Using In-Text Citations via Reader-Based Documentation Technique & Works Cited Practice Reader-Based Documentation & In-text Citations This exercise will have you practice supporting a claim with several pieces of fictitious research (evidence) and inserting the correct in-text citations. Multiple methods of citing research exist. While many types are acceptable, I am going to require the method explained below. You may or may not have learned this method before. Your textbook explains some parts of this method, but please use this explanation as your guide. Most likely, you have learned the method called “Writer –Based Documentation.” This approach is – as the title indicates – the easiest on the writer. We will use “Reader-Based Documentation” because it is the easiest, most meaning for the reader. All the information about the evidence is provided in the text, allowing the reader to evaluate the strength of the evidence without having to go to the Works Cited page to see from what journal it came or what the writer’s qualifications are. Our goal as writers is to make everything easy and accessible to the reader; this method does just that. Reader-Based documentation requires that the writer/researcher provide the following components for a source when it is used the first time. Most of you have been taught and/or allowed simply to add the author’s last name and the page at the end of each piece of research. While in most cases this approach is functional, we are going to employ a more thorough approach. For every source you must provide the following: • an attribute: As stated by Cindy Nickel (think of this as introducing the author’s name or if there is no author, a reference to the writer -- a staff writer for -- a reporter for -- a research study (sometimes you have a group) • a qualification: As stated by Cindy Nickel, a college English professor. You are giving the reader some way to judge the strength of the research/evidence by giving his/her background, education, experience. Sometimes you have to do a little research on the source as well. When you use the same source additional times, you still need the attribute (speaker tag), but you do not need to include the qualification. Sophisticated writers will always put the attribute in the sentence (not in the parentheses at the end.) • Title of the article and magazine, journal, book, or website from which it comes. (If the article is “free-standing,” there will be no magazine, journal, book, etc.) Example: As stated by Cindy Nickel, a college English professor, in her article “Who Understands Semi-Colons Anyway,” from the book Grammar Made Easy, . . . Put all together, the in-text citation reads as follows: As stated by Cindy Nickel, college English professor, in her article “Who Understands SemiColons Anyway” from the book Grammar Made Easy, most students misuse semi-colons by not making sure there is a complete statement on both sides of the semi-colon (118). The (118) indicates that the information was found on page 118. Of course, most internet sources do not have pages. (Another recent MLA change is that a writer no longer must capitalize the word “internet.”) Prior to last year, the researcher had to count paragraphs and then put the paragraph number in the parentheses at the end of the piece of research taken from an internet source, but that requirement has changed. The writer only uses parentheses at the end of the sentence with a number in it if he/she is pulling research from a book in hard copy OR using an actual book that has been published on-line with its same page numbers in tact. The technique for the citation above is used ONLY when the writer uses a source for the first time. When the writer uses the same source again (it is always good to use a source more than once), he/she uses a condensed citation or speaker tag such as: -- Nickel continues . . . -- Nickel adds . . . -- An additional point shared by Nickel . . . The speaker tag/citation can also be within or at the end of the sentence: Sometimes, as noted by Nickel, . . . (121) . . . as noted by Nickel (121). These citations may or may not have parentheses at the end with page numbers per the explanation above of hard copy and internet sources. Note: Many of the sources given below do not offer the qualification of the authors. For this assignment, just make up the qualification – create something that would make sense. (Often times, when we are doing research, we have to “research” our sources for their qualifications, right?) Assignment Directions You will be responding to the following controversial question: Should school boards allow high school students to graduate early if the required credits have been earned? 1. First, you need to decide whether you would answer yes, no, or maybe to the Question. If you would answer maybe, you will be qualifying (Toulmin) as you will indicate when you support the claim and when you would not.) 2. Next, determine the specific reasons you will offer in support of your opinion. Come up with at least 2. 3. Now, search through the fictitious pieces of research I have provided for evidence: data and/or expert testimony to support your reasons. If you are not sure about your reasons, read the research to provide you with ideas. REMEMBER: The assignment will require that you use the complete in-text citations for all first uses of a source and then the condensed citation for the second use of any source. Specific Requirements • Write a short essay (about 1-1.5 pages) that is an argument either in support of or against early graduation for high school students. • You must use at least 3 of the fictitious sources provided, and you must use two of those sources twice. Consequently, you will have at least 5 citations minimum: three full citations and two condensed citations. • The essay must have an introduction and conclusion. (It can be a single/extended paragraph essay. As you have done before or you may make it a multiple paragraph essay but remember that paragraph by definition must have a topic sentence, 2-3 support sentences, and a summary sentence for a minimum of 5 sentences. • Create a Works Cited page – do not just guess at how to format the Works Cited page. Works Cited pages are done differently in all styles – MLA differs from APA style, etc. Look at the Works Cited page on 346 of Writing Matters. (I would flag this page for future use as you will be creating Works Cited pages for every essay we write.) • Give your essay an interesting title. Do not just use the topic or the question or the task. • Do not forget the MLA heading for the assignment. I deduct points for formatting errors. • Do not use any direct quotations – paraphrase EVERY piece of information you pull from the provided sources. A paraphrase is the information restated in your own words. You still must provide a citation even if you have paraphrased the material. Part of the focus of this assignment is to learn how to do a Works Cited page. The information I have provided for each source is not in the correct MLA order for the Works Cited page. You will need to reference the pages I outlined in the Reading Assignment to determine the order of the information for each entry. Do not just guess! Look up how to handle a source with multiple authors. Look up how to make a Works Cited entry for an article from a database. Do you include the URL in the Works Cited page? Look it up! Many of the sources below have paragraph numbers included. Remember what I said about the use of paragraph numbers in citations. Also, one of the sources below is a newspaper. Be sure to look up how to make a Works Cited entry for a newspaper. Another entry is an interview – look up how to make an entry for an interview if you chose that source. Learning the proper formatting now will save you lots of headaches (and missed points) as we move from essay to essay. Evidence in Support of Your Claim _____________________________________________________________________________________ Source #1 – “Teaching is Not Medicine” Michael Podgursky, The Issue at a Glance, Vol 18 Issue 1, Pages 3-5, Winter2014/Spring2015.EBSCO Research Database More is not always better nor is the same quicker the answer to the anxiety many school reformers have about public education. Paragraph 17 When it comes to systematic change, educators must be careful not to create a “one-size fits all” solution to a multifaceted problem. School apathy – especially among seniors can be addressed by other (sometimes preferable) measures than getting them out sooner. Paragraph 15 Source #2 – Cynthia Crist, Mary Jacquart, David P. Shupe, Improving the Performance of High School Students: Focusing on Connections and Transitions Taking Place in Public Schools. 2016, ERIC database, . Governors in at least nine states are pushing broad-based initiatives to overhaul the senior year of high school. They say the second half of the year in particular wastes students’ time and taxpayers’ money. Paragraph 12 “Senioritis” often appears toward the middle of the year when many students have met graduation requirements and take largely electives. Paragraph 2 Leaving high school early frees up classroom space, which reduces construction costs for new schools. Students save on tuition by taking college-level classes early, and states pay less to subsidize tuition at state universities. Paragraph 5 Source #3 – Statistics on Early Admission – Public and Private Colleges, Department of Education. 35 paragraphs, May 2012. The 12th grade is the biggest wasteland in America. Half of the seniors are unprepared in math or English because they didn’t take rigorous classes as seniors. Paragraph 18 Many states are moving to increase the high school graduation requirements in English and math. What they are trying to do is raise the level of expectations for all students. Paragraph 5 What does seem to be working is offering dual credit classes to advanced students who are advanced academically, but who still want to enjoy the memorable moments of their senior year – the best of both worlds. Paragraph 8 Over the last five years, there has been an increase of 12% in the number of freshman under the age of 18. A companion statistic to consider is an increase of 7% in the number of freshman who either drop out before finishing the year or those who do not enroll for their sophomore year. Paragraph 6 Source #4 – “Time vs Age: What Should be the Variable?” sec., 8A, The Wallstreet Journal. April 29, 2015. We will see more and more students finishing their primary education and moving to higher education more quickly after 11 or 11 ½ years, rather than waiting for the historic 12-year graduation cycle. In light of President Bush’s No Child Left Behind initiative, many very bright students are being “kept behind” by an age or seat time requirement. If we are to address the underachievers with all we can, should we not offer the same level of opportunities for those at the top end of the achievement scale? Just as the 3-month summer break for harvest has outlived its usefulness, so has the K-12 paradigm for public education. Source # 5 – Sidney A. Shelman, Professor of Psychology, December 2, 2016, sshelman @ku.edu, personal interview In Texas, students in a pilot program at 10 high schools across the state can earn in five years a high school diploma and an associate’s degree. The governor envisions that the state might even pay first semester’s college tuition as an incentive for an early exit from high school. “Give them a semester for a semester,” he says. Critics say focusing on senior year alone is too narrow an approach. Schools must look at the whole four-year experience – students can’t suddenly attack senior year.” Another major concern for those wanting to push students into the halls of college or the throngs of work too quickly is the social implication. High school students – even seniors – not only grow academically, but socially. Many are not ready for the social demands of college life or the expectations of a 40 hour work week. When asked, most adults say that their high school years – especially their senior year – were the best years of their lives. Why do we want to shorten our students’ childhoods? Offer more classes, offer advanced classes, but don’t just offer the front door of the building. Source #6 – Spring 2012, “Rewarding Initiative or Pushing Too Hard?” http://web4.searchbank.com/ Infotrac/session/119, Journal of American Psychologist, pages 26-29, Tanya C. Dockers. Teachers and parents alike are beginning to see the signs of a very nervous young adult population. Part of the blame is being placed on “climbing that ladder of success” quickly. Students are told to make future plans at a very young age and to funnel all their energies and studies toward the accomplishment of that goal. What happened to “stopping to smell the roses” once in a while? Page 27 Educators and college administrators alike will agree that more rigor needs to be placed into the graduation requirement of many American high schools. Far too many students skate through their senior years – often setting them up for failure when the meet the unsympathetic realities of college life. Page 29 Moderation in high school expectations is as difficult as moderation in most areas of life. We want our cake and to eat it, too. However, what looks good at the time, is not always what is best for the future. Often, quality is sacrificed in the name of time. What is lost not taking electives that will develop a student culturally can’t always be offset by entering college a semester early. Page 26 Source #7 -- “Let Them Be Young.” Educational Digest, Proquest, Augusta Public Library, Fall 2010 Greg Brady, Marsha Brady, Scooby Doo, Vin Diesel, educators, http://proquest. umi.com. It is interesting that many students are eager to get out of high school when more and more take 5 + years to graduate college. Are they not adequately prepared for the demands of college life? Are they not that eager to get into the world of work? If the argument is students want to get their schooling behind them – to get to their professions – why does the progress bog down at the post-secondary level? Paragraph 11 There are, no doubt, those students who need to be allowed to graduate ½ to 1 to perhaps 2 years early. Those who have both the academic and social advancement need to be allowed to move ahead. Nothing is worse than stifling these kids. However, if the school offers electives that are truly life-enriching, every effort should be made to keep them in school at least part of the time. Paragraph 6 “In the early years of mandatory public education, one goal was to promote citizenry – a goal that tends to have been made to take a back seat in this day and age of high stakes testing such as statement assessments and the ACT or SAT.” paragraph 42 “In a democratic society, many organizations must rely on the charity of others with their time and talents, for without it, much public aid would not be possible. However, and argument exists that those same democratic societies must be cautious about what some perceive as ‘voluntary servitude.’ ” paragraph 18 Source #8 – “High School in Three.” ABC, September 13, 2016, 20/20, Multimedia, New York. Some state’s proposals include financial incentives for early graduation and expanding “dual enrollment” in which students simultaneously earn high school and college credit. Some form of dual credit is available in 38 states.
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