English: U6- Gathering Information

Paraphrasing

- to restate a passage from a text using your own words - best to paraphrase/summarize the majority of the information you include from research

Quote

to write a sentence or part of a sentence from a source, using the exact wording from the text

When you paraphrase or summarize from a text, you must be careful to avoid plagiarism.

- copying a sentence from a text but just changing a few words is NOT an acceptable paraphrase/summary - you must not copy the arrangement of ideas or use the sentence structure from the text - writing a passage in your own words means using your own expression/organization - in summary/paraphrase, you must make sure that your restatement is faithful to original ideas in text - don't misinterpret the info or add your own ideas or commentary as part of a paraphrase/summary

Note Card Method Continued

- on the first line of the index card, write a title that reflects the main idea of the quoted, paraphrased, or summarized material - writing a title will help you organize your notecards into main points and sub points later - the title can relate a point on tentative outline - after title, write quotation, paraphrase, or summary from source - if info is a direct quotation, it must be indicated with quotation marks - after quotation, paraphrase, or summary, write the page number on which the info is located, if the source is a printed source.

To paraphrase...

- restate a passage from a text using your own words - as you paraphrase info from source, be sure that the original ideas from the text are reflected in your notes - however, use your own wording and expression - when you paraphrase info, you are essentially translating the info into your own words

Summary

- statement that captures main idea of passage, turning a large amount of material into a sentence or two - to summarize text, state main idea of text in own word - if you wanted to include only the general central idea from the chapter, rather than any specific facts, the best approach would be to summarize it

Quoting

- to quote from a source, write a sentence or part of a sentence, using the exact wording from the text. - you should use only a few quotations in your research essay, and the ones you use must be carefully selected - quotations should not be used to explain your main points, but rather to support them and lend credibility to your writing

Plagiarism

- when you write a quotation from a source, it is absolutely necessary to make sure that you copy the quotation word for word from the source - the spelling of words, capitalization, and punctuation must all be exactly as they appear in the source - copying a quotation incorrectly is plagiarism, so check your quotation to make sure it matches original text - when you quote from a source, you must indicate that by putting quotation marks around the quoted material - doing so will help you to make sure that you properly document quotations in your essay

Note Card Method

- you will write one quotation, paraphrase, or summary per card, writing only on one side of the index card - before beginning to take notes from a source, first be sure that you have typed/written down the source documentation on another paper - number this list of sources - when you write a note from a source, first write the number of the source in the top right corner of the card.

Brainstorming, making a plan, and evaluating and documenting sources are all necessary parts of the research process that prepare you for...

gathering information.

The three methods of taking notes from sources are:

quoting, paraphrasing, and summarizing