Welcome to Effective Writing 1- CM 107 Unit 4: Seminar with Pauline Vinson  You should be hearing music. If you don’t, please check your audio.  Feel free to chat and get acquainted until the music stops near the top of the hour.

Unit 4 Seminar: APA, Paraphrasing, and Quoting This week we will discuss APA, why we use it, and how to use it correctly.

What is APA style? A standard, agreed upon way of formatting an academic paper and documenting sources. An expectation of academic writers and of professionals in certain fields. A loyal friend who will make you look good and sound even more intelligent A somewhat boring, but not impossible task that you can learn by copying

What is the purpose of using and documenting sources? Sources are the ways writers obtain additional information for their papers. Sources may be primary: The writer becomes the researcher (e.g., observations, interviews, surveys, personal experience) The writer uses ‘raw data’ (e.g., the U.S. Census) that hasn’t been interpreted by others Sources may be secondary: Scholarly books, peer-reviewed articles, and other academic publications. Sources are part of the ongoing dialog within a field of study that will include you. Why document sources? Credit should be given for our work. ‘Intellectual property’ must not be stolen. Writers will be more credible in the view of their audience. [We want that in an academic or job-related context when faculty, supervisors, clients, or possible employers are evaluating our work, right?]

What’s in it for me? An opinion can’t be wrong, right? Doesn’t my professor/boss/co- worker/client want to hear what I think? Who’s going to care if I have the citations and references included? Isn’t this just another one of those “English teacher” things? I’m tempted to just not do it. I can’t get marked down outside of a Composition class, right?

What is plagiarism? What is plagiarism and how can it be avoided? Styles of citation- APA, MLA, ASA, AMA. We typically use APA at Kaplan University. Using a good reference for citation.

How are sources integrated into the paper? Introduce the source to your audience with an attributive tag the first time it is used: According to Pauline Vinson, composition instructor at Kaplan University, students should use APA style documentation to avoid plagiarism (2010). Use a mixture of paraphrases, summaries, and direct quotations. Use quotations sparingly and be sure to indicate them with “quotation marks” and page/paragraph numbers. Be sure to make it a smooth transition into and out of the source information.

APA Highlights The next few slides will introduce you to APA highlights. They will also show you where you can find the guides that you can follow when constructing your citations.

Thank you for a great seminar! Have a wonderful week!