Presented by: Michael Frizell, Director The Writing Center, Missouri State

2 "Writing is so complex an activity, so closely tied to a person's intellectual development, that it must be nurtured and practiced over all the years of a student's schooling and in every curricular area.“ --Dr. Barbara Walvoord, University of Notre Dame Initial Thoughts About Writing in ANY Classroom Adapted from: Barbara Gross Davis, University of California, Berkeley, Supplemented with material from: Because Writing Matters from the National Writing Project

Writing Effective Papers

4 “The act of writing something down is basically the decision to forget it.” - Plato Pictured: Aristotle & Homer

Untitled Instructions The procedure is actually quite simple. First, you must separate the items into piles accordingly. Then, set temperatures according to the facilities at hand. Use as directed.

More Untitled Instructions “To do it, you should position your front foot with your toe slid back toward the heel-edge. Your rear foot should be positioned with your toe on the opposite corner, namely the toe-edge of the tail. At a moderate to slow speed, pop an ollie, but as you kick your front foot for the "flip," swing your back foot underneath and behind you 360-shove-it- style. This will rotate it around as it spins. The whole thing should take about the same amount of time a kickflip does, so you won't have to hang too long. When the nose comes back around and the griptape side shows upward, stick your feet back on and land it.”

Academic Writing …is writing done by scholars for other scholars. …is devoted to topics and questions that are of interest to the academic community. …should present the reader with an informed argument.

The Informed Argument Can I answer the questions who, what, when, where, why, how? What do I know about the context of my topic? What historical or cultural influences do I know about that might be important to my topic? Does my topic belong to any particular genre or category of topics?

Consider Your Position Take a stand on a topic. Why did you find some elements of the text more important than others? Does this prioritizing reflect some bias or preconception on your part? If you dismissed part of your topic as boring or unimportant, why did you do so? Do you have personal issues or experiences that lead you to be impatient with certain claims? Is there any part of your response to the topic that might cause your reader to discount your paper as biased or un-critical?

Paper Structure Introduction Thesis Sentence The Other Side(s) Supporting Paragraphs Conclusion

PLAGIARISM

Citing Sources No more than 25 percent of your paper should be direct quotations. Paraphrase as much as you can. Use direct quotations when citing a statistic or original theory. Use author's words if they capture a point exactly.

What’s a Citation? information about the author the title of the work the name and location of the company that published your copy of the source the date your copy was published the page numbers of the material you are borrowing

Why You Should Cite Sources To give credit where credit is due Assists other researchers interested in your work Demonstrates the amount of work you’ve done Strengthens your work by lending support to it

Avoiding Plagiarism Plagiarism is… …using someone else’s words or ideas as though they were your own. …deliberately stealing someone’s work. …paying someone to write a paper. …a serious offense.

When to Use Citations  Quotations:  Using someone’s exact words Unique Ideas: Whenever you talk about, refer to, build on, or discuss a unique idea from someone else Images: Copying images

Common Knowledge Vs. Unique Ideas You don’t need to cite: Ideas widely believed to be true. Folklore, stories, songs, or saying without an author but commonly known. Quotations widely known and used. Information shared by most scholars in your discipline.

Michael Frizell Director