ED 605: Research Methods

We paraphrase when content helps us understand purpose and key details from a source. Details that we should also convey, but don't necessarily need to be directly quoted, or would be too long if quoted. The bulk of your writing (90-95% at least) should be in your words. And that's when paraphrasing comes in handy. 

WRONG: If you have changed a few words, you're not paraphrasing. You're plagiarizing. If you change the sentence structure, you're not paraphrasing. You're plagiarizing. 

RIGHT: If you want to paraphrase a sentence, you need to put it IN CONTEXT. It helps to read a sentence or two before AND after the content you want to paraphrase to get that context. In the example below, the wrong paraphrase focuses on one sentence, which offers limited context. The correct paraphrase examines the ideas above and below. While the wrong paraphrase tells a what and when, the correct paraphrase also includes the WHY, WHO, and HOW.

IMPORTANT: If you are EVER unsure of how you're presenting content from external sources, ASK FOR HELP!! Your academic writing is not a matter of 'asking forgiveness' over 'getting permission'. ALWAYS GET PERMISSION! 

We quote: short phrases.

We paraphrase: A few sentences or a paragraph or two at most. 

We SUMMARIZE: Sections, chapters, topics, entire bodies of work. 

Novice writers often ask, "How long should my summary be?". But there is really no length requirement on summaries, so long as you. have produced something that embodies the key points of the content that is RELEVANT to YOUR OWN writing. If part of your literature review focuses exclusively on research methods, then you would summarize the methods section of the articles instead of the entire article. If you are including a section on programs that support your topic, your summaries would identify the programs, with details about when, why, how, and if they were successful. You would not necessarily need to include details for all of the research methods. 

Writing proper, concise summaries helps provide a great foundation for your literature review. 

EX: 

The article, 'Students have dismaying inability to tell fake news from real, study finds,' provides troubling insight for the power of fake news to reach and sway students from middle school through college. The Stanford researchers discovered that more than 80% of middle schoolers in their study were fooled by sponsored content, and some did not know even know the difference between sponsored content and real news. High school students from the study did not know how to verify the accuracy of images, and therefore accept them as real, and could not determine which of two social media posts was produced by a real public figure over one produced by someone claiming to be that same figure. Finally, the undergraduate student participants could not determine bias in a source or conceptualize the difference between mainstream and fringe sources, (Domonoske, 2016). 

NOTE: I would likely write the summary above IMMEDIATELY after reading the article, and include in an annotated bibliography. When it came time to write my literature review, I would revise this summary to include more details from the article, a direct quote or two, and a relevant paraphrase or two. 

We see attribution when we introduce the author or study first. This is a acceptable when you are introducing a summary, or paraphrasing content to avoid any suspicion or plagiarism. If your paraphrase is a only a sentence, you do not necessarily need to add an additional citation at the end of that sentence. If you attribute at the beginning of a summary, and the summary is more than a few sentences, you should still include the in-text citation. 

ATTRIBUTION:

Domonoske (2016) reports on a study out of Stanford University's Graduate Program in Education that reveals troubling insight for the power of fake news to reach and sway students from middle school through college. 

We use full citations at the end of a sentence or paragraph any time we use a direct quote from a source, and when we summarize the source without offering an attribution to the author. 

FULL CITATION FOR SUMMARY: 

The article, 'Students have dismaying inability to tell fake news from real, study finds,' provides troubling insight for the power of fake news to reach and sway students from middle school through college. The Stanford researchers discovered that more than 80% of middle schoolers in their study were fooled by sponsored content, and some did not know even know the difference between sponsored content and real news. High school students from the study did not know how to verify the accuracy of images, and therefore accept them as real, and could not determine which of two social media posts was produced by a real public figure over one produced by someone claiming to be that same figure. Finally, the undergraduate student participants could not determine bias in a source or conceptualize the difference between mainstream and fringe sources, (Domonoske, 2016). 

FULL CITATION FOR QUOTE: 

High school students from the study did not know how to verify the accuracy of images, even when "the photograph had no attribution," and therefore accepted them as real, (Domonoske, 2016, p._) - this article does not have page numbers, but when we use direct quotes from sources that do, a page number is required.

Signalling lets your reader know that you're including information from an outside source. It involves verbs and transition phrases, and can include attribution: 

EXAMPLES OF SIGNAL PHRASES (Bedford Handbook 583):

In the words of researchers Redelmeier and Tibshirani (2007),"...."

As Matt Sundeen (2005) has noted, "...."

Patti Pena, mother of a child killed by a driver, points out that, "...."

"...." writes Christine Haughtney (2008).

"...." claims wireless spokesperson Annette Jacobs (2007).

EXAMPLES OF SIGNAL VERBS