ENGL 214

Academic & Professional

Communication

Sources (cont.) and

source notes

ENGLISH 214 ACADEMIC & PROFESSIONAL 1

Aims

• Avoiding bias in sources

• Introduction to source notes
• Relevant homework

ENGLISH 214 ACADEMIC & PROFESSIONAL

 The report writing process
Week 1,2 Weeks 3,4 Weeks 5,6,7 Week 8

Is the yes
Select topic Source evaluations Submit to
proposal no
approved? Turnitin
Modify proposal
Is topic too
general? Submit Revise and
Submit Progress report
Proposal edit:
yes
Narrow content,
topic no organization, style
check spelling,
Purpose Take notes Write first draft (in class) punctuation,
statement grammar, referencing

yes
Write 2 level Get more Finish the report (at home): add
outline sources visuals (figures & tables), title
no page, table of contents,
introduction, conclusion,
Are the sources recommendations, references
Find sources good enough?

ENGLISH 214 ACADEMIC & PROFESSIONAL

 Source quality (for ENGL 214 reports)
Strong / Acceptable Weak / Unacceptable
• Academic journals • Websites with no author, publisher
• Books written by academics and other experts information, and/or date
• Government ministries (e.g., the Saudi Arabian Ministry of • Press releases and marketing materials (e.g.,
Health, the Canadian Ministry of Transport) information about Tesla projects found on
Can you think of some examples of high-quality sources?
• Reputable international organisations (e.g., The World Health
Organisation, The United Nations)
the Tesla website)
• Websites that heavily promote products and
Can you think of some examples of poor-quality sources?
• Reputable newspapers (e.g., The Financial Times, The Irish
Times, The Guardian, The New York Times)
services (e.g., Investopedia)
• Tabloid and sensationalist newspapers (e.g.,
• Reputable magazines (e.g., The New Yorker, New Scientist) The Daily Mail, The Sun, The New York
• Reputable news organisations (e.g., BBC News, The Associated Post, The Jakarta Post)
Press) • Poor-quality news websites and
• Videos and podcasts produced by reputable media organisations organisations (e.g., Business Insider, Fox
and/or academics (e.g., podcasts featuring UC Berkeley News, Buzzfeed)
professors, BBC News’ official YouTube channel) • Encyclopaedias
• Primary research • Blogs
• Social media posts

ENGLISH 214 ACADEMIC & PROFESSIONAL 4

Sources to avoid

Sources…
• without authors.
• without dates.
• by questionable authors.
• by questionable organisations.
• in questionable publications.
• that are out-dated.
• written in informal language.
• that are biased.

ENGLISH 214 ACADEMIC & PROFESSIONAL

Bias Remember:
Most writers write about issues precisely
because they are passionate about those
issues, but sometimes, passion for an
issue can kill objectivity and fairness.

Cambridge Dictionary
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/ learner-english/bias

ENGLISH 214 ACADEMIC & PROFESSIONAL

Bias in sources
• Sources are influenced by the ideas of the person
who created them, and the publication that printed
them.
• You need to be able to identify bias in every source
you use.
• The following questions will help you work out
how reliable and accurate information is.
Who created the resource?
Why was the resource created? Think about the creator's age,
Which publication was the resource religion, race, political leanings
and occupation, and their
created for? publisher.

ENGLISH 214 ACADEMIC & PROFESSIONAL

Types of bias to look for
• Professional bias am an academic English instructor and I hate plagiarism”
work for a solar energy company, so I hate oil & gas”.
• Personal bias am a Republican and I hate Joe Biden. I stand to profit from the
article if I can persuade people to my point of view”or am passionate about the
environment and really want to save the world”.
• Power bias am the boss of a newspaper, journal, website etc. and nobody is really
checking my work properly. My work doesn’t undergo proper academic scrutiny.”
• Publication bias Greenpeace will never say good things about oil. Fox News is
biased against Joe Biden.
• Article bias The article focuses only on one side of the issue without giving a
balanced consideration.
• Financial bias Companies are motivated towards profit and often won’t give an
objective account of their products or other industry factors.

ENGLISH 214 ACADEMIC & PROFESSIONAL

Search for unbiased sources

• Look for a range of opinions that are

supported by different sources.
• A bibliography (list of references) is
often a good sign of a reputable
resource, but you'll need to check
whether the references listed are
reliable and credible.
• Some publications have a reputation
for objectivity.

ENGLISH 214 ACADEMIC & PROFESSIONAL 9

Narrow scope vs. broad research
• This student wants to write an
essay about robotic
technology used in factories,
and has narrowed his topic to
food-processing factories.
• Can he use research from and
literature about other types of
factories (e.g., consumer
electronics)?
• (Potentially) yes!
ENGLISH 214
From: stressed-out.student@kfupm.edu.sa
To: daniel.mahony@kfupm.edu.sa
Subject: ENGL 214 title question
Hi Dan,
I hope you’re well.
I’m worried about the title that I have chosen. You
asked me to narrow my title to a particular
industrial sector, rather than writing about
industry in general. However, I’m now afraid that
I won’t be able to find enough sources.
Your advice would be much appreciated.
Best regards,
Ali ibn Ali al-Ali
ACADEMIC & PROFESSIONAL 10
 Citation metric

• The citation metric is a number

which shows you how many times a
source has been used in other
published work
• This figure gives the weight, or
significance, of a particular work
• It’s worth considering, but you must
remember that more recent sources
will naturally have a lower number
of citations
• This is typically something only
available for journal articles

ENGLISH 214 ACADEMIC & PROFESSIONAL 11

Intro to Source Notes

ENGLISH 214 ACADEMIC & PROFESSIONAL 12

Source
Notes
• OK, so you’ve found a
source—congratulations!
• Now what?
• Sources, especially journal
articles, can be
intimidating—it’s
important to know how to
approach them

ENGLISH 214 ACADEMIC & PROFESSIONAL 13

ENGLISH 214 ACADEMIC & PROFESSIONAL 14
 Assignments: Source Notes 1, 2
and 3 (1% + 1% + 1%)
• Select one of the sources that you have found.
• You are going to read the source, and take notes.
• For this assignment, you should submit your source note to
the link on the Assignments / Deadlines page on
Blackboard.

ENGLISH 214
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY
ACADEMIC & PROFESSIONAL
Assignments: Source Notes 1, 2 and 3 (1% + 1% + 1%)

• There are example student source notes on Blackboard in the Pre-

report: Source notes (3%) folder.
https://kfupmedusa-my.sharepoint.com/:b:/g/personal/daniel_mahony_
kfupm_edu_sa/ESTIKhvq09ZPnicr3j1vIvcBRGNWC-DlUZeCGxG7
LFfj1Q?e=qWiywS

• Deadlines: See the course schedule.

ENGLISH 214 ACADEMIC & PROFESSIONAL 16

Source Note 1 (1%)

• You can use the source note template:

https://kfupmedusa-my.sharepoint.com/:w:/g/personal/daniel_mahony
_kfupm_edu_sa/EUf6GdmD31NBu3hbI05jrO0BbnGVDac5RCOTU
QoiWSvirQ?e=YNXUft

• You should include:

1. A full APA reference
2. A 100-150-word summary of the the source (do not just copy and paste
text for this). This should include, among other things, significant
information from the article, a purpose statement, any problems outlined.
3. Useful tables, figures, and/or quotations.
4. Some questions for discussion (try to think of at least three questions that
the source leaves you asking, and/or that are implied from the information
ENGLISH
in the
214text) ACADEMIC & PROFESSIONAL 17
Source Note 2 (1%)

• You can use the source note template:

https://kfupmedusa-my.sharepoint.com/:w:/g/personal/daniel_mahony
_kfupm_edu_sa/EUf6GdmD31NBu3hbI05jrO0BbnGVDac5RCOTU
QoiWSvirQ?e=YNXUft

• You should include:

1. A full APA reference
2. A 100-150-word summary of the the source (do not just copy and paste
This is different to
text for this). This should include, among other things, significant
source note 1!
information from the article, a purpose statement, any problems outlined.
3. Useful tables, figures, and/or quotations.
4. A source evaluation (use the slides from today’s class to help you, as well
as the materials in the Pre-report: Progress report (6%) folder Blackboard)
ENGLISH 214 ACADEMIC & PROFESSIONAL 18
Source Note 3 – academic journal article (1%)

• You can use the source note template:

https://kfupmedusa-my.sharepoint.com/:w:/g/personal/daniel_mahony
_kfupm_edu_sa/EUf6GdmD31NBu3hbI05jrO0BbnGVDac5RCOTU
QoiWSvirQ?e=YNXUft

1. A full APA reference

2. A 100-150-word summary of the the Thissource (dotonot just copy and paste
is different
text for this). This should include, among
sourceother
note 1!things, significant
This is different to
information from the article, a purpose statement, any problems outlined. source note 2!
3. Useful tables, figures, and/or quotations.
4. A source evaluation (use the slides from today’s class to help you, as well
as the materials in the Pre-report: Progress report (6%) folder Blackboard)
• This article must be an academic journal article.
ENGLISH 214 ACADEMIC & PROFESSIONAL 19
Grading of source notes

• In order to receive full credit (100%), you need to complete all

required sections – and do a good job of it.
• It is okay if some parts are not wholly correct, providing that an
earnest attempt was made and there is evidence of thorough reading
and note taking.
• Students will receive one of the follow grades for each source note:
• A+ (100%)
• D (60%)
• F (0%)

ENGLISH 214 ACADEMIC & PROFESSIONAL 20

Benefits of Source Notes

• It is quite feasible to receive a hundred % on these assignments

• Parts of the source notes can be applied to the progress report
• A summary of the source can be used for your progress report
• A source evaluation could be used for the progress report as well
• Source notes can be used for the drafting sessions
• Students are permitted to bring printed copies of their source notes to the
drafting sessions
• Source notes will better prepare you to submit the final report, which
will require two versions:
• One without sources submitted to Turnitin
• One with all of your sources cross-referenced submitted to Blackboard
ENGLISH 214 ACADEMIC & PROFESSIONAL 21
Second Copy of Final Draft Submission is a Record of
Source Content for Cited Material
• You will need to submit a second copy of your final draft at the end of the term.

• Within the document containing the second submission of your final draft, you
will also need to provide a precise record of the specific text (sentences/figures)
from which you paraphrased, quoted or used figures.
• This is very important as you will receive a grade of zero on the final draft of
your report if you do not submit this file.

ENGLISH 214 ACADEMIC & PROFESSIONAL 22

Second Copy of Final Draft Submission – Record of
Source Content for Cited Material
• You do not need to include the entire source, only a copy of the page/pages or
paragraph/paragraphs that contain the part(s) you used. The amount of
information provided will depend on the size of the document. Make sure that
you have the entire source available at the end of the term when you create this
document.

• All sources must be cross-referenced with the report.

• Look at the example document below, and use the template provided to submit
this document.

Final Draft 2nd FD 2nd Sub

Submission Template

ENGLISH 214 ACADEMIC & PROFESSIONAL 23

 Questions Discussion Thank you

ENGLISH 214 ACADEMIC & PROFESSIONAL 24