Writing from sources

(2)

paraphrase, summary, prcis and
referencing
Quotations
Used for:
support (appeal to authority);
to preserve vivid or technical language;
to analyse or comment on the
quotation;
to distance oneself from the quotation
Paraphrase
Literal paraphrase: a word-for-word
substitution, staying close to the
sentence structure of the original text.
Free paraphrase: moves away from the
words and sentence structure of the
original text and presents ideas in the
paraphrasers own style and idiom; it can
summarise repetitious parts of the
original, but it will present ideas in much
the same order.
Read the text below and then decide
which is the best paraphrase, (a) or (b).
Ancient Egypt collapsed in
about 2180 BC. Studies
conducted of the mud from
the River Nile showed that
at this time the
mountainous regions which
feed the Nile suffered
from a prolonged drought.
This would have had a
devastating effect on the
ability of Egyptian society
to feed itself.
a) The sudden ending of
Egyptian civilisation over
4,000 years ago was
probably caused by
changes in the weather in
the region to the south.
Without the regular river
flooding there would not
have been enough food.
b) Research into deposits
of the Egyptian Nile
indicate that a long dry
period in the mountains at
the rivers source may have
led to a lack of water for
irrigation around 2180BC,
which was when the
collapse of Egyptian
society began.
Techniques
changing vocabulary:
___________________________
___
changing word-class:
___________________________
___
changing word-order:
___________________________
___
Summary
A condensation of ideas or information provided by a
source.
It does not include examples or repetitions.
It is often used as part of a larger essay.
Guidelines for writing a summary:
Find the most important information that tells what the
paragraph or group of paragraphs is about.
Use this information to write a topic sentence.
Find 2 or 3 main ideas and important details that support
your topic sentence and show how they are related.
Keep the ideas and facts in a logical order that expands on
your topic sentence.
Combine several main ideas into a single sentence.
Substitute a general term for lists of items or events.
Do not include unimportant or minor details.
Do not repeat information.
Read and translate the following excerpt
from Machiavellis The Prince.
It is not, therefore, necessary for a prince to have [good faith and integrity],
but it is very necessary to seem to have them. I would even be bold to say that to
possess them and always to observe them is dangerous, but to appear to possess them
is useful. Thus it is well to seem merciful, faithful, humane, sincere, religious, and also
to be so; but you must have the mind so disposed that when it is needful to be
otherwise you may be able to change to the opposite qualities. And it must be
understood that a prince, and especially a new prince, cannot observe all those things
which are considered good in men, being often obliged, in order to maintain the state,
to act against faith, against clarity, against humanity, and against religion. And
therefore, he must have a mind disposed to adapt itself according to the wind, and as
the variations of fortune dictate, and not deviate from what is good, if possible,
but be able to do evil if constrained.
A prince must take great care that nothing goes out of his mouth which is not
full of the above-mentioned five qualities, and to see and hear him, he should seem to
be all mercy, faith, integrity, humanity, and religion Everyone sees what you appear
to be, few feel what you are, and those few will not dare to oppose themselves to the
many, who have the majesty of the state to defend them; and in the actions of men,
and especially of princes, from which there is no appeal, the end justifies the means.
Let a prince therefore aim at conquering and maintaining the state, and the means will
always be judged honourable and praised by every one, for the vulgar are always
taken by appearances and the issue of the event; and the world consists only of the
vulgar, and the few who are not vulgar are isolated when the many have a rallying
point in the prince.
(original)
It is more important for a ruler to give the
impression of goodness than to be good. In fact,
real goodness can be a liability, but the pretence
is always very effective. It is all very well to be
virtuous, but it is vital to be able to shift in the
other direction whenever circumstances require
it. After all, rulers, and especially recently
elevated ones, have a duty to perform which may
absolutely require them to act against the
dictates of faith and compassion and kindness.
One must act as circumstances require and, while
its good to be virtuous if you can, its better to be
bad if you must.
In public, however, the ruler should appear
to be entirely virtuous, and if his pretence is
successful with the majority of people, then those
who do see through the act will be outnumbered
and impotent, especially since the ruler has the
authority of government on his side. In the case
of rulers, even more than for most men, the end
justifies the means. If the ruler is able to
assume power and administer it successfully, his
methods will always be judged proper and
satisfactory; for the common people will accept
the pretence of virtue and the reality of success,
and the astute will find no one is listening to their
warnings.
(paraphrase)
According to Machivelli,
perpetuating power is a more
important goal for a ruler than
achieving personal goodness or
integrity. Although he should
act virtuously if he can, and
always appear to do so, it is
more important for him to
adapt quickly to changing
circumstances. The masses will
be so swayed by his pretended
virtue and by his success that
any opposition will be
ineffective. The wise rulers
maxim is that the end justifies
the means.
(summary)
Consider the following paraphrase and summary of the
previous excerpt. What differences can you establish
between them?
Comparing paraphrase and summary
Paraphrase Summary
Reports your understanding
to your reader
Reports your understanding
to your reader
Records a relatively short
passage
Records a passage of any
length
Records every point in the
passage
Selects and condenses,
recording only the main ideas
Records these points
consecutively
Changes the order of ideas
when necessary
Includes no interpretation Explains and interprets
Prcis
A prcis is a highly polished
summary, which often uses direct
quotation from the original source.
It preserves the tone of the original
(doubt, skepticism, optimism, etc.)
It may be used to review a piece of
writing or to write a plot summary.
Compare the following passage from H.
Marcuses Essay on Liberation (1969)
with its summary and prcis.
In the affluent society, capitalism comes into its own. The two
mainsprings of its dynamic the escalation of commodity
production and productive exploitation join and permeate all
dimensions of private and public existence. The available material
and intellectual resources [the potential of liberation] have so
much overgrown the established institutions that only the
systematic increase in waste, destruction and management keeps
the system going. The opposition which escapes suppression by the
police, the courts, the representatives of the people, and the
people themselves, finds expression in the diffused rebellion
among the youth and the intelligentsia, and in the daily struggle of
the persecuted minorities. The armed class struggle is waged
outside: by the wretched of the earth who fight the affluent
monster.
Summary

Capitalism dominates
the affluent society at
all levels. By enlarging
the range and intensity
of its influence, it
neutralises most
potential rebels, leaving
only the abjectly poor
to fight it.
Prcis

Capitalism, the
systematic consumer
of all resources,
dominates affluent
society at every level.
Fundamentally wasteful
and tyrannical, it
enlarges the range and
intensity of its
influence, destroying
or emasculating most
potential rebels,
leaving only the
wretched of the earth
to fight it.
Referencing
Correct and consistent use of a standard referencing convention
is essential in producing a report, thesis or paper.

Referencing a source involves two separate steps:
indicating in the body of a piece of work that some material is not
entirely original, by providing a short 'identifier' for its source (a
reference in the text)
listing, in a separate section of the work, the full details of the
source (in a list of references).

Referencing in the text:
Endnotes or footnotes;
Parenthetical notes;
Explanatory notes;
Umbrella notes.

Listing references:
References
Bibliography
Annotated bibliography
Which are the differences in the
following two referencing
styles?
Hemingways zest for life extended to women also. His wandering
heart seemed only to be exceeded by an even more appreciative eye.
7

Hadley was aware of her husbands flirtations and of his facility with
women.
8
Yet, she had no idea that something was going on between
Hemingway and Pauline Pfeiffer, a fashion editor for Vogue magazine.
9

She was also unaware that Hemingway delayed his return to Schruns
from a business trip to New York, in February 1926, so that he might
spend some more time with this new and strange girl.
10

_____________________________________________________________________________________
__
7
Ernest Hemingway, A Moveable Feast (New York: Scribners, 1964), p. 102.
8
Alice Hunt Sokoloff, Hadley: The First Mrs. Hemingway (New York: Dodd,
Mead, 1973), p. 84.
9
Carlos Baker, Ernest Hemingway: A Life Story (New York: Scribners,
1969), p. 159.
10
Hemingway, op. cit., p. 210. Also Baker, op. cit., p. 165.
Hemingways zest for life extended to women also. His
wandering heart seemed only to be exceeded by an even more
appreciative eye (Hemingway 1964: 102). Hadley was aware of
her husbands flirtations and of his facility with women
(Sokoloff 1973: 84). Yet, she had no idea that something was
going on between Hemingway and Pauline Pfeiffer, a fashion
editor for Vogue magazine (Baker 1969: 159). She was also
unaware that Hemingway delayed his return to Schruns from a
business trip to New York, in February 1926, so that he might
spend some more time with this new and strange girl.
(Hemingway 1964: 210; Baker, 1969: 165)

References
1. Baker, Carlos (1969), Ernest Hemingway: A Life Story, New York:
Scribners.
2. Hemingway, Ernest (1964), A Moveable Feast, New York: Scribners.
3. Sokoloff, Alice Hunt (1973), Hadley: The First Mrs. Hemingway,
New York: Dodd, Mead.

Referencing systems
There are a number of different
referencing systems used in academic
writing. They broadly subdivide into:

author-date systems;

footnoting or endnoting systems (one variation:
the Numbered system, i.e. a numbered
citation is inserted into the text whenever a
work is referred to. E.g. The notion of an
invisible college has been explored in the
sciences[26].)

Referencing Styles
The Harvard Style: a generic term for any style which contains
author-date references in the text of the document, such as
(Smith 1999). There will also be a list of references at the end
of the document, arranged by authors' names and year of
publication. There is no official manual of the Harvard style: it
is just a generic term for the many styles which follow that
format.
The Chicago Manual of Style: the most widely consulted of all
style manuals, it includes provisions for footnote referencing,
numbered reference lists and author-date referencing. Its
footnote referencing system is widely used in the arts and
humanities. Its author/date referencing provisions are also
widely used, and constitute one of the many variants of the
Harvard style.
APA (American Psychological Association): is the standard
style used in Psychology, but it is also widely used in other
disciplines, especially in the Social Sciences. It is one of the
many variants of the Harvard style.
MLA (Modern Language Association of America): is widely
used in the fields of modern literature and linguistics. MLA
referencing uses Harvard-style references in the text of the
document, but without the year of publication. It no longer has
provisions for footnote referencing.
Harvard
Harvard is a generic term for any style which contains author-
date references in the text of the document, such as (Smith
1999). There will also be a list of references at the end of the
document, arranged by authors' names and year of publication.
There is no official manual of the Harvard style: it is just a
generic term for the many styles which follow that format. A
reference in the text or reference consists of a name - e.g. one
or more surnames or the name of an organization - and a date,
e.g. "Smith (2005)", "(Wilson & Patel 2007)" or "United Nations
(1948)". (Other systems involve numbers, e.g. "[12]" or "12", or
invented identifiers, e.g. "[Smi2005]".)
The list of references is sorted by name (including initials if
appropriate) and date. (Other systems may sort by the
numerical or alphabetic order of the references in the text.)

References in the text
There are two ways of citing references in the text:
Author prominent
This way gives prominence to the author by using the authors surname
(family name) as part of your sentence with the date and the page number
in parentheses (round brackets).
Direct quote example:
Cowie (1996, p. 91) argues that socialism rejected the liberal ideals of individualism
and competition.
Paraphrase example
Cowie (1996) suggests that unlike capitalism, socialism promotes the good of the
whole before the good of the individual.
Information prominent
The other way of citing references gives prominence to the information,
with all the required referencing details in parentheses at the end of the
citation.
Direct quote example:
It has been argued that socialism rejected the liberal ideals of individualism and
competition (Cowie 1996, p. 91).
Paraphrase example
Unlike capitalism, socialism promotes the good of the whole before the good of the
individual (Cowie 1996).
Page Numbers
Page numbers should be used when you directly quote
material (word for word) from the original publication.
Page numbers should also be provided for indirect
quotes and paraphrasing where the summarised material
appears in specific pages, chapters or sections.

One page referred to: (Wells 1992, p. 4)
Pages that are not in sequence: (Smith 1996, pp. 1, 4 &
6)
Pages that are in sequence: (Jones & Mackay 1998, pp.
2526)
Pages from a web site: (Kelly & McWhirter 1997, p. 1
of 2)

An alternative to "p." or "pp." which is
sometimes found is the use of a colon: cf (Jones
1980, p. 12) / (Jones 1980:12).
Features of the
reference list
For a book, the following elements should be presented in
this order:
surname and initials of author(s)
year of publication
title of book (in italics)
the edition, for example, 4th edn, if not the original publication
publisher
place of publication.

e.g. Shearman, D. & Sauer-Thompson, G. 1997, Green or
Gone, Wakefield Press, Kent Town.
Shearman, D., Sauer-Thompson, G. (1997), Green or Gone,
Kent Town: Wakefield Press.

For a journal article, the following elements should be
presented in this order:
surname and initials of author(s)
year of publication
title of article in quotation marks
title of journal or periodical in italics and maximal
capitalisation
volume number where applicable
issue number or other identifier where applicable, for
example, Winter
page number(s).

e.g. Stove, R.J. 1999, Xenophobia: the great local
content myth, Institute of Public Affairs Review, vol.
51, no. 1, pp. 1416.
Stove, R.J. (1999), Xenophobia: the great local
content myth, Institute of Public Affairs Review, 51(1),
pp. 1416.

For an electronic resource, include:
author and date
title
date viewed
URL address or name of database.

e.g. Kennedy, I. 2004, An assessment strategy to
help forestall plagiarism problems, Studies in
Learning, Evaluation, Innovation and Development, vol.
1, no. 1, viewed 7 October 2005,
http://www.sleid.cqu.edu.au/viewissue.php?id=5
Kennedy, I. (2004) An assessment strategy to help
forestall plagiarism problems, Studies in Learning,
Evaluation, Innovation and Development, vol. 1, no. 1,
http://www.sleid.cqu.edu.au/viewissue.php?id=5
[accessed 7 Oct. 2005]

Arranging the reference list
1. The reference list is arranged in alphabetical order according to the
authors family name. (Do not use numbers, letters or bullet points to
begin each entry.)
2. Any reference that starts with a number (e.g. 7:30 Report) precedes the
alphabetical listing and is listed numerically.
3. Where there is more than one author of a publication, maintain the order
of their names as they appear on the title page of the publication, even if
they are not in alphabetical order on the title page.
4. If a reference has no author, list it alphabetically according to the
sponsoring body, for example, CSIRO or Education Queensland.
5. If there is no author or sponsoring body, list alphabetically according to
the title. The whole title of the resource must appear, but when listing
alphabetically, ignore words such as, The, A, An at the beginning of
the references title.
6. If there are two or more references by the same author, then list them in
order of publication date with the oldest work first.
7. If references by the same author have been published in the same year,
then list them alphabetically according to the title and add the letter a
after the first date, and b after the second date, and so on, (e.g. 1993a,
1993b, 1993c).
Formats for referencing
A complete book.
Jones, P.J. (1980), Introduction to Algorithms, London: Methuen.
Jones, P.J., Smith, R. & Watson, E.P. (eds) (1988), Artificial Intelligence Reconsidered (2nd
edition), New York: Wiley.
A chapter in an edited book.
Hamza, K.A. (1988), "Vision Systems", in Jones, P.J., Smith, R. & Watson, E.P. (eds),
Artificial Intelligence Reconsidered (2nd edition), New York: Wiley, pp. 12-34.
An article in a journal.
Carson, P.R. (1970), "An Approach to Intelligent Planning", Journal of Applied Artificial
Intelligence 38(3), 4-11.
An article from a bound volume of conference proceedings.
Jones, P.J. (1983), "An Attempt to Construct a Knowledge-based Route Planner",
Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Transport Planning, Budapest: Hungarian
Transport Association, pp. 212-58.
An article you have obtained which was read at conference whose proceedings
seem not to have been published.
Jones, P.J., Richards, M., Zhao, C.H. & Reynolds, P.E. (1988), "The Use of BASIC in AI",
paper read to the annual meeting of the Norwegian Association for Computer Education,
August, Oslo, Norway.
A report produced in 'duplicated' form by an academic or research institution.
Jones, P.J. (1987), "An Algorithm for Distributed Intelligent Route Planning with a BASIC
Implementation", Report #32, Intelligent Transport Laboratories, 38 West Avenue, Forked
Springs, California, USA.
Referencing Online Sources

Some documents appear both in printed form and on the web, in which
case the printed form should treated as primary, although the URL can
usefully be given as additional information in the list of references, for
example by adding a note of the form "[online at URL, accessed
FULL_DATE]".
Where a work is only published on the web, if the author and date of
'publication' can be found then the author's name and the date can be
used as a reference in the text in the normal way. For example:
Coxhead (2007) states that ...
The entry in the list of references: Coxhead, P. 2007, "A Referencing Style
Guide", http://www.cs.bham.ac.uk/~pxc/refs/refs.html [accessed 2 Apr 2007].
With web pages, it is often necessary to use the name of an organization
instead of the name of the author. Note that Wikipedia is not a primary
source (although often a good provider of references to original
sources). Wikipedia articles are mainly useful as overviews; see, for
example:
Wikipedia 2007, "Harvard referencing", online at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Harvard_referencing [accessed 2 Apr
2007].
If the date of publication cannot be found, one possibility is to use the
date on which the URL was last visited.
Referencing TV
programmes, videos, motion
pictures
For a recording of a TV show, use the date the program was aired:
A Current Affair (video recording) 18 January 2003, Australian
Consolidated Press, Sydney, Director, Megan James.
For a video recording, use the date it was produced. Sometimes, you
will not be able to find the individual producer or directors name
make sure you at least indicate the company or organisation that
produced it.
Babakiueria (video recording) 1991, Australian Broadcasting Commission,
Sydney.
Even if you view a video copy of a film, indicate that it was produced as
a motion picture, and name the producer or director:
The Dead Poets Society (motion picture) 1992, Fox Studios, Los Angeles,
Producer Peter Weir.
Filmography:
Je vous trouve trs beau (2006). Dir. Isabelle Mergault. France.
The Humanities Style
(Chicago Manual)
Book
One author
N:
1. Wendy Doniger, Splitting the Difference (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1999),
65.
B:
Doniger, Wendy. Splitting the Difference. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1999.
Two authors
N:
6. Guy Cowlishaw and Robin Dunbar, Primate Conservation Biology (Chicago: University of
Chicago Press, 2000), 1047.
B:
Cowlishaw, Guy and Robin Dunbar. Primate Conservation Biology. Chicago: University of
Chicago Press, 2000.
Four or more authors
N:
13. Edward O. Laumann et al., The Social Organization of Sexuality: Sexual Practices in the
United States (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1994), 262.
B:
Laumann, Edward O., John H. Gagnon, Robert T. Michael, and Stuart Michaels. The Social
Organization of Sexuality: Sexual Practices in the United States. Chicago: University of
Chicago Press, 1994.

Editor, translator, or compiler instead of author
N:
4. Richmond Lattimore, trans., The Iliad of Homer (Chicago:
University of Chicago Press, 1951), 9192.
B:
Lattimore, Richmond, trans. The Iliad of Homer. Chicago:
University of Chicago Press, 1951.
Editor, translator, or compiler in addition to
author
N:
16. Yves Bonnefoy, New and Selected Poems, ed. John
Naughton and Anthony Rudolf (Chicago: University of Chicago
Press, 1995), 22.
B:
Bonnefoy, Yves. New and Selected Poems. Edited by John
Naughton and Anthony Rudolf. Chicago: University of Chicago
Press, 1995.
Chapter or other part of a book
N:
5. Andrew Wiese, The House I Live In: Race, Class, and African American Suburban Dreams
in the Postwar United States, in The New Suburban History, ed. Kevin M. Kruse and Thomas
J. Sugrue (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2006), 1012.
B:
Wiese, Andrew. The House I Live In: Race, Class, and African American Suburban Dreams in
the Postwar United States. In The New Suburban History, edited by Kevin M. Kruse and
Thomas J. Sugrue, 99119. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2006.
Preface, foreword, introduction, or similar part of a book
N:
17. James Rieger, introduction to Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, by Mary
Wollstonecraft Shelley (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1982), xxxxi.
B:
Rieger, James. Introduction to Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, by Mary
Wollstonecraft Shelley, xixxxvii. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1982.
Book published electronically
N:
2. Philip B. Kurland and Ralph Lerner, eds., The Founders Constitution (Chicago: University of
Chicago Press, 1987), http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/ (accessed June 27, 2006).
B:
Kurland, Philip B., and Ralph Lerner, eds. The Founders Constitution. Chicago: University of
Chicago Press, 1987. http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/. Also available in print form
and as a CD-ROM.

Article in a print journal
N:
8. John Maynard Smith, The Origin of Altruism, Nature 393 (1998): 639.
B:
Smith, John Maynard. The Origin of Altruism. Nature 393 (1998): 63940.
Article in an online journal
N:
33. Mark A. Hlatky et al., "Quality-of-Life and Depressive Symptoms in Postmenopausal
Women after Receiving Hormone Therapy: Results from the Heart and Estrogen/Progestin
Replacement Study (HERS) Trial," Journal of the American Medical Association 287, no. 5
(2002), http://jama.ama-assn.org/issues/v287n5/rfull/joc10108.html#aainfo.
B:
Hlatky, Mark A., Derek Boothroyd, Eric Vittinghoff, Penny Sharp, and Mary A. Whooley.
"Quality-of-Life and Depressive Symptoms in Postmenopausal Women after Receiving
Hormone Therapy: Results from the Heart and Estrogen/Progestin Replacement Study
(HERS) Trial." Journal of the American Medical Association 287, no. 5 (February 6, 2002),
http://jama.ama-assn.org/issues/v287n5/rfull/joc10108.html#aainfo.
Newspaper article: may be cited in running text (As William Niederkorn noted in a
New York Times article on June 20, 2002, . . . ) instead of in a note, and may be
omitted from a bibliography as well. N:
10. William S. Niederkorn, A Scholar Recants on His Shakespeare Discovery, New York
Times, June 20, 2002, Arts section, Midwest edition.
B:
Niederkorn, William S. A Scholar Recants on His Shakespeare Discovery. New York
Times, June 20, 2002, Arts section, Midwest edition.
Book review
N:
1. James Gorman, Endangered Species, review of The Last American Man, by
Elizabeth Gilbert, New York Times Book Review, June 2, 2002, 16.
B:
Gorman, James. Endangered Species. Review of The Last American Man, by
Elizabeth Gilbert. New York Times Book Review, June 2, 2002.
Thesis or dissertation
N:
22. M. Amundin, Click Repetition Rate Patterns in Communicative Sounds from the
Harbour Porpoise, Phocoena phocoena (PhD diss., Stockholm University, 1991), 2229,
35.
B:
Amundin, M. Click Repetition Rate Patterns in Communicative Sounds from the
Harbour Porpoise, Phocoena phocoena. PhD diss., Stockholm University, 1991.
Paper presented at a meeting or conference
N:
13. Brian Doyle, Howling Like Dogs: Metaphorical Language in Psalm 59 (paper
presented at the annual international meeting for the Society of Biblical Literature,
Berlin, Germany, June 1922, 2002).
B:
Doyle, Brian. Howling Like Dogs: Metaphorical Language in Psalm 59. Paper presented
at the annual international meeting for the Society of Biblical Literature, Berlin,
Germany, June 1922, 2002.
Web site: may be cited in running text (On its Web site, the Evanston Public
Library Board of Trustees states . . .) and they are commonly omitted from a
bibliography list as well.
N:
11. Evanston Public Library Board of Trustees, Evanston Public Library Strategic Plan,
20002010: A Decade of Outreach, Evanston Public Library,
http://www.epl.org/library/strategic-plan-00.html.
B:
Evanston Public Library Board of Trustees. Evanston Public Library Strategic Plan,
20002010: A Decade of Outreach. Evanston Public Library.
http://www.epl.org/library/strategic-plan-00.html (accessed June 1, 2005).
Weblog entry or comment: may be cited in running text (In a comment posted
to the Becker-Posner Blog on March 6, 2006, Peter Pearson noted . . .) instead
of in a note and they are commonly omitted from a bibliography list as well.
N:
8. Peter Pearson, comment on The New American Dilemma: Illegal Immigration, The
Becker-Posner Blog, comment posted March 6, 2006, http://www.becker-posner-
blog.com/archives/2006/03/the_new_america.html#c080052 (accessed March 28,
2006).
B:
Becker-Posner Blog, The. http://www.becker-posner-blog.com/.
E-mail message: may be cited in running text (In an e-mail message to the
author on October 31, 2005, John Doe revealed . . .) instead of in a note
citation, and they are rarely listed in a bibliography list.
N:
2. John Doe, e-mail message to author, October 31, 2005.
Abbreviations
Footnotes and/or reference lists may contain the abbreviations Ibid.
and/or op. cit.
DEFINITIONS
Ibid. (abbreviation for the Latin Ibidem, meaning "The same").
Refers to the same author and source (e.g., book, journal) in the immediately
preceding reference.
op. cit. (abbreviation for the Latin opus citatum, meaning "the work cited").
Refers to the reference listed earlier by the same author.

Ibid. refers to the immediately preceding reference; op. cit. refers to the
prior reference by the same author.
EXAMPLES
R. Poirer, "Learning physics," (Academic, New York, 1993), p. 4.
Ibid., p. 9.
T. Eliot, "Astrophysics," (Springer, Berlin, 1989), p. 141.
R. Builder, J Phys Chem 20(3) 1654-57, 1991.
Eliot, op. cit., p.148.
Other:
Idem: From Latin idem "the same". This repeats the previous author. It is
rarely used today.
Loc.cit.: From Latin loco citato "in the place cited". This repeats the title
and page number for a given author. It is not often used today.
cf. = confer (compare)
e.g. = exempli gratia (for example)
ed. (edition, editor; plural: eds)
et al. = et alii (and other authors)
sq./sqq. = sequens (continues on the next page/s)
ibid. = ibidem (same author, same work. It is followed
by the page number)
id. = idem (it follows ibid. same author, work, page)
i.e. = id est (that is)
infra (see below)
loc. cit. = loco citato (similar to op. cit., only used when
the reference is made to the same page)
ms. = manuscriptum (manuscript; plural: mss.)
op. cit. = opere citato (cited work)
passim (from place to place)
supra (see above)
vol. (volume/s)
Reviews
Review (n.)
1. A reexamination or reconsideration.
2. A retrospective view or survey.
3. a. A restudying of subject matter.
b. An exercise for use in restudying
material.
4. An inspection or examination for the
purpose of evaluation.
5. a. A report or essay giving a critical
estimate of a work or performance.
b. A periodical devoted to articles and
essays on current affairs, literature, or
art
Purpose
A) to explain what the work is about
(i.e. summary and interpretation* of
its main ideas)
B) to assess its value for an audience
(i.e. evaluation**)
* interpretation: does not explicitly pass
judgement on the worth of a work
**evaluation: contains the reviewers opinion
on the work and the standards which,
according to the reviewer, the work should
meet.
Critical/Analytic Reviews
They are not primarily concerned
with summarising the work;
They comment on and evaluate the
work in the light of specific issues
and theoretical concerns in a given
domain.
Critical reviews generally
provide:

Full bibliographic information (author, title,
edition, publisher, place of publication, year of
publication), often presented as a heading or
introductory sentence.
A brief description of the contents of the
book/article.
An assessment of the authors authority / biases.
An evaluation of the strengths and weaknesses of
the book/article based on the purposes of the
author, and using evidence to support the
reviewers argument
An overall assessment of the book

Literary Theory: A Very Short Introduction
by Jonathan Culler
(Oxford Paperbacks, New edition, 2000, 152 p., 24)
This introductory guide comes from a new series by Oxford University Press. They are written by specialists,
aimed at the common reader, and offer an introduction to the main cultural and philosophical ideas which have shaped
the western world.
Jonathan Culler avoids the common approach of explaining the various schools of literary criticism by choosing
instead a set of topics and showing what various literary theories have to say about them. There's a certain amount of
sleight of hand. In explaining 'theory' in its modern sense he doesn't acknowledge the profound difference between this
loose use of the term and a scientific theory, which can be proven or disproven.
Nor does he acknowledge the sort of special pleading and self justification which is passed off as 'philosophy' in
the work of someone such as Michel Foucault. But he does have a persuasive way of explaining some of these difficult
ideas in terms which the common reader can understand.
The topics he chooses turn out to be very fundamental questions such as 'What is literature?' - that is, are
there any essential differences between a literary and a non-literary text. These are questions to which common sense
supplies rapid answers, but when Theory is applied, unforeseen complexities arise.
In fact when he looks more closely at the nature, purpose, and the conventions of literature, he claims that one
of the purposes of Theory is to expose the shortcomings of common sense.
There's an interesting chapter on language and linguistic approaches to literary theory where he discusses
Saussure and Chomsky, the differences between poetics and hermeneutics, and reader-response criticism. Any one of
these approaches is now the basis for a whole school of literary theory.
When he gets to genre criticism there's a useful explanation of lyric, epic, and drama - though it's not quite
clear why he separates narrative (stories and novels) into a chapter of its own.
However, when it does come, his explanation of narrative theory is excellent. His account of plot, point of view,
focalisation, and narrative reliability will help anyone who wants to get to grips with the analysis of fiction.
He ends with brief notes explaining the various school of literary theory which have emerged in the recent past
- from New Criticism, through Structuralism, Marxism, and Deconstruction, to the latest fashions of Post-Colonialism
and Queer Theory.
In one sense the book's title is slightly misleading. It should be Modern Literary Theory. But this is a very
interesting and attractive format - a small, pocket-sized book, stylishly designed, with illustrations, endnotes,
suggestions for further reading, and an index.
Roy Johnson 2005
Literature Reviews
A literature review is an account of what has been published on a topic by
accredited scholars and researchers.
It is often part of the introduction to an essay, research report, or thesis.
It is not just a descriptive list of the material available, or a set of
summaries.
Its purpose is to convey to the reader what knowledge and ideas have been
established on a topic, and what their strengths and weaknesses are.
As a piece of writing, the literature review must be defined by a guiding
concept (e.g. the research objective of or the problem or issue
discussed/argumented in an essay, report, thesis)

A literature review must do these things:
be organized around and related directly to the thesis or research question one
is developing
synthesize results into a summary of what is and is not known
identify areas of controversy in the literature
formulate questions that need further research

It may be structured according to:
A chronological approach
Key issues and debates
A methodological approach

Read the following literature review on the
subject of Language and Gender.
Try to work out:
the comparison the writer establishes in the
review
the sequence to his review (why that sequence?)
what the writer's own perspective is.
Pay attention to:
the use the writer makes of each of the
sources he refers to
how, in his language particularly, he avoids a
"black and white", right/wrong type of
judgement of the positions he reviews.
With the general growth of feminist work in many academic fields, it is hardly surprising that the relationship
between language and gender has attracted considerable attention in recent years. In an attempt to go beyond
"folklinguistic" assumptions about how men and women use language (the assumption that women are "talkative", for
example), studies have focused on anything from different syntactical, phonological or lexical uses of language to aspects
of conversation analysis, such as topic nomination and control, interruptions and other interactional features. While some
research has focused only on the description of differences, other work has sought to show how linguistic differences
both reflect and reproduce social difference. Accordingly, Coates (1988) suggests that research on language and gender
can be divided into studies that focus on dominance and those that focus on difference.
Much of the earlier work emphasized dominance. Lakoff's (1975) pioneering work suggested that women's speech
typically displayed a range of features, such as tag questions, which marked it as inferior and weak. Thus, she argued that
the type of subordinate speech learned by a young girl "will later be an excuse others use to keep her in a demeaning
position, to refuse to treat her seriously as a human being" (1975, p.5). While there are clearly some problems with
Lakoff's work - her analysis was not based on empirical research, for example, and the automatic equation of subordinate
with `weak' is problematic - the emphasis on dominance has understandably remained at the Centre of much of this work.
Research has shown how men nominated topics more, interrupted more often, held the floor for longer, and so on (see, for
example, Zimmerman and West, 1975). The chief focus of this approach, then, has been to show how patterns of
interaction between men and women reflect the dominant position of men in society.
Some studies, however, have taken a different approach by looking not so much at power in mixed-sex interactions
as at how same-sex groups produce certain types of interaction. In a typical study of this type, Maltz and Borker (1982)
developed lists of what they described as men's and women's features of language. They argued that these norms of
interaction were acquired in same-sex groups rather than mixed-sex groups and that the issue is therefore one of (sub-
)cultural miscommunication rather than social inequality. Much of this research has focused on comparisons between, for
example, the competitive conversational style of men and the cooperative conversational style of women.
While some of the more popular work of this type, such as Tannen (1987), lacks a critical dimension, the emphasis
on difference has nevertheless been valuable in fostering research into gender subgroup interactions and in emphasizing
the need to see women's language use not only as subordinate but also as a significant subcultural domain.
Although Coates' (1988) distinction is clearly a useful one, it also seems evident that these two approaches are by
no means mutually exclusive. While it is important on the one hand, therefore, not to operate with a simplistic version of
power and to consider language and gender only in mixed-group dynamics, it is also important not to treat women's linguistic
behaviour as if it existed outside social relations of power. As Cameron, McAlinden and O'Leary (1988) ask, "Can it be
coincidence that men are aggressive and hierarchically-organized conversationalists, whereas women are expected to
provide conversational support?" (p.80). Clearly, there is scope here for a great deal more research that
is based on empirical data of men's and women's speech;
operates with a complex understanding of power and gender relationships (so that women's silence, for example,
can be seen both as a site of oppression and as a site of possible resistance);
looks specifically at the contexts of language use, rather than assuming broad gendered differences;
involves more work by men on language and gender, since attempts to understand male uses of language in terms
of difference have been few (thus running the danger of constructing men's speech as the norm and women's
speech as different);
aims not only to describe and explain but also to change language and social relationships.

Other aspects of
writing
Power point presentations
Appeal through:
Ability to build up
more complex
pictures by adding
in more detail on
each slide in a
series.
clarity and legibility
Disliked if:
The presentation
displays poor
typographic layouts
and odd colour
combinations;
lecturer simply
reads out the
Power-Point slides.
7 x 7 rule: use no more than seven words per line,
and seven lines per slide.
Stages in preparing the
slides
(after Wallwork 2010)
Find out about the potential audience
(experts/non-experts technical/general
presentation)
Identify the key-points of the paper (i.e. what
makes the research stand out in the chosen field)
and focus on 3 or 4 important aspects. E.g.:
your topic
your methodology
your results
Structure the presentation around them. E.g.
Introduction
Why did I choose this topic in general? Why am I enthusiastic about it?
What can I tell the audience that they probably dont know but that
they will find interesting? How can I make it interesting to those
attendees who are not experts in this field?
What motivated me to decide to test a particular hypothesis or
investigate a particular aspect? Was I stimulated by someone elses
research?
Methodology
a description of your methodology, the strengths and weaknesses of
your approach
Results
What did I find? And what did I not find? Did my findings confirm my
initial hypothesis? Were there any inconsistencies or surprises?
Discussion
What is the significance of my work in the wider picture of my field of
interest? How and where can my findings be applied?
Conclusion
What questions do I still have? What am I planning to do next? (Plus a
reminder to the audience of most important results so far)
Create the slides, considering that each
must have a purpose. E.g.
make an explanation less complicated and quicker
help people to visualize and recall something
better
make something abstract become more concrete
attract attention or entertain the audience (but
only in a way that is relevant to your topic)
Create the script of the presentation around
the slides
Practice the presentation. Cut redundant
slides, simplify complicated ones.
The title slide
It should include:
1. the title
2. your name
Other things that some presenters sometimes include
are
3. the name and date of the conference
4. co-authors
5. the name and/or logo of your institute/research unit
6. your supervisor
7. acknowledgments
8. sponsors
9. a photo
10. a background image
But keep in mind that the more information you have on
your title slide the more it will detract away from the
most important things: your title and your name.
Section slides
Alternative titles:
Outline: Why? Why should you be excited?
Methodology: How? Dont try this at home
Results: What did we find? Not what we were
expecting
Discussion: So what? Why should you care?
Future work: What next? Men at work
Thank you: Thats all folks! See you in name of
location of next conference
One main idea per slide;
Avoid complete sentences;
Have different slide types.

Bullets
Avoid having bullets on every slide;
Limit the number (6) and the levels
(2) of bullets;
Make sure the first word in each
bullet is grammatically the same;
Minimize punctuation, but be
consistent in style.
Visuals
Include only those that you intend to talk
about;
Use images to replace unnecessary or
tedious text;
Choose fonts, characters and sizes with
care (e.g. Arial or Helvetica; 40 points for
titles; 28 for text; avoid complete
sentences in capital letters);
Choose background colour with care and be
consistent in its use (e.g. dark text on a
medium-light background and vice-versa.)
The audience
1. have a clear idea who your audience are, dont assume that they are
naturally going to be interested in your topic
2. have an agenda and a clear structure with clear transitions so that the
audience know where you are going
3. make it easy for the audience to follow you and your slides
4. help the audience to understand why you are showing them a particular slide
5. involve your audience and give them lots of examples
6. make frequent eye contact
7. avoid too much text on your slides;
8. use simple graphs and tables
9. make your text and visuals big enough for everyone in the audience to see
clearly
10. avoid entering into too much detail (i.e., just select those things that the
audience really need to know about the topic)
11. avoid spending more than a couple of minutes on one specific detail
12. have a variety of types of slides (not just all bullets, or all text, or all
photos)
13. speak reasonably slowly and move from slide to slide at a speed that the
audience will feel comfortable with
14. sound interested and enthusiastic about your topic
15. vary your tone of voice
16. inject some humor
17. move around occasionally rather than being static
Handouts
A summary version of the conference
presentation available as a hand-out during the
talk.
It helps listeners follow the presentation and
grasp its overall structure.
It may be helpful to reproduce copies of any of
the key PowerPoint slides, but it is unwise just to
present them all in reduced size.
Requirements:
Must be readable;
Must contain the title of the talk, the speakers name
and institutional address, and the date and place of
delivery.
Text revision - Hartley, J.
(1997). Writing the thesis
1 Read through the text asking yourself:
Who is the text for?
2 Read through the text again, but this time ask
yourself:
What changes do I need to make to help the reader?
How can I make the text easier to follow?
3 To make these changes you may need:
to make big or global changes (e.g. rewrite sections); or
to make small or minor text changes (e.g. change the
original text slightly).
4 Global changes you
might like to consider
are:

re-sequencing parts of
the text
rewriting sections in
simpler prose
adding examples
changing examples for
better ones
deleting parts that seem
confusing.

5 Text changes you might
like to consider are:

using simpler wording
using shorter sentences
using shorter paragraphs
using active rather than
passive tenses
substituting positives for
negatives
writing sequences in
order
spacing numbered
sequences or lists down
the page (as here).

6 Keep reading through the revised
text from start to finish to see if you
want to make any more global changes.
7 Repeat this whole procedure on the
revised text some time after making
your initial revisions (say twenty-four
hours), and do this without looking
back at the original text.
8 Repeat stage 7 several times, but
draw the line eventually!

GOOD LUCK!