TODAY

1) Quick overview of Scavenger Hunt2) Introduction to formatting/citation3) OWL and some basics4) Quick side-bar: activity to narrow topics5) Find a few refs6) Cite them7) Share8) Homework

HUNT

The answers are on my Tumblr. Let’s take a look at how to get them.

CITATIONS & FORMAT

Today we will begin, for the first time, talking about citations and paper formatting. While some of you might be familiar with MLA (Modern Language Association) citation format, I looked at all of your majors, and the vast majority of you will be using APA (American Psychological Association) format in your coursework. If you’d like to be certain and follow the format for your major, you’re welcome to do so, but since it will serve the majority of you the best to learn APA, that’s what we’ll do as a class.

APA

Sometimes people get a little confused, since it’s the American Psychological Association’s formatting style, but APA is used by all social sciences, many tech com and computer fields, and it’s much closer to the oft confusing CSE (Council of Science Editors) formatting that the sciences use.

If you’re in history, get ready for fun: you’ll be using the old school Chicago style with footnotes.

A REFERENCE

You will notice that I didn’t require you to own a handbook. There’s a reason for that: I think the free resources we have access to are fantastic and save you money (plus you can look at them by alt-tabbing and ctrl-Finginstead of having to grab and search a book).

For our citation information, we’ll be using the Purdue Online Writing Lab. I know, I know, not everyone loves Purdue. Try not to let that bias you. Their Writing Lab is amazing.

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/

APA FORMATTING

The formatting needs for APA aren’t that demanding. There are some more detailed things for a longer piece, but for a standard less-than-ten-page paper, all you need to know is on the next slide.

Bear in mind that after 10 pages, or if you are submitting for publication, there are dramatic changes– like a title page, an abstract, and something called a running head. You shouldn’t need those for class, but I can talk you through them if you do.

REFERENCES

References are made in two ways in APA (and you must do both): in text and on a reference page at the end.

It is critical to include both citations with any reference you utilize. The in-text citation goes in the specific place where you quote a source. It is typically short, including the author of the piece’s last name, the date of publication, and the page number, like so (Alexander, 2012, p. 1). They are broken up, however, when you do something like this: Alexander (2012) said “this” (p. 1).

In-text citation, the basics: You need to have the last name of the author, capitalized, the date of publication, and the page number. Alexander (2012) said, “the date goes closest to the name, so if you use the name in the signal phrase, it goes there. The rest of the citation goes in parenthesis before the period” (p. 1).

REFERENCE LIST

Reference list entries follow these basic rules:1) Author’s last name first (unless you don’t have

it) then first initial.2) The date of publication is ALWAYS second,

even if you have to replace the last name with something else.

3) There are differing rules for differing kinds of publications. You will want to keep a reference handy (like the OWL page I showed you). You can get a basic sense of how the citation works from looking at a journal article and a book.

4) The reference list has hanging indents (every line after the first is indented)

Book Citation:Last, F. (Date). Title. Location: Publisher.

Example:Meyer, S. (2005). Twilight. New York:

Hachette Books.

Journal Article Citation:Last, F. (Date). Title of article. Title of

periodical, Volume number(issue number), pages.

Example:Prax, P. (2012). Co-creative interface

development in MMORPGs– the case of World of Warcraft add-ons. Journal of gaming and virtual worlds, 4(1), 3-24.

NOTICE…

That only the first words of titles, and proper nouns, are capitalized.

There are no quotation marks used in an APA reference entry.

Don’t forget the hanging indent.

ACTIVITY

It’s time to commit to a paper topic. So I want you to do the following:1) Look over all the materials you’ve created so far.2) Go to your favorite news website. For example–

CNN.com, TheDailyBeast, HuffingtonPost… whatever you like. Read over the key political articles.

3) Take some time cross-referencing and thinking about what matters to you, what you see good material for, etc.

4) Pick a topic. And… commit.5) Write a thesis statement for your positioned

argument (subject to tweaking as you research)

POST YOUR THESIS…

To your Tumblr.

Once you’ve done that, I want you to locate at least three potential sources. Remember what we talked about last class, and the class before.

ACTIVITY 2

After you locate your three sources, create APA reference list citations for each of them.

Once you’ve created these, exchange with a classmate and check them against the OWL site. Comment on anything that looks incorrect.

Make a list of questions to share when we come back together as a group.

Homework:Read: “The Design of Web 2.0” by Arola (on Niihka). Tumblr question: How is your early research going?Tumblr prompt: I have placed links to several prominent political blogs on my Tumblr. Pick one, go there, look around (read at least three entries), then write a facts based summary of what you see. NO OPINION.