Professional Documents
Culture Documents
The LDU What do we do? 1 Learner Development Profile [LDP] Academic Writing and English Language Development Numeracy Development Support for Dyslexic Students Student Learning Assistants
Tutorials
Ive written my first piece of coursework - is the language formal and academic enough? How do I write a case summary? Could you read my introduction and conclusion and tell me what my grammatical weaknesses are? Could you have a look at my essay plan for this assignment? Do you think Ive referenced this essay correctly? Could I practice my presentation with you?
Academic Writing and Language Development [AWL] We work confidentially with all students: Students with English as 1st language Students with English as a 2nd language Students with English as an additional Language Anyone! Our services are free!
Our aim is to help all Middlesex University students fulfill your potential and achieve as much as possible
What is Plagiarism?
Using language exactly as it is used by someone else in books, articles etc. Using other peoples ideas or theories or facts or knowledge without attribution Paraphrasing / summarising what you read without stating the source Witless paraphrasing To kidnap [plagiarius in Latin = a kidnapper]
What to Reference?
Distinctive ideas belonging to someone who originally proposed the idea as fact / knowledge Information/data from a particular source [e.g. statistical info, case studies, reports] Verbatim phrases / chunks [i.e. quotes / quotations]
Non-common knowledge [? issue what qualifies as common / non-common knowledge ?]
Grey areas Patchwriting, i.e. joining together sentences from various different sources to form a paragraph This will be understood as plagiarism unless detailed references are provided at every stage and for each sentence / extract
Sources inside Sources How will you deal with these? Honestly (i.e. indicate the genuine origin of your material (e.g. Smith 2003 in Johnson 2005)? Or strategically (i.e. just cite the secondary source (e.g. Smith 2003))? (Dishonest but it looks as if youve read the original secondary source = ethos)
Avoiding Plagiarism?
Write notes in your own words Be fanatical about keeping notes of where you get your information from when making notes In your own writing, use a clear & consistent system of referencing Always provide a full list of references in your bibliography When in doubt give a reference!!
Mechanics of Paraphrasing
Change the syntax [i.e. the word order] Change the word class [i.e. verb adjective; verb noun; noun verb etc] Use synonyms
Avoiding Plagiarism?
Really though, its all about understanding The culture The expectations we have of you The reasons The material you read on your programme
you
texts
responses
Why Reference?
To give yourself credibility [i.e. to establish your right to participate] To make yourself persuasive giving evidence in your arguments To give credit to the original author for the original ideas [i.e. respect; face] To give your readers clear and sufficient detail for them to locate idea/s for themselves
Why Reference?
To deflect criticism of the idea/s from you on to your source/s To avoid seeming to plagiarise
[avoiding] plagiarism is actually an issue of face, credibility, persuasion, understanding, interpretation &ownership
And its difficult so
Thinking
Thinking
Writing
Writing
Rerethinking
Rethinking
Rewriting
Some Practice
I really like you, and I think youre a great friend. But I think were going to have to let you go
Mechanics of Paraphrasing
Change the syntax [i.e. the word order] Change the word class [i.e. verb adjective; verb noun; noun verb etc] Use synonyms
The Realities of Paraphrasing/Summarising Whats your purpose? What are you trying to do? Why are you using the material? How does it fit into your writing? How can you use it? How will you use it in your writing? paraphrase / summarise accordingly
Knowing your purposes / aims Knowing why youre using the material Knowing the material itself Understanding how the material fits into the bigger picture [yours and the communitys] genuine paraphrasing / summarising
Thinking
Thinking
Writing
Writing
Rerethinking
Rethinking
Rewriting
you
texts
responses
Language of Reporting
Argue Claim Suggest Show Demonstrate
Summarising Nouns Approach facet characteristic solution trend process aspect stage tendency difficulty manner issue dilemma reason result subject class factor consequence problem step technique category topic element method type feature purpose answer evaluation situation assessment circumstances
Language to Summarise Sources The essence of the argument is that ... In essence, Smiths (2003) argument is that ... Essentially, what Smith (2003) argues is that ... At its heart, what Smith (2003) argues is that ...
Language to Evaluate Sources Echoing , [main clause] Following , [main clause] Deriving from , [main clause] Based on , [main clause] In a , [main clause]
Most surprising of all, Quite rightly, ... ... Even worse, ... Conveniently, ... Disturbingly, ... As might be expected, ...
Conclusions ...
Knowing better what plagiarism actually is Knowing how to avoid it: Religious attention to detail when note-taking (precise source, pinpoint page number, whether your notes are verbatim or already paraphrased) Proper paraphrasing (i.e. moving beyond mechanical altering of lexis, syntax & structure) focusing on & understanding what someone is saying as opposed to what s/he says this requires + SHOWS genuine UNDERSTANDING] Religious attention to referencing (what & how)