 |
 |
This is a very relevant question Baldur raises. I note that sometimes, members reply directly to the ‘author’. Can I encourage members to ensure that in view of the importance of this question that replies are posted to EATAW. John t From: Baldur Sigurðsson Sent: Friday, April 11, 2014 3:51 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Where to place the in-text citation Dear EATAW colleagues. Can you point out to me authorative guidelines that explain how you place in-text citations differently according to the length and nature of a summary or paraphrase from a source? I have access to a lot of handbooks, guidelines and many useful websites like Purdue, but no one adresses this issue (to my knowledge). I suppose you know the problem: When summarizing or paraphrasing, students have problems placing their in-text citations (Author, Year) properly in relation to the content. The result may be of two kinds: The reader goes on for several lines (up to a whole paragraph) without knowing what is the source (of if there is a source) or is not sure what is from the author and what is from the source. The undergraduates use few sources and usually only one at the time, so whole paragraphs, of up to half a page, are a summary of only one source, which is referred to at the end of the paragraph in parenthesis (Author, year, page). And this can go on for several paragraphs and pages, the source is cited at the end of each paragraph. Using the APA style of citations I do not like this, I want to see the author and citation earlier. I teach my students using signal phrases and notice the difference between introductory sentences and connecting, argumenting or explicatory sentences, phrases etc. But I feel pretty alone in trying to explain this to my students and my colleagues, nobody seems to bother, maybe because no handbook on citation mentions this problem. If a problem is not mentioned in your handbook it does not exist. The students see a lot of this way of citating in final student theses and dissertations in the library and think this is how to do it. I am here concerned with the transfer from how beginning students write their essays by paraphrasing long stretches of text from one source and how they gradually learn to compose their paragraphs from multiple sources. Going through available literature and guidelines I can not find any discussion on this issue. All textbooks and manuals only show you examples of paraphrasing a source that are only a couple of lines, the type of citating trained scholars are used to. Noone deals with the problem of how you cite when paraphrasing long stretches of text from the same source, which is so common among our undergraduate students, and lives on in their writing as long as noone comments on it. I am looking for a reference I can use for convincing my colleagues that they should bother as I do. Best wishes J Baldur Sig. Baldur Sigurðsson, [log in to unmask] Senior lecturer, University of Iceland, School of Education Director of the School of Education Writing Centre Direct: +354 525 53 39, central: +354 525 40 00, mobile: +354 693 38 41 Writing Centre: +354 525 5975 ------------------------------------------------------- Errors using inadequate data are much less than those using no data at all. (Charles Babbage 1792-1871)