Download Chapter 3 ACADEMIC WRITING

ACADEMIC WRITING
SCHOOL:
Languages
NAME:
Lic. Eliana Pinza
DATE:
OCTOBER – FEBRUARY 2010
1
FIRST BIMESTER
SUPPORTING DETAILS: FACTS, QUOTATIONS, AND
STATISTICS
Academic writing normally requires that you support your
ideas and opinions with facts, statistics, quotations, and
similar kinds of information. It is possible for you to get these
kinds of supporting details from outside sources such as:
 Books
 Magazines
 Newspapers
 Web sites
 Personal interviews, and so on
FACTS VERSUS OPINIONS
› Opinions are subjective statements based on a person’s
beliefs or attitudes. They are not acceptable as support.
English is an easy language to learn
Nevertheless, it is acceptable to express opinions in
academic writing. So, if we express an opinion we must
support it with facts.
› Facts are objective statements of truths
At sea level, water boils at 100 degrees Celcius
Example:
Opinion
Fact, but
needs
proof
Specific
supporting
detail
Photographs of ultrathin fashion models send the
wrong message to girls and young women.
Fashion models are unnaturally thin.
The average model weights 25 percent less than
the average woman of the same height.
USING OUTSIDE SOURCES
Where can we find specific supporting details
to support our ideas?
 Personal experience
 Gather quotations and statistics by performing an experiment,
taking a survey, or interviewing people
 In the library
 On the Internet
There are three ways to insert outside information into your
own writing
1. We can quote it
2. We can summarize it
3. We can paraphrase it
PLAGIARISM
•
It is using someone else’s words or ideas as if they were
our own, and it is a serious offense.
•
When we use information from an outside ource without
acknowledging that source, we are guilty of plagiarism.
•
One way to avoid plagiarism is to always put quotation
marks around words that you copy exactly.
• You do not need to use quotation marks if you change the
words
•
We are guilty of plagiarism if we fail to cite the source of
outside information even if we are paraphrasing
To cite a source means:
to tell where you got the information
Citing a source is a two-step process
› Insert a short reference in parentheses at the end or at the
beginning of each piece of borrowed information. This short
reference is called an in-text citation
› Prepare a list describing all our sources completely. This list
is title “Works Cited” and appears as the last page of your
paper.
QUOTATIONS
A quotation can be a sentence, several sentences or a short
paragraph.
Quotations from reliable and knowledgeable sources are good
supporting details.
There are two kinds of quotations
Direct: We copy another person’s exact words and enclose
them in quotation marks
Indirect: We report what other person said without using
quotation marks
If we want to introduce borrowed information we can
use the phrase according to or a reporting verb such
as:
assert
claim
write
declare
insist
suggest
maintain
mention
state
report
say
Indirect Quotations
They are called reported speech because what the
speaker said or wrote is reported indirectly without using
quotation marks.
Indirect quotations are introduced by the previously
mentioned reporting verbs, and the word that is used to
clarify.
STATISTICS
They are good supporting details which can be used with the
previously mentioned reporting verbs when citing.
HOMEWORK
Develop “practice 3” on page number 49.
 Develop “practice 4” on page number 49.

THANK
YOU