Academic Integrity: Joining Scholarly Conversations

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Academic Integrity Joining Scholarly
Conversations

• Candace Schaefer
• Associate Director
• University Writing Center
• October 20, 2008

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Joining the Scholarly Conversation

• Academic writing in particular calls upon
  writers not simply to express their own idea, but
  to do so as a response to what others have said.
• Graff Birkenstein, from They Say, I Say The
  Moves that Matter in Academic Writing

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Kenneth Burke on Academic Conversations (The
Never-Ending Party)

• You come late. When you arrive, others have
  long preceded you, and they are engaged in a
  heated discussion, a discussion too heated for
  them to pause and tell you exactly what it is
  about. . . . You listen for a while, until you
  decide that you have caught the tenor of the
  argument then you put in your oar. Someone
  answers you answer him another comes to your
  defense another aligns himself against you. . .
  The hour grows late, you must depart. And you do
  depart, with the discussion still vigorously in
  progress.
• -- from They Say/I Say p. 12

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Why use/cite sources?

• Provides credibility
• Gives credit and/or pays homage to scholars.
• New ideas and concepts do not exist in a vacuum.
• Why is this research important?
• What research provides a framework for your
  research?
• Why use a particular instrument for your
  experiment or methodology for your study?

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Citation Mechanics are Discipline and
Practice-Driven

• Citation conventions are social constructions
  determined by a community of practice
• What does your discipline value? (Do disciplines
  vary in what they value?)
• Where can you find your community?
• Professors
• Journal articles written by experts in your field
• Conference presentations
• Professional association or professional style
  guide manual. If your discipline has one, buy the
  guide, and make sure that it is the current
  edition.

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Tips on Finding Good Articles

• TAMU Library
• E-Docs
• Use sources to find other sources
• Use the library site and/or Google Scholar to
  check number of times the article has been cited

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Staying Organized

• Develop a system for keeping track of sources and
  taking notes.
• CiteULike
• http//www.citeulike.org
• EndNote
• http//software.tamu.edu
• Zotero (Firefox plug-in)
• http//www.zotero.org

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Direct Quotation

• Using someone elses exact words within your own
  prose
• Identified with quotation marks or
• Block quote (longer than four typed lines)
• - Direct quotations should always have three
  parts
• Quote Material taken directly from the author
• Tag Material that introduces and/or explains the
  quote
• Source Material that documents the source, such
  as page numbers

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Paraphrasing

• Rephrasing ideas or statements.
• Restate or repeat something in new words.
• Do not simply substitute synonyms.
• Substantially rewrite the original without
  changing its meaning.
• Translate technical information into lay terms
  and selecting words more suited to a new
  audience.

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Summarizing

• Gives the general idea of a statement or idea,
  using your own words and not the author's.
• Purposes for summary
• To convey a scholars idea or argument
• To give all necessary information (excluding the
  unnecessary)
• To shorten material
• To reference material
• To set up quoted material
• Generally informative and descriptive.
• Concise, coherent sentences to relay important
  information.
• May include deleting extraneous material,
  highlighting key words, synthesizing the overall
  meaning, or miniaturizing primary ideas.
• Length summary depends on what is being
  summarized.

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Definitions of Plagiarism

• Plagiarism is quite separate from incorrectly
  citing something plagiarism is neglecting to
  give attribution or to citing a source entirely.
  It also includes using quotations in the guise of
  paraphrase.
• Plagiarism includes turning in someone elses
  work as your own, passing off parts of others
  work as your own, and deliberately faking
  sources. At TAMU, it also includes multiple
  submissions of the same text for credit in
  different classes without your instructors
  permission.
• Plagiarism covers all sources written or
  electronic text, visual documents such as charts,
  graphs, etc., and material taken from lectures,
  interviews, or television programs.

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How to Avoid Plagiarism

• Learn about plagiarism and plan ahead.
• Take your academic work seriously and accept
  responsibility for understanding what constitutes
  plagiarism and what constitutes fair use of
  sources.
• Save your work in different stages.
• Learn to paraphrase and summarize fairly and
  accurately and to use quotation marks to indicate
  other writers' words or phrases.
• Attend to details while taking notes during the
  research process.
• If you have questions about the accuracy or
  fairness of a paraphrase or summary, ask your
  instructor before you hand in the assignment for
  grading.

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Integrating Source Material

• They Say / I Say Strategies
• What do scholars say about your topic?
• What ideas do you agree with?
• Why or why not?
• What ideas do you disagree with?
• Why or why not?

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They Say-Introducing a Concept

• What do experts in the field say about X?
• The result of Hesters study contradicted the
  findings of Smith.
• What are commonplace opinions on X?
• Most experts believe that the stock market will
  continue to weaken over the next six months.
• What do others imply or assume?
• Some Title IX opponents assume that most young
  women simply do not want to play sports at the
  collegiate level.
• What are both sides of the argument?
• Although proponents of Proposition 12 believe
  that their taxes will be lowered, opponents state
  that those savings will be lost because the cost
  of city services will ultimately increase.
• --Be sure to cite when appropriate using the
  citation style of your discipline.
• -- from They Say/I Say

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They Say

• Attributing sources
• Scholar X acknowledges, agrees, argues, believes,
  claims, concedes, demonstrates, disagrees,
  emphasizes, insists, suggests, observes, says
  that
• Introducing quotations
• Scholar X states says, writes,complains, Yada
  Yada. Scholar Y disagrees, saying, Humma
  Humma.
• Explaining quotations
• Scholar X makes the point that
• -- from They Say/I Say

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I Say

• What do I say about subject J?
• How do I agree with what Scholar D says about
  subject J?
• How do I agree with Scholar B about subject J but
  with a difference?
• How do I disagree with Scholar K?
• How do I concede a point without giving up the
  argument?
• How do I impart the importance of my argument?
• -- from They Say/I Say

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Use They Say / I Say to Maintain Academic
Integrity

• Clarify your argument by placing yourself within
  the conversation
• Allow your voice to be an integral part of the
  conversation
• Show how you have built on other scholars ideas
  to reach your own conclusion about the topic

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Questions?

• For more information on using They Say / I Say
  strategies
• They Say / I Say The Moves that Matter in
  Academic Writing
• Gerald Graff and Cathy Birkenstein