ENG 1112 D

OCTOBER 7, 2019
IF YOU SEE THIS SLIDE

This is the version of the presentation that was

posted before (not after) the lecture.
REMINDER

Sign the attendance sheet.

LIBRARIAN GUEST TALK

Slides not posted on Virtual Campus

http://uottawa.libguides.com/ENG1112
UPCOMING DEADLINES

Test 2 October 23

Report 1 October 30

Remember Isaac Newton’s “I keep the subject

constantly before me.”
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTION (IDENTIFY THE SPELLING
ERROR)

How many marks do I loose if I submit Report 1

one or two weeks late?
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTION (IDENTIFY THE SPELLING
ERROR)

How many marks do I lose (not loose) if I submit

Report 1 one or two weeks late?
COMMON ERROR

Loose or loosing confused with lose and losing.

ANSWER
The late submission penalty for Report 1 is 5 percentage
points per week. Reports may only be submitted during
the discussion groups or lectures. We therefore calculate
the penalties as follows: report 1 is due on October 30. If
you submit on November 4 or November 6, there will be a
5-percentage-point penalty. If you submit on November
11 or November 13, there will be a 10-percentage-point
penalty. In the unlikely case that you cannot submit
Report 1 by November 20, please contact the professor by
November 22 to discuss your options.
TODAY’S LECTURE

Using and documenting sources (part 1; to be

continued next week).
DISCUSSION QUESTION 21

What is a “literature review?”

Course pack, pages 58-62

LITERATURE REVIEW

“In starting a new project. . . Learn the relevant

prior art: how others before you defined a problem,
their solutions and their consequences, and what
challenges remained. When the prior art is gleaned
from published sources, the process if called a
literature review”

(CP 58)
FOR EXAMPLE

You are writing a plan to manage snow storms in

rural Canadian communities.

What background information is relevant?

WINTER OF 1880-81: MISSING EQUIPMENT?
LAURA INGALLS WILDER

https://www.amazon.ca/Long-Winter-Laura-Ingalls-
Wilder/dp/0060581859/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=
1507154340&sr=8-2&keywords=long+winter
REPORT TITLE

Don’t judge the book’s usefulness by its cover:

what can scientists and engineers learn from
Laura Ingalls Wilder’s The Long Winter?

Quotes are from the 2004 Harper Trophy

edition.
REPORT OUTLINE
 Weather prediction (12, 34, 46, 61-65)
 Structural engineering: winter-compatible
construction (10-14)
 Resourcefulness: alternative energy sources
(188-211)
 Decision-making: bring the train to town?
(211-224)
 Mental health (225-241)
LAURA’S FATHER ON WEATHER

“The colder the winter will be, the thicker the

muskrats build the walls of their houses. . . I
never saw a heavier-built muskrat house” (12).

http://www.pbase.com/image/133444919
ENGINEERING RESPONSIBILITY

“Muskrats have to build that kind of house.

They always have and they always will. It’s
plain they can’t build any other kind. But folks
build all kinds of houses. A man can build any
kind of house he can think of. So if his house
don’t keep out the weather, that’s his look-out;
he’s free and independent” (13).
CHALLENGE

“The muskrats had a warm, thick-walled house

to keep out the cold and snow, but the claim
shanty was built of thin boards that had shrunk
in the summer heat till the narrow battens
hardly covered the cracks in the walls. Boards
and tar-paper were not very snug shelter against
a hard winter” (14).
LAURA’S FATHER ON ANIMAL MIGRATION

“Pa did not come home until suppertime. He

came empty-handed except for his gun. He did
not speak or smile and his eyes were wide open
and still”

‘What is wrong, Charles?’ Ma asked quickly”

(34)
PA’S REPLY

“That is what I’d like to know. Something’s queer.

Not a goose not a duck on the lake. None in the
slough. Not one in sight. They are flying high above
the clouds, flying fast. I could hear them calling.
Caroline, every kind of bird is going south as fast
and as high as it can fly. All of them, going south.
And no other kind of game is out. Every living thing
that runs and swims is hidden away somewhere. I
never saw country so empty and still” (35).
INTUITION: DOES IT HAVE A SCIENTIFIC BASIS?

“I never knew a winter to set in so early,” Pa

admitted. “But I don’t like the feel of things.”

“What things, Charles?” Ma wanted to know.

Pa couldn’t say exactly.

(46)
INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGE

“Heap big snow come,” this Indian said.

The blanket slid on his shoulder and one naked

brown arm came out. It moved in a wide sweep,
to north, to west, to east, and gathered them all
together and swirled.

“Heap big snow, big wind” he said. (61)

PA TRUSTS NATIVE KNOWLEDGE

“How long?” Pa asked him.

“Many moons,” the Indian said. He held up

four fingers, then three fingers. Seven fingers,
seven months; blizzards for seven months” (61).
“ALTERNATIVE ENERGY” SOLUTION

“Each time he twisted and tucked the end under

his left arm, the right twist coiled around itself”
(189).
LAURA’S MOTHER SPEAKING OUT OF CHARACTER

“It isn’t his business to be patient. It’s his

business to run the trains” (214).

Usefulness to AI?
MENTAL HEALTH
“Tired, tired of the winds and the cold and the
dark, tired of brown bread and potatoes, tired
and listless and dull”

“She felt dull and stupid”

(227)
FAQ

Are all resources found through the library

catalogue equally “good?”

For example: Encyclopedia or newspaper

articles vs. journal article about snow removal.
ENCYCLOPEDIA AND NEWSPAPER/MAGAZINE ARTICLES

 Are useful as a starting point.

BUT

 Your report should go beyond them and

discuss scholarly books and/or academic
journal/trade journal articles.
DISCUSSION QUESTION 22

Why should students generally not use Google

for their research?

Are there some cases in which using Google for

academic research might be a good idea?
IF YOU GO TO GOOGLE

Ask yourself: Why?

EXAMPLE OF RELIABLE INFORMATION ONLINE

http://publications.gc.ca/site/eng/home.html
SIGNS OF HARD WINTER IN INGALLS WILDER: THEIR
SCIENTIFIC BASIS?

 Muskrat house (10-14)

 Animal migration (34-35)

 Indigenous knowledge (61-65)

 Intuition (46)
A RELIABLE SOURCE?

http://farmersalmanac.com/blog/2008/08/26/20-sig
ns-of-a-hard-winter/
HOW TO SEARCH THE TOPIC IN SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE?

signs of hard winter

weather predicting folklore

weather predicting traditional knowledge

IN THE WORKPLACE

How would you find sources?

BE RESOURCEFUL
Trade journals

Purchase access to academic journals

Visit an academic library

“Talking to experienced colleagues”

“Reference librarian”

“Hire some outside experts as consultants”

(House et al. 224-225)

PLAGIARISM

https://www.uottawa.ca/vice-president-academic
/academic-regulations-explained/academic-fraud
DISCUSSION QUESTION 23

“Explain one of the reasons that students might

plagiarise and suggest what student might do to
avoid plagiarism.”
“The temptation to plagiarize can be strong. On
the one hand, there’s the pressure to do well in
spite of a crushing study schedule; on the other,
there’s the Internet with its easy access to
information that you can simply cut and paste
into your own work” (Ewald 269).

Solution: time management

DISCUSSION QUESTION 24

“What is self-plagiarism and how should it be

avoided?”
SELF-PLAGIARISM

Submitting the same assignment (or parts of) for

more than one course.

Submitting a document that you produced

elsewhere (for example in a job).
DISCUSSION QUESTION 25

Why does plagiarism ultimately hurt even

students who plagiarize and do not get caught?
FROM SHAKESPEARE’S OTHELLO

CASSIO [manipulated by Iago]: My reputation,

my reputation! I’ve lost my reputation, the
longest-living and truest part of myself!
Everything else in me is just animal-like. Oh, my
reputation, Iago, my reputation!
(2.3)
 THE WORDS
Haunted by plagiarism

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTlh70mx-e
M
SOURCES
 Must be discussed (quoted/cited) in the report,
not just listed in the bibliography.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

“Your report must discuss at least four texts

found through library research (not resources
available on the free internet).”

 May I have more than four sources?

 How many sources should I discuss in Report
1/in the Final Report?
ANSWERS
 Yes, you may have more than 4 sources.
 In Report 1, you must have 4 sources in your
bibliography, but you do not have to discuss more
than 2 sources in the report itself.
 In the Final Report, you must discuss at least 4
sources.
 The sources for Report 1 and the Final Report
are usually the same sources, but you may add
sources as needed for the Final Report.
DISCUSSION QUESTION 26

Explain the difference between quoting a source

and citing a source.
SELF- STUDY MECHANICS OF REFERENCING

APA (course pack 146-159)

OR

IEEE (course pack 66-70)

If you use another style, write that below the title of your
report.
LEARN FROM COURSE PACK HOW TO

(1) Write a list of references

(2) Provide citations for quotations and

paraphrases
MECHANICS OF REFERENCING
 Will not be discussed systematically in the
lecture.

 You must study from the course pack and

implement correctly.
YOU MAY ALSO STUDY FROM THIS WEBSITE

http://www.sass.uottawa.ca/writing/kit/referenci
ng.php
HOW TO LIST COURSE PACK MATERIALS IN REFERENCES?

Aboujaoude, Elias. “The Illusion of Knowledge”

English 1112 Course Pack (Winter 2019).
178-202.

Use the handwritten numbers in the course pack

when citing from course-pack texts.
FORMATTING MECHANICS
 Double space your report, including references.

 No need to include a title page; write your name,

student number and DGD number on the first page.

 Number the pages of the report (insert page

numbers).

 No abstract needed.
QUOTING

“Quotations marks:” use when you copy the

words exactly as they appear in your source text.
SAMPLE QUOTATIONS (NEXT SLIDE)

Reference

White, Dan (2011). The Long, Hard Winter of

1880-81. Hartville, Missouri: Ashley Preston
Publishing.
Dan White (2011) observes that those who
wonder “if the winter of 1880-81 was as bad as
Laura Ingalls Wilder wrote” should keep in
mind that during that year “the word ‘blizzard’
came into common use” (p. 7).
IF AUTHOR NOT MENTIONED IN YOUR TEXT

Many pioneers in North Dakota became anxious

as winter approached because “a board and
tarpaper claim shanty was not a safe place to
withstand Dakota blizzards” (White, 2011, p.
39).
CITING WITHOUT QUOTING

The word blizzard first became widely used in the

United States during the harsh winter of 1880-81
(White, 2011, p. 7).

Must paraphrase if quotation marks are not used.

MAJOR CHALLENGE IN REPORTS

The meaningful integration of quotations into

your own writing.

Quotes are too often mechanically “dropped”

into a report as fillers without sufficient critical
thinking, so the report reads like “research
notes.”
WHAT’S WRONG?

The authors state that “we found a link between

exposure to . . . and liver cancer . . .” (Smith et
al., 2012, p. 8).
[SQUARE BRACKETS/SQUARE PARENTHESES] TO PRESERVE
THE GRAMMAR

The authors state that “[they] found a link

between . . .” (Smith et al., 2012, p. 8).
[SQUARE BRACKETS/SQUARE PARENTHESES]

Should enclose any word within quotation marks

that you modified or added to the original.
CLARIFY THE MEANING OF WORD IN THE QUOTATION

Shilts (1987) protests against institutional

indifference to the suffering of AIDS patients
when he ends “Golf Courses of Science” with the
frustrating “and he waited” (p. 175).

What to clarify?
CLARIFY THE MEANING OF WORD IN THE QUOTATION

Shilts (1987) protests against institutional

indifference to the suffering of AIDS patients when
he ends “Golf Courses of Science” with the
frustrating “and he [Jim Curran] waited” (p. 175).

Clarify the pronoun “he” if it is not clear from the

context.
WHAT IS WRONG?

Naomi Baron (2008) shows that writing today

often resembles spoken language.
“Contemporary writing is increasingly
informal” (p. 210).
DO NOT WRITE A SENTENCE THAT IS ENTIRELY A QUOTATION

Naomi Baron (2008) shows that writing today

often resembles spoken language.
“Contemporary writing is increasingly
informal” (p. 210).

Create meaningful transitions between your

words and the quote.
IMPROVED

Naomi Baron (2008) contends that

“[c]ontemporary writing is increasingly
informal,” often resembling spoken language (p.
210).
SIGNAL PHRASES TO INTEGRATE QUOTATIONS

Name of author signal verb that . . . (but avoid too many

sentences that follow this formula.)
Acknowledges Believes
Concurs Denies
Implies Points out
Admits Insists
Contends Suggests
Argues Maintains
observes

(Buckley 138)
WHY IS THIS NOT SUFFICIENT?

Shilts (1987) contends that “[the] infectious

agent talk was, after all, a hypothesis” (p. 87).
DO NOT OVERUSE GENERIC (NON-ANALYTICAL) REPORTING

“Author contends/states/says”—may become

trivial if overused.

Don’t simply report the quote; place it in the

context of your analysis.

Follow up “generic” statements with your analysis.

MEANINGFUL INTEGRATION

Many scientists, Shilts (1987) explains, were not alarmed

by evidence pointing to the possible existence of a deadly
new virus because for them“[the] infectious agent talk
was” only “a hypothesis” (p. 87) and the outbreak was
possibly caused by a poisonous substance.

Integrate the quote into your own analysis.

MINIMIZE LONG QUOTATIONS

Aboujaoude (2012) contends that “[t]his reading

method, which propels the reader from search to
search until something, related or unrelated,
catches the attention, does not constitute true
reading. It constitutes an evasion of reading” (p.
308).
SHORTER, MORE ANALYTICAL QUOTATION

Aboujaoude (2012) warns that internet

skimming is “an evasion of reading” (p. 308).
ELLIPSES TO INDICATE WORDS OMITTED FROM A SOURCE.

 Three dots . . . (omission from the middle of a

single sentence ).
 Four dots (period plus three dots) . . . . (jump
from the middle of one sentence to the middle
of another).

(Buckley 140)
AVOID
 Block quotations (more than four lines).

 Most should be shorter than one line.

BLOCK QUOTATION TO BE AVOIDED

[Name of authors] states:

jkhgjhglkjhglkhdfglkjsdfhglkjhlgkjhflkgjhflkjg
hlkjghlkdfjghlkdfjghlkdfjghldfjkghlfkjghlfkjgh
lkjghlkjghlfkjghlkjghlfkjghflkjghlfkjghlfkjghlk
dfjghlkfjghlkjghlkdfjghlkfjghlkfjghlfkjghlkjghl
kjghlfkjghlfkjghlfkjghlfkjghlkfjghlkfjghlfkjghlk
fjghlfkjghfkljghlkfjghlkfjghlkfjhglkjfhglkjhfglkj
hflgjkhflkjghflkjghflkjghljkfhg
DO NOT QUOTE

When paraphrasing is possible.

Ask yourself: can I explain this in my own words

to demonstrate my comprehension and analysis?

(acknowledge the source with a citation.)

USE CITATIONS IN PARENTHESES (WITHOUT QUOTATION
MARKS) WHEN

 You express knowledge/ideas gleaned from

another text in your own words.

 Like in a quotation, author should be

acknowledged in parentheses following your
paraphrase/discussion of the author.
IN PARENTHESES: LAST NAME, YEAR, PAGE NUMBER (UNLESS
NAME AND/OR YEAR MENTIONED IN THE TEXT)

Recent studies have shown that . . . (Wilde, 2014, p. 5).

Sentence Punctuation outside the brackets.

APA style
IF AUTHOR IS CLEAR FROM THE CONTEXT

If you mention the author’s name in your

sentence, do not repeat the name in parentheses;
provide only the page number.

Wilde (2005) shows that . . . (p. 8).

Can also write year right after the author, not in

final parentheses.
2-3 AUTHORS

List names in every citation:

(Smith and Jones, 2002, p. 5)

(Smith, Jones and Brown, 2002, p. 5)

MORE THAN 3 AUTHORS

et al. (Latin for and others)

(Jones et al., 2012, p. 5)

WEBSITES: NO AUTHOR, NO PAGE NUMBER

Use title abbreviation in citations

As brief as possible, but clearly associated with

entry in the list of references.
WEBSITE: “ NEW TREATMENTS FOR INTERNET ADDICTION”

(Addiction, 2012)

(Internet addiction, 2012)

(New Treatments, 2012)

Abbreviation should be as brief as possible and not be

confused with another source in the list of references.
SOURCE WITHIN A SOURCE

Vader observes that . . . (as cited in Skywalker,

2002, p.43)

Reference only the source you read (in this case

Skywalker).

OR, if quoted
(as quoted in . . .)
PUNCTUATION AFTER PARENTHESES

Author says “Quote” (Author 24), but . . .

Paraphrase (Author 52).

CRUCIAL TO UNDERSTAND

If you copy the author’s words, you must use

quotation marks.

It is NOT enough to cite the author in

parentheses if his/her exact words are used.
ALSO

Copying a sentence without quotation marks and

making minor wording changes (or following the
structure of another author’s paragraph) is NOT
paraphrasing.

It is plagiarism.

Your paraphrase should recast the material in your

own voice, for your own analysis.
EXPERTS RECOMMEND THE “LOOK AWAY” TECHNIQUE

 Read your sources carefully, but

 Put them aside while you write.

 Then check your writing against the sources.

SHOULD I CITE EVERYTHING?

I was not born with knowledge about the

Challenger disaster or the Ebola virus.

If I am writing about these subjects, do I need to

cite every sentence because I learnt everything I
know from other sources?
COMMON KNOWLEDGE

Do not cite common knowledge if you put it in

your own words.

What is common knowledge?

COMMON KNOWLEDGE DEFINITION

“fact, date, event, information, circuit or

equation that can be easily looked up in a
standard reference book” (Beer and McMurrey
258).

Uncontroversial information that all experts in

that filed would agree on.
EXAMPLE OF COMMON KNOWLEDGE

Newtonian gravitation effectively explains

motion in the solar system.

Newton discovered that white light is a mixture

of the colours of the rainbow.

The Challenger had defective O-rings.

AVOID “INFORMATION DUMPING”
 Your report will often summarize existing
information

BUT

 It should be in your own voice.

 It should demonstrate your own analysis, not
simply offer a summary.
SHELDON’S MISTAKE?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEIn3T6nDAo

What can we learn from him about report

writing?
WRITE WITH A PURPOSE TO MEET A NEED

Demonstrate authorial
agency/purpose/organization.

Provide insight/analysis/recommendation about a

question.

Cannot be completely original, but be independent.

FAQ

My report is mostly about information taken

from other sources.

How do I ensure independence/critical thinking?

INTROSPECTION

Ask yourself the questions on the following slides

YOUR OUTLINE
 Am I following my outline (the product of my
own research and analysis) or am I following
the thinking process of another author
(paraphrasing each sentence)?

Do not follow the outline of another author.

SHORTEN
 Your summaries of other materials should
generally be shortened to express the salient
point/s in your own words (do not follow the
original sentence by sentence).
SIGNIFICANCE

Am I simply providing information or am I

analyzing the significance of the information?
ANALYSIS IN BLUE

In How to Write a Lot, Paul Silvia reminds writers

that “the best kind of self-control is to avoid
situations that require self-control” (22). The same
principle applies to electronic distractions in the
classroom: students will maximize their ability to
focus by putting away phones or any other potential
sources of temptation before the lecture begins.

Adapted from classroom etiquette document.