Drafting Research Report

7/30/2019 Drafting Research Report

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lDrafting Your Report

7.1 Draft in the Way That Feels Mosr Comfortable-.) Develop Productive Drafting Habits-.3 Use Your Key Terms ro Keep Yourself on Track-.+ Quore, Paraphrase, anci Summarize Appropriatclv-.i lnregrate Quoations inro Your Text7.6 Usb Foornotes and Endnotes Judiciouslv7.7 Interprer Complex or Detailed Evidence beFore You OFer It:.8 Be Open to Surprises-.9 Guard againsr Inadvertent Plagiarism

7.9.1 Signal Every Ouotation. Even When You Cite lts Source7.9.2 Don't Paraphrase Too Ctosety?.9.3 Usuatty Cite a Source for ldeas Not Your Own7.9.1. Don't Ptead lgnorance, Misunderstanding, or lnnocent lntentions

-. t0 Guard against Inappropriate Assistance-.:. I Work through Chronic Procrastination and Writer's Block

-tne wrirers rhink rhat once they have an oudine or storyboard, rheyc:-a {iratt bv jusr grinding our senrences. If youte written a lot to explorerour :oeas. you may even rhink rhat you can plug that preliminary writ-ing into a draft- Expericnced writers know berter. They know rwo things:exploratorv writing is crucial but often nor right for a drafr, and thought-ful &afting can bc an acr of discovery thir planning and sroryboardingcan prepare thcm for, but never replace. [n fact, most wrirers don't knowwhat they caz think unril they sec ir appear in words before them. Indeed,you expcricnce one of rhe most exciting moments in research when youdiscover yoursclf apressing ideas thar you did nor know you had untilrhat moment-

So don'r look upon drafting as merely rranslating a sroryboard or out-


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72 CHAPTERT I DRAFT|NG YOUR REPORTline inro words. If you draft with an open mind, you can discovcr linesoF thoughr that vou couldnt have imagined before you starred. But likeorher steps in rhe process, even surprises work bemcr with a plan.

Eil Draft in the Way That FeeLs Most Comfortable'Writers draft in differenr ways. Somc are slow and careful: they have toger every paragraph righr bcfore rhey snrr the noc one. To do rhar, rhcyneed a meticulous plan. So if you draft slowly, plan carefulll'. Orher wrir-ers ler the words fou'. skipping ahead when rhey ger sruck, omicing quo-rarions. srarisrics, and so on rhar rhey can plug in later. If they are sroppedbv a stvlistic issue such as whether to represent numbers in words or nu-merals. rhev insert a [?] and kecp on wriring unril thcy run our of gas,rhen go back and 6x it. Bur quick drafters need lors of rime ro revisc. Soif you drafr quickly, starr early. Draft in whatever way works for you, burexperienced wrirers usually draft quickly, rhen revise exrensivell'.

4 Devel,op Productive Drafting HabitsMost of us learn ro wrire in the least efficienr wav-under pressure, rush-ing ro meer a deadline, with a quick draft the nighr before and mavbea few minures in rhe morning for proofreading. Thar rarell, worlcs for ashorr paper, almost never for a longcr one. You need time and a plan rharsers small, achievable goals bur keeps your eye on rhe whole.Mosr imporranr, drafr regularlt' and ofren, nor in mararhon sessionsthar dull vour thinking and kill vour inreresr. Ser a small goal and a rea-sonablc quota of words for each session, and sdck ro ir.'!({hen vou resumedrafring, vou need not start where vou left off: review vour srorvboardto dccidc what you're ready ro drafr todal'. Revieu' how ir will fit into itssecrion and rhe whole: Vhar reason does titis secrion supporr? rVhoe does itfr in the ouerall logic?'Vhich hey rerms srure the concepts thar distinguisb thissection? If you're blocked, skip ro anorher section. Vharever you do, don'tsubsrirute more reading for wriring. Chronic procrastinarors are usualll'so intimidated by the size of their project rhar it paralyzes rhem, and theyiusr keep putting off gerdng sarted. You can overcome that dcsrrucrivehabit by breaking your project into small, achievable goals (see 7.ll).

!fi Use Your Key Terms to Keep Yoursetf on TrackAs you draft, keep in front of you a separate list of the key rcrms for vourgencral conceprs thar should run through your whole reporr. From rimc


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OUOTE. PARAPHRASE, ANO SUMMARIZE APPROPRIATELY

ro rime, check how ofren you've used rhosc words, borh rhosc rhar runrhrough rhe whole repon and those that disringuish one secrion from an-orher. Bur don'r let those words stife fresh rhinking. If you find yourselfwandering, ler yourself go for a while. You may be developing an interesr-ing idea. Follow ir unril you see where it takes you.

g 0uote, Paraphrase, and Summarize Appropriatety'We covered rhis issue ..vhen rve discussed nore-raking (4.2.2). You shouldbuild mosr of vour reporr our of vour own words thar refecr your ownrhinking. Much of rhe supporr fbr rhar rhinking will be in quorarions.paraphrases, and summaries. Differenr fields, however, use rhem in dif:ferenr proporrions. In general. researchers in rhe humaniries quore mostoften: social and natural scienrists rypically paraphrase and summarize.Bur vou musr decide each case for irself, depending on how you use rheinfbrmarion in your argument. Here are some principles:

r Summarize rvhen details are irrelevanr or a source isn'r importanc enoughto warre.nt more sPace.r Paraphrase when you can srate whar a source says more clearly or con-ciselv rhan rhe source. or when your argumenr depends on rhe details ofa source bur noc on irs specific words. (Bctbre you paraphrase, however,read 7.9.)r Quote for rhese purposes:e The words consrirurc evidence rhar backs up your reasons.r A passage srares a view rhar you disagree with, and to be tiir vou want

ro srare ir exacrlv.r The quoted words are from an aurhorirv who backs up vour view.r Thcy are srrikingly original., Thcy express l'our key conceprs so compellingly rhar rhe quor:rion can

frame the rest of your discussron.You must balancc quorarions, paraphrases, and summaries wirh yourown fresh ideas. Do nor merely repear, or worse, download, words and

ideas of others rhar you srirch rogerher wirh a few senrences of your own.All reachers have ground their teeth over such repbrts, dismaved by theirlack oF original thinking. In an advanced project such as a rhesis or dis-sertation, readers rcjcct a patchwork of borrowings out of hand.

Readers rralue rescarch only ro rhe degree rhar rhev uust its sources. Sofor every sumrnarv, paraphrase, or quorarion vou use, cire its bibliographicdata in thc appropriare cirarion srylc (sce part 2).


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CHAPTERT I DRAFTTNG Y0UR REPORTEil lntegrate Ouotations into Your TextYou can insert quotarions inro your texr in rwo wavs:

r Run Four or fewer quored lines inro your running rexr.r Set off6ve or more lines as an indenred block.You can inregrare both run-in and block quorarions into your rext inrwo ways:

1. Drop in the quoration as an independent senrence or passage. inrro-duced rvith a few explanatory words. Bur avoid inrroducing all of vourquesrions with just a says, states, chims, and so on:

Diamond says, -The histories of the Fertile Crescent and China . . . hotd a satutary[esson for the modern wortd: circumstances change, and past primacy is no guaran-tee of future primacy'[4171.Insread, providc somc interprcrarion:Diamond suggests that one lesson we can learn from the past is not to expect historyto repeat itsetf. -The histories of the Fertite Crescent and China . . . hotd a satutarytesson for the modern wortd. . . .-2. 'Weave rhe grammar of rhe quorarion inro the grammar of vour

sentence:Potiticat leaders should [earn f rom history, but Diamond points out that the 'tessonfor the modern wortd- in the history of the Fertite Crescent and China is that "cir-cumstances change, and past primacy is no guarantee of tuture pnmacy- la17l. Soone tesson from history is that you can't count on it to repeat itsetf.To make a quoted sentence mesh u'irh vours, vou can modifv rhe quota-rion, so long as you dor,'r change irs meaning and vou clearlv indicateadded or changed words rvirh square brackers anci


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INTERPRET COMPLEX OR OETAILEO EVIOENCE

(See chaptcr 25 for more on integraring quomrions wirh your tcxr.)!7hen you refer ro a sourcc rhc 6rsr rime, use his or hcr full name. Donot precede it wirh Mr., Mn., Ml, or Professor (sce 24.2.2 for the use ofDr-, Reuerczd, scnator, and so on). v'hen you menrion a source rhereaf-rer, use jusr the lasr nameAccording to Steven Pinker, 'ctaims about a tanguage instinct . . . have virtuatty noth-ing to do with possibte genetic differences between peopte.-t Pinker goes on to ctaimthat...

Except when referring ro kings, queens, and popes. nel,er refer ro asource by his or her 6rsr namc. Never rhis:According to Steven Pinker, -claims about a tanguage instinct . . . - Ste.ren goes on toctaim that. -.

q Use Footnotes and Endnotes Judicioustylf you are using bibliography-sryle citarions (see 3.2.L), you will have rodecide as vou draft how to use footnores and endnores (for their formalrequiremenrs, see chapter 16). You musr cire evcry source in a note, ofcourse, bur vou might aiso decide to use foornotes and endnotes for sub-stanrive marerial rhar vou don'r want to include in rhe body of your EexE,bur also don'r wanr to ornir. (You might also use such subsanrive noresin comcinarion wirh parenrherical cirarions in rcference lisr sryle; sceI 8.-1.-:.

r -: -'-c: ::re sources in endnores, pur subsranrive marerial in footnotes.C=::*'rse','ou force readers ro keep flipping ro the back of ','our reporr ro==.-s even'endnote to sec wherher ic is subsranrive or bibliographical.r --sc rubsranrive foornotes sparingly. IFyou creare coo many, you risk mak-ing vour pages look choppy and broken up.In anv event, kcep in mind that many readers ignore subsranrive foornoreson rhe principle that information not imporrant enough for you ro includein rhe rexr is not importanr enough for rhem ro read in a foornore.

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q lnterpret Compter or DetaiLed Evidence before you Offer ttBy this poinr, you may be so sure rhat your evidence suppons your rea-sons that you'll think readers can'r miss its relevance. Bur evidcnce neverspeaks For irself, especidly nor a long quorarion, an irnage, a rablc or charr,and so on. You musr speak for ir bv inrroducing it wirh a senrence sraringwhar you wanr vour readers ro ger our of ir.


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For o


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GUARO AGAINST INAOVER?ENT PLAGIARISMIf you get bemer ideas early cnough before your dcadlinc, invest the timcto make rhe changes. It is a.hop price for a big improvemcnt.

U Guard against tnadvertent PtagiarismIt will be as you draft that you risk making onc of rhe worsr mistakes aresearcher can make you lead readcrs to think thar youte rrying ro passoffche work of anorher writcr as your own. Do rhar and you risk being ac-cused of plagiarism, a charge rhar, if susrained, could mean a failing gradeor even expulsion.Manv insrructors warn againsr plagiarism but don'r explain it, becauserhey rhink ir is always an ecr of deliberare dishonesry rhar needs no sx-planation.'And ro be sure, srudenrs know rhey cheat when rhey put rheirname on a paper bought on rhe Inrerner or copied from a frarcrniqv orsororiry 6le. Most also know thcv chear when chcy pass off as rheir ownpage after page copied from a source or downloadcd from rhe Wcb. Forthose cases, rhere! nothing ro say beyond Don't.

Bur many studenrs fail to realize rhar rhey risk'being charged with pla-giarism even if they werc nor inrenrionally dishonest, bur only ignoranror careless. You run char risk whcn you give readers reason ro think rhatyouve done one or more of the following:

r You cired a source but used irs exacr words without purring rhem in quo-rarion marks or in a block quorarion.r You paraphrased a source and citcd it, but in words so similar to those oFi'our source rhat they are dmosr a quorarion: anyone could see thar youq-e:c following rhe source word-by-word as you paraphrased ir.

r You '.rscd ideas or mcrhods from a source but failed to cite it.,.r.1 SigEal Every Quotation, Even'W'henYou Cite Its SourceEven if you cire your source, readers musr know which words are yoursand which you quore. You risk a charge of plagiarism if you ful ro usequocarion marks or a block quoradon to signal that you have copied ark*h as a singh line tf uords.It gets complicated, however, when you copy just a few words.Read this:Because technotogy begets more technotogy. the importance of an invention s dif-fusion potentia[[y exceeds the importance of the originat invention. Technotogy'shistory exemptifies what is termed an autocatatytic process: that is. one that speedsup at a rate that increases with time, because the process catatyzes itsetf [Diamondr 998. 3011.


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CHAPTERT I ORAFTTNG Y0UR REPORTIf you were wriring about Jared Diamond's ideas, you would probablyhavc to r,l,se some ofhis words, such as thc imporuncc of an inacntion. Butyou wouldn't put thar phrase in quotation marks, becausc it shows nooriginaliry of thought or orprcssion. Two of his phrases, however, are sostriking thar they do require quoration marlcs: tcchnohgr brgro more tcch-nohgt alnd aumcau$rtic process. For example,The power of technotogy goes beyond individual inventions because technotogy -be-gets more technotogy.- lt is, as Diamond puts it. an -autocatatytic process- 13011.Oncc you cite those words, vou can use them again without quotationmarks or citadon:As one invention begets another one and that one stitt another. the process be-comes a setf-sustaining catatpis that spreads exponentiatty across a[[ nationatboundaries.

This is e Br:ly area: words that seem srriking to some readers are com-monplace to others. If you use quotation marks for too many commonphrases, readers mighr think you're naive or insecure, but if you fail to usethcm when readers think you should, they me)'suspecr you're trying totakc crcdir for language and ideas not your own. Since it's bettcr ro seemnaive rhan dishonest, especially early in vour research career. use quora-don marlcs freell'. (Y. ou musr, hou'ever, follow the standard practices ofyour field. For example, lawyers ofren use the cxact language of a srarutcor judicid opinion wirh no quotarion marks.)

7.9.2 Don't Paraphrase Too CloselyYou paraphrase appropriatcly when you reprcsent an idea in vour ownwords more clcarly or pointedly rhan the source does. But readers willthink thar,vou cross the line from fair paraphrase to plagiarism if they canmatch vour words and phrasing with those of vo-ur source. For example,rhese next sentences plagiarize the rwo sentences you jusr read:Booth. Cotomb. and Wittiams ctaim that appropriate paraphrase is the use of one'sown words to represent an idea to make a passage from a source ctearer or morepointed. Readers can accuse a student of plagiarism, however, if his paraphrase isso simitar to its source that someone can match words and phrases in the sentenceand those in that source.This ncxr paraphrase borders on plagiarism:Appropriate paraphrase rewrites a passage from a sounce into one's own words tomake it ctearer or more pointed. Readers think ptagiarism occurs when a source isparaphrased so ctosely that they see paratlets between words and phrases. lBooth,Colomb. and Wittiams, 20071.

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GUARD AGAINST INADVERTENT PLAGIAR ISMThis paraphrase does nor plagiarize:According to Booth, Cotomb, and Wittiams 1r2007lr, paraphrase is the use of your ownwords to represent the ideas of another more ctearty. lt becomes ptagiarism whenreaders see a word-for-word simitarity between a paraphrase and a source.

To avoid seeming ro plagiarize bl,paraphrasc, don't read vour source asyou paraphrase ir. Rcad rhe passage. look awar', rhink abour ir for a mo-ment; thcn srill loohing a*-a-1', paraphrase ir in vour own words. Then checkwherher vou can run vour 6nger along vour senrcnce and 6nd rhe sameideas in the same order in your source. If you can, so can your readers.Trv again.

7.9.3 Usuallv Cite a Source for Ideas Not Your OwnThis rule is more complicared rhan ir seems. becausc most of our o\\'nideas are based on or derived from identifiablc sources somewhere in his-ron'. Readers don't expecr vou to find even'disrant source for er.erv famil-iar idca. bur thev do expecr vou to cite the source for an idea u'hen (l) rheidea is associatcd wirh a specific person and (2\ ir's nes' enough nor to bepart of a 6eld's cornmon knos'ledge.

For example, psvcholosisrs claim rhar u'e rhink and fleel in differenrparts of our brains. But no reader u'ould expecr vou ro circ rhar idea. bc-cause it's no longer associared u'irh a specific source and ir's so familiarthat no one would rhink vou implied rhar it u,as l'ours. On the orherhand, somc psvchologists argue rhat cmotions are crucial ro rarional deci-sion making. Thar idea is so ne\\'and so closeh'ried ro particular research-ers thar vou'd have ro cire rhem.

The principle is rhis: cire a source for an idea nor \.our own u.heneveran informed reader mighr rhink that vou're implving thar ir is vour orvn.Though rhar seems black and rvhire, it has a bi9, grav area in rhe middle.V'hen in doubr, check rv,irh vour rnsrrucror.

7.9.1 Don't Plead Ignorance, Misunderstanding, or Innocent IntentionsTo be sure, whar looks likc plagiarism is ofren jusr honesr ignorance ofhow to use and cire sources. Some srudents sincerelv believe rhar theydon'r have to cire marerial thev have downloaded from rhe \7'eb if thatmaterial is free and publiclv available. Bur rhe,r,'re wrong. The facr rhar it'spublic or free is irrclevant. You musr cire arything you use that was cre-ared by someone elsc.Many srudcnts defend rhcmsclvcs by claiming rhey didn'r intend omislead. The problem is, we rcad words, nor minds. So rhink of plagiarismnot as an intcndcd acr bur as a. percciucd onc. Avoid any sign thar mighrgive your readers any reason to suspec you of ir. 'whenever you submir a

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80 CHAPTERT | 0RAFTtNG Y0UR REPORTpaper with your name on it, you implicitly promisc rhar you wrore everyword rhar you don'r clearly and specifically anribure to someone else.

Here is rhe best way ro rhink abour this: If rhe person whose work youused read your reporr, would she recognize a;ny of ir as hers, includingparaphrases and summaries, or even general ideas or merhods? If so, youmusr cire rhar source and enclose any sequence of her exacr words in quo-rarion marks or ser them off in a block quorarion.

Guard against lnappropriate AssistanceExperienced writers regularlv show rheir drafts ro orhers for criricism andsugeesrions. and you should too. Bur insrrucrors diiTer on horv much helpis appropriace and rvhar help srudenrs should acknowledge. \7hen vou gerhelq. ask two questions:1. How much help is appropriare?, For a class paper. mosr insrrucrors encourage srudenrs ro ger generalcriricism and minor ediring, bur noc dcrailed rcrvriring or subsranrive

suggesUons.'r For a rhcsis. disserrarion. or work submined tbr publicerion, wrirers gerall tlrc hclp thev can tiorn relchcrs. rcvicwcrs. and ochers so l


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WORK THROUGH PROCRASTINATION ANO WRITER'S BLOCXr You may be stuck because you have no goals or gods thar are too high. If

so, create a routine and sct small, achienable gods. Do nor be relucent touse devices to kecp yourself moving, such as a progress chart or regularmeetings with a wriring panner.r You may fecl so inrimidarcd by the sizc of the task thar you don't knowwherc to bcgin. If so, follow our suggesdons about dividing the proccssinro smdl,.achievable tasks; tlen focus oo doing one small srep at a rimc.Don't dwell on thc whole task undl you've complered several small pans.r You may Feel that you have to make sveq'senrence or paragraph perfecrbefore you move on ro the nocr one. If so, tell voursclf you'rc nor writinga draft bur only sketching o,r, ,orrr. ideas, grir your teeth, rhen do ,o*.quick and dirry wridng ro ger yourself sarred. )bu can avoid some of thisobsession with perfecrion if you write along the way, knowing that youaren't writing a 6rst draft. And in any evenr, wc all have ro compromiseon perfccdon ro get the job done.If you have problems like these wirh most of vour wriring projecrs, go rothe student learning cenrer. Thcre arc people rhere who have worked wirhevery kind of procrasrinaror and blocked wrirer and can give you advicetailorcd to vour problem.

On the other hand, sorne cases of writerk block mav really be opporru-nities ro ler your ideas simmer in vour subconscious while rhcy combineand recombine inro somerhing ner*, and surprising. If vou're sruck buthave rime (another reason ro sran early). do somerhing else for a dav orrwo. Then return ro rhe rask ro see if you can ger back on rrack.

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Drafting Research Report