Literature Review: Sources Referencing Synthesis

Considering the Source(s)

Reminder: How do you go about evaluating a source, including overall credibility and possible biases?

Reading & Writing Critically : Seven-step critique 1.Author Take note of his/her background, credibility, philosophy, perspective, tone, purpose, biases.

Reading & Writing Critically : Seven-step critique 2. Audience Who, when, and where was the text written for? This is reflected in language and content.

Reading & Writing Critically : Seven-step critique 3. Thesis/purpose What is the author’s purpose, and is it clearly stated?

Reading & Writing Critically : Seven-step critique 4. Assumptions What are the assumptions upon which the author’s argument or conclusions are based. Are they valid?

Reading & Writing Critically : Seven-step critique 5. Methods and data How does the author prove her points? What evidence is used? Are data/methods used appropriate? Valid, replicable, representative?

Reading & Writing Critically : Seven-step critique 6. Conclusion Does it follow logically, to what degree is it proven, can the conclusion be applied or used? How does the conclusion relate to the conclusions of others?

Reading & Writing Critically : Seven-step critique 7. Intuition Does it make sense; what is your reaction?

Avoiding academic crime CITATIONS Smith et al. (2010) claim that… …outperformed by the option pricing model (Jones 2013). REFERENCES Engle, R.F. (1982) Autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity with estimates of the variance of UK inflation. Econometrics, 50, pp

Referring to the work of others: revised and expanded – Why should you cite? Blending information from source materials (i.e., ideas and/or the published work of others) into your own writing is an unavoidable necessity of good academic writing. Doing this well typically enhances any credit you receive for your work as it not only shows your effort at avoiding plagiarism but also your sense of academic integrity. “…To cite or not to cite, that is the question.”

You don’t need to cite a source if: Would any intelligent person know this information? Russia is the largest country in the world. Did you know it before you discovered it in the source? Prague has three metro lines. A checklist for common knowledge exceptions – where it is acceptable to include no citation.

Is it encyclopedia-type information? Replacement cost: What it would cost today to replace a firm's existing assets. Has this information become general knowledge by being reported repeatedly in many different sources? Barack Obama is the current President of the United States.

In (nearly) all other cases, or when you are in any doubt whatsoever, …cite. Citation (April 11, 1945–August 8, 1970) was the eighth American Triple Crown winner. Triple Crown Races (n.d.) Retrieved on September 10, 2014 from:

What if it’s my own text from my own earlier paper?

From: The 10 most common types of plagiarism Adapted from: Turnitin (2013) White Paper – The Plagiarism Spectrum. Instructor insights into the major types of plagiarism. 5. RECYCLE: The act of borrowing from one’s own previous work without citation; to self plagiarize.  This is a fairly frequent problem with graduate and post- graduate students. If they have written on a topic before, and have submitted a paper to this or another institution on the topic, it is likely to show up as plagiarism.

Synthesis

Successfully synthesizing the work of others into your text is a high-level skill which writers develop with practice.

Synthesis: A written discussion which draws on multiple sources. Guidelines: Keep in mind that you are using sources to support your ideas and claims, not the other way around. Keep in mind that original thought and insightful analysis are required. A strong paper will create a ‘dialogue’ between the author’s ideas and his/her sources. A weak paper often summarizes the ideas of others one point at a time, with the author’s ideas stated only at the end.

Synthesizing information from sources into your text Here’s some original text: Despite the growth of these new technologies and the importance of the mass media in our lives, our schools have failed to do anything in the way of developing a systematic curriculum aimed at helping students to understand the form, content, ownership, and organization of the mass media. While schools continue to operate as though print were the main means of communication in our culture, an increasingly high-tech society requires a new definition of literacy that encompasses visual, computer, and media literacy.

A student has blended Considine’s work into her own. What’s good about this excerpt? SAMPLE 1 Modern communication technology is here to stay and cannot be ignored. We live in the information age, bombarded by television and radio in our homes and automobiles, annoyed by ringing telephones, and infatuated by computers and their modems for networking across the nation. Considine sees the conflict as chalk boards and talking by teachers versus an environment of electronic marvels (635). He argues, “While schools continue to operate as though print were the main means of communication in our culture, an increasingly high-tech society requires a new definition of literacy that encompasses visual, computer, and media literacy” (639).

Another student has also used Considine in his paper. What’s good about this excerpt? SAMPLE 2 Modern communication technology is here to stay and cannot be ignored. We live in the information age, bombarded by television and radio in our homes and automobiles, annoyed by ringing telephones, and infatuated by computers and their modems for networking across the nation. Considine sees the conflict as chalk boards and talking by teachers versus an environment of electronic marvels (635). He argues that our public schools function with print media almost exclusively, while the children are actually developing a complex feel and understanding of modern electronics in their use of computers, television, and other media forms (639).