College Writing Midterm

What does McClure mean by the term "recursive preliminary research"?

"Deepen your understanding. Formulate a working thesis. Reread the pages as Edward has done here. This is recursive preliminary research, a process that will strengthen your research and your writing."

What is the ALA definition of Information Literacy?

"a set of abilities requiring individuals to recognize when information is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate, and use effectively the needed information"

-Be able to describe the chief difference between MLA and APA citation styles and what that difference says about what APA and MLA deem to be the most important information.

- APA is predominantly used in the social sciences while MLA is predominantly used in the liberal arts and humanities - MLA follows the author-page format and APA follows the author-date format. An APA-formatted paper includes the author's last name and year of publication in parenthesis after the cited text. An MLA-formatted paper includes the author's last name and page number in parenthesis after the text.

-Can you overanalyze a quotation?

-Depends on quotation.. -If it's long and complex, filled with details or jargon, or contains hidden complexity.. Most explanation -When in doubt, go for it. It's better to be overly explicit.

-Describe how to determine the credibility of a popular periodical source

-Who is supplying content?(author/publisher) -What are author's credentials? -Is this a personal or official publication? -Has this source been cited?

-Define the following: WRLC, Library Catalog, SearchBox, Google Scholar (AU Version), ProQuest Central

- Washington Research Library Consortium: established as a non-profit corporation in 1987 to support and enhance the library and information services of universities in the Washington, DC metropolitan are. Consists of 9 universities.The WRLC community encompasses over 110,000 students, 9,000 faculty, and more than 600 library staff. - Library catalog:

-How do Boolean Operators: AND, OR, NOT limit a search?

-AND: To find only those items which contain all of your keywords -OR: Allows a database to help you determine which keyword or topic is best by searching for both -NOT: Rules out articles by eliminating suggestions you don't want.

-Be able to judge the quality of research questions (from IL Tutorial, Section One)

-Can the answer to your question be logically or legally obtained? -Can your question be answered within your page limit? -Is your question too narrow?

-Be able to identify with reasonable certainty that a source is scholarly by examining its citation, abstract, and first page.

-Citation: On first page it should say journal title, volume/issue numbers, and page numbers. May be at top or bottom of page -Abstract: you should know the article's objective, how research was done, what the authors found, and why this research contributes to the field. -First page: Needs citation, title, authors, abstract, intro

-Be able to judge a series of search strings to determine which one would work best with a specific research question.

-Evaluate strength of keywords, manipulate the list of results.

What are the complete rules for paraphrasing a source?

-Include all main points and any important details from the original source in the same order. Put the original source aside so you don't follow it too closely -If you want to include any of the same language enclose it in quotations -Save your comments, elaborations, or reactions -Record the author, shortened title, and pages -Make sure you have a corresponding working-bibliography entry -Label the note with a subject heading, and identify it as a paraphrase to avoid confusion with a summary -Recheck to be sure that the words and structures are your own but they express the meaning accurately

-G/B offers advice about how to get average readers to care "who don't necessarily have a strong investment in the particular clash of views you are setting up." Accurately describe that advice.

-Introducing the larger consequences of your claims by appealing to something the reader may already care about.

-Define what Irvin means when he states that academic writing is an argument and an analysis.

-It is an argument in that it is a carefully arranged and supported presentation of a viewpoint. -It is an analysis because you seek HOW and WHY, rather than WHAT. An analysis breaks a subject apart to study it closely, and from this inspection, ideas for writing emerge.

Analogy that writing is like entering a conversation at a party

-Means you are responding to a text you must put in context and interact with it as you make your points. -Similar to listening in on a conversation and listen to what they say in order to generate your own ideas. -See writing as conversating

two distinct reasons why you should use metacommentary in academic essays.

-Metacommentary is a way of commenting on your claims and telling others how -and how not - to think about them To Clarity → sometimes readers have unexpected responses and other times they can get lost . They could understand the argument but get lost at the conclusion and this avoids false interpretation. To Elaborate → helps you develop your ideas and generate more text, will give you more length and depth. Will extract the full potential from your ideas

-What are four important characteristics/qualities of a scholarly article?

-Original research is reported. -Specialized knowledge is required and/or assumed. -Specialized vocabulary and concepts are used without explanation or definition. -Pictures are usually not include, and are only used in an informative context. -Advertisements are not included. -Bibliography/ works cited included. -In text citations/ footnotes/ endnotes used.

-What is the definition of a scholarly article (from class)?

-Original works by scholars, for scholars. -Peer reviewed -CRAAP tested? -Written by a professional that's an expert in their field

-Be able to differentiate between a scholarly, trade/professional, and scholarly periodical article.

-Scholarly: Written for scholarly audience -Trade/Professional: Written for an audience of professionals in the field. May resemble scholarly journal articles or popular magazine articles. -Scholarly periodical: scholarly article that comes out weekly, monthly.. etc.

Rosenberg points out that there are four things that a reader should learn from a scholarly article's abstract. Name those four things.

-The main problem or question -The approach (how did the author(s) do the work they write about in the article?) -The shiny new thing that this article does (more on this later, but to be published in an academic journal you often need to argue that you are doing something that has not been done before) -Why people who are already invested in this field should care (in other words, you should be able to figure out why another academic should find the article important).

What are the reasons why writers avoid summarizing texts?

-They don't want to go back and wrestle with what the text says -They are afraid they are devoting too much time to other people's idea instead of their own

Name two of the ways that writer's summarize incorrectly.

-When they cannot or will not suspend their own beliefs (not playing the "believing game") -When they give the summary but then immediately rush to their own response (keep in mind this is the natural thing to do) -When they don't give the author's actual view, but a similar cliche that they think is correct ("the closest cliche syndrome")

What are the five information behaviors "that most teachers and librarians find disconcerting?"

-searching in Wikipedia or Google -power browsing quickly through websites for ideas and quotes -cutting-and-pasting information from the Web into one's own writing without providing proper attribution for it -viewing information as free, accurate, and trustworthy -treating online information as equal to print information

Be able to identify situations that would qualify as Academic Integrity Code violations.

1. Plagiarism representation of someone else's words, ideas, or work as one's own without attribution. Plagiarism may involve using someone else's wording without using quotation marks-a distinctive name, a phrase, a sentence, or an entire passage or essay. Misrepresenting sources is another form of plagiarism. The issue of plagiarism applies to any type of work, including exams, papers, or other writing, computer programs, art, music, photography, video, and other media. 2. Inappropriate Collaboration Inappropriate collaboration occurs when work that the professor presumes is original to the student is in fact the product of collaboration so close that the originality is no longer individual to the student. Professors often expect students to study together, to brainstorm together, and to read and criticize each other's work; group projects also require much collaboration. However, these forms of appropriate collaboration become inappropriate when the originality of the work is lost. In addition, for many assignments, such as take-home examinations and some homework assignments, professors specifically limit or restrict collaboration, requiring that all of the work is entirely the student's own. Before submitting work, students should clarify with their professors what forms of collaboration are appropriate for that assignment. 3. Dishonesty in examinations 4. Dishonesty in papers 5. Work done for one class and turned in for another 6. Fabrication of data 7. Interference with another's work 8. Bribes, favors, threats 9. Copyright violations 10. Other academic misconduct (there are more not specified for any situation)

Define the CRAAP test.

Currency: The timeliness of the information Relevance: The importance of the information for your needs Authority: The source of the information Accuracy: The reliability, truthfulness, and correctness of the informational content Purpose: The reason the information exists

How does McClure define Presearch?

Some teachers and librarians might argue against it, but I believe starting a search for information in Wikipedia has its benefits. It is difficult enough to write a college-level argumentative essay on a topic you know well. For a topic you know little about, you need to first learn more about it. Getting a basic understanding of the topic or issue through an encyclopedia, even an online one, has been a recommended practice for decades. Some librarians and teachers question the reliability of online encyclopedias like Wikipedia, but this is not the point of the instruction I am offering to you. I want you to keep going, to not stop your search after consulting Wikipedia. To use it as a starting point, not a final destination

Graff/Birk state: "Yet many writers make a host of mistakes when it comes to quoting..." describe two of those mistakes.

Writers who quote too little: They don't want to go bother to go back to original text to find author's original text or they think they can reconstruct authors ideas from memory. Writers who overquote: they end up with texts that are so short on their own commentary (can come from lack of confidence to analyze and add commentary to quotes or dont fully understand the quote and have trouble explaining what the quotation means)

Explain what Graff/Birk mean by "agree—but with a difference."

You need to do more than just echo what you agree with, make sure to contribute something of your own. -Cite personal evidence -Can provide an accessible translation if the text is hard to understand -X is right about ____ because, recent studies have shown ___ -For those that are unaware it basically boils down to ____