Class 06: The Power of Sources

Held: Tuesday, 9 September 2003

Summary: Today we consider the ways in which sources benefit your papers. We also continue our normal consideration of a variety of topics related to academic skills.

Related Pages:

• Style Exercise 2: Clarity.
• Ethical Use of Information in Writing.

Assignments

• Reading Assignment 4: Ethical Use of Sources.
• Reading Assignment 5: Williams Chapter 3.

Notes:

• Ms. Green will be joining us today and part of Thursday.
• Make an appointment with Ms. Green to start looking for sources.
• You can find my days online if you look hard enough.
• Did anyone go to the exhibition other than the phantom Eryn?
• Yet another possible topic: What are the implications of posting photos of public art on the Web?
• Don't forget to wear your tutorial hat on Thursday.

Overview:

• Style, Chapter 2: Clarity.
• Style Exercise 2: Clarity.
• Lessons from Convocation.
• Why use sources?
• Academic honesty basics.

Clarity

• What is Williams's primary thesis in chapter 2 of Style?
• What evidence do you have to support your claim as to his thesis?
• What evidence does he use to support his thesis?
• Is that sufficient evidence? What evidence might those in various disciplines require?
• Do you think you can apply this technique?

Clarity Exercise

• We'll try to apply the actors/actions technique to a few sample sentences.
• I'll ask you to report on your rewrites and to comment on each others' rewrites.

Lessons from Convocation

• What, if anything, did you learn from convocation?
• I'll report on a few things that I hope you learned.
• Scholarship in the law requires careful reading of case law.
• Lawyers hope that decisions are based on overriding principles.
• Some of us are oral learners; many of us need some other kind of input, as it were.
• Something is wrong on campus when so few people attend the opening convocation.
• Know your audience.

Why Use Sources?

• Helps you think about a topic in more depth.
• Lends weight/evidence to your argument. Your thoughts aren't just your own.
• Intellectual honesty dictates it: When your thoughts are due to others, your reader should be able to trace them.
  • The ability to trace claims is particularly important if the claims seem odd* .
  • Story: The number of child handgun deaths doubled every year from 1960 to 1990. (approximately)
• You show your reader that you understand the field. (I know that many academic reviewers start with the citations to ensure that the reviewee understands the discipline.)
• You use sources to show how your work is novel.
• Your professors will call you before the Committee on Academic Standing if you fail to cite your sources. (Data from Writing Lab)
  • 1998-99: 8 students found guilty in 15 cases
  • 1999-2000: 5 students found guilty in 6 cases.
  • 2000-2001: 12 students found guilty in 29 cases
  • 2001-2002: 19 students found guilty in 28 cases
  • 2002-2003: 6 students found guilty in 13 cases
• Great quote from Dartmouth (paraphrased): Jane is a senior at Dartmouth. For her first three years at Dartmouth, Jane regularly paraphrased her sourcees and didn't bother to cite them. Her professors either didn't notice or didn't object. This year, Jane's professor reported her. Jane will never receive a Dartmouth degree.

Kinds of Sources

• There are clearly a wide variety of kinds of sources.
• Different kinds of sources carry different weight.
• The more approval and editing a work has received, the more weight it usually carries
  • A web page carries very little weight.
  • A student's essay may carry even less (at least the Web page has been presented to the public).
  • A newspaper article carries somewhat more.
  • A journal article typically carries even more.
• Even within a particular category, their are different weights we assign.
  • A New York Times article carries more weight than a Weekly World News article.
  • An article in Journal of the ACM carries more weight than one in The Journal of Computing in Small Colleges
  • In our particular area of study, cases are likely to carry even more weight. (Higher court cases carry more weight.)

How To Use Sources

• Block quotations.
• Short quotations
• Paraphrase
• Cite ideas