3.1 Information Literacy and Academic Writing Presentation

Locating, Evaluating, and Using Sources in PRST 3995

Source Requirements

In this course, you will be asked to locate, evaluate, and incorporate information sources in a variety of assessments, and there are a few requirements to remember:

• All sources used should be recent. For this course, that means the publication date should be no older than 10 years from today
• Students may use a mixture of peer-reviewed and non-peer-reviewed sources, however, for your Article Review Assignment, you will be required to locate and review two sources of each type

Locating Appropriate Sources

The first place students should search for sources is the MTSU Walker Library, which has a wide variety of search tools available, including:

• JEWL Search for articles and peer-reviewed sources
• Library Catalog Search for books and e-books
• Resources by Subject to help you find sources from the specific disciplinary perspectives needed for your research problem
• The Evaluating Sources guide helps students understand what it means for an article scholarly, or peer-reviewed, and how to locate this type of source using the Library search tools

Evaluating Sources

Once you have found sources that are potentially relevant to your research, you will need to evaluate the quality of the information and its value to your research project.  Some resources to help you make this determination are:

The CRAAP Test Worksheet helps students determine the suitability and value of a potential source by evaluating the currency, relevance, authority, accuracy, and purpose of the information.

Using Sources in your Assignments

Once you have located and evaluated sources for your research, you will be expected to use the information in your own assignments as support.  Information can be included through paraphrase, direct quotes, images, charts, or multimedia and must be appropriately cited using the 7th Edition of the APA Style Manual as your guide.  In the next section you will learn more about strategies for incorporating and crediting sources in your writing.

Incorporating Sources into Your Own Writing

Now that you have learned how to locate and evaluate the quality of information sources, you will need to learn how to use those sources appropriately in your assignments. The video below explains the different ways writers can incorporate and attribute the work of others to support their ideas:

There are three methods you can use to incorporate sources in your writing.  No matter which method you choose, all information must always be cited in the body of your paper and included on the reference page.

Summarizing

A summary of an information source conveys a broad overview of an entire source or section of a source without much detail.  Summarizing is an appropriate choice when:

• the specific details of the information are not necessary to support your claims or ideas
• you can convey the idea of the original source in fewer words
• the assignment requirements limit the length of your paper and you must economize the space allocated to the source

Paraphrasing

Similar to a summary, a paraphrase is written in your own words, however, a paraphrase conveys specific detail from the source but does not change the author’s meaning.  Paraphrasing can be tricky for students to master because it involves more than simply changing a word or two in each sentence.  Paraphrasing is an appropriate choice when:

• you can explain the information more clearly than the original source
• you can explain the information in your own words without changing the meaning
• you need to demonstrate your own understanding of the information rather than relying on direct quotes (for this reason, paraphrasing is the strategy you should use most often in your writing for PRST 3995 and PRST 4995)

Quoting

Quoting a source means using the author’s words exactly as they appear in the original source.  Quotes are easily recognizable because the words are enclosed in quotation marks.  Quoting is an appropriate choice when:

• paraphrasing the information would change the meaning
• the words are spoken from a respected authority in the field and the person’s authority adds weight to the evidence
• the quote captures the specific evidence that you need for support

Using the APA Style Guide to Credit Sources

Respecting the intellectual property of other authors by properly attributing sources helps contribute to your position as an ethical writer. In PRST 3995 and PRST 4995, you will use the 7th Edition of the APA Style Manual as a guide to help you credit sources in your assignments.  APA provides guidelines for the overall format of written work as well as how to cite sources in the body of your paper and on the reference page.

General Assignment Format

The Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL) has a reference to help you format your APA assignment.  In PRST 3995 and PRST 4995, you will use the following guidelines for all assignments:

• Microsoft Word format (all students have access to Microsoft 365 using their login credentials)
• One-inch margins
• 12-point standard font (Times New Roman, Arial, or Calibri)
• Double-spaced text
• Title page, including student name, course number and section, professor name, assignment name, date
• Page numbers (upper right corner)

In-Text Citations

In-text citations inform your reader that the information is attributed to another author rather than your own opinion.  The Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL) has a reference to help you with in-text citations.  The University Writing Center also has an APA Quick Guide to help you with in-text citations.  An APA-formatted in-text citation should include the following information:

• Author’s last name
• Year of Publication
• Page number (included when citing a direct quote)

The in-text citation will appear at the end of the sentence before the final punctuation.  For example: “….field of study” (Smith, 2018, p. 209).

Reference Page

All sources of information cited in the text of your paper should be included on the reference page.  Sources that you consulted but did not cite in the paper should not be included on the reference page.  The Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL) has a resource to help you format reference page sources.  Reference page formatting guidelines include:

• The title of the reference page should be References (please note that you should not use Works Cited, which is an MLA term)
• References should use a hanging indent, meaning the first line will be flush with the left margin and the second and subsequent lines will be indented one tab stop.  This format is the inverse of a standard paragraph where the first line is indented and the remaining lines are flush with the left margin.
• References should be listed in alphabetical order by author’s last name

Writing in Academic Style

For most of your assignments in PRST 3995 and PRST 4995, you will be writing in a formal, academic tone, but what does that mean?  In the next section, you will learn some of the conventions of academic writing you should follow for this course.

Writing Voice

Striking a balance between writing in your own style and writing from a neutral perspective can be difficult for students.  Unless the assignment is asking for your personal point of view or experience (such as reflections or biographies), you should use neutral third-person pronouns and formal language in your writing.

• Avoid first-person pronouns (I, we, us, our, my, me)
• Avoid second person pronouns (you)
• Avoid contractions
• Avoid slang (basic, extra, shade) and clichés (“you can’t judge a book by its cover” or “the grass is always greener”)

Using Correct Grammar

Now that you understand how to correctly write in an academic voice, it is important that your written work be clear, grammatically correct, and error free.  There are several grammatical rules with which students often struggle:

• Ensure you write in complete sentences with a subject and verb.  Proofread carefully to ensure you have not used any sentence fragments or run-on sentences that make your writing difficult to understand.
• Ensure your sentences have subject-verb agreement, meaning that singular subjects use singular verbs and plural subjects use plural verbs.
• Ensure you are using apostrophes correctly to indicate either possession or a contraction
• Proofread carefully to ensure all words are spelled correctly.  Remember that spellcheck is not an editor and may not reveal words that are spelled correctly but used incorrectly.  For example, a common mistake is using the word “form” when intending to use the word “from”.  Because “form” is a correctly spelled word, Microsoft may not mark it even is the correct word is “from”.

Writing Resources

There are multitudes of resources available to student writers.  The linked sources below are not an exhaustive list, however, they should serve as a starting point should you need assistance.

• Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL)
• MTSU Writing Center

References

JMUWritingCenter. (2016, September 15). Integrating sources into your writing [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gy-xXWGW-cs