. -This insight is invaluable, since it gives them the opportunity to reconsider sources that may not be credible or relevant for their topic.

Having others read over your draft and give feedback can be?

very valuable.

In order to evaluate the source, you will need to answer questions about the value of the source—

weaknesses, strengths, or oversights in the content.

You may initially feel uncomfortable critiquing the work of one of your peers—

you may worry that your workshop partner will take your comments personally. -But you shouldn't! Don't forget, you are helping them write the best essay they can produce. -Your feedback, even critical, is an important part of meeting that goal. -One of the steps toward becoming a good writer is developing the ability to give and receive constructive criticism.

To help you get out of the writer's mindset and into the reader's, you'll be reviewing writing plans written by?

your peers, and they will be doing the same for you.

Summary: Black Swan

-Natalie Portman underwent extensive ballet training to prepare for her role in the movie Black Swan. -Black Swan portrayed the ways in which the dance world demands physical and personal sacrifice of the dancers. -Many scenes in Black Swanportrayed sex, violence, and abuse.

A good summary will make the following information clear to the reader:

-Where you found the source. -The fact that you are summarizing a source rather than presenting your own ideas or opinions: an author may find it effective to alert the reader that they are summarizing by using a lead-in phrase such as, "According to Smith . . . ," though this is only one strategy for effective summarizing.

When you take notes from your reading, it's a good idea to use your own vocabulary and phrasing to record information. This practice has a few benefits:

-You will better understand the content because recording it in your own words ensures that you process the information in the source when you read it. -You will be less tempted to use the source as a quotation. -Your notes will be shorter because you can rephrase just the main points that the source's author is making. -You will avoid inadvertently using the author's words without quotation marks or without citing the source, which is plagiarism. Remember that even paraphrases*need to be followed by in-text citations that cite author, publication date, and page number or other specific look-up information.

Steps for Writing a Summary:

1. Use your active reading skills to read through two paragraphs of the original source until you fully understand what the author means. 2. Set aside the original source and write what you remember on a note card or on your computer without referring to the original. 3. Now compare your summary with the original paragraphs. Make sure that you included all the same ideas but didn't use language or sentence structure that is too similar to that of the original. 4. If your summary contains unique terms or phrases from the original that cannot be rephrased without losing meaning, use quotation marks to denote the borrowed language. Note: this should never be more than a word or short phrase. For example: If your source has used or coined a unique word or phrase with specific meaning such as "deep ecology" or "ecopsychology" use quotation marks to denote this language from the source. 5. Cite your source. You will learn to create proper citations in Module 6, but for now just be sure to note what source your are summarizing and the corresponding pages and sections of that source.

I= Information

Next, provide information or evidence that supports that point. This is where you will cite sources using a combination of quotations and summaries.

Why Summarize Rather Than Use a Quotation?

Research writing asks that the writer's voice speak through the research. Relying too heavily on the original words of source authors (as inexperienced writers do when they rely too heavily on direct quotations) would compromise the effectiveness of the research writer's own research paper. Good writers choose their words carefully. As a research writer, it's your job to figure out how to use the ideas of authors for your own purposes and for your audience*. When you summarize, you identify the ideas that are most relevant and important to your project and rewrite other authors' ideas in your own words, emphasizing those points. Paraphrasing also gives you an opportunity to untangle the language of a passage if it is likely to be too confusing to your reader as a quotation taken out of the context of its surrounding paragraphs or if it contains jargon that you need to explain to your reader. As a result, paraphrases can sometimes be longer than the passages they are paraphrased from. You should only use quotations when there is no other way to communicate the content of the original source into your writing, or when you want to maintain the author's tone and emotion.

Plagiarism* occurs when quotes are not?

attributed to the appropriate sources, so it is important that you keep careful notes so that you don't unintentionally represent someone else's work or ideas as your own.

Compare the following summary, or fact-based, statements to their?

correlated synthesis statements. -Remember that these examples are based on everyday topics and examples. -Personal opinion about restaurants or movie topics would not be acceptable in your research paper.

Your summary should?

cover the same ground as the original passage, but it should not contain any direct quotations, and you should make sure that your summary doesn't have any language too close to the source language.

Perhaps the most important thing to keep in mind when reviewing the work of your classmates is that your feedback should be as?

detailed as possible. -Simply saying a point or source is "good" or "bad" won't help the writer much at all. -Instead, you should explain your reactions to his or her writing. -Feel free to make suggestions about how the author might make revisions or better support key points.

When you quote a source, you use the?

exact words and phrases your source used to convey information.

Well-chosen quotations from respected authorities can indeed be valuable evidence; however, too many quotations break up the?

flow of your writing, so you should use them only when the phrasing is unique, memorable, or particularly powerful.

If your peer's work contains significant grammatical errors, you should comment on those. However, don't get too caught up in the mechanics of his or her writing. Instead, pay more attention to higher order concerns relating to how well the author convey's?

his or her ideas and how well the identified sources support the key points being made.

Even though you can change the emphasis of the original writing, you cannot add to or change the ?

meaning! -You should not mix your own ideas with your summary.

Though the term synthesis may scare you if you haven't heard it before, you synthesize information in the world all the time. You form opinions about?

movies, musicians, fashion, and restaurants based on your own experience with them but also based on what your friends or family might say to you or based on what you read on the Internet about these topics.

In this module, you will learn about how to integrate sources properly and avoid?

plagiarism. -You'll also turn your focus toward giving and receiving written feedback and take part in a Peer Workshop.

Students are often tempted to draw quotations*from their research sources to support?

points they want to make.

In what follows, we'll discuss methods of source integration including:

quotation and summary.

Overquotating can also be problematic. This happens when writers rely too heavily on?

quotations.

That said, peer workshopping can also be daunting. You may be concerned that you are not qualified to?

review someone else's work. -You may be concerned that you will offend your peers by offering a critique.

Below are some guidelines to consider as you act as a ?

reviewer. -You'll be asked to respond to some of these questions when you workshop the writing of one of your peers later in this module.

If you find a short passage particularly striking and think you may want to quote it, write it in your notes exactly as?

stated in the text, being careful to use quotation marks and note the citation.

Ultimately, you will want to balance quotations with?

summaries.

You should aim to present most of your evidence through?

summary*, and this will require you to rewrite the author's content in your own words.

When you begin drafting your paper, you will be using information from your sources as evidence to?

support your points.

In your paper, you will be synthesizing information from many sources in order to support your project. Synthesis goes beyond just summarizing your source—

you will need to evaluate it as well.