Extended Writing and Research Skills

8/19/2019 Extended Writing and Research Skills

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50 English for academic study

4 Developing your project

In this unit you will:

• find out how to make the best use of the tutorial system;

•learn about plagiarism and how to avoid it;

• learn about the features of abstracts and their purpose.

Introduction

The tutorial systemA tutorial is usually a private meeting between your teacher (who maybe called your personal tutor) and you, the tutee. All undergraduate andpostgraduate students will be assigned a tutor when they begin theiracademic courses. However, students who are going on to study for aPhD will be assigned a supervisor.

If you have a tutor, s/he will probably have several tutees. Usually, youwill meet with your tutor to discuss academic issues.

The appointment systemYour tutor may set up a system for notifying you of appointments by e-mail or through the use ofBlackboard or a similar virtual learning environment. Your tutor may decide when and how often youshould attend a tutorial, or s/he may simply leave a blank form where you can fill in your preferredtime. See below:

Sample appointment form

Date Time Name

August 15 th 2.15 Suzy

August 15 th 2.35 Ali

August 16 th 2.15 Cai

Making the best use of tutorial timeTutorials may last anything from a few minutes to more than half anhour; usually, you will have a specific time allocated, e.g., 20 minutes.As it is your responsibility to get the most you can from the tutorial inthe short time that you have, it is important to come well prepared.You should therefore think about things you wish to talk about beforeyou attend a tutorial, e.g., aspects of your project you need to discuss,or any questions about your feedback or class work that needclarification. You should also bring a notebook so that you can make abrief note of any information or advice you get. However, you will nothave time to write down everything during the tutorial – just headings.You should therefore make notes immediately after the tutorial whilethe information related to your discussion is still fresh in your mind.

Study tipYou may find that sometutors on your academiccourse are less patientand understanding thanmany of the teachers ona pre-sessional course,which makes preparationfor tutorials all themore important.

EAS EWRS Units May09:EAS EWRS Units May09 15/06/2009 15:18 Page 50



To what extent can the problems of urban development be met by a policyof sustainable development?

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4Developing your project

51Extended Writing & Research Skills

Task 1: Preparing for tutorials

Imagine that you have just received the feedback sheet below from your project teacher aftercompleting the first draft of a project.

Study the feedback sheet. Then prepare a set of questions you would like information oradvice about during a 20-minute tutorial.

Avoiding plagiarismYou are now familiar with referencing and why it is important in academic writing. However,sometimes when you are summarizing or paraphrasing ideas, even if the source is acknowledged, theway you write may be too similar to the original to be acceptable.

You therefore need to use your own words as far as possible to avoid this problem. Obviously, there

may be certain specialist words or key words in the original text that you need to use in order toexplain concepts or ideas. But it is important to avoid writing something that is too close to theoriginal, even if you think the writer can express the ideas much better than you can.

Writing from your notes rather than directly from the reading text will help with this. Try following thesteps below.

• Take notes of the information you might use.

• Organize your ideas about the information and, if possible, explain them to someone else.If you cannot clearly explain the text you have read, you may not have fully understood it.

• Based on your notes, write up the information you need for your project.

Remember the N.O.W. approach from Unit 2 (page 28).





What is plagiarism?The word plagiarism derives from a Latin word meaning thief ; plagiarism is a form of academic theft.In its most blatant form, it involves word-for-word copying of large sections of another writer’s

material and claiming it as your own work. In a less extreme, but no less unacceptable, form, itinvolves reproducing shorter lines or phrases linked together, perhaps with minor modifications, in thepretence that these are your ideas expressed in your own words .

It is therefore essential to express your ideas appropriately and acknowledge your sources. If you donot do this, it is the equivalent of stealing ideas . Look at the policy of the University of Reading onthis, below. The complete information is on the university website. There are also some guidelines onhow you can avoid plagiarism. The statement made in the box below is an extract from the websitesection entitled Academic Misconduct .

EXAMINATIONS OFFICEAcademic MisconductCheating, which is the attempt to gain an advantage for oneself or another by deceit, and othermisconduct are breaches of discipline under the University’s Regulations for Conduct 33(b), andare punishable by a range of sanctions.

(a) Cheating in assessed coursework (for example, dissertations, long essays or projects) andopen book examinations includes:

(i) Plagiarism

Plagiarism is the fraudulent representation of another’s work as one’s own. This applieswhatever the source of the material (for example, a published source, the web, or thework of another student), whether the material is copied word for word or

paraphrased, and whatever the extent of the material used.Source: University of Reading, Examinations Office. (2009). Retrieved April 16, 2009, from University of Reading website:http://www.reading.ac.uk/Exams/wyntkMay2009.pdf

Why you must avoid plagiarismAs you can see, you must never plagiarize. The consequences could be serious and could damageyour academic career and indeed your chances of getting a job. Even if you do plagiarize accidentally,this is not accepted as an excuse.

The following tasks are designed to help you recognize plagiarism. Remember that the key factor isacknowledging the sources used.

Task 2: Quotations, paraphrases and plagiarism

Imagine a student has highlighted the following extract in a politics textbook.

Gorbachev declared that the countries of the world shared mutual interests and faced mutualthreats that went beyond class conflict. This was a revolutionary perspective for a Soviet leader,because a Marxist-Leninist class conflict was the ultimate driving force behind history (Papp,1994, p. 290).






The student has decided to incorporate ideas from this extract in an essay. We will consider sevendifferent ways the student might go about doing this, some of them appropriate and some of them not.

2.1 Read the seven examples of incorporated text below. Decide whether the incorporationis a quotation or a paraphrase and place a tick ( ) in the appropriate column.

2.2 Think carefully about the seven incorporations and decide whether you think thestudent would be guilty of plagiarism. Mark the third column with a tick ( ) toindicate plagiarism, or a cross ( ) to indicate no plagiarism.

Incorporated text

1 But by this time things were changing in Russia. The new leader,Gorbachev, argued that all countries in the world had interests incommon, which were not connected with class. This was verydifferent from the traditional Soviet view (Papp, 1994).

2 But by this time things were changing in Russia. Gorbachevdeclared that the countries of the world shared mutual interests andfaced mutual threats that went beyond class conflict. This was arevolutionary perspective for a Soviet leader, because a Marxist-Leninist class conflict was the ultimate driving force behind history.The West reacted to this new way of talking …

3 But by now things were changing in Russia, where the new leaderwas talking about how the different countries of the world facedsimilar problems. Such beliefs represented a complete break withstandard Soviet philosophy. The West reacted to the new mood inthe USSR by …

4 But by now things were changing in Russia. Established Sovietdogma was being abandoned by the new leader, whose viewsconcerning the common interests of different countries in theworld, both East and West, clearly represented a revolutionaryperspective for a leader of the USSR. The West reacted to suchchanges by …

5 But by now things were changing in Russia. The new leader wasexpressing views which were very different from traditional Sovietideology. As one theorist puts it:

Gorbachev declared that the countries of the world shared mutualinterests and faced mutual threats that went beyond class conflict.This was a revolutionary perspective for a Soviet leader, because aMarxist-Leninist class conflict was the ultimate driving force behind

history (Papp, 1994, p. 290).6 But by now things were changing in Russia. The new leader was

expressing views that were very different from traditional Sovietideology, in that they represented a revolutionary perspective for aleader of the USSR in which the class struggle was the driving force.The West reacted to such changes …

7 But by now things were changing in Russia. The new leader wasexpressing views about the need for international action that wereso different from established Soviet ideology that they representeda “revolutionary perspective for a Soviet leader” (Papp, 1994, p.290). The West reacted to the new Soviet mood by …

Quotation Paraphrase Plagiarism

Source: Papp, D.S. (1994). Contemporary international relations: frameworks for understanding . New York: Macmillan.





Task 3: Avoiding plagiarism

3.1 Look at the following reasons that students might give for plagiarizing. Think aboutwhat advice you could give them.

Note that your advice must contain constructive help on how toavoid plagiarism.

a) I didn’t know it was wrong.

b) I don’t know how to use references, or how to cite my sources.

c) I don’t have enough time to do the necessary reading, or todevelop my own ideas.

d) The text is so difficult for me to understand that I just copiedthe text and hoped it was OK.

e) The text I copied said exactly what I wanted to say, and Icouldn’t express it better.

f) In my country, we are expected to reproduce the exact wordsand ideas of the text or the teacher.

3.2 Discuss your ideas with another student and agree a common strategy. Then writeyour advice in the box below each reason.

Advice on avoiding plagiarism

a) Lack of awareness of rules:

b) Lack of familiarity with how to reference:






c) Lack of time:

d) Level of difficulty of reference text:

e) Inability to express ideas better:

f) Different cultural experience:





Task 4: Working with abstracts

What they areAn abstract is a form of summary. It can be used to summarize the contents of an academic text,such as an academic paper, a journal article or an oral presentation. It is very useful to look atabstracts in order to find out quickly about the main ideas of a text, and thus to decide whether thetext is relevant to your needs.

When you first look at an academic article, the title and abstract give you an overall impression ofwhat the article is about. The abstract normally describes the aims of the research, the methods usedto investigate the aims, and the main findings and conclusions. From the abstract, the reader canunderstand the broad content, results and conclusions without needing to read the whole paper. Theabstract should stand alone and be independent of the rest of the paper. Good abstracts allowresearchers to find and assess quickly a wide range of relevant work. In effect, they are a way ofassisting the wider academic community to work together on common problems or areas of interest.

How they are usedAbstracts are also used to assess pieces of research for acceptance atconferences, an important part of academic life. These meetings allowresearchers from around the world to get together, and to assess andcirculate the work of others in the academic community. Once anabstract is accepted, it will be presented in one of two ways: as a posterpresentation or as an oral presentation. Either way, to reach this stage,your abstract must be of a high quality for the conference committeeto accept it.

As a student, you may be expected to include abstracts at the beginningof pieces of extended writing, as well as to submit an abstract if you aregoing to give an oral presentation based on your project.

As with other aspects of academic writing, such as introductions and conclusions, abstracts havecertain typical features. We will look at these in detail in the tasks that follow.

4.1 Read abstracts A and B. What features can you identify?

Example: E>> 6 =:@ / := :

Study tip

Often, when carrying outresearch, you will initiallyfind many sources thatappear to be relevant, so itis difficult to decide whichsources to concentrate on.However, by referring toabstracts first, you willoften be able to decidemore quickly and make

informed decisions.







4.3 Look at abstracts C and D. Do these two abstracts have the same features as abstractsA and B?

Which other features of abstracts do they contain? Refer to the list on page 57.

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;=: : = = / =/ @> >> > / > @>> /.






4.5 Each of the above abstracts (A–E) refers to a project written by a former pre-sessionalstudent. Based on your reading of each abstract, suggest what you think the titles ofthe projects were.

The title for Abstract A is given as an example.

Abstract E* > / / :; : : : : : , = >6 >

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/ = > =@ > @> / : = >6, : : / : : : : = >6 := > @

: @/ > >@ > = >6 : @ : / / > / >: > =: .

4.4 Now read Abstract E. Which features does it not contain?

Abstract Possible title

A (30 ;:?09?4,7 ;=:A4/0/ D .:8;@?0=- ,>0/ ?0>?492

B

C

D

E





Unit Summary

In this unit, you have learnt about the tutorial system and how best to use it. You have alsodiscovered more about plagiarism and how to avoid it. Finally, you have learnt about the features andpurpose of abstracts.

1 Mark each of these statements true (T) or false (F).

a) You will probably be your tutor’s only tutee. __

b) You can organize a tutorial with your tutor whenever you like. __

c) Tutorials usually have a fixed duration. __

d) Your tutor will decide what to talk about during a tutorial, so you don’t needto prepare for it. __

e) Sometimes it’s a good idea to make notes during a tutorial. __

2 Write three things that you might want to talk about during a tutorial.

a)

b)

c)

3 Answer these questions about plagiarism.

a) Which Latin word does the word plagiarism come from?

b) If you plagiarize, what exactly are you stealing?

c) What do you think is the most common reason why students plagiarize?

d) What are the possible consequences of plagiarizing?

e) If you paraphrase the ideas that you use as a source, does it always mean that you avoidplagiarism?

f) Suggest some possible ways of avoiding plagiarism.






4 Complete these statements about abstracts. Imagine you are giving advice toanother student.

a) An abstract is

.

b) Abstracts are very useful because

.

c) Three typical features of abstracts are

.

For web resources relevant to this unit, see:www.englishforacademicstudy.com/student/ewrs/links

These weblinks will provide you with information on what plagiarism is and how to avoidit, as well as a guide to writing an abstract.


Documents

Extended Writing and Research Skills