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Writing Handouts

Writing Guidelines and Tips Choosing a topic Paper Planning Using Databases for Research Critical Analysis of Professional Literature Chicago Style Citations Reverse Outline Editing Log

• Hacker, Diana.  1999.  A Writer’s Reference.  Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s.
• Strunk, William and E.B. White.  1979.  The Elements of Style.  Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
• Turabian, Kate.  1996.  A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations.  Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

• Type all your work in 12 point font with double-spacing between lines.  Left justify your text.  (Do not block justify your paper because it is very difficult to read.)  Indent paragraphs with 5 spaces (tab key).
• Read your drafts outloud.  Portions that are difficult to read need reworking.
• Revise and edit several times. Always use spell check butt due knot relay on it!
• Be concise and avoid redundancies.  Eliminate unnecessary words and sentences.  Always use the simplest form of words and phrases to avoid inflated sentences:   instead of utilize try use, instead of along the lines of try like, instead of due to the fact that try because
• Write more concisely using the active voice.  Use the present tense.  Use positive phrases rather than long negative phrases.  Instead of In the beginning of the article the author. . .  try The author begins the article...  Instead of Ecology, in brief, is considered by some to be… try According to some ecology is…
• Avoid using empty modifiers like very, fairly, completely, and a lot.
• Do not use the word so as a transition word or to begin a sentence.  It is unnecessary.
• Do not start a paragraph with a pronoun (he, she, it).  Always explain your subject.
• When listing ideas or items, use the terms first, second, and third rather than firstly, secondly, thirdly.  If you use these terms to explain a list, use them for each element.
• Always underline or italicize titles of books, magazines, newspapers, films, plays, and web sites.  It is conventional to cite the author and year when mentioning a text for the first time.
• Avoid using sexist language (see Hacker pp. 150-152).
• Periods and commas go inside quotation marks:  “Give me all your money,” he said.  “I will shoot.”  Avoid long quotes; paraphrase instead.  Always cite quotes and paraphrases.
• Punctuation should follow the citation at the end of a sentence (Maser 2001).
• Remember the three required elements in your research paper:

This handout will help you get started on developing a focused topic for your research paper.  Ask yourself the following throughout the process of planning and writing your paper:

• What is your purpose?
• Who is your audience?
• Who are you, the writer?

• Brainstorm:  Keep writing; don’t censor or evaluate your ideas.  Keep returning to the purpose you’ve identified.
• Identify questions: What questions inspire your curiosity?   What questions would your reader ask?
• Freewrite: Give yourself time limits and write without censoring your ideas.
• Looping: Identify a topic you wrote about in a previous freewrite and develop it further in another timed freewrite.  Continue this until you narrow down a focus.
• Idea Map: Jot down ideas and diagram their relationships with one another.
• Idea Tree: Start with a large, holistic topic (the trunk) and branch out to other ideas.  Ask yourself how the ideas are related.
• Outline: (You’ll need to develop this anyway, why not get a head start?) Divide up your ideas into organized sections.  Ask yourself what topics you could cover under each heading and what examples could illustrate each idea.
• Tape record: Some people think better out-loud.  Try taping recording your ideas and then taking notes as you listen back.
• Interview: Ask experts or non-experts, friends or strangers what they think about your ideas.  You might discover points of view you hadn’t considered, resources you hadn’t uncovered, or new ideas that could narrow your topic.
• Browse:  (You’ll need to do this anyway, why not get a head start?) Check out recent journals, newspaper articles, and books relating to the topic you’re considering.  What questions are other researchers asking?

Research papers are large undertakings; have a plan to achieve your purpose within the given time frame.  Before you start you should develop the following:

1. Thesis.  A thesis is a concise statement of your purpose, or the argument you’re defending. Write it down in the beginning, but allow it to change.  A thesis is driven by the following:

• Research questions.  What are you trying to find out? How much water would Portland save if we all installed low-flow fixtures?  Would it be cost-effective?  Why do we need to conserve water in a climate with so much moisture?
• Hypotheses.  What answers do you expect to discover for your research questions? If all citizens installed low-flow water fixtures in Portland, enough water would be saved to warrant the dramatic, though costly renovation of private residences and businesses.

2. Preliminary Outline.  Outlining is a process that helps you organize your ideas and find the best order to present information. What will be the main points or sections of your paper?  Will you use headings and subheadings?  In what order will you present the components of your research?  Below are some tips for outlining.

• An outline is a linear, hierarchical way to structure your ideas.  Since we don’t always think linearly, it can be useful to try other forms of pre-writing techniques (like idea maps and freewrites) to supplement the outline.
• Outlining is a process.  Be flexible and allow your outline to continually change.
• There are two general types of outlines:
• Topic-based outlines consist of nouns or noun phrases.  These outlines serve as skeletons for ideas and are useful in the earliest stages of your thinking.
• Point-based outlines consist of the specific arguments and issues you’ll address.  Point-based outlines are much more useful in writing a draft than topic-based outlines.
• Try to include each paragraph in your outline.  What will be the purpose, or topic sentence, of each paragraph?
• Determine your large topic headings early (for example: Why water conservation?, Average water use, Low-flow fixtures, Cost-effectiveness, Portland water treatment system, Portland watersheds) .  Keep a notebook page for each heading and jot ideas down for each subject.  Then, you can compile and organize the ideas based on the overall large topics.
• Outlines show relationships among arguments.  Think about how your topics transition from one to the next.
• Each level of your outline is an argument of some sort—support each claim with evidence.

3. Working Bibliography.  Keep track of all resources you use from the very beginning!  Evaluate your sources carefully to assess whether or not the source is reliable—who is the author, who is their intended audience, and what is their purpose?  We’ll use Chicago style, parenthetical referencing system (to be discussed in further detail later).  Keep track of:

• Author(s) and editor(s).
• Year of publication.
• Titles of material and source: for example the title of article and journal, article and newspaper, book chapter and book, or web page and organization/home page.
• Volume of journal, date of newspaper, company and city of publisher.
• Page numbers.

What is a Database?  Databases contain cross-referenced information about articles published in academic and non-academic journals.  Information in databases are organized by keywords, which are specified by an article’s author(s) and by the article’s title.

How do I use a database?  Databases to try are listed on back.  Limit your searches by refining the keywords you use and by using the Boolean operators (and, or, not) to combine terms.  Individual databases usually have a search tips section that will give you more information.  Once you’ve found an article of interest in a database, you’ll have to find the article.

What databases should I try?  The steps below will walk you through using Academic Search Elite, a general database that covers most disciplines.  In addition you might want to try:

• A general encyclopedic search at Britannica.com.
• A general academic search in the library’s database UnCover, where you can pay for full-text articles.
• A specialized search in the environmental database Environmental Abstracts, where you can get abstracts from professional journals and conferences in the fields of earth and environmental sciences, toxicology, and other ecological and biological subject areas.
• A specialized search in the biological database BIOSIS Previews.
• A specialized search of news articles in the database Newspaper Source.

• Go to the PSU library homepage at: http://www.lib.pdx.edu/
• Click on Databases under Find It.
• Scroll down and click on Academic Search Elite.  This puts you into the EBSCO host, where you can access several databases.  Click on Academic Search Elite.
• Type your paper topic or a specialized area of your paper into the dialogue box.
• You will be presented with a list of articles.  Narrow your topic by doing a new search or click on “Refine Search.”
• If you want to see more about an article, click on the article’s title.  Some articles have full text, so you can read the entire article online.  Others have the abstract and bibliographic information.  You can print or email the abstract, article, and reference information to yourself by clicking on the Print/Email/Save button at the left toolbar.
• If you want to read an article that isn’t full text, or see the journal or magazine your article is from, follow the directions bleow for finding an article.

•  Type the name of the periodical into the search box and make sure the browse or exact buttons is on.
• Click on periodical and Vikat will return a list of periodicals.
• If the one you are looking for is in the list, PSU has the article and you’ll need to locate it in the library’s shelves.
• If the periodical isn’t on the list, try one of the other options below.

3. Look up the periodical in a full text database, where you can print or email to yourself an entire article right from the database when you find the citation.  A list of these databases is on the library’s homepage under Full Text Sources.

4. Borrow the article from another library using the free Interlibrary Loan process.  Information about this is on the library’s homepage under Interlibrary Loan.

What are News Archives?  Newspapers often archive their articles online for free or a small fee.  You can get full text articles online, often with photographs and graphics.

How do I use News Archives?
Here are a few newspaper web sites you might try:

• High Country News (a bimonthly newspaper about environmental and social issues in the American West, archives are free online)
• The New York Times
• The Oregonian

When reading any professional literature, it is important to ask yourself questions about the theme, purpose, evidence, and quality of the article.  Below are questions you might ask when reading any professional literature, and are questions a teacher might ask when grading your paper.  Note that you should ask extra questions when evaluating the reliability of a web site.

Major proposition

• State the major proposition or thesis in a few words.
• Can you identify it (i.e., underline it) in the text? Is it provided early in the text?

• Who cares about this topic and why?
• What credentials does the author have?  Why did the author write the paper?
• Who is the intended audience for the paper?

• What kinds of empirical research, stories, or examples does the author use to support the proposition?
• What are alternative propositions, hypotheses, or arguments?  Does the author explicitly acknowledge them?

Organization and Writing

• Outline how the proposition is structured.  What headings and subheadings are/should be used?
• Are there clear transitions between ideas?  Does one section flow logically to the next?  Identify points of weakness.
• Is the writing clear and to the point?  If not, identify specific instances of jargon, excessive verbiage, or ambiguity.
• Is there a conclusion that summarizes the main points?

• Why did you choose this article to read?  Did it meet your expectations?
• What purpose will this article serve in your research?  Where does it fit in your outline?

Because the Internet is uncontrolled, anyone can post anything online (like this web site!).  This means that you must be extra critical about evaluating the reliability of a web site.  Reliable web sites generally:

• are from government, research, and educational institutions.
• have contact information or list credentials for authors.
• have a "last updated" date (usually at the bottom of the page).
• cite other sources (not just as hyperlinks).
• are not sponsored by businesses.

GENERAL RULES:

• Plagiarism is an offense taken seriously and can result in your expulsion from the University.  Plagiarism includes failing to cite quotes or borrowed ideas, failing to enclose borrowed language in quotation marks, and failing to put summaries and paraphrases in your own words.
• Reference ideas in the text after you’ve put them into your own words:  Humankind is subject to the basic laws of nature, but the civilized world thinks itself exempt from these laws (Quinn 1992).  See also "Summarizing and Paraphrasing" below.
• Reference quotes with source and page number: Ishmael states, “Within your culture as a whole, there is in fact no significant thrust toward global population control” (Quinn 1992: 137).  See also '"Quotes" below.
• Always place punctuation after the parenthetical reference.
• If there are more than two authors, use “et al.” in the parenthetical reference, but list all authors in your Reference List.  For example, in text: (Pohl et al. 2000).  In reference list: Pohl, K., J. Maser, and B. Gartland.  2000 . . .
• If there is more than one citation by the same author in a given year, list each as a, b, c, etc.  For example, cite lecture notes by individual days in class.  Each day you cite should have its own lowercase letter.  In text: (Maser 2001 a) AND (Maser 2001 b).  In reference list: Maser, J.  2001 a.  Environmental Sustainability.  Lecture notes, 8 January.  Portland State University. AND Maser, J. 2001 b.  Environmental Sustainability.  Lecture notes, 22 January.  Portland State University.
• The last page(s) of your paper should be the Reference List (see example below).  List citations alphabetically by author.
• Web sites that are reliable sources list the author’s credentials and/or contact information; are sponsored by an academic, research, or credible institution; have citations to other sources; and are not sponsored by any business.

• minimize-- paraphrase or summarize instead
• For short quotes, cite author, year, and page number:  "Global warming is bad" (Jones 2001: 245).
• For quotes longer than 5 lines, block them with single spacing and indentations on both sides, then cite:

PARAPHRASING AND SUMMARIZING

• summarize without mentioning the author:  Water use trippled in the last 10 years (Jones 2001).
• summarize using the author's name in the text:  Jones (2001) notes that water use trippled in the last 10 years.
• summarize using the name of the text in your text: The City Water Handbook (Jones 2001) claims that water use trippled in the last 10 years.
• summarize using the author, the text, and the year in your text:  In 2001, Jones wrote The City Water Handbook, stating that water use trippled in the last 10 years.

WORKS CITED/ REFERENCE LIST

• Only works you cite in the paper (in parenthetical references) should appear on the Works Cited page.
• The list should be alphabetical by author.
• If there is no author for an article, use the title of the journal/magazine/newspaper:  The Oregonian.  2000.  Water use tripples. . .
• If there is no author for a webpage or pamphlet, use the title of the agency or organization:  Environmental Protection Agency.  2001.  Global Warming. . .
• See sample Works Cited page below.

The reference list should appear on the last page of your paper.  Each entry should be single-spaced, with double spacing between entries.  Alphabetize by author (or first word in entry).  Put a hanging indent on entries that are longer than one line.  An example is below.

Maclean’s. 1989. A Backlash Against French.  March 20: 27.

Maser, J.  2000.  Environmental Sustainability.  Lecture notes, 1 November.  Portland State University.

Nader, R, Green Party Presidential Candidate.  2000.  Interviewed by the author, 6 October.  Portland, Oregon.

Quinn, D.  1992.  Ishmael.  New York: Bantam/Turner.

Recer, P.  2000.  Scientists rethink what is a planet.  The Oregonian, October 6: A2.

Taylor, G. H.  1998.  Impacts of the El Niño/Southern Oscillation on the Pacific Northwest.  Oregon Climate Service.  Accessed 9 September 2000.  Available at: http://www.ocs.orst/edu/enso.html.

Young, K. R.  1998.  Deforestation in Landscapes with Humid Forests in the Central Andes.  In: Nature’s Geography, K.S. Zimmerer and K. R. Young, eds., 75-99.  Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.

This exercise will help you reorganize and reshape your ideas.  First, go through your essay and number each paragraph.  Second, divide a piece of paper into two columns, like below.  Then, in a PHRASE or BRIEF SENTENCE, sum up the topic (what it says) and the purpose (what it does) of each paragraph.  For additional help, see links on the Writing Aids page.  Answer the questions below when you're through.
 
 

What the Paragraph Says	What the Paragraph Does
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
#7
#8
#9
#10
#11
#12

Now you have an outline of your paper to help you evaluate the structure of your ideas.  If you can’t give a brief sentence or phrase describing what a paragraph says or does, you might need to break it into more than one paragraph.  If the same subject or purpose appears in many places, you may need to combine these into one strong paragraph or into a few connected paragraphs.   After you reorganize, ask yourself these questions:

• Is information on each topic grouped together logically?
• Are the transitions between topics clear?
• Does each paragraph serve a purpose and strengthen my essay?
• Does each topic relate to my thesis, or do some need to go?
• Are there any “holes” where I need to add information?

Purpose:  Use an editing log to help you remember and correct the common grammatical, syntax, spelling, and punctuation errors you make.  While you write, keep these things handy: a writing handbook, college level dictionary, thesaurus, and useful handouts you’ve collected (the Writing Center has lots!).

Directions:  As you get papers back in this course or others, find recurring problems and their solutions.  Note them in your log in the following way:
1. Write down the name or the type of problem.
2. Write down a brief explanation of how to solve the problem.  You might want to include the name and page number of the resource in which you found the solution.
3. Write down an example of the problem from your own writing.
4. Solve the problem in your own example.
You may want to write down more than one example for each kind of problem.

Example

Type of Problem	Subject-verb agreement
Explanation	The noun and the verb of the sentence should agree in number, even if a word group that modifies the noun comes between the noun and the verb.  (Hacker, page 165.)
Example	The consequences of dam building, including the reduction of salmon habitat, is becoming a political issue.
Solution:	The consequences of dam building, including the reduction of salmon habitat, are becoming political issues.