ENGL 150

Research Writing Packet

This packet contains:

1. My notes on research writing competencies

2. A sample argumentative research paper in MLA style from Diana Hacker

3. A discussion of avoiding plagiarism from the Purdue On-Line Writing Lab

Notes on Research Writing Competencies

ENGL 150

Overall Purpose of Research

• Completing coursework vs. scholarship community

• Negotiating the discourse community of academia

Documentation

• Purposes

o To identify what information comes from a source

o To identify the source information comes from

o To avoid plagiarism

• Format

o Bibliography

o In-Text Citations

• Tools

o MLA Book

o Purdue OWL

o Software

o Web Tools

Researching

• Purposes

o To understand a topic

o To inform your writing

o To develop insight .

o Not limited to justifying existing ideas

• Skills for Secondary Research

o Searching

o Sorting

o Evaluating Credibility

• Searching

o Library databases

o Library resources

o The internet

o Gateway sources

o Sideways searching

o Primary sources

• Evaluation

o What the source says (logic, use of evidence)

o Who wrote it

o Why was it published

o When was it published

o Where was it published

• Organization

o Note taking

o Outlining

o High and low tech

o Good messy vs. bad messy

Argumentation

• Critical Thinking

• Types of Evidence

• Types of Appeals

• Logic & Fallacies

• Dealing with Numbers

• Audience & Discourse Community

• Anticipating Objections

• Agonistic vs. Irenic Rhetoric

Composition

• Establishing Credibility

• Outlining

• Drafting

• Revision

• Editing

o Academic Style

o Style vs. Correctness

• Research Writing Mechanics

o Quoting vs. paraphrase/summary

o Quote mechanics

• Signal phrases

• Punctuation

• Documentation

• Block quotes

• Omissions & additions

• Preserving Context

• Indirect quotes

o Paraphrase/Summary mechanics

• Signal phrases

• Avoiding inadvertent plagiarism

• Preserving meaning & context

• Documentation

Avoiding Plagiarism

• In the Western world:

o Academic scholarship is done to increase understanding of a

certain topic for the sake of knowledge itself.

o Scholars publish research with the understanding that others will

build on it

o Part of that understanding includes giving credit for others’ work.

• Plagiarism is the uncredited use of someone else’s work.

o This work can include

• Presenting someone else’s research or unique ideas as

one’s own

• Presenting someone else’s writing or phrasing as one’s own

o Unintentional plagiarism is still plagiarism

• To avoid plagiarism, both these requirements must be met:

o All use of external sources needs to be documented according to

the requirements of the situation

o All use of exact words from another source needs to be marked as

a quotation

Notes on terminology:

• MLA is a format for documenting research and formatting academic

manuscripts published by the Modern Language Association. It is correct to

say ‘Tm writing a paper in MLA style, and not correct to say ‘Tm writing an

MLA paper.

• MLA style refers to the style of formatting the documentation (in-text

citations and Works Cited page) or the page layout (title, spacing, page

numbers, etc.) and not to the choice of words and phrases you use.

• The word research can mean both gathering information (researching a

topic ) and the finished product (publishing my research ).

• A source is a discrete piece of information, such as an article. A resource

is something you use to find sources, such as a library database. It is not

correct to say My paper has four resources listed on the Works Cited page.

• A Works Cited page is MLA’s term for the bibliography. All formal research

papers have bibliographies. Only MLA-style papers have a Works Cited page.

(APA-style papers have a References page, for example.)

• A formal research paper means that it follows an existing form, such as

MLA format, for presenting research.

• When paraphrasing, the instruction is often to write a passage of research in

your own words. It would probably be more accurate to say in different

words, or in a rephrased manner that matches the style of the rest of your

paper which should be your version of an academic voice, which you may or

may not consider to be your words.

• In the context of writing academic research papers, good writing refers

only to writing of those kinds of papers. There are many kinds of writing, and

good writing changes depending on the context.