Writing from Writing from sources (2)sources (2)

paraphrase, summary, précis paraphrase, summary, précis and referencingand referencing

QuotationsUsed for:• support (appeal to authority);• to preserve vivid or technical language;• to analyse or comment on the quotation;• to distance oneself from the quotation

Paraphrase• Literal paraphrase: a word-for-word

substitution, staying close to the sentence structure of the original text.

• Free paraphrase: moves away from the words and sentence structure of the original text and presents ideas in the paraphraser’s own style and idiom; it can summarise repetitious parts of the original, but it will present ideas in much the same order.

Read the text below and then decide which is the best paraphrase, (a) or

(b).• Ancient Egypt collapsed

in about 2180 BC. Studies conducted of the mud from the River Nile showed that at this time the mountainous regions which feed the Nile suffered from a prolonged drought. This would have had a devastating effect on the ability of Egyptian society to feed itself.

• a) The sudden ending of Egyptian civilisation over 4,000 years ago was probably caused by changes in the weather in the region to the south. Without the regular river flooding there would not have been enough food.

• b) Research into deposits of the Egyptian Nile indicate that a long dry period in the mountains at the river’s source may have led to a lack of water for irrigation around 2180BC, which was when the collapse of Egyptian society began.

Techniques• changing vocabulary:

______________________________• changing word-class:

______________________________• changing word-order:

______________________________

Summary• A condensation of ideas or information provided

by a source.• It does not include examples or repetitions.• It is often used as part of a larger essay.• Guidelines for writing a summary:

– Find the most important information that tells what the paragraph or group of paragraphs is about.

– Use this information to write a topic sentence. – Find 2 or 3 main ideas and important details that support

your topic sentence and show how they are related. – Keep the ideas and facts in a logical order that expands

on your topic sentence. – Combine several main ideas into a single sentence. – Substitute a general term for lists of items or events. – Do not include unimportant or minor details. – Do not repeat information.

Read and translate the following excerpt from Machiavelli’s The Prince.

It is not, therefore, necessary for a prince to have [good faith and integrity], but it is very necessary to seem to have them. I would even be bold to say that to possess them and always to observe them is dangerous, but to appear to possess them is useful. Thus it is well to seem merciful, faithful, humane, sincere, religious, and also to be so; but you must have the mind so disposed that when it is needful to be otherwise you may be able to change to the opposite qualities. And it must be understood that a prince, and especially a new prince, cannot observe all those things which are considered good in men, being often obliged, in order to maintain the state, to act against faith, against clarity, against humanity, and against religion. And therefore, he must have a mind disposed to adapt itself according to the wind, and as the variations of fortune dictate, and … not deviate from what is good, if possible, but be able to do evil if constrained.A prince must take great care that nothing goes out of his mouth which is not full of the above-mentioned five qualities, and to see and hear him, he should seem to be all mercy, faith, integrity, humanity, and religion … Everyone sees what you appear to be, few feel what you are, and those few will not dare to oppose themselves to the many, who have the majesty of the state to defend them; and in the actions of men, and especially of princes, from which there is no appeal, the end justifies the means. Let a prince therefore aim at conquering and maintaining the state, and the means will always be judged honourable and praised by every one, for the vulgar are always taken by appearances and the issue of the event; and the world consists only of the vulgar, and the few who are not vulgar are isolated when the many have a rallying point in the prince.

(original)

It is more important for a ruler to give the impression of goodness than to be good. In fact, real goodness can be a liability, but the pretence is always very effective. It is all very well to be virtuous, but it is vital to be able to shift in the other direction whenever circumstances require it. After all, rulers, and especially recently elevated ones, have a duty to perform which may absolutely require them to act against the dictates of faith and compassion and kindness. One must act as circumstances require and, while it’s good to be virtuous if you can, it’s better to be bad if you must.In public, however, the ruler should appear to be entirely virtuous, and if his pretence is successful with the majority of people, then those who do see through the act will be outnumbered and impotent, especially since the ruler has the authority of government on his side. In the case of rulers, even more than for most men, “the end justifies the means.” If the ruler is able to assume power and administer it successfully, his methods will always be judged proper and satisfactory; for the common people will accept the pretence of virtue and the reality of success, and the astute will find no one is listening to their warnings.

(paraphrase)

According to Machivelli, perpetuating power is a more important goal for a ruler than achieving personal goodness or integrity. Although he should act virtuously if he can, and always appear to do so, it is more important for him to adapt quickly to changing circumstances. The masses will be so swayed by his pretended virtue and by his success that any opposition will be ineffective. The wise ruler’s maxim is that “the end justifies the means.”

(summary)

Consider the following paraphrase and summary of the previous excerpt. What differences can you establish

between them?

Comparing paraphrase and summary

Paraphrase Summary•Reports your understanding to your reader

•Reports your understanding to your reader

•Records a relatively short passage

•Records a passage of any length

•Records every point in the passage

•Selects and condenses, recording only the main ideas

•Records these points consecutively

•Changes the order of ideas when necessary

•Includes no interpretation •Explains and interprets

Précis• A précis is a highly polished

summary, which often uses direct quotation from the original source.

• It preserves the tone of the original (doubt, skepticism, optimism, etc.)

• It may be used to review a piece of writing or to write a plot summary.

Compare the following passage from H. Marcuse’s “Essay on Liberation” (1969)

with its summary and précis. • In the affluent society, capitalism comes into its own. The two

mainsprings of its dynamic – the escalation of commodity production and productive exploitation – join and permeate all dimensions of private and public existence. The available material and intellectual resources [the potential of liberation] have so much overgrown the established institutions that only the systematic increase in waste, destruction and management keeps the system going. The opposition which escapes suppression by the police, the courts, the representatives of the people, and the people themselves, finds expression in the diffused rebellion among the youth and the intelligentsia, and in the daily struggle of the persecuted minorities. The armed class struggle is waged outside: by the wretched of the earth who fight the affluent monster.

Summary

• Capitalism dominates the affluent society at all levels. By enlarging the range and intensity of its influence, it neutralises most potential rebels, leaving only the abjectly poor to fight it.

Précis

• Capitalism, the systematic consumer of all resources, dominates affluent society at every level. Fundamentally wasteful and tyrannical, it enlarges the range and intensity of its influence, destroying or emasculating most potential rebels, leaving only “the wretched of the earth” to fight it.

Referencing• Correct and consistent use of a standard referencing

convention is essential in producing a report, thesis or paper.

• Referencing a source involves two separate steps:– indicating in the body of a piece of work that some material is

not entirely original, by providing a short 'identifier' for its source (a reference in the text)

– listing, in a separate section of the work, the full details of the source (in a list of references).

• Referencing in the text:– Endnotes or footnotes;– Parenthetical notes;– Explanatory notes;– Umbrella notes.

• Listing references:– References – Bibliography– Annotated bibliography

Which are the differences in the following two referencing

styles?Hemingway’s zest for life extended to women also. His wandering heart seemed only to be exceeded by an even more appreciative eye.7 Hadley was aware of her husband’s flirtations and of his facility with women.8 Yet, she had no idea that something was going on between Hemingway and Pauline Pfeiffer, a fashion editor for Vogue magazine.9 She was also unaware that Hemingway delayed his return to Schruns from a business trip to New York, in February 1926, so that he might spend some more time with this “new and strange girl.”10

_______________________________________________________________________________________7 Ernest Hemingway, A Moveable Feast (New York: Scribner’s, 1964), p.

102.8 Alice Hunt Sokoloff, Hadley: The First Mrs. Hemingway (New York: Dodd,

Mead, 1973), p. 84.9 Carlos Baker, Ernest Hemingway: A Life Story (New York: Scribner’s,

1969), p. 159.10 Hemingway, op. cit., p. 210. Also Baker, op. cit., p. 165.

Hemingway’s zest for life extended to women also. His wandering heart seemed only to be exceeded by an even more appreciative eye (Hemingway 1964: 102). Hadley was aware of her husband’s flirtations and of his facility with women (Sokoloff 1973: 84). Yet, she had no idea that something was going on between Hemingway and Pauline Pfeiffer, a fashion editor for Vogue magazine (Baker 1969: 159). She was also unaware that Hemingway delayed his return to Schruns from a business trip to New York, in February 1926, so that he might spend some more time with this “new and strange girl.” (Hemingway 1964: 210; Baker, 1969: 165)

References1. Baker, Carlos (1969), Ernest Hemingway: A Life Story, New

York: Scribner’s.2. Hemingway, Ernest (1964), A Moveable Feast, New York:

Scribner’s.3. Sokoloff, Alice Hunt (1973), Hadley: The First Mrs. Hemingway,

New York: Dodd, Mead.

Referencing systems• There are a number of different referencing

systems used in academic writing. They broadly subdivide into:

– author-date systems;

– footnoting or endnoting systems (one variation: the Numbered system, i.e. a numbered citation is inserted into the text whenever a work is referred to. E.g. The notion of an invisible college has been explored in the sciences[26].)

Referencing Styles• The Harvard Style: a generic term for any style which

contains author-date references in the text of the document, such as (Smith 1999). There will also be a list of references at the end of the document, arranged by authors' names and year of publication. There is no official manual of the Harvard style: it is just a generic term for the many styles which follow that format.

• The Chicago Manual of Style: the most widely consulted of all style manuals, it includes provisions for footnote referencing, numbered reference lists and author-date referencing. Its footnote referencing system is widely used in the arts and humanities. Its author/date referencing provisions are also widely used, and constitute one of the many variants of the Harvard style.

• APA (American Psychological Association): is the standard style used in Psychology, but it is also widely used in other disciplines, especially in the Social Sciences. It is one of the many variants of the Harvard style.

• MLA (Modern Language Association of America): is widely used in the fields of modern literature and linguistics. MLA referencing uses Harvard-style references in the text of the document, but without the year of publication. It no longer has provisions for footnote referencing.

Harvard• Harvard is a generic term for any style which contains

author-date references in the text of the document, such as (Smith 1999). There will also be a list of references at the end of the document, arranged by authors' names and year of publication. There is no official manual of the Harvard style: it is just a generic term for the many styles which follow that format. A reference in the text or reference consists of a name - e.g. one or more surnames or the name of an organization - and a date, e.g. "Smith (2005)", "(Wilson & Patel 2007)" or "United Nations (1948)". (Other systems involve numbers, e.g. "[12]" or "12", or invented identifiers, e.g. "[Smi2005]".)

• The list of references is sorted by name (including initials if appropriate) and date. (Other systems may sort by the numerical or alphabetic order of the references in the text.)

References in the text• There are two ways of citing references in the text: • Author prominent

– This way gives prominence to the author by using the author’s surname (family name) as part of your sentence with the date and the page number in parentheses (round brackets).

• Direct quote example:– Cowie (1996, p. 91) argues that ‘socialism rejected the liberal ideals of

individualism and competition’.• Paraphrase example

– Cowie (1996) suggests that unlike capitalism, socialism promotes the good of the whole before the good of the individual.

• Information prominent– The other way of citing references gives prominence to the

information, with all the required referencing details in parentheses at the end of the citation.

• Direct quote example:– It has been argued that ‘socialism rejected the liberal ideals of individualism

and competition’ (Cowie 1996, p. 91).• Paraphrase example

– Unlike capitalism, socialism promotes the good of the whole before the good of the individual (Cowie 1996).

Page Numbers• Page numbers should be used when you directly quote

material (word for word) from the original publication. • Page numbers should also be provided for indirect

quotes and paraphrasing where the summarised material appears in specific pages, chapters or sections.

– One page referred to: (Wells 1992, p. 4)– Pages that are not in sequence: (Smith 1996, pp. 1, 4

& 6)– Pages that are in sequence: (Jones & Mackay 1998,

pp. 25–26)– Pages from a web site: (Kelly & McWhirter 1997, p. 1

of 2)

• An alternative to "p." or "pp." which is sometimes found is the use of a colon: cf (Jones 1980, p. 12) / (Jones 1980:12).

Features of the reference list

• For a book, the following elements should be presented in this order:• surname and initials of author(s)• year of publication• title of book (in italics)• the edition, for example, 4th edn, if not the original

publication• publisher• place of publication.

e.g. Shearman, D. & Sauer-Thompson, G. 1997, Green or Gone, Wakefield Press, Kent Town.

Shearman, D., Sauer-Thompson, G. (1997), Green or Gone, Kent Town: Wakefield Press.

• For a journal article, the following elements should be presented in this order:• surname and initials of author(s)• year of publication• title of article in quotation marks• title of journal or periodical in italics and maximal

capitalisation• volume number where applicable• issue number or other identifier where applicable, for

example, Winter• page number(s).

– e.g. Stove, R.J. 1999, ‘Xenophobia: the great local content myth’, Institute of Public Affairs Review, vol. 51, no. 1, pp. 14–16.

Stove, R.J. (1999), ‘Xenophobia: the great local content myth’, Institute of Public Affairs Review, 51(1), pp. 14–16.

• For an electronic resource, include:• author and date• title• date viewed• URL address or name of database.

– e.g. Kennedy, I. 2004, ‘An assessment strategy to help forestall plagiarism problems’, Studies in Learning, Evaluation, Innovation and Development, vol. 1, no. 1, viewed 7 October 2005, http://www.sleid.cqu.edu.au/viewissue.php?id=5

– Kennedy, I. (2004) ‘An assessment strategy to help forestall plagiarism problems’, Studies in Learning, Evaluation, Innovation and Development, vol. 1, no. 1, http://www.sleid.cqu.edu.au/viewissue.php?id=5 [accessed 7 Oct. 2005]

Arranging the reference list1. The reference list is arranged in alphabetical order according to the

author’s family name. (Do not use numbers, letters or bullet points to begin each entry.)

2. Any reference that starts with a number (e.g. 7:30 Report) precedes the alphabetical listing and is listed numerically.

3. Where there is more than one author of a publication, maintain the order of their names as they appear on the title page of the publication, even if they are not in alphabetical order on the title page.

4. If a reference has no author, list it alphabetically according to the sponsoring body, for example, CSIRO or Education Queensland.

5. If there is no author or sponsoring body, list alphabetically according to the title. The whole title of the resource must appear, but when listing alphabetically, ignore words such as, ‘The’, ‘A’, ‘An’ at the beginning of the reference’s title.

6. If there are two or more references by the same author, then list them in order of publication date with the oldest work first.

7. If references by the same author have been published in the same year, then list them alphabetically according to the title and add the letter ‘a’ after the first date, and ‘b’ after the second date, and so on, (e.g. 1993a, 1993b, 1993c).

Formats for referencing• A complete book.

– Jones, P.J. (1980), Introduction to Algorithms, London: Methuen. Jones, P.J., Smith, R. & Watson, E.P. (eds) (1988), Artificial Intelligence Reconsidered (2nd edition), New York: Wiley.

• A chapter in an edited book.– Hamza, K.A. (1988), "Vision Systems", in Jones, P.J., Smith, R. & Watson, E.P. (eds),

Artificial Intelligence Reconsidered (2nd edition), New York: Wiley, pp. 12-34.• An article in a journal.

– Carson, P.R. (1970), "An Approach to Intelligent Planning", Journal of Applied Artificial Intelligence 38(3), 4-11.

• An article from a bound volume of conference proceedings.– Jones, P.J. (1983), "An Attempt to Construct a Knowledge-based Route Planner",

Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Transport Planning, Budapest: Hungarian Transport Association, pp. 212-58.

• An article you have obtained which was read at conference whose proceedings seem not to have been published.

– Jones, P.J., Richards, M., Zhao, C.H. & Reynolds, P.E. (1988), "The Use of BASIC in AI", paper read to the annual meeting of the Norwegian Association for Computer Education, August, Oslo, Norway.

• A report produced in 'duplicated' form by an academic or research institution.

– Jones, P.J. (1987), "An Algorithm for Distributed Intelligent Route Planning with a BASIC Implementation", Report #32, Intelligent Transport Laboratories, 38 West Avenue, Forked Springs, California, USA.

Referencing Online Sources

• Some documents appear both in printed form and on the web, in which case the printed form should treated as primary, although the URL can usefully be given as additional information in the list of references, for example by adding a note of the form "[online at URL, accessed FULL_DATE]".

• Where a work is only published on the web, if the author and date of 'publication' can be found then the author's name and the date can be used as a reference in the text in the normal way. For example: – Coxhead (2007) states that ...– The entry in the list of references: Coxhead, P. 2007, "A Referencing Style

Guide", http://www.cs.bham.ac.uk/~pxc/refs/refs.html [accessed 2 Apr 2007].• With web pages, it is often necessary to use the name of an

organization instead of the name of the author. Note that Wikipedia is not a primary source (although often a good provider of references to original sources). Wikipedia articles are mainly useful as overviews; see, for example:– Wikipedia 2007, "Harvard referencing", online at http://

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Harvard_referencing [accessed 2 Apr 2007].• If the date of publication cannot be found, one possibility is to use the

date on which the URL was last visited.

Referencing TV programmes, videos,

motion pictures• For a recording of a TV show, use the date the program was aired:

– A Current Affair (video recording) 18 January 2003, Australian Consolidated Press, Sydney, Director, Megan James.

• For a video recording, use the date it was produced. Sometimes, you will not be able to find the individual producer or director’s name – make sure you at least indicate the company or organisation that produced it.– Babakiueria (video recording) 1991, Australian Broadcasting

Commission, Sydney. • Even if you view a video copy of a film, indicate that it was

produced as a motion picture, and name the producer or director:– The Dead Poet’s Society (motion picture) 1992, Fox Studios, Los

Angeles, Producer Peter Weir.Filmography: – Je vous trouve très beau (2006). Dir. Isabelle Mergault. France.

The Humanities Style (Chicago Manual)

• Book• One author• N:

– 1. Wendy Doniger, Splitting the Difference (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1999), 65.

• B: – Doniger, Wendy. Splitting the Difference. Chicago: University of Chicago Press,

1999. • Two authors• N:

– 6. Guy Cowlishaw and Robin Dunbar, Primate Conservation Biology (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 104–7.

• B: – Cowlishaw, Guy and Robin Dunbar. Primate Conservation Biology. Chicago:

University of Chicago Press, 2000. • Four or more authors• N:

– 13. Edward O. Laumann et al., The Social Organization of Sexuality: Sexual Practices in the United States (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1994), 262.

• B: – Laumann, Edward O., John H. Gagnon, Robert T. Michael, and Stuart Michaels. The

Social Organization of Sexuality: Sexual Practices in the United States. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1994.

• Editor, translator, or compiler instead of author

• N: – 4. Richmond Lattimore, trans., The Iliad of Homer (Chicago:

University of Chicago Press, 1951), 91–92. • B:

– Lattimore, Richmond, trans. The Iliad of Homer. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1951.

• Editor, translator, or compiler in addition to author

• N: – 16. Yves Bonnefoy, New and Selected Poems, ed. John

Naughton and Anthony Rudolf (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995), 22.

• B: – Bonnefoy, Yves. New and Selected Poems. Edited by John

Naughton and Anthony Rudolf. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995.

• Chapter or other part of a book• N:

– 5. Andrew Wiese, “‘The House I Live In’: Race, Class, and African American Suburban Dreams in the Postwar United States,” in The New Suburban History, ed. Kevin M. Kruse and Thomas J. Sugrue (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2006), 101–2.

• B: – Wiese, Andrew. “‘The House I Live In’: Race, Class, and African American Suburban

Dreams in the Postwar United States.” In The New Suburban History, edited by Kevin M. Kruse and Thomas J. Sugrue, 99–119. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2006.

• Preface, foreword, introduction, or similar part of a book• N:

– 17. James Rieger, introduction to Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1982), xx–xxi.

• B: – Rieger, James. Introduction to Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, by Mary

Wollstonecraft Shelley, xi–xxxvii. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1982. • Book published electronically• N:

– 2. Philip B. Kurland and Ralph Lerner, eds., The Founders’ Constitution (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1987), http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/ (accessed June 27, 2006).

• B: – Kurland, Philip B., and Ralph Lerner, eds. The Founders’ Constitution. Chicago:

University of Chicago Press, 1987. http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/. Also available in print form and as a CD-ROM.

• Article in a print journal• N:

– 8. John Maynard Smith, “The Origin of Altruism,” Nature 393 (1998): 639. • B:

– Smith, John Maynard. “The Origin of Altruism.” Nature 393 (1998): 639–40. • Article in an online journal • N:

– 33. Mark A. Hlatky et al., "Quality-of-Life and Depressive Symptoms in Postmenopausal Women after Receiving Hormone Therapy: Results from the Heart and Estrogen/Progestin Replacement Study (HERS) Trial," Journal of the American Medical Association 287, no. 5 (2002), http://jama.ama-assn.org/issues/v287n5/rfull/joc10108.html#aainfo.

• B: – Hlatky, Mark A., Derek Boothroyd, Eric Vittinghoff, Penny Sharp, and Mary A. Whooley.

"Quality-of-Life and Depressive Symptoms in Postmenopausal Women after Receiving Hormone Therapy: Results from the Heart and Estrogen/Progestin Replacement Study (HERS) Trial." Journal of the American Medical Association 287, no. 5 (February 6, 2002), http://jama.ama-assn.org/issues/v287n5/rfull/joc10108.html#aainfo.

• Newspaper article: may be cited in running text (“As William Niederkorn noted in a New York Times article on June 20, 2002, . . . ”) instead of in a note, and may be omitted from a bibliography as well. N:

– 10. William S. Niederkorn, “A Scholar Recants on His ‘Shakespeare’ Discovery,” New York Times, June 20, 2002, Arts section, Midwest edition.

• B: – Niederkorn, William S. “A Scholar Recants on His ‘Shakespeare’ Discovery.” New York

Times, June 20, 2002, Arts section, Midwest edition.

• Book review• N:

– 1. James Gorman, “Endangered Species,” review of The Last American Man, by Elizabeth Gilbert, New York Times Book Review, June 2, 2002, 16.

• B: – Gorman, James. “Endangered Species.” Review of The Last American Man, by

Elizabeth Gilbert. New York Times Book Review, June 2, 2002. • Thesis or dissertation• N:

– 22. M. Amundin, “Click Repetition Rate Patterns in Communicative Sounds from the Harbour Porpoise, Phocoena phocoena” (PhD diss., Stockholm University, 1991), 22–29, 35.

• B: – Amundin, M. “Click Repetition Rate Patterns in Communicative Sounds from the

Harbour Porpoise, Phocoena phocoena.” PhD diss., Stockholm University, 1991. • Paper presented at a meeting or conference• N:

– 13. Brian Doyle, “Howling Like Dogs: Metaphorical Language in Psalm 59” (paper presented at the annual international meeting for the Society of Biblical Literature, Berlin, Germany, June 19–22, 2002).

• B: – Doyle, Brian. “Howling Like Dogs: Metaphorical Language in Psalm 59.” Paper

presented at the annual international meeting for the Society of Biblical Literature, Berlin, Germany, June 19–22, 2002.

• Web site: may be cited in running text (“On its Web site, the Evanston Public Library Board of Trustees states . . .”) and they are commonly omitted from a bibliography list as well.

• N: – 11. Evanston Public Library Board of Trustees, “Evanston Public Library Strategic

Plan, 2000–2010: A Decade of Outreach,” Evanston Public Library, http://www.epl.org/library/strategic-plan-00.html.

• B: – Evanston Public Library Board of Trustees. “Evanston Public Library Strategic

Plan, 2000–2010: A Decade of Outreach.” Evanston Public Library. http://www.epl.org/library/strategic-plan-00.html (accessed June 1, 2005).

• Weblog entry or comment: may be cited in running text (“In a comment posted to the Becker-Posner Blog on March 6, 2006, Peter Pearson noted . . .”) instead of in a note and they are commonly omitted from a bibliography list as well.

• N: – 8. Peter Pearson, comment on “The New American Dilemma: Illegal

Immigration,” The Becker-Posner Blog, comment posted March 6, 2006, http://www.becker-posner-blog.com/archives/2006/03/the_new_america.html#c080052 (accessed March 28, 2006).

• B: – Becker-Posner Blog, The. http://www.becker-posner-blog.com/.

• E-mail message: may be cited in running text (“In an e-mail message to the author on October 31, 2005, John Doe revealed . . .”) instead of in a note citation, and they are rarely listed in a bibliography list.

• N: – 2. John Doe, e-mail message to author, October 31, 2005.

Abbreviations• Footnotes and/or reference lists may contain the abbreviations Ibid.

and/or op. cit. • DEFINITIONS

– Ibid. (abbreviation for the Latin Ibidem, meaning "The same"). Refers to the same author and source (e.g., book, journal) in the immediately preceding reference.

– op. cit. (abbreviation for the Latin opus citatum, meaning "the work cited"). Refers to the reference listed earlier by the same author.

• Ibid. refers to the immediately preceding reference; op. cit. refers to the prior reference by the same author. – EXAMPLES

• R. Poirer, "Learning physics," (Academic, New York, 1993), p. 4. • Ibid., p. 9. • T. Eliot, "Astrophysics," (Springer, Berlin, 1989), p. 141. • R. Builder, J Phys Chem 20(3) 1654-57, 1991. • Eliot, op. cit., p.148.

• Other: • Idem: From Latin idem "the same". This repeats the previous author. It

is rarely used today. • Loc.cit.: From Latin loco citato "in the place cited". This repeats the

title and page number for a given author. It is not often used today.

• cf. = confer (compare)• e.g. = exempli gratia (for example)• ed. (edition, editor; plural: eds)• et al. = et alii (and other authors)• sq./sqq. = sequens (continues on the next page/s)• ibid. = ibidem (same author, same work. It is

followed by the page number)• id. = idem (it follows ibid. – same author, work,

page)• i.e. = id est (that is)• infra (see below)• loc. cit. = loco citato (similar to op. cit., only used

when the reference is made to the same page)• ms. = manuscriptum (manuscript; plural: mss.)• op. cit. = opere citato (cited work)• passim (from place to place)• supra (see above)• vol. (volume/s)

ReviewsReviews

Review (n.)1. A reexamination or reconsideration.2. A retrospective view or survey.3. a. A restudying of subject matter.

b. An exercise for use in restudying material.4. An inspection or examination for the purpose of

evaluation.5. a. A report or essay giving a critical estimate of

a work or performance.b. A periodical devoted to articles and essays on current affairs, literature, or art

Purpose• A) to explain what the work is about (i.e.

summary and interpretation* of its main ideas)

• B) to assess its value for an audience (i.e. evaluation**)

* interpretation: does not explicitly pass judgement on the worth of a work

**evaluation: contains the reviewer’s opinion on the work and the standards which, according to the reviewer, the work should meet.

Critical/Analytic Reviews

• They are not primarily concerned with summarising the work;

• They comment on and evaluate the work in the light of specific issues and theoretical concerns in a given domain.

Critical reviews generally provide:

• Full bibliographic information (author, title, edition, publisher, place of publication, year of publication), often  presented as a heading or introductory sentence.

• A brief description of the contents of the book/article. • An assessment of the author’s authority / biases. • An evaluation of the strengths and weaknesses of

the book/article based on the purposes of the author, and using evidence to support the reviewer’s argument

• An overall assessment of the book

Literary Theory: A Very Short Introductionby Jonathan Culler

(Oxford Paperbacks, New edition, 2000, 152 p., 24£)

This introductory guide comes from a new series by Oxford University Press. They are written by specialists, aimed at the common reader, and offer an introduction to the main cultural and philosophical ideas which have shaped the western world. Jonathan Culler avoids the common approach of explaining the various schools of literary criticism by choosing instead a set of topics and showing what various literary theories have to say about them. There's a certain amount of sleight of hand. In explaining 'theory' in its modern sense he doesn't acknowledge the profound difference between this loose use of the term and a scientific theory, which can be proven or disproven. Nor does he acknowledge the sort of special pleading and self justification which is passed off as 'philosophy' in the work of someone such as Michel Foucault. But he does have a persuasive way of explaining some of these difficult ideas in terms which the common reader can understand. The topics he chooses turn out to be very fundamental questions such as 'What is literature?' - that is, are there any essential differences between a literary and a non-literary text. These are questions to which common sense supplies rapid answers, but when Theory is applied, unforeseen complexities arise. In fact when he looks more closely at the nature, purpose, and the conventions of literature, he claims that one of the purposes of Theory is to expose the shortcomings of common sense. There's an interesting chapter on language and linguistic approaches to literary theory where he discusses Saussure and Chomsky, the differences between poetics and hermeneutics, and reader-response criticism. Any one of these approaches is now the basis for a whole school of literary theory. When he gets to genre criticism there's a useful explanation of lyric, epic, and drama - though it's not quite clear why he separates narrative (stories and novels) into a chapter of its own. However, when it does come, his explanation of narrative theory is excellent. His account of plot, point of view, focalisation, and narrative reliability will help anyone who wants to get to grips with the analysis of fiction. He ends with brief notes explaining the various school of literary theory which have emerged in the recent past - from New Criticism, through Structuralism, Marxism, and Deconstruction, to the latest fashions of Post-Colonialism and Queer Theory. In one sense the book's title is slightly misleading. It should be Modern Literary Theory. But this is a very interesting and attractive format - a small, pocket-sized book, stylishly designed, with illustrations, endnotes, suggestions for further reading, and an index.

© Roy Johnson 2005    

Literature Reviews• A literature review is an account of what has been published on a

topic by accredited scholars and researchers. • It is often part of the introduction to an essay, research report, or

thesis. • It is not just a descriptive list of the material available, or a set of

summaries. • Its purpose is to convey to the reader what knowledge and ideas have

been established on a topic, and what their strengths and weaknesses are.

• As a piece of writing, the literature review must be defined by a guiding concept (e.g. the research objective of or the problem or issue discussed/argumented in an essay, report, thesis)

• A literature review must do these things: – be organized around and related directly to the thesis or research question

one is developing – synthesize results into a summary of what is and is not known – identify areas of controversy in the literature – formulate questions that need further research

• It may be structured according to:– A chronological approach– Key issues and debates– A methodological approach

Read the following literature review on the subject of “Language and Gender”.

• Try to work out:– the comparison the writer establishes in

the review– the sequence to his review (why that

sequence?)– what the writer's own perspective is.

• Pay attention to:– the use the writer makes of each of the

sources he refers to– how, in his language particularly, he avoids

a "black and white", right/wrong type of judgement of the positions he reviews.

With the general growth of feminist work in many academic fields, it is hardly surprising that the relationship between language and gender has attracted considerable attention in recent years. In an attempt to go beyond "folklinguistic" assumptions about how men and women use language (the assumption that women are "talkative", for example), studies have focused on anything from different syntactical, phonological or lexical uses of language to aspects of conversation analysis, such as topic nomination and control, interruptions and other interactional features. While some research has focused only on the description of differences, other work has sought to show how linguistic differences both reflect and reproduce social difference. Accordingly, Coates (1988) suggests that research on language and gender can be divided into studies that focus on dominance and those that focus on difference. Much of the earlier work emphasized dominance. Lakoff's (1975) pioneering work suggested that women's speech typically displayed a range of features, such as tag questions, which marked it as inferior and weak. Thus, she argued that the type of subordinate speech learned by a young girl "will later be an excuse others use to keep her in a demeaning position, to refuse to treat her seriously as a human being" (1975, p.5). While there are clearly some problems with Lakoff's work - her analysis was not based on empirical research, for example, and the automatic equation of subordinate with `weak' is problematic - the emphasis on dominance has understandably remained at the Centre of much of this work. Research has shown how men nominated topics more, interrupted more often, held the floor for longer, and so on (see, for example, Zimmerman and West, 1975). The chief focus of this approach, then, has been to show how patterns of interaction between men and women reflect the dominant position of men in society. Some studies, however, have taken a different approach by looking not so much at power in mixed-sex interactions as at how same-sex groups produce certain types of interaction. In a typical study of this type, Maltz and Borker (1982) developed lists of what they described as men's and women's features of language. They argued that these norms of interaction were acquired in same-sex groups rather than mixed-sex groups and that the issue is therefore one of (sub-)cultural miscommunication rather than social inequality. Much of this research has focused on comparisons between, for example, the competitive conversational style of men and the cooperative conversational style of women. While some of the more popular work of this type, such as Tannen (1987), lacks a critical dimension, the emphasis on difference has nevertheless been valuable in fostering research into gender subgroup interactions and in emphasizing the need to see women's language use not only as ‘subordinate’ but also as a significant subcultural domain. Although Coates' (1988) distinction is clearly a useful one, it also seems evident that these two approaches are by no means mutually exclusive. While it is important on the one hand, therefore, not to operate with a simplistic version of power and to consider language and gender only in mixed-group dynamics, it is also important not to treat women's linguistic behaviour as if it existed outside social relations of power. As Cameron, McAlinden and O'Leary (1988) ask, "Can it be coincidence that men are aggressive and hierarchically-organized conversationalists, whereas women are expected to provide conversational support?" (p.80). Clearly, there is scope here for a great deal more research that

• is based on empirical data of men's and women's speech; • operates with a complex understanding of power and gender relationships (so that women's silence, for

example, can be seen both as a site of oppression and as a site of possible resistance); • looks specifically at the contexts of language use, rather than assuming broad gendered differences; • involves more work by men on language and gender, since attempts to understand male uses of language

in terms of difference have been few (thus running the danger of constructing men's speech as the ‘norm’ and women's speech as ‘different’);

• aims not only to describe and explain but also to change language and social relationships.

Other aspects of Other aspects of writingwriting

Power point presentations• Appeal through:

– Ability to build up more complex pictures – by adding in more detail on each slide in a series.

– clarity and legibility

• Disliked if:– The presentation

displays poor typographic layouts and odd colour combinations;

– lecturer simply reads out the Power-Point slides.

7 x 7 rule: use no more than seven words per line, and seven lines per slide.

Stages in preparing the slides

(after Wallwork 2010)• Find out about the potential audience (experts/non-

experts → technical/general presentation)• Identify the key-points of the paper (i.e. what makes

the research stand out in the chosen field) and focus on 3 or 4 important aspects. E.g.:– your topic– your methodology– your results

• Structure the presentation around them. E.g.– Introduction

• Why did I choose this topic in general? Why am I enthusiastic about it? What can I tell the audience that they probably don’t know but that they will find interesting? How can I make it interesting to those attendees who are not experts in this field?

• What motivated me to decide to test a particular hypothesis or investigate a particular aspect? Was I stimulated by someone else’s research?

– Methodology• a description of your methodology, the strengths and weaknesses of

your approach– Results

• What did I find? And what did I not find? Did my findings confirm my initial hypothesis? Were there any inconsistencies or surprises?

– Discussion• What is the significance of my work in the wider picture of my field

of interest? How and where can my findings be applied?– Conclusion

• What questions do I still have? What am I planning to do next? (Plus a reminder to the audience of most important results so far)

• Create the slides, considering that each must have a purpose. E.g.– make an explanation less complicated and

quicker– help people to visualize and recall something

better– make something abstract become more

concrete– attract attention or entertain the audience

(but only in a way that is relevant to your topic)

• Create the script of the presentation around the slides

• Practice the presentation. Cut redundant slides, simplify complicated ones.

The title slide• It should include:

– 1. the title– 2. your name

• Other things that some presenters sometimes include are– 3. the name and date of the conference– 4. co-authors– 5. the name and/or logo of your institute/research unit– 6. your supervisor– 7. acknowledgments– 8. sponsors– 9. a photo– 10. a background image

• But keep in mind that the more information you have on your title slide the more it will detract away from the most important things: your title and your name.

Section slides• Alternative titles:

– Outline: Why? Why should you be excited?– Methodology: How? Don’t try this at home– Results: What did we find? Not what we were

expecting– Discussion: So what? Why should you care?– Future work: What next? Men at work– Thank you: That’s all folks! See you in name

of location of next conference• One main idea per slide;

– Avoid complete sentences;– Have different slide types.

Bullets• Avoid having bullets on every slide;• Limit the number (6) and the levels

(2) of bullets;• Make sure the first word in each

bullet is grammatically the same;• Minimize punctuation, but be

consistent in style.

Visuals • Include only those that you intend to talk about;• Use images to replace unnecessary or tedious

text;• Choose fonts, characters and sizes with care (e.g.

Arial or Helvetica; 40 points for titles; 28 for text; avoid complete sentences in capital letters);

• Choose background colour with care and be consistent in its use (e.g. dark text on a medium-light background and vice-versa.)

The audience1. have a clear idea who your audience are, don’t assume that they are

naturally going to be interested in your topic2. have an agenda and a clear structure with clear transitions so that the

audience know where you are going3. make it easy for the audience to follow you and your slides4. help the audience to understand why you are showing them a

particular slide5. involve your audience and give them lots of examples6. make frequent eye contact7. avoid too much text on your slides; 8. use simple graphs and tables9. make your text and visuals big enough for everyone in the audience

to see clearly10. avoid entering into too much detail (i.e., just select those things that

the audience really need to know about the topic)11. avoid spending more than a couple of minutes on one specific detail12. have a variety of types of slides (not just all bullets, or all text, or all

photos)13. speak reasonably slowly and move from slide to slide at a speed that

the audience will feel comfortable with14. sound interested and enthusiastic about your topic15. vary your tone of voice16. inject some humor17. move around occasionally rather than being static

Handouts• A summary version of the conference presentation

available as a hand-out during the talk. • It helps listeners follow the presentation and grasp

its overall structure.• It may be helpful to reproduce copies of any of the

key PowerPoint slides, but it is unwise just to present them all in reduced size.

• Requirements:– Must be readable;– Must contain the title of the talk, the speaker’s name and

institutional address, and the date and place of delivery.

Text revision - Hartley, J. (1997). Writing the thesis

1 Read through the text asking yourself:• Who is the text for?

2 Read through the text again, but this time ask yourself:• What changes do I need to make to help the reader?• How can I make the text easier to follow?

3 To make these changes you may need:• to make big or global changes (e.g. rewrite sections);

or• to make small or minor text changes (e.g. change the

original text slightly).

4 Global changes you might like to consider are:

• re-sequencing parts of the text

• rewriting sections in simpler prose

• adding examples• changing examples for

better ones• deleting parts that

seem confusing.

5 Text changes you might like to consider are:

• using simpler wording• using shorter sentences• using shorter paragraphs• using active rather than

passive tenses• substituting positives for

negatives• writing sequences in

order• spacing numbered

sequences or lists down the page (as here).

6 Keep reading through the revised text from start to finish to see if you want to make any more global changes.

7 Repeat this whole procedure on the revised text some time after making your initial revisions (say twenty-four hours), and do this without looking back at the original text.

8 Repeat stage 7 several times, but draw the line eventually!

GOOD LUCK!