Writing to make a difference- while staying out of trouble

Wri$ng to Make A Difference… While Staying Out of Trouble

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Prof. Kim Nicholas Earth Systems Science, LUMES, Lund University

26 August 2016

Rearview Mirror: Thoughts from Yesterday

•  Self-‐awareness: clarify your own rules at the start, consider you might be wrong

•  Eye contact, body language •  Ask ques$ons, listen carefully •  Flexible, adaptable, humor, fair •  Give space for others to express their views

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Outline for today

1.  Why write? 2.  Making academic arguments 3.  Plagiarism and how to avoid it

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Outline for today


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Why do we write?

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Blogs.abc.net.au

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Blogs.abc.net.au

?

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Making the thinking of wri/ng visible…

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Process of wri$ng “Peer Wri$ng Tutors Help Interna$onal, Interdisciplinary Students to Stake their Claim” (Nicholas, Brady, and Rylander, 2015)

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Maybe we should call it academic revising…

Kim’s masters thesis revisions

Photo: Flickr user Amanky

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… and revising, and revising…

Photo: Flickr user natalij

Outline for today


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Here’s a claim: Herb spirals are nice to build!

Greenhouse Educa$onal Ecosystem, Lund. Photo: KAN

Here’s lots of evidence for building a herb spiral!

13 Photo: Wikimedia Commons

But WHY should we build the spiral like that?

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Reasons let you understand the logic and transfer it to new situa$ons

15 Image: hgp://www.zagorska.com/zagorska-‐oasis-‐blog/build-‐your-‐own-‐herb-‐spiral/

Reasons let you understand the logic and transfer it to new situa$ons

16 Image: hgp://www.zagorska.com/zagorska-‐oasis-‐blog/build-‐your-‐own-‐herb-‐spiral/

Be sure you understand context!

What does academic wri$ng do?

Rylander, 2014, p. 3

•  Make an argument!

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WikiHow, “How to win a fist fight.”

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WikiHow, “How to win a fist fight.”

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What’s an academic argument

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essay from the Internet, or copy-pasting passages from other sources into your own text. Other, less obvious cases can occur if you are careless with referencing or unaware of what constitutes independent thinking. This means that, for example, if you find it difficult to construct an argument for a paper on your own and instead use an argument from a source (or parts of arguments from several sources) without giving credit to these sources, then you could be charged with plagiarism. It also means that if you paraphrase a source too closely with or without a citation, you could be charged with plagiarism.

Note that LU’s plagiarism definition specifically emphasizes “lack of independence.” This means, then, that you must hone your independent and critical thinking skills during your studies and should prioritize time to practice your writing skills so that you can successfully communicate independent thinking through text.

For more reading on plagiarism, check out Academic Writing in English at Lund University (AWELU).

Having an argument

Part of appropriately engaging with sources involves constructing your own argument. “Argument” in everyday life often means conflict, but in the academic world it more often means a well-supported idea that is convincingly presented in writing or a presentation. Almost every type of text written at a university has some type of argument, an idea or claim that you want to convince your readers is true.

In The Craft of Research, Booth et. al. (2008) define five elements of an argument: claims, reasons, evidence, counterargument, and warrants. In this introduction, we’ll focus on the first three, which are absolutely essential elements of an argument, with brief explanations of the last two. Here’s how Booth et. al. (2008) formulate the relationship between claims, reasons, and evidence.

The main claim of a paper is the sentence or short section of the text that articulates an assertion that could be true or false (i.e., not a fact). That is, someone could disagree with you and write the opposite paper. If you’re working with a problem or a question in your text, then your main claim will be the solution or the answer. In order to convince the reader that your solution or answer is the best one, you’ll have to present various reasons that your claim is true (these reasons are also known as “sub-claims”), and then present evidence for those reasons. How many sub-claims you need and how much evidence depends on the topic and what you judge your readers’ expectations to be.

CLAIM http://awelu.srv.lu.se/academic-

integrity/plagiarism/

REASON(S) EVIDENCE because of based on

BOOK TIP: They Say/I Say: The Moves That Matter in Academic Writing by Gerald Graff and Cathy Birkenstein (2010). If you can, buy this book. It’s thin, unpretentious, and aims to “demystify the academic conversation.” This means that it plainly explains how and why to use sources and construct an independent argument with templates for the “moves” it describes, as well as exercises for practicing. It also includes short chapters on contributing to classroom discussion (there will be a lot!) and tips for deciphering difficult academic texts.


•  “A well-‐supported idea that is convincingly presented in wri/ng or in a presenta/on.”

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What’s a claim?

Photo: Douglas Newton, Ohio State U

•  A statement that could be true or false (it’s possible to disagree)

•  The solu$on to a problem •  The answer to a ques$on •  Contributes to and advances a

conversa$on (“I Say” in response to “They Say”)

(some$mes called a “thesis statement”) Rylander, 2014, p. 3 21

An excellent claim

“The major claim of the paper is stated clearly at the outset of the paper, and is complex, insighCul, interes/ng, and original, while being specific enough to be answerable. The claim advances our understanding, rather than repea$ng what others have found. The claim responds to a real and important ques/on, tension or problem.”

Nicholas, 2014, PCA Rubric, p. 1 22

How to make claims KIM

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First Draft: Intention Final Draft “In this essay I will discuss how vulnerable Sweden is to the decline in the number and diversity of wild bumblebees, with also including a comparison with the rest of the EU.”

“This essay intends to argue that bumblebees and their pollination services are not of a great economical importance to Sweden.”


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“From my previous studies we were taught not to take a stance, we were only allowed to discuss and analyze, but always being objective. I therefore find it very hard to present a standpoint on a [specific] topic.”

Student:


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“Now to make what we are writing significant and so that ultimately we can produce a thesis that contributes to scientific knowledge, rather than summarises it, we have been asked to write with an opinion.”

Student: Tutor:


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First Draft: Intention Final Draft: Claim “In this essay I will discuss how vulnerable Sweden is to the decline in the number and diversity of wild bumblebees, with also including a comparison with the rest of the EU.”



“Now to make what we are writing significant and so that ultimately we can produce a thesis that contributes to scientific knowledge, rather than summarises it, we have been asked to write with an opinion.”

Student: Tutor:

Claim in the $tle!

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What were some claims from your PCA papers?

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Reasons

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Having an argument








•  Claims don’t exist in a vacuum •  You need a relevant mo/va/on to support your

claim, and answer “why is your claim right?” •  Hint: “Because I feel or think so” is not a good

enough reason to convince others!

Rylander, 2014, p. 3-‐4 29

What were some reasons from your PCA papers?

How do we know that your claim COULD be true?

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Evidence

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Having an argument








•  DATA! (also called “empirical material”) •  Two sources of data:

•  Original research (your own observa$ons and analysis)

•  Secondary research (using the direct observa$ons and analysis of others)

Rylander, 2014, p. 3-‐4 31

What evidence did you use to support your claim in your PCA?

•  How do we know that your claim IS true?

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Using Others’ Work •  We absolutely need the work of others to engage in the conversa$on and contribute to academic wri$ng and develop independent and cri/cal thinking skills

•  It is absolutely essen$al to use and give credit to the ideas of others fairly

•  Failing to do so is plagiarism

•  Fortunately, approaching your work in the right way will both make your wri$ng stronger, and ensure you avoid plagiarism. 33

Outline for today


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What is plagiarism?

Slide from Ladaea Rylander, LU Academic Support Centre 35

2012 policy says…

“Plagiarism is a lack of independence in the design and/or wording of academic work presented by a student compared to the level of independence required by the educa$onal context.”


2012 policy says…

“Deceilul plagiarism is a lack of independence combined with an intent on the part of the student to present the work of others as his or her own.”


Why does plagiarism maRer?

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Is this cheating/plagiarism? Yes Maybe

No

1. Submitting someone else’s work as one’s own

2. Submitting an essay a friend has written with the friend’s permission to use it as one’s own

3. Copying a text word for word and acknowledging where the text is from without using quotation marks

4. Paraphrasing a text and acknowledging where the text is from without using quotation marks

5. Paraphrasing a text by copying and pasting, then changing some words and including a reference

7. Referring to sources in a book or article without having read the original sources oneself

8. Omitting results that disagree with the results one is aiming for

10. Recycling what one has written in previous essays or papers

11. Allowing a course mate to read and (possibly) copy one’s own text

12. Not handing in an assignment on time and falsely claiming that the delay is due to illness

13. Draw conclusions and make statements without making any references

14. Copying a chart or a diagram from a website without properly acknowledging its source

15. Using a commonly known fact without citing a source

16. Using someone else’s ideas, rewriting them and including a reference

Adapted from Hult, Å., Hult, H. (2003) Att fuska och plagiera - ett sätt att leva eller ett sätt att överleva? (To cheat and plagiarise – a way of life or a way of survival?) Report nr 6, p.33, Linköping University, Centre for Learning and Teaching”. Available at: http://www.liu.se/cul/filarkiv-cul/1.94087/CULrapportnr62003.pdf

How does plagiarism happen?

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How does plagiarism happen?

•  Inten$onal deceit (paying others, using en$re essays or sec$ons of other’s work)

•  Much more common: uninten$onal –  Transcribing original text as notes and forgemng they are not your words

– Working too much on a sentence level and rephrasing text too literally

–  Struggling with developing your own argument, and using an argument from other sources without proper agribu$on

–  Struggling with language and over-‐relying on other’s words –  Not giving credit where credit is due with proper cita$ons

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How to avoid plagiarism

1.  Read to understand the source 2.  Incorporate sources fairly

1.  Develop good prac$ce in summarizing and paraphrasing 2.  Fairly agribute ideas to their source 3.  Understand and follow APA cita$on to clearly indicate

origin of ideas

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read

•  iden$fy claims in others’ texts and their strengths and weaknesses

•  evaluate others’ argumenta$on

•  decipher the conversa$on others engage in

•  assess wri$ng norms in your field

to understand the source


incorporate sources

• Summarize • Paraphrase • Quote • Reference


incorporate sources


Focuses on main ideas in the text as a whole


Tip! Plagiarism is ooen easily detectable by shios in language quality. It’s beger to use your own words with gramma$cal mistakes than take text without mistakes as your own. Plagiarism is a much worse offense than poor grammar.


Good wri$ng is simple wri$ng. Don’t use big words to try to sound smart. Use simple words well to show you understand big ideas.

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incorporate sources


Rewording of a sentence-‐level

detail in a source’s text


Tip! A proper paraphrase uses less than 20% of source’s language. More than 20% and you approach patchwri$ng territory.


Image: hgp://www.hacker9.com/why-‐you-‐should-‐never-‐copy-‐paste-‐your-‐passwords.html

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Image: hgp://www.hacker9.com/why-‐you-‐should-‐never-‐copy-‐paste-‐your-‐passwords.html

Never copy + paste

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incorporate sources


Source’s exact words in quota/on

marks.


Tip! Summarize and paraphrase more than quote directly.


incorporate sources


Acknowledgment of source use both in-‐

text and in a reference list


Clear & fair agribu$on

Human impact on the environment can be represented as the combina$on of the effects of four factors: popula$on, affluence, consump$on, and technology. Popula$on is no longer the dominant driver of impact; instead, changes in affluence and consump$on are driving impacts from biodiversity loss in developing countries, to tremendously inefficient use of land and resources for agriculture. (Cassidy, et al., 2013; Lenzen, et al., 2012; Waggoner & Ausubel, 2002).

Kim’s summary of connec0ons between readings in class

It’s not clear which author made which claim


Kim’s summary of connec0ons between readings in class so far. 57

It’s not clear which author made which claim


Kim’s summary of connec0ons between readings in class so far. 58

Human impact on the environment can be represented as the combina$on of the effects of four factors: popula$on, affluence, consump$on, and technology (Waggoner & Ausubel, 2002). Popula$on is no longer the dominant driver of impact; instead, changes in affluence and consump$on are driving impacts from biodiversity loss in developing countries (Lenzen, et al., 2012), to tremendously inefficient use of land and resources for agriculture (Cassidy, et al., 2013).

Kim’s summary of connec0ons between readings in class so far.

Put authors directly next to their claims within or at the end of each sentence.

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Human impact on the environment can be represented as the combina$on of the effects of four factors: popula$on, affluence, consump$on, and technology (Waggoner & Ausubel, 2002). Popula$on is no longer the dominant driver of impact; instead, changes in affluence and consump$on are driving impacts from biodiversity loss in developing countries (Lenzen, et al., 2012), to tremendously inefficient use of land and resources for agriculture (Cassidy, et al., 2013).

Kim’s summary of connec0ons between readings in class so far.

Put authors directly next to their claims within or at the end of each sentence.

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61 hgp://www.kimnicholas.com/blog/academic-‐source-‐use-‐checklist

EndNote is your friend

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Tip! When taking notes, don’t focus on the text’s sentence level.

Slide modified from Ladaea Rylander, LU Academic Support Centre 63

Wri$ng exercise to avoid plagairism

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The original passage: Students frequently overuse direct quota$on in taking notes, and as a result they overuse quota$ons in the final [research] paper. Probably only about 10% of your final manuscript should appear as directly quoted mager. Therefore, you should strive to limit the amount of exact transcribing of source materials while taking notes. -‐Lester, James D. Wri$ng Research Papers. 2nd ed. (1976): 46-‐47.

Exercise from Purdue Online Wri$ng Lab: hgp://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/619/01/

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A legi/mate summary (OK!) •  Students should take just a few notes in direct quota$on from sources to help minimize the amount of quoted material in a research paper (Lester, 1976, p. 46-‐47).

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A legi/mate paraphrase (OK!) A legi/mate paraphrase: •  In research papers students ooen quote excessively, failing to keep quoted material down to a desirable level. Since the problem usually originates during note taking, it is essen$al to minimize the material recorded verba$m (Lester, 1976, p. 46-‐47).

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This is Plagiarism! The original passage: Students frequently overuse direct quota$on in taking notes, and as a result they overuse quota$ons in the final [research] paper. Probably only about 10% of your final manuscript should appear as directly quoted mager. Therefore, you should strive to limit the amount of exact transcribing of source materials while taking notes. A plagiarized version: Students ooen use too many direct quota$ons when they take notes, resul$ng in too many of them in the final research paper. In fact, probably only about 10% of the final copy should consist of directly quoted material. So it is important to limit the amount of source material copied while taking notes.

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How Urkund Detects Plagairism

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Plagiarism is treated as a serious crime

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hgp://blog.fieldoo.com/2014/02/want-‐to-‐be-‐the-‐next-‐ronaldo-‐prac$ce-‐10000-‐hours/ 71

Wri$ng is a skill developed through prac$ce

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Resources The Harvard Guide to Source Use hgp://usingsources.fas.harvard.edu/icb/icb.do

Recognizing and Avoiding Plagiarism Quiz Cornell University, College of Arts and Sciences hgps://plagiarism.arts.cornell.edu/tutorial/exercises/ques$ons.cfm

They Say/I Say: The Moves That MaRer in Persuasive Wri/ng By Gerald Graff and Cathy Birkenstein

AWELU hgp://awelu.srv.lu.se/

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APA Guides for proper cita$on •  In-‐text cita$ons hgp://blog.apastyle.org/apastyle/2011/01/wri$ng-‐in-‐text-‐cita$ons-‐in-‐apa-‐style.html •  You will find a quick overview guide showing correct formamng and use of the APA style here: hgp://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/

•  Ci$ng figures & tables hgp://blog.apastyle.org/apastyle/tables-‐and-‐figures/ •  You may also watch a short video tutorial explaining the use of APA cita$on here: hgp://www.apastyle.org/learn/tutorials/basics-‐tutorial.aspx

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From Jamieson, S. and R.M. Howard (2013). “Sentence-‐Mining: Uncovering the Amount of Reading and Reading Comprehension in College Writers’ Researched Wri$ng.” The New Digital Scholar: exploring and enriching the research and wri0ng prac0ces of NextGen students. New Jersey: American Society for Informa$on Science and Technology. P. 109-‐131

Paraphrase

Patchwri/ng

76 Slide from Ladaea Rylander, LU Academic Support Centre

Resources for Prac$ce •  hgp://www.lub.lu.se/en/student/academic-‐conduct/urkund.html

•  Academic Support Centre at Lund University hFp://www.lunduniversity.lu.se/current-‐students/academic-‐support-‐centre •  Academic Wri0ng in English at Lund University (AWELU for short): hgp://awelu.srv.lu.se/

•  Purdue Online Wri$ng Lab hgp://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/sec$on/1/

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Writing to make a difference- while staying out of trouble

Education