Annotated Bibliography

Annotated Bibliography

Garcete Marisol

Flanagan, J.(1954). The critical incident technique (CIT). Psychological Bulletin.  Vol. 54 (4) 1-33.

Retrieved January 2008, from http://www.apa.org/pubs/databases/psycinfo/cit-article.pdf

Describes the development of the critical incident technique and methodology in order to collect information about human behavior to find solutions to practical problems and develop psychological principles based on those findings. It includes a clear cut explanation of is meant by critical and incident. It reflects upon the fact that many observations have been made to people but highlights the importance of complementing such activities with further analyses and synthesis. It is sub-divided in several sections to providing relevant information to the research, for instance: Background and Early Developments, Developmental Studies at the American Institute for Research, and Studies at the University of Pittsburgh. Moreover, it further analyses the procedure as consisting of: General Aims, Plans and Specifications, Collection of Data, Data Analysis, and Data Interpretation and Report. 

References

Flanagan, J. (1954). The critical incident technique (CIT). Psychological Bulletin.  Vol. 54 (4) 1-33.

Retrieved January 2008, from http://www.apa.org/pubs/databases/psycinfo/cit-article.pdf

Academic Writing: A Handbook for International Students – A Critique

Academic Writing: A Handbook for International Students – A Critique

Garcete Marisol

Ciampichini Carolina

According to Bailey (2006) “those students who are not native speakers often find the written demands of their courses very challenging” (p. vii). In his book, the author aims to provide students with plenty of practice in certain genres that could help them to self-acquire competence in academic writing skills to be part of an academic writing community and also, to assist teachers who are concerned about their students’ writing progress.  

            Teachers in charge of students at beginner levels in Academic writing may find the book extremely useful. Not only has the author presented the information in a clear way,  but he also has provided new and valuable information for students who have to start writing academically. The book is comprehensibly organized in four parts each of which deals with certain writing skills.   For instance, “part 1: The Writing Process” (p. 3-60) tackles the issue of plagiarism and logical development and organization in essays. In “Part 2: Elements of writing” (p.65-114) the author approaches the need to use an argument style of writing, the use of paraphrasing and referencing. “Part 3: Accuracy in writing” (p. 119-182) provides practice on inaccuracies of verbs and vocabulary. Finally, “Part 4: Writing models” (p. 185-199) offers some models on certain basic writings. 

However, although the book would be suitable for secondary students or higher education beginners, it might fail to fulfill the requirements of teachers and students in the last years of college. The handbook would have been more useful at advanced levels if it had contained more complex genre writings and samples to be analyzed. All the above mentioned topics are comprehensibly introduced but they are vaguely delved into in the book. There is a considerable amount of practice but there are few references. In the “Avoiding Plagiarism” section (p.7) for example, the author should have included a clear guide with strategies for plagiarism avoidance so that students can use it when writing their own productions. They may also find it difficult to correct mistaken exercises because, although answers are provided in the book (p. 204-258) there are no clear explanations. The same may happen when students are doing the tests in the “Writing Tests” section (p. 201-203). 

Bailey’s book would have been more accurate if it had targeted a smaller range of audience. The author argues that the book “is a flexible course that allows students of all subjects and levels, from foundation to PhD, to practice those aspects of writing which are most important for their studies” (p. 6). However, different disciplines often have different writing requirements and this entails a more complex degree of knowledge and handling of writing skills that comprises a wide range of academic genres. 

             All in all, it can be stated that the handbook should be considered as a useful tool for students and teachers who are interested in polishing their academic writing performance at the beginning of higher education. However, a student that is in the last years of university would not find this book useful because it vaguely delves into practical writing skills and common difficulties in writing. 

 References

Bailey, S. (2006). Academic Writing: A handbook for international students (2nd ed.). Retrieved November 2013 from

 http://npu.edu.ua/!e-book/book/djvu/A/iif_kgpm_t27.pdf 

Academic literacy skills in Wikipedia writing project – A summary

Academic literacy skills in Wikipedia writing project – A summary

Garcete Marisol

Ciampichini Carolina

     In the article ‘Writing for the world: Wikipedia as an introduction to Academic Writing’, Tardy (2010) describes  the process of composing an article for the website Wikipedia as an approach to introduce the literacy skills that students must master in formal academic writing. Among such skills, the author states “They [students] must conduct research, summarize and paraphrase, cite sources, adopt genre conventions that meet audience expectations, and select words and grammatical patterns” (p.12). Not only, does Tardy highlight the fact that such requirements can represent a challenge to novice writers at the beginning, but also affirms that classrooms are the main source of knowledge and practice students can have. Therefore, the article also delineates the steps for carrying out a Wikipedia writing project. 

     The author explains that the origin of the name Wikipedia lies on fact that it is a wiki in which any person can write about a certain topic and another person may edit that content. It is the most popular online encyclopedia with numerous contributors and administrators who check the content. In order to write an article in Wikipedia, a  contributor does not need previous experience but the article needs to comply with certain requirements such as: be clear, supported by reliable sources,  footnotes and general references and it has to follow Wikipedia's guidelines.

     Tardy (2010) lists eight steps in the project she designed to guide students through the process of composing an article for Wikipedia. The first step is to examine Wikipedia and understand how it works and the guidelines it has. Then, students are encouraged to research a topic which has not been approached in the Wikipedia English version yet and in the third step they organize that information and create a detailed outline. Steps four and are devoted to drafting and revising. After that, students have to format sources and then polish all their work. Eventually, students publish the article. 

     The Wikipedia-writing project introduces students to many skills of academic research writing in an appealing approach. Almost everyone recognizes Wikipedia nowadays and a lot of people use it as the main source of information. Therefore, students obtain a very realistic access to the audience and enjoy having their work published in a great source of information.

References

Tardy, C. M. (2010). Writing for the world: Wikipedia as an introduction to Academic Writing. English Teaching Forum, 1, pp. 12-19, 27. 

Documenting Sources –American Psychological Association (APA) Style: a Deep Analysis of In-text Citation, Signal Phrases and Reference List

Documenting Sources –American Psychological Association (APA) Style: a Deep Analysis of In-text Citation, Signal Phrases and Reference List

Garcete Marisol 

Ciampichini Carolina

Academic writing is not an easy task; not only do writers have to clearly display cohesive and coherent pieces of writing but they also have to follow certain writing standards established and regulated by the American Psychological Association (APA). It is the purpose of this paper to analyze and examine the use of in-text citation, signal phrases and the reference list that are cited in the article written by Dalvit, Murray and Terzoli (2005).  

As regards the use of in-text citations, the authors make use of paraphrasing. Examples of indirect quotations with parenthetical citation can be found as well. They can be divided into one work by one author such as (Boughey, 2002), (Sweetnam-Evans, 2001), (Barkhuizen, 2001), (Martindale, 2002); and groups as authors like Department of Education and Department of communication (2001), Council on Higher Education (2001) and Rhodes University-Information Technology Division (2004). The writers also cite specific sources such as Webster's online dictionary (2005) and High Tech Dictionary (2005).  

Examples of indirect quotation with author/s as part of the narrative (University of Minnesota, n.d.) can be observed as well. They can be divided into one work by one author such as Heugh (2002) and one work by two authors like Halliday and Martin (1993). 

Concerning signal phrases, it can be stated that there is a very limited use of them in the whole article since only two clear-cut examples are used to integrate quotations: according to Heugh (2002), according to Halliday and Martin (1993). It can be seen that there is not a variety of them to alert the reader that the information being mentioned is from an acknowledged source.

Dalvit et al. include a Reference List arranged in alphabetical order directly at the end of the article and not on a separate sheet of paper. The word reference is not correctly typed; it should not be in bold and it should be centered in the page. All in all, the general structure of the reference list included is: author's surname, author's initial, publication year, title of work and publisher. The writers include different types of sources in the reference list like books, reports, journals and websites. The latter includes retrieval month (day), year, from http://Web address.  For example: Boughey, C. (2002). Naming Students’ “Problems”: An Analysis of Language-Related Discourses at a South African University. Teaching in Higher Education,7, 295-307.  The entries are not double-spaced but the reference list includes all the necessary information. 

To conclude, it could be stated that the authors show some attachment to the APA reference style, avoiding plagiarism and acknowledging the sources though they do not fully follow all the established requirements in the analyzed article. 

References

American Physiological Association. (2010) Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (6th ed.). Washington, DC: Author.

Dalvit, L., Murray, S. and Terzoli, A. (2005). Providing increased access to English L2 students of computer science at a South African University. US-China: education Review, Sep. 2005, Vol. 2 (9)

Comparative Analysis of Four Abstracts in Specialized Journals

Comparative Analysis of Four Abstracts in Specialized Journals

Garcete Marisol

Burgos Madia

     Writing academic summaries has become a task in itself in which writers briefly display their understanding of the sources analyzed. Research Paper abstracts are considered one type of summary in the sense that they attempt to succinctly condense the content of a Paper that has already been produced (Swales & Feak, 1994). Authors (APA, 2011; Swales & Feak, 1994; Wallwork, 2011) agree that the audience should be in mind because it is the readers who will determine whether to continue reading the entire research based on how appealing the abstract is.

     Producing this kind of summary has been claimed to be a particularly complex process to such an extent that a number of handbooks and books have been published to provide detailed guidance on how to construct them. Although exploration of abstracts across disciplines has been carried out, the comparison and contrast of several Abstract sections is still limited. It is the purpose of the present paper to analyze the Abstract sections of four Research Articles (RA) in specialized journals: two in the field of education by Aydin and Yildiz (2014) and by Collentine (2009) and two in the field of medicine by Gregg et al. (2014) and by Reynolds et al. (2006). 

     Both RAs in the educational field by Aydin and Yildiz (2014) and by Collentine (2009) present an Abstract section embedded in the first page at the beginning of the RA between the title and the Introduction of the paper. Neither of the Abstracts conforms to all standard APA conventions since they were not written on a new page and the label Abstract does not appear. They were both typed in single-spaced format on the very next line below the authors as a single paragraph in block format. No titles or subtitles have been included indicating that the organizational format is unstructured. As for word length, they both respect the limit range: 190 in the RA by Aydin and Yildiz (2014) and 203 in the RA by Collentine (2009).

     The article by Aydin and Yildiz (2014) directly starts with the scope of the study, whereas the one by Collentine (2009) takes two long sentences to introduce the topic. The MRAD structure (Methods-Results-Analysis-Discussion) is followed orderly in a results-driven approach “because [they] concentrate on the research findings and what might be concluded from them” (Swales and Feak, 1994, pp.210-211). They are both informative abstracts since they look back to the past depicting what researchers have done and the results the study has yielded.

Regarding linguistic features the article by Aydin and Yildiz (2014) makes use of past simple and past passive voice whereas the article by Collentine (2009) mainly makes use of present simple tense for established knowledge and past simple. While impersonal passive has been used in the article about wikis, the article about computer-mediated communication has chosen a human agent: the subject pronoun we.  Key words have only been included in the article by Aydin and Yildiz (2014); according to Wallwork (2011) “it makes sense to have key words in your abstract (and title too) because it forces you, the author, to decide what words in your paper really are important. The key words are also the words that readers are looking for in their initial search and then when they actually scan your abstract” (p.190).

     Abstract sections in the medicine field RAs by Gregg et al. (2014) and by Reynolds et al. (2006) bear an obvious resemblance. The sections have been placed below the title and authors on the first page. The headline Abstract has been typed in capital letters and centered. Both abstracts follow the IMRAD (Introduction, Methods, Results and Discussion) formula and are structured with bolded red sub-headings identifying the main sections of the RP: Background, Methods, Results and Conclusion. Both RAs are informative relying heavily on data. For example, “rates of all five complications declined between 1990 and 2010, with the largest relative declines in acute myocardial infarction (−67.8%; 95% confidence interval [CI], −76.2 to −59.3) and death from hyperglycemic crisis (−64.4%; 95% CI, −68.0 to −60.9), followed by stroke and amputations, which each declined by approximately half (−52.7% and −51.4%, respectively)” (Gregg et al, 2014, p. 1514). There is a clear-cut look into the past and a thorough description of what researchers have done.

     Some of the linguistic specifications outlined by Graetz (1985) (as cited in Swales and Feak, 1994) are followed in these sections: there is a use of full sentences in simple past tense throughout most of the section; present perfect is also used under the headings Background and Conclusion in the article by Gregg et al. (2014). Regarding the writing approach, it might be said that both authors have adopted a RP Summary approach that provides “one – or two – sentences synopses of each of the four sections” (Swales and Feak, 1994, p. 211). Regarding word length, these RAs surpass the typical range: there are 322 words in the article by Gregg et al. (2014) and 311 in the one by Reynolds et al. (2006). Even though it is longer, it contributes to readability. Key words have not been included in any of the RAs.

     As Wallwork (2011) claims, “abstracts are like advertisements for your paper” (p. 184). Therefore, they should be written in such a way that readers will feel compelled to read the entire article. In doing this, researchers should not neglect to comply with standard lineaments. The abstracts in the education field and the ones in the medicine filed reveal some similarities. Even though they do not share format characteristics, they are self-contained summaries that seem to be accurate, concise, coherent and readable. 

 References

      American Psychological Association. (2011). Publication Manual (6th ed.). British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data: Washington, DC. 

     Aydin, Z. &Yildiz, S. (2014). Using wikis to promote collaborative EFL writing. Language Learning & Technology, 18 (1), 160-180. Retrieved from http://llt.msu.edu/issues/february2014/aydinyildiz.pdf

     Collentine, K. (2009). Learner use of holistic language units in multimodal, task-based synchronous computer-mediated communication. Language Learning & Technology, 13(2), 68-87. Retrieved from http://llt.msu.edu/vol13num2/collentine.pdf

     Gregg, E. W., Li, Y., Wang, J., Rios Burrows, N., Ali, M. K., Rolka, D., ... Geiss, L. (2014). Changes in diabetes-related complications in the United States, 1990-2010 [Electronic version]. The New England Journal of Medicine, 370 (16), 1514-1523.

     doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa1310799

     Reynolds, C., Dew, M.A., Pollock, B. G., Mulsant, B. H., Frank, E., Miller, M. D., … Kupfer, D. J .(2006). Maintenance treatment of major depression in old age [Electronic version]. The New England Journal of Medicine, 354, 1130-8.

doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa052619

     Swales, J.M. (1990). Genre analysis: English in academic and research settings. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

     Swales, J.M., & Feak, C.B. (1994). Academic writing for graduate students: Essential tasks and skills. Ann Harbor, MI: The University of Michigan Press.

     Wallwork, A. (2011). English for writing Research Papers. Italy: Springer.

     doi: 10.1007/978-1-4419-7922-3 

Writing a Methods Section

Writing a Methods Section 

Methods 

Participants

Data for this research report was collected from 100 Argentinean female and male science professors from the areas of hard science of Math, Chemistry, Physics and Biology from the National University of Mar del Plata in Argentina. Participants were selected not only based on the subject of teaching, but also on their expertise in each field, interest in research and as sources of data based on grounded theory.

Materials  

A descriptive study was performed to “obtain information concerning the current status of the phenomena to describe “what exists” with respect to variables or conditions in a situation.” (Key, 2002, p. 1). Two variables were considered in the study: conceptions of teaching and consistency index. The implied theories of such variables have functioned as the theoretical framework for the research as well as the implementation of an ex-post-facto design. Additionally, an adapted dilemma questionnaire of 10 items was submitted to the participants. The choice of such kind of questionnaire was so due to the fact that because of its argumentative nature, answers can be easily contextualized within the implicit theories. Moreover, the selection of the final 10 dilemmas was based on the aspects that would be assessed by the two variables of study. 

Procedure

The study took place in the Engineering Faculty of the University of Mar del Plata during the first term of the year 2010. The researcher assembled the participants during several sessions that took place in allotted time. Several sessions were necessary due to schedule restrictions. Participants were randomly assigned to groups. The questionnaires were submitted to every participant and they were invited to answer, account for their choices and share the different points of view with the rest of the people involved in every group. Once all questionnaires were completed and submitted, the researcher collected the. Answers were compared and analyzed, tables and figures were designed based on the two variables of study and the data collected.

References

Key, J. (2002). Research design in occupational education. Oklahoma State University. Retrieved January 8, 2010 from

http: //www.okstate.edu/ag/agendcm4h/academic/aged5980a/5980/index.htm

Mateos-Sanz, M.M., Basilisa García, M., Villanova, S.L (2011). Conceptions of teaching and learning held by University Science Professors 2 (3). Retrieved from

http://ries.universia.net/index.php/ries/article/viewArticle/81/villanova

Research Articles: Results, Discussion and Conclusion Sections analyzed

Research Articles: Results, Discussion and Conclusion Sections analyzed

Garcete Marisol

Burgos Madia

  Writing Research Articles (RAs) is no easy task; not only do writers have to clearly display the results of their investigations but also they have to position themselves in their competitive fields of study “ showing that [they] are relevant and significant and have some new contribution to make” (Swales, 1994, p.156) . Fortunately, writers such as Swales and Feak (1994), among others, have extensively analyzed this genre developing reliable and clear guidelines as to how to construct them. However, few studies have attempted to compare and contrast sections of RAs in different areas of knowledge to reveal similarities and differences. It is the purpose of the present paper to analyze the Results, Discussion and Conclusion sections of two RAs: one in the field of Education by Hermes and King (2013) and the other in the field of Medicine by Gregg et al. (2014).

     The article by Hermes and King (2013) has been written as a problem-solution (PS) text devoting four pages to describe in detail – organized in subtitles – the situation, the problem and a possible solution. After the Methods section, the word Findings is used as a subtitle instead of the word Results. It is typed in bold capital letters on the left margin. Wallwork (2011) states that “the standard procedure is to present [the results] with little or no interpretation or discussion. This means that the Results is generally the shortest section in a paper” (p. 233). However, not only does this section take up seven pages but it also contains a few interpretations of key findings. For example, “our analysis (. . .) points to how the software has the potential to promote face-to-face, interpersonal interactions within the family” (p.131). Other interpretations have been weakened by the verb appear:“while the software fit into already established dynamics; it did not (. . .) appear to directly impact language use patterns with their children” (p.136).

     Regarding tables and figures, this section does not make use of them; the only element that has been included is the transcripts of parts of video-taped interviews. The transcriptions have been organized into subtitles with the word Excerpt in bold with corresponding numbers followed by the week number in which the videos have been recorded. Readers are referred to excerpts by phrases such as “This is apparent in Excerpt 1”, “This is illustrated in Excerpt 2 below”, “As Excerpt 4 suggests”, etc. Past simple tense has been used throughout this section to report about past events.

     The Discussion Section has been written separately; the word Discussion is typed in bold and capital letters on the left margin. At the beginning the authors summarize briefly their findings and refer back to the question that originated the study: “Is there potential for this technological tool to help learners make the leap from learning language as an isolated, academic task to actually using the language for everyday communication?” (p. 138). Hermes and King (2013) analyze what the finding imply and state the reasons for this outcome.

     Expression of distance and probability such as copular verbs, adverbs and the modal verb might can be found when interpreting the findings: “While this might well be indicative of Eileen’s interpretation of the researchers’ expectations surrounding the task, it also is suggestive of her conceptions of the ways in which Ojibwe can and should be used”; “she herself and her boys, reportedly started to use more Ojibwe with the grandparents”; “the technology did seem to create a bridge, that is, a means for Eileen to learn reportedly enough language to respond to her parents occasionally in Ojibwe”; “Eileen’s case suggested ways in which Ojibwemodaa might jumpstart authentic language use, and might help shift language learning from a chore to something she considers part of her personal time”(pp.138-139).

     In the Conclusions section Hermes and King (2013) seem to meet the criteria suggested by Wallwok (2011) in the sense that they briefly revisited the most important findings pointing out how these create knowledge: “Findings here suggest that these tools have the potential to jumpstart offline language use or even provide an occasion for latent speakers to rally around”; highlighted the importance and significance of those findings: “We should note that in some ways the research study itself provided a measure of structure and support for learning at home”; acknowledged the limitations of the study: “However, more work needs to be done to understand specifically what kinds of tools or activities could motivate youth to embrace learning their heritage language”; provided suggestions for improvements: “These findings suggest ways in which the software might be redesigned to help support such a shift”; and made recommendations for policy changes: “This case study also suggests it might be useful for language revitalization efforts to invest in validation and development of informal learning networks”, “the present research suggests that informal learning networks and the language learning technology needed to get them started, merit greater attention and investment” (p.141).

     In the article by Gregg et al. (2014) the Results section is presented in isolation and its headline is typed in capital letters and centered. This section is subdivided into two subtitles signaled in bold capital letters on the left margin: ‘Rates of Diabetes’ and ‘Rates of Diabetes-related Complications’ which clearly present the main findings of the research. Simple past tense is used throughout the section to refer to the outcomes produced.

The analysis of data is displayed within the text, discussing only the highlights. Readers are referred to tables and figures for more detailed information: “(Table S1 in the Supplementary Appendix shows the distribution of diagnosed diabetes in the civilian population according to age, sex, and race)”, “(Tables S4, S5, and S6 in the SupplementaryAppendix)”, “(Table 1 and Fig. 1A)” (pp. 1516-1519).

     Considering the rules established by the American Psychological Association (2007), the tables and figures presented in the article comply with most of the characteristics. It is important to mention that there are three tables numbered consecutively with individual titles with each word capitalized, though not italicized, which adequately explain the content of the table. Only two tables begin on a separate page. All the data is presented and separated in horizontal lines where every column and row has a heading. However, not all the elements of the table are doubled spaced probably because of specific journal printing requirements.

     As regards the figures used in this RA, there are two line graphs presented in one column. They include a caption underneath the figure with the word Figure and its corresponding number. However, the figure and figure number are not in italics or doubled-spaced.  

     The Discussion section in the article has been written under the heading Discussion in capital letters and centered. The descriptive nature of the section is clearly seen as the author explained the findings and analyzed several trends on diabetes-related complications between 1990 and 2010 in the U.S. population of adults with diabetes. Moreover, the section also explains the causes and effects of many other variables found while researching.

     Findings in the section are presented using the present perfect tense, some modal verbs and several expressions of distance and probability. For instance, “These findings probably reflect a combination of advances in acute clinical care”; “These changes (. . .) were likely to have influenced rates of myocardial infarction, stroke, end-stage renal disease, and amputation.”; “The screening for early complications may have contributed reductions in rates of end-stage renal disease” (p.1521). 

     At this point, it might be relevant to mention that there is no visible distinction between the Discussion and Conclusions sections in the article as they seem to be blended at the end. However, there is a short and clear-cut conclusion, under that heading typed in red and capital letters, at the very beginning of the article in the Abstract section. Further concluding details are added almost at the end of the RA and a final idea concludes the article: “the total burden, or absolute number of cases of complications, will probably continue to increase in the coming decades” (p. 1522). 

     All in all, even though the RAs analyzed partially follow the established conventions for the Discussion, Result and Conclusion sections, the information they convey is equally valuable and relevant. It can be stated that scholars in different areas of knowledge will adapt the requirements to their research needs. For instance, the article in the Medicine field have recourse to tables and figures due to the extensive numerical data, whereas the article in the Education field dealt with more qualitative data which did not demand the used of these strategies. Being aware of different text-types and being able to recognize the structure and main elements in RAs  help us to construct our own Research Papers to gradually take a more active part in the discourse community we belong to.

References

American Psychological Association. (2011). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (6^th Ed). Washington, DC: British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data.

Gegg, E. W., Li, Y., Wang, J., Rios Burrows, N., Ali, M. K., Rolka, D., ... Geiss, L. (2014). Changes in diabetes-related complications in the United States, 1990-2010 [Electronic version]. The New England Journal of Medicine.370 (16), 1514-1523.

doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa1310799

Hermes M. & King K. A. (2013). Ojibwe language revitalization, multimedia technology, and family language learning [Electronic version]. Language Learning & Technology, 17, (1), 125–144.

doi: 10.1.1.295.2845

Swales, J. (1990). Genre analysis: English in Academic and Research settings. New York: Cambridge Univerity Press.

Swales, J.M., & Feak, C.B. (1994). Academic writing for graduate students: Essential tasks and skills. Ann Harbor, MI: The University of Michigan Press.

Wallwork, A. (2011). English for writing Research Papers. Italy: Springer.

doi: 10.1007/978-1-4419-7922-3