Ms. Swanson
English 11H, Per. 6
Fall 2013
Common Research Errors
1. Refer to author by entire name or last name only (never just first name).
2. Have a thesis.
3. Classic problems with quoting:
a. “quote quote quote” (par. Citation). = end punctuation FOLLOWS the parenthetical citation.
b. According to AUTHOR “quote quote quote” (Kline). = author par. Citation not needed if mentioned in the paragraph already.
c. “quote quote quote” (Wikipedia). = web sites are never included in a par. citation. Use author last name or web page.
d. (NO AUTHOR) “quote quote quote” (“Charles Darwin”). = NEVER use author first name in a parenthetical citation.
e. According to Joe Shue, “quote quote quote” (238). If using a numbered source, put the page number in parentheses EVEN IF you name the author in the sentence.
f. According to Joe Shue, “quote quote quote,” (“Defining Ecofiction” 238). If your source has an author, NEVER put the title in the parenthetical citation.
4. Include the author and title within your sentence instead of parenthetically, if possible:
In the article “How to Read Environmental Literature” by Joe Shue and Yugo Chase, Shue and Chase make a great statement. “These two facets must be complementary”.
Examples of Quoting and Parenthetical Citations
A long quote: indent quotes of more than three lines:
Stephen Jay Gould, in his article “Nonmoral Nature,” explores how science challenged 19th Century religion:
How could a benevolent God create such a world of carnage and bloodshed? . . . In no other way can I explain why Alien, an uninspired, grade-C, formula horror film, should have won such a following . . . . Our nineteenth-century forbears maintained similar feelings. Their greatest challenge to the concept of a benevolent deity was not simple predation—. . . but slow death by parasitic ingestion. The classic case, treated at length by all the great naturalists, involved the so-called ichneumon fly. . . .(527)
Paraphrasing instead of quoting a source:
There are close to 7,000 distinct languages in the world (Anderson), and that is only a rough estimate. Because of this, a thick and nigh-impassable barrier is formed between people who do not have a common language; a language barrier. When this barrier is erected, spoken and written language, on which most people rely heavily, becomes obsolete. People must deviate to other forms of communication, such as body language. Body language is universal, according Dr. Janet Sue in her article on body language. Even if two people cannot communicate via words, she says, they can convey peace and friendship through a smile or the opposite with a frown or dirty look. These simple facial expressions mean a thousand times more than words in a foreign language.
Combining Quoting a Source with Paraphrasing:
To make matters worse, language is often used to say one thing but mean another. This is referred to as ‘reading between the lines’. As Daniel Chandler says, “And all of us are quite used to 'reading between the lines' in speech.” This method is commonly used in literature. Because the meaning beneath the words is not determined or set in stone and is based on something that is not there, it is impossible to know if one is seeing what the author intended. One could read something that is not there or miss something that is. One can never know if they have found the intended beneath-the-surface content (Chandler). Also, there is not always a deeper meaning to be found. One can never know when to look for a hidden meaning and when to take the words at face value. This dilemma also applies in every day life. For example, a woman who wants to end a relationship
CITATION/RESEARCH PROBLEMS:
1. NEVER use a blog as a source. Blogs are rants, not generally based on any facts, and rarely supported by proof (quotes, statistics, real non-personal examples).
2. ALL web sites (with .01% exceptions) have both a web page and a web site. They are almost NEVER the same name.
3. NEVER use STUDENT WORK as a research source.
4. CAPITALIZE titles of web pages and web sites.
5. ITALICIZE web sites; USE QUOTATION MARKS around web pages—and get them in the right order.
6. DON’T USE web sites/web pages with NO AUTHOR OR DATE. If it has so little source information, it can’t possibly be professional or accurate.
7. WIKIPEDIA is not a professional source; it is written by amateurs (like you and me).
8. Use eLIBRARY: the sources are always legit and professional (and the citation engine will make the citation for you!).
9. If the author is the publisher and the publisher is the name of the web site, it is not a professional site because no one besides the author every checks the information (EXAMPLE: Keefer, Julia E. “Ecoliterature and the Global Economy.” Ecoliterature and the Global Economy. Julia Keefer. Sept. 2009. Web. 21 August 2012.)
Some disastrous citations:
1. Blackie, Sharon. “Why storytelling has relevance to ecoliterature.” The EarthLines magazine blog. The Earthlines Magazine Blog, 16 August 2012. Web. 6 August 2012.
2. Hauf, Mary. “Ecolit.” OPPapers.com. OPPapers.com, 2011. Web 8 August 2012.
3. Yunker, John. “The emergence of ecoliterature.” TheTouristTrail.com. TheTouristTrail.com, 30 September 2011. Web. 8 August 2012.
4. Alvord, Katie. “Byline: Katie Alvord: What is Eco-Fiction?” Byline: Katie Alvord. N.p. N.d. Web. 20 August 2012.
5. “Jack London Main Page.” Jack London Main Page. N.p. N.d. Web. 20 August 2012.
6. “Outdoor literature-Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.” Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. N.p. N.d. Web. 20 August 2012
7. “UW Libraries-Research Tools: Greater Yellowstone Bibliography.” UW Libraries-Research starting point. N.p. N.d. Web. 21 August 2012.
8. Keefer, Julia E. “Ecoliterature and the Global Economy by Professor Julia Evergreen Keefer.” Ecoliterature and the Global Economy by Professor Julia Evergreen Keefer. Julia Keefer. Sept. 2009. Web. 21 August 2012.
9. Smith, John. 9/11: The End of the World in America. 2002 (book).