8100 Harris Ch 1 Self-Assessment: Researched Writing Survey

1/21/2017

1. When you are assigned a research paper in a course, do you welcome it as an opportunity to learn, or do you see it as a burden or unwelcome task?
I would say I am between welcome and neutral. I do enjoy researching and writing, it is more of the "grade" that I find stressful and that is because of the small details of APA style that I may not get correct.

2. How confident are you in your ability to use supporting material (quotations, examples, research) effectively to strengthen your ideas in a paper?
Moderately confident.
I do well with with direct quotations that help to support my viewpoint. I have more difficulty effectively summarizing multiple articles that discuss the same point and integrating them effectively in my papers.

3. How confident are you in your ability to paraphrase an idea for use in a research paper?
less than confident
As stated above, this is probably my weakest point. I worry that the paraphrase may be too close to the original, or once I have seen the actual quote I have a hard time thinking of how to restate it in other words.

4. How much formal training have you had regarding plagiarism and how to avoid it?
some
Being a teacher in the public school system and in the department of technology and media services, our county department heads provide training about plagiarism that we are to teach the kids. It may be on a a different level, but it still does provide the basics of the training.

5. In writing a research paper, how easy have you found it to incorporate sources that conflict with your central argument or idea?
somewhat challenging
Honestly, I don't know that I have concentrated on making sure I truly show both sides of the argument. I may tell one or two studies or view points, but as a whole I haven't developed that as I should have in the past.

6. How confident are you that you know the rules for using sources well enough to avoid unintentional plagiarism?
I would say I am neutral
There are many rules I feel like I know, needing to cite sources even if it is just the idea, but I feel there may be areas of which I am not aware that would cause me to commit unintentional plagiarism.

As I have read these beginning chapters in Harris (2014), I have a better understanding of the importance of looking at a variety of sources and understanding to use sources to still support what may be your own spin on the idea. I will be diligently working to learn more and more of the rules for citation to make sure I don't commit unintentional plagiarism, and also making sure I fully expose both sides of the argument, whether I agree with it or not.

Harris, R. A. (2014). Using sources effectively: Strengthening your writing and avoiding plagiarism (4th ed.). Glendale, CA: Pyrczak.

9 Comments

Cybele Wu link

1/23/2017 09:38:43 am

Kerry:

It sounds like you are fortunate to work for a school that provides training on plagiarism so that you can teach it. I found that in almost anything, if you can explain or teach it to another person, your knowledge of that subject is much stronger. Do you feel more confident in your knowledge of it as a result of teaching it to the kids? Is there anything else that you do that helps make that knowledge more concrete?

Cybele

Keri Duncan

1/23/2017 07:51:43 pm

Yes Cybele, I am fortunate to work for a school district that does provide training. It is funny you ask if I am more confident since I teach it. I found myself in a situation the other day with a student that wasn't even from my school but was working on a project. She was "quoting" from a source and putting it in her PowerPoint slide. I asked her if she had cited the reference and what the requirements were from her teacher. She just kind of looked at me blankly and I tried to give her a brief overview of citing information. She was in middle school at a private school and our public school is more strict about those requirements than the private school.

As for making it more concrete, I think it is just a matter of using it over and over, and trying to make charts or other devices to help remember the information.

1/23/2017 08:00:24 pm

Keri:

Sorry for spelling your name wrong earlier. Interesting story. I think different schools have different strictness in terms of following the rules. Perhaps it is a problem with instructors and administration not knowing the rules themselves!

I agree. It is something that we have to constantly use in order to feel comfortable with understanding how to cite different sources.

Cybele

Shari Howington-Carlin link

1/24/2017 12:36:48 pm

Keri,
Wow! What an opportunity to work in the county that heads the department that provides training on this topic. I am a bit jealous :-)
I understand your concern about needing to develop a stronger platform for incorporating conflicting sources to be able to strengthen the paper. I think this brings balance to the research but I feel like a novice in this area as well. I appreciate your awareness and honesty. Much of what you had to say was familiar to me.

1/24/2017 07:28:40 pm

Shari,
Yes, I am fortunate to work for a county that provides the the training they do. Unfortunately many don't see it that way and just think the county is trying to tell them what they can and can't do.
Keri

Ms.Nik

1/24/2017 06:35:07 pm

Hi Keri,

That is a great point regarding cites from multiple sources that say the same thing, or when one author quotes another and then you have to locate what the original author mentioned (especially if it was not a direct quote and you are searching for the original author). I did write down from the notes I gathered from the reading about asking Dr. Reeves about how to adequately create a Literature Map. From the readings, this is a way to organize the research information we began to accumulate and I want to really learn how to master that during the Dissertation portion of our program of study. Thank you again for all of your thoughtfulness regarding posting on my blog and I look forward to working and learning with you during this semester.

Talk to you soon,
Ms.Nik

1/24/2017 07:31:20 pm

Hi Niki,
There is so much to learn for sure. If it isn't the APA style of things then organizing all of the research is another one. When I was at summer conference in July I did go to a session about EndNote, but since I wasn't heavy into my research it didn't all sink in. I think I will schedule an appointment with a librarian to have a refresher on that again.
Keri

Dr Reeves

2/2/2017 01:05:14 pm

Great job Keri! I appreciate your honestly and apologize if I am the source of your stress with regard to applying APA style correctly. :) The good news is that although you do not feel very confident in several of these areas, these are the things we will be learning about and focusing on in this course!

Roy Elliott link

8/20/2021 05:38:09 am

Thank you for thiis

8100 Harris Ch 1 Self-Assessment: Researched Writing Survey

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Author: Keri Duncan

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