Tips on MLA Documentation Style by PC Librarian Michaela Willi Hooper

If you are a student of the humanities, you will likely be asked to use the MLA documentation style. These guidelines for formatting papers and crediting sources were established by the Modern Language Association, and are widely prescribed for both college papers and scholarly publications. As a student, you should consult the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers (7^th edition)when writing in this style.

All documentation styles are somewhat arbitrary.  They are agreed-upon sets of rules that allow us to understand each other, just liked punctuation and spelling rules. Some scholars spend their careers debating what should and should not be included in a citation. Unless you desire to make this your life struggle, resisting citation styles is futile. Below are some tips and principles that might make MLA Style seem less burdensome.

• Start early. Don’t leave your Works Cited page until the last minute. Formatting your sources is a time-consuming, exacting process that adds credibility to your writing.
• Keep track of sources and page numbers as you go. You don’t want to be frantically searching for the name of an author or the page number for a quote at the last minute. Some people do better with visual examples (I know I do!). Take a look at the annotated MLA Example Undergraduate Paper at the Purdue OWL.
• Word processor defaults are generally appropriate. Use 1” margins, 12 pt. font, Times New Roman, double-spaced. You can use another standard serif font such as Cambria, but avoid decorative fonts such as Brush Script or Comic Sans. These can be difficult to read and lead to eye fatigue for your reader.
• Citations consist of two parts, an in-text citation within the body of your paper, and a more complete entry in the Works Cited page. The in-text citation generally consists of the author and the page number of the source (e.g., (Gomez 24)). Of course, there are exceptions to this. To find answers to these exceptions, see chapter 6 of the MLA Handbook, or this page of the Purdue OWL. Similarly, a standard MLA works cited entry contains certain predictable elements such as the author, title, date of publication, page numbers and medium of publication (e.g. web or print) in a prescribed order. A very helpful list of components is found on p. 136 of the MLA Handbook.

Because of the many different sources used in research papers (articles, books, images, podcasts, YouTube videos), citing is undeniably challenging.  But you are not alone.  Here are some people, pages, and programs that can help you.

§  There are copies of the MLA Handbook (7th ed.) available in both the reference and circulating collections at the Prescott College Library. It is also widely available through booksellers and your local library.

§  Guides on MLA Style are available from the Prescott College Library and the Purdue OWL at Purdue.
 
§  Use citation management software like RefWorks. Contact the library for the group code. If you want a less robust tool that simply formats your works cited entries, check out KnightCite from Calvin College. Be wary of online tools that are not affiliated with an educational institution. Many will lead you astray.

§  Contact a PC reference librarian or a writing coach as you begin work on a documented paper so that you can record the information you need from your sources at the outset. 

Announcing the 2013 Suzanne Tito Writing Contest

2013 Suzanne Tito Contest in Fiction, Creative Non-fiction & Poetry 

This contest is open to all undergraduate students currently enrolled (Fall 2012) at Prescott College. 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners receive cash prizes in each category. First place winners are also published in Alligator Juniper, the national literary magazine.

Submission Guidelines

• Place your submission for each category in a separate 9x12 envelope and indicate the category clearly on the outside of the envelope (F, NF, or P).

• Your name SHOULD NOT appear on the manuscript. Instead, enclose in each envelope an index card with your full name, address, phone, and email address. Then list the titles of the work(s) being submitted.

• Poets may enter up to five poems; fiction and creative non-fiction writers may enter two manuscripts per category, totaling no more than 30 double-spaced pages per category.

• Drop off submissions at the Juniper Building, 308 Grove Ave or

• Send to: Alligator Juniper, Prescott College, 220 Grove Avenue, Prescott, AZ 86301

Postmark/Hand-Delivered Deadline: Friday, December 14^th, 5 pm.

APA Black & White Blues

Very few people enjoy compiling their list of references according to the conventions set down in the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, known simply as the 'APA manual'. Writing a well researched paper is a great way to learn deeply, but following strict documentation rules...? That task, often left to the last minute, gets a lot of students, graduate and undergraduate, singing the blues.

Frustrated students make all kinds of claims about APA documentation style. That the guidelines found in print and web handbooks all say different things, making it impossible to know, let alone adhere to, APA rules. That the APA manual is out of date so there's no need to follow it, really. That the APA manual is too expensive, which means that students who can't afford it are plain out of luck.

More often than not, the biggest gripe students have--and it's the only one that isn't easily refuted--is that APA rules seem arbitrary and are especially hard to follow when it comes to citing electronic sources, today's norm for college students.

Like heartbreak and taxes, APA documentation style is here to stay. The APA manual squeezes all the traditional practices and patterns of documentation style used by researchers in the social sciences into its 275-odd pages of final-say-so to forestall debate, not to encourage it. Sure, the punctuation of reference entries is arbitrary but so is driving on the right side of the road or using the sound sequence [kætʰ] for 'domesticated feline' in English. Shared conventions have their uses even while as individuals we might want to defy them.

Ultimately, it is more efficient to apply the rules in all their byzantine glory and get on to the next writing task. You don't so much have to 'learn APA'--although this will happen if you write a lot of documented essays--as learn to adjust your writing process and schedule to include plenty of time for formatting references and making citations match the references. Here are the very best, up-to-date, free or nearly so resources to keep on hand while writing a paper or thesis with APA-style documentation:

è Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 6th ed. Available in paperback for $25.00 or less. Buy a used copy or find one in the reference section of your local library. Chapters 6 & 7 focus on crediting sources through in-text citations and the reference list. 

è Use citation software such as RefWorks to guide you to collect, organize, and punctuate your references as you select them. Ask a PC librarian how to get a free RefWorks account for all your research-based writing.

è Bookmark reliable websites and articles so you can find them easily when you start your research. We recommend the Purdue OWL, PC Library Resources, and Bedford/St. Martin's Research and Documentation Online.

Two other bits of advice. As you are finalizing your references list, always check each entry one at a time, getting each one correct before moving onto the next. This means identifying what type of source you have (book, article, website, etc.) and checking your entry against the samples for that type of source in the APA manual or guide. Approximations aren't good enough because the APA rules do speak to every possible circumstance, if you look hard enough.

Also, since most students find their sources electronically, many cling to the belief that providing a url is all that is required in a citation or reference entry. Instead, read Sections 6.31-6.32 (pp. 187-192) of the APA manual on electronic sources before you start saving source information. Take particular note of this statement on electronic sources on p. 187:

"In general, we recommend that you include the same elements, in the same order, as you would for a reference to a fixed-media source..."

There's no escaping it: APA traditions are black and white and 'read' all over. If you are required to use APA documentation style, the tools are available to you to get the job done right. 

Hola from Spanish Mentor Emily Affolter

I have a deep love of Latin America, spending a great deal of my adult life following my passion for Latino/a cultures both geographically and intellectually.  I studied Spanish and Humanities at Scripps College, in Claremont California, pursuing an undergraduate thesis in Post-Revolutionary Feminism in Nicaragua, and went on to work in Nicaragua, Peru, and Mexico in different non-profit capacities. I spent the last four years of my life teaching Spanish (and related cultures) to youth in Seattle, WA, in various school settings.  I traveled as a Fulbright scholar in Mexico and Colombia this past summer, focusing on curriculum development regarding Latino Diasporas. In fall 2012, I have had the privilege of working as a Spanish mentor for several students at Prescott College. I find it a uniquely special opportunity to work intimately with students and help facilitate their language learning process so that it’s personalized and relevant to their lives.

Siempre he amado América Latina, pasando la mayoría de mi vida adulta siguiendo mi pasión para culturas Latinas geográficamente y intelectualmente también.  Estudiaba Español y Humidades en Scripps College, en Claremont California, investigando un tesis en Las perspectivas de mujeres en Nicaragua después de la revolución Sandinista.  Luego, trabajaba en Nicaragua, Perú, y  México para diferentes organizaciones no gubernamentales, en trabajos distintos. Enseñaba español (el idioma y culturas relacionadas) para cuatro años en Seattle, WA con adolescentes antes de venir a Prescott College.  También tuve la oportunidad de ir en una beca Fulbright el verano pasado a México y Colombia para estudiar y desarrollar currícula sobre diásporas latinas. Este otoño 2012, tuve el privilegio de trabajar como mentora de español con algunos estudiantes en Prescott College. Ser mentora aquí ofrece oportunidades únicas de trabajar íntimamente con estudiantes y ayudar a facilitar su proceso de aprender en una manera personalizada y pertinente a sus vidas.

To find out if Emily is available as a mentor for your IS in Spanish, please contact the Learning Commons Coordinator.

Recipe for a New Language: World Languages I

Way down near the end of the On-Campus Course Schedule sits a description of a course that could change your life. Sure, you enrolled at Prescott College expecting epic adventures and fresh perspectives and by those standards a course titled World Languages I seems a bit tame. Until you start thinking about how much impact learning a new language can have on your life during and after college. 

World Languages I is offered every semester so that you can create an Independent Study course in any of the world's 6,000 languages that you deem necessary to your global citizenship. The ingredients for a successful IS that aims at conversational proficiency in a language other than English are these:

§  Your motivation and commitment to learning a new language. We hear all the time "I've always wanted to learn to speak ____," whether it's a matter of family heritage or simply a desire to connect across cultures. Once you have the drive to really communicate with people in a new language, you're a good candidate for World Languages I.

§  A set of multi-media learning materials and a clear study plan.  Because you won't be in a traditional class led by a teacher, your learning resources and objectives will have to be identified in advance of the IS. The Learning Commons Coordinator helps you put together the best available resources and plan. Her role as instructor of World Languages I is to co-create the IS study contract with you.

§  A fluent speaker of the language you want to study (known as the 'target language'). This speaker may or may not act as the mentor for your IS. The important thing is that we identify a speaker who can meet with you in-person or remotely for at least three hours per week during the semester to converse with you in the target language. The Learning Commons can offer a qualified speaker a small stipend (comparable to a mentor's stipend) even if s/he is not the official mentor for the IS. 

To register for World Languages I in any semester requires the signature of the course instructor. That's because typically each student enrolled in World Languages I has a unique goal and study plan. We have to determine in advance if we have the right ingredients for success in each case. When multiple students want to study the same language at the same level, we put together a small group IS, if appropriate.

World Languages I is offered for lower division credit because it focuses on beginning-level language study only. Students who want to study at the intermediate or advanced levels or who want to do intensive language study abroad should also contact the Learning Commons Coordinator for help. To date we have arranged successful IS courses in Spanish, Russian, Japanese, and French. Which language have you always wanted to learn? 

How to Write an Outline by Audrey Clark, former PC Writing Coach

Why Outline?

An outline is an ordered list of the main points of your essay.  Outlining helps you define and organize your topic and subtopics so that you bring the reader on a logical journey from your thesis, through your supporting evidence, to your conclusion.  Many writers use outlines to better visualize their ideas and to have a way to share them with others in the planning stage of their writing process.

Before You Outline

• Define the purpose of your essay.  Why did the teacher assign this paper?  What do you want to learn from this?  What do you want your reader to understand?
• Define the audience of your essay.  Knowing your audience allows you to focus your paper.
• Write your thesis statement once you have read the primary materials on your topic. This will take several drafts until you get it just right. To develop a working thesis statement ask yourself: 

What gaps are there in the literature on this subject?

What is controversial or unresolved?

What changes in methods, analysis, or data have occurred that might shed light on a previously studied topic?

What applications are there to another topic that others may not have considered?

What social, economic, or other impact has previous research had in this area?

What unanswered questions do I have now that I have researched the topic?

Why should anyone care about the literature I am reading for this paper?

Once you have a consequential thesis statement, write it at the top of your outline-to-be.

Steps in Outlining

• Brainstorm all of the ideas you want to include in your paper.
• Group related ideas.
• Sequence the ideas in a logical order.
• Label your ideas with headings and subheadings.  The labels should be precise enough that they help you develop a topic sentence for each section of the outline.  An effective outline is not a list of topics, but rather a framework for a set of ideas.
• ­Write your outline.

Characteristics of Outlines

Crafting your outline with these four characteristics will help you write more clearly.

• Parallelism.  That is, the headings should match in form.
• Coordination.  The headings should all have the same level of significance.  Same goes for the subheadings, which should be less significant than the headings.
• Subordination.  The headings should be more general than the subheadings.
• Division.  Each heading should be subdivided into at least two subheadings.

 Level of Detail

Outlines can be simple or detailed, depending on your needs.  A simpler outline might be appropriate if you just need an organization guide and are ready to write.  On the other hand, a more detailed outline can show you gaps in your logic or knowledge.  Probably, the most helpful outline details the main idea of each paragraph, without going overboard.  The trick is to capture the essence of the paper; too much detail as well as too little detail can limit the usefulness of your outline.

Outline Structure

Thesis statement: _________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

1.  Introduction

            a. What is the controversy? Who? What? Why? When? Where?

            b. What analytical tool(s) will be used to analyze it?

            c. What claim(s) will be defended?

2.  Body

            a. Evidence from science/methodology → conclusion

            b. Evidence from the theoretical literature→ conclusion

            c. Evidence from parallel fields → conclusion

            d. Relevance to the analytical model → conclusion

            e. Problems or weakness in the evidence or model

3.  Conclusion

            a. Review and synthesis of the evidence

            b. Appropriateness of the approach to the research question

            c. Call for additional research in specific areas

            d. Restatement of the thesis and its significance

Sample Outline

Thesis statement: The conduct and outcome of the O.J. Simpson murder trial reveals the status of race relations in the United States at the end of the 20^th century.

1.  Introduction

            a. What is the O.J. Simpson murder trial? When? Where? Why?

            b. What analytical tool will I use to analyze it?

            c. What claim will I defend?

2.  Body

            a. Evidence from trial transcripts à conclusion

            b. Evidence from media reports à conclusion

            c. Evidence from jurors à conclusion

            d. Relevance to the analytical model à conclusion

            e. Problems or weakness in the evidence or model

3. Conclusion

            a. Review and synthesize evidence and conclusions

            b. Was my approach to understanding the trial appropriate?

            c. What else do we need to know in order to accept my thesis?

            d. Why should we accept my thesis anyway?  Why is the trial significant?

Adapted in part from the Purdue OWL webpages on “Developing an Outline” as follows:

Tardiff, E., & Brizee, A. (2010). Four main components for effective outlines. Retrieved March 25, 2010  

Tardiff, E., & Brizee, A. (2010). Why and how to create a useful outline. Retrieved March 25, 2010

Tardiff, E., & Brizee, A. (2010). Types of outlines and samples. Retrieved March 25, 2010

Backwards Through the Looking Glass

Facing an academic writing task, students often start their writing process with a back-of-the-envelope outline. Or not. Some people decided long ago that making an outline doesn't work for them. Maybe those who don't like to write outlines find they always turns out to be just a long list of ideas or titles. Or they get overwhelmed with the task of writing an outline instead of moving ahead to the next stage of writing. There's definitely an art to crafting an outline, so if it is not helpful to you, there are other planning techniques you can use (more on this in a future posting) in a writing process that for all of us looks more or less like this:

Plan → Draft → Revise → Edit 

In the spirit of the title of this post, we're going to suggest writing an outline after you have written a complete draft of your paper or chapter. This step, known as backwards outlining is not intended to jump-start a draft, but to power the revision phase of your writing. Here's how to do it:

Make a list of topic sentences of each of your paragraphs (one per paragraph only) to see how they look without all the other stuff vying for your attention. Do these sentences-in-a-list reflect the logical flow of your paper? If not, what is keeping them from doing so? Is there a problem with the way they are written or are they out of order? If you are not sure what a topic sentence is, this is a great time to ask a writing coach. The paragraphs of your paper/chapter are the building blocks of your paper. If their topic sentences don't convey a strong skeleton holding up your draft, then you need to rethink the way your paper/chapter is built.

If you did write an outline before you started your draft, you can compare your backwards outline to the original one. You can decide if you have justifiably junked the original outline or if you have unwittingly strayed from a good plan. Because people don't usually turn in an outline with their finished paper, it isn't necessary to rewrite the original outline if your draft shows a different organization. The point is for the organization of the paper to reflect in the most effective way what you have to say.

Backwards outlining as a revision technique allows you to see the organization of your draft not as you imagined it, but as you have written it. Your eventual readers will be able to see the organization of your paper as they read it. If you want to come off as knowing your stuff and being organized about it, backwards outlining is a great tool for controlling the 'flow' and 'structure' of your paper or chapter. Making a conscious effort to step away from and look back on your draft will give you more control over the creation of everything you write for academic purposes.

¡Viva México, Distrito Federal!

Many of us spent July and August strapping on a backpack, rafting, or pulling weeds out of our vegetable gardens. But one On-campus student headed for the biggest, highest, and most historic national capital in the Western hemisphere: Mexico City. Désirée Dorsainvil designed an independent study titled “Spanish Language Immersion” for summer block and spent three and a half weeks living with a local family, attending Spanish language classes, and roaming the important cultural sites of the vast city, camera in hand.

Although Désirée reported that her whirlwind visit to México, D.F. was “largely overwhelming”, the blog she kept as a learning journal shows that she made great strides in her beginner’s knowledge of Spanish and more than held her own in an intensely urban setting. 

The IS “was an amazing introduction” to both the Spanish language and Mexican culture, wrote Désirée in her self-evaluation. She added that the experience “will certainly propel my continuation of Spanish language studies beyond this course.” 

True to her word, Désirée is continuing to practice and develop her Spanish speaking skills this fall with a second independent study in Intermediate Spanish with Spanish mentor and graduate teaching assistant Emily Affolter. 

Another On-campus student, Michael Broad, is joining Désirée and Emily as they engage with the local Spanish-speaking population through two community groups, Latino-Anglo Alianza and the Prescott Plaza Comunitaria. The opportunity to speak and interact in Spanish about real world matters is alive and well right here in Prescott, as Désirée and Michael have found out thanks to Emily’s connections to local Latino advocates.

Prescott College will offer an intermediate course in Spanish for Spring 2013 and an immersion block course at the Kino Bay Research Station. If you have questions about how to further your Spanish language skills, contact the Learning Commons World Languages Initiative to learn about your options. 

Seven Tips To Getting the Writing Done* by Ryan Orr, PC Writing Coach

Do not hurry; do not rest.  --Goethe

1. Create a writing space. Where do you like to work, alone in your silent study, or enveloped in the din of your local coffee shop? Every writer is different; there is no one way that works best. But if you intend to get serious writing done, establish a space where you can remain focused and productive, comfortable, and free from distraction.

2. Break up your writing tasks. Utilize small chunks of time. Spread them out over the day or the week. If you do need to get six hours of work done, give yourself breaks, get a coffee, throw the dog a ball, eat. Then re-read what you wrote, and find a way back in.

3. Use "Save As". Each time you sit down to write for the day take the existing file and "save as" a new draft. So: "Research Paper .2, .3, .4" etc. This alleviates anxieties over making major changes—you can always go back to the previous draft.

4. Transitional Drafts: Set a goal for the day's draft. Say, paragraph transitions. Work solely on paragraph transitions until you have completed the draft. Then come back the next day with another draft. Say, compression. Start small and work up to the big stuff, draft by draft. 

5. Establish a regular schedule. Whether every day or every Sunday, a regular writing schedule allows your focus to transcend mechanics so your ideas may gain depth and possibility. Many writers insist on writing at the same time of day each time as well.

6. Be patient with your process.To take writing seriously is to enter in a very long apprenticeship. If you are diligent you will probably accomplish something worthwhile each time you sit down, though many times that thing accomplished is learning what you have yet to accomplish. And that, for an author, is a good day’s work.

7. Read drafts aloud. In the editing stages, in order to get the language just right, read your work aloud to yourself, or to a friend; or, have your friend read your draft to you. Your ear knows the English language intuitively, and hearing your words aloud will help you hear what isn’t working as well as what is.

Happy writing. 
  

*Acknowledgments to Donald Murray’s, “The Craft of Revision,” and Robert Boswell’s After the Workshop; Transitional Drafts for the origins of these ideas.

Required Research Writing: LRUP and On-Campus Writing Certification III

Both of PC's undergraduate options, Limited-Residency and On-Campus, require a documented, thesis-driven research paper from each would-be graduate. This post intends to answer two questions virtually all undergrads should ask themselves: 

       --What is a 'thesis-driven' research paper?

       --Where do I find the guidelines to meet this
          requirement in my degree program?

Let's take the first, tougher question first. PC students write a lot papers, posts, and essays before they are expected to write the required research paper (known to On-Campus students as the Writing Cert III paper). A thesis-driven research paper takes a position on a topic and makes an argument throughout the paper to convince the reader of the correctness (or at least worthiness) of the writer's thesis statement. A paper that documents its sources but does not have an explicit thesis statement falls into the category of a report, a paper that does not take a position or argue a central claim. Our writing coaches refer to reports as 'tell-about' papers rather than research papers. One telltale sign of a report is a sentence in the first paragraph that begins, "This paper is about..." or, "The topic of this paper is..."

Both the research paper and the report have a purpose. Sometimes the line between the two genres is blurred in casual conversation. A report usually requires research and published sources may be cited in it. But the purpose of a report is to inform the reader of a range of facts and findings, leaving the reader to use the report for making a decision or taking some action. The report is background information on a topic for readers to use as they wish.

A research paper both reports research findings and explicitly persuades the reader of a particular way to view those findings. The typical scientific or 'objective' research paper does not use emotional language or flowery rhetoric to persuade, but arranges facts, examples, reasons, and evidence to convince the reader to engage in thinking about the argument of the paper and to reach the writer's conclusion. 

Think about it this way: a computer-driven lunar Rover can report on the features of the moon by sending a stream of data to a computer on Earth. Only a human can analyze, synthesize, and evaluate the data to make a hypothesis for further exploration and development. The purpose of a research paper is to accommodate the latter, so the writer of a (thesis-driven) research paper must balance the reporting function of the paper with the argumentation that makes each research paper original. 

Now, where to find the written guidelines and forms to help you meet this requirement? The PC website is one place to find these guidelines so we put the links here:

LRUP (ADP) Required Research Paper Guidelines and Evaluation Rubric

LRUP (ADP) Required Research Paper Approval Form 

LRUP (ADP) Required Research Paper Submission Link (required for all
       submissions)

On-Campus (RDP) Writing Certification III Guidelines

On-Campus (RDP) Writing Certification III Coversheet

It is very important to start your paper with the guidelines in hand. If the location of the guidelines and forms changes as the new website is expanded, we will update the links here. Check back with PC Learning Commons Weekly anytime for a quick refresher on meeting this challenging requirement. 

Khan Academy Kudos

Being back in school may mean time to brush up on your algebra or physics. Have no fear, the Web now features KhanAcademy, a not-for-profit website that offers video tutorials in math, computer science, chemistry, and many other sciences. As of this writing Khan Academy presents over 3,000 instructional videos that average about 10 minutes each. These videos have been used over 180 million times, and counting, by learners all over the world. 

The founder of Khan Academy, Salman (Sal) Khan, narrates and illustrates most of the videos, which he began posting as YouTube videos for his younger cousins in the early 2000s. Now with major funding from Google and other donors, Khan Academy has a staff of expert teachers, translators, and engineers who have built up the Academy to make it easy to learn specific math and science concepts, understand how concepts are sequenced and interdependent within specific content areas, and communicate with other learners to learn together material that has often left students of all ages feeling isolated and discouraged. The site is currently in English with plans and funding to translate the videos into many world languages in the near future.

If you haven't been to the site before, get a feeling for its organization and quality by watching the short video "Overview of KhanAcademy". You can also go directly to the "Watch" tab and type in the concept you know you want to study. Check out the Knowledge Map to see where the concept or skill you want to refine fits into the field as a whole. If you create a login account and do the exercises, the interactive Knowledge Map will help you sequence your learning to make sure you have a handle on all the concepts you need in one area before you move on to the next.

Sal writes on the "About Khan Academy" page, 

"I teach the way that I wish I was taught. The lectures are coming from me, an actual human being who is fascinated by the world around him." 

Khan Academy is not just for school children and includes videos covering test preparation help for the Graduate Management Admissions Test (GMAT). A lot of people are saying that Khan Academy doesn't represent just the best in online tutoring but an entirely better way to learn key math and science concepts at any age. You can replay the videos and do the exercises as many times as you need to--Khan Academy video teachers never lose their patience or pre-judge you. For each video there is also an online community of fellow learners who ask questions and answer yours to supplement the video with the dialog of real people. You can even track your learning and measure your progress as you complete the lessons.

Because it is free, top-notch tutoring in difficult subject areas, the smart thing to do is to think of Khan Academy for math and science the same way we often use Wikipedia today. Go there first with your questions and stay awhile, for best results.

WooHoo:The Purdue OWL and You

Just in case you've been living off the grid lately, we'd like to remind you that the Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL) is a free, fantastic resource for all academic writers. It's not just that the site is packed with state-of-art tip sheets, exercises, sample papers, grammar lessons, and inspirational pep talks that are designed with the student writer in mind. The beauty of the Purdue OWL is in its concise organization; you can easily search for and find help on your specific topic without being overwhelmed by the search itself. That and the fact that it is always "on", regardless of the time of day. If you are in the field a lot and aren't able to get to the PC Learning Commons for one-on-one coaching, many of your questions about research documentation (there are comprehensive files on MLA, APA, and CMS editorial conventions) and how to get started on a paper are answered there.

True, you cannot get direct feeback on a draft of your paper as you can by working with a PC writing center coach. To do that, email your draft and your concerns about it to the Writing Center coaches any time. But the information on the OWL site is always current and on target. Come out of the woods and bookmark the Purdue OWL for help with that inevitable research paper. You'll find links to it on the homepage of this blog, as well as on the Library and Learning Commons pages of the PC website.

Dyslexia and the Student Writer

Dyslexia was associated once in the popular mind as a confusion of b’s with d’s or, at best, a kind of ‘word blindness’ that seemed a primarily visual impairment. But an army of educational psychologists and neuroscientists has over the last few decades uncovered a complex picture of dyslexia that anyone who teaches scholarly writing and literature-based research should be aware of. Here’s how the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and the International Dyslexia Association defined dyslexia in 2002:

Dyslexia is a specific learning disability that is neurological in origin. It is characterized by difficulties with accurate and/or fluent word recognition and by poor spelling and decoding abilities. These difficulties typically result from a deficit in the phonological component of language that is often unexpected in relation to other cognitive abilities and the provision of effective classroom instruction. Secondary consequences may include problems in reading comprehension and reduced reading experience that can impede growth of vocabulary and background knowledge.  

As Maryanne Wolfe shows in Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain (2007), defining dyslexia has become more difficult as we learn more about the way reading print happens in the average brain. Clearly, the dyslexic brain works differently from the typical human brain, although it does not limit a person’s general intelligence. Nor is dyslexia localized in one faulty “reading center” in the brain because there is none. Instead, the spectrum of dyslexic conditions may result from differences in visual, auditory, phonological processing;  processing speed in the motor functions of the eye or ear; connectivity of the neural structures common to the reading circuit; hemispheric engagement (i.e. right-brained reading circuitry vs. left-); or a combination of these. For all humans, the act of reading involves many structures and processes creating many points in the universal reading system where things can go wrong. Add to this the shallow orthography of English—meaning the relatively weak phonemic basis of our writing system—and dyslexia emerges as one of the most common learning disabilities reported in the U.S. today.

Dyslexics who are not thoroughly discouraged by standard literacy instruction growing up will find a way to read and write and succeed even in literacy-obsessed realms such as academia. But it makes sense for them to be tested at key life stages to determine which neurological differences are affecting their ability to read and write at the moment. College-level instructors should take the time to update their understanding of dyslexia, especially when overseeing complex writing tasks. A first stop should be at this resource which focuses on how dyslexia affects adult student writing and reading. The information presented quickly resets writing expectations, covers the related problem of dyscalculia, and offers detailed advice on how to teach and alternatively assess dyslexic adults.  

There are also authoritative, current overviews and resources available online from The International Dyslexia Association and the National Center for Learning Disabilities. Because dyslexic adults have dealt with reading and writing challenges for years, they too can teach faculty a lot about dyslexia, if asked.  

Some Vision, More Revision

People say "Advice is cheap" to imply that at least some of it should be ignored. Writing advice is no exception. Your mother might recommend you buy a thesaurus. Friends may tell you to avoid starting sentences with 'I' or 'but'. Faculty urge you to write about something you believe in. Unfortunately, very little advice about writing will have much impact on your writing style unless you do the one thing that all accomplished writers do: revise.

Because most purveyors of writing advice are not linguists, Harvard psycholinguist Steven Pinker's perspective on revision caught my eye as I was re-reading his book The Language Instinct (1994) for a course I am preparing. In his chapter titled "The Language Mavens", Pinker swiftly debunks a couple of dozen language myths that ruffle the feathers of the self-appointed guardians of English--travesties such as slang, dialect variation, and semantic drift--all of which are endearing features of healthy, living languages. Although the language mavens are nearly always wrong about spoken language as it relates to the rise and fall of civilizations, Pinker ends his chapter with a brief but important nod to the difference between written and spoken language:

"The aspect of language use that is most worth changing is the clarity and style of written prose. Expository writing requires language to express far more complex trains of thought than it was biologically designed to do...Overcoming one's natural egocentricism and trying to anticipate the knowledge state of a generic reader at every stage of the exposition is one of the most important tasks in writing well. All this makes writing a difficult craft that must be mastered through practice, instruction, feedback, and--probably most important--intensive exposure to good examples. There are excellent manuals of composition that discuss these and other skills with great wisdom, like Strunk and White's The Elements of Style and William's Style: Toward Clarity and Grace. What is most relevant to my point is how removed their practical advice is from the trivia of split infinitives and slang. For example, a banal but universally acknowledged key to good writing is to revise extensively. Good writers go through anywhere from two to twenty drafts before releasing a paper. Anyone who does not appreciate this necessity is going to be a bad writer. Imagine a Jeremiah exclaiming, 'Our language today is threatened by an insidious enemy: the youth are not revising their drafts enough times.' Kind of takes the fun out, doesn't it? It's not something that can be blamed on television, rock music, shopping mall culture, overpaid athletes, or any of the other signs of the decay of civilization. But if it's clear writing we want, this is the kind of homely remedy that is called for." (p. 401-402)

Gaines' Graduate Writing Resource

Faculty and graduate mentors often ask for writing resources tailored to the needs and issues of our graduate students. While the standards for depth-of- study and documentation of sources are typically higher for a graduate student, the writing issues of graduate students closely resemble those of undergraduate students: how to narrow my topic? organize my material? write clearly and concisely about difficult or emerging ideas? balance my personal experience with what I learn from the scholarly literature?

Writing advice for students of all levels abounds on the World Wide Web. Not all of it is equally valuable. This week we found Dr. Kendra Gaines's Graduate Writing Resource which addresses a small but well chosen set of topics that concern graduate students. Her website is uncomplicated and offers one-click access to articles that include:

• "Knocking the Research Topic Down to Size"
• "Learning the Language of the Literature Review"
• "Academic Writing: Balancing Objectivity & Persuasion"
• "Reporting Your Own Research: Principles & Practice"

Gaines' writing style is simple and to the point. She also invites visitors to email her personally with questions. There is no hint of a fee for her assistance. As some graduate students are encouraged to hire an editor to help them with writing their thesis, Gaines may be someone who would be willing to work with a graduate student in this role. Of course, all PC graduate students can work for free with writing coaches at the Learning Commons' Writing Center. Gaines and her website look to be good alternatives if a student wants additional support.