{"id":93,"date":"2020-10-15T09:15:05","date_gmt":"2020-10-15T13:15:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/whywriteguide2e\/chapter\/4-6-citational-practice-writing-from-sources\/"},"modified":"2023-09-28T14:36:40","modified_gmt":"2023-09-28T18:36:40","slug":"4-6-citational-practice-writing-from-sources","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/whywriteguide2e\/chapter\/4-6-citational-practice-writing-from-sources\/","title":{"raw":"4.6 Citational Practice: Writing from Sources","rendered":"4.6 Citational Practice: Writing from Sources"},"content":{"raw":"The word \u201csource\u201d can seem a bit intimidating or mysterious, so let\u2019s define what is meant when your instructor asks you to find sources. There are three different types of sources that you need to consider when you are performing academic research: primary sources, secondary sources, and tertiary sources.\r\n\r\nPrimary Sources:<\/strong> Primary source material is generally raw data that is under analysis. Primary source material can include, but is certainly not limited to, original manuscripts, archival documents, measurement of phenomena, survey results, lab results, data others have gathered, and a myriad of other forms and types of materials that define your topic. For example, if your topic is pine beetle infestations, then your data will likely come from what academic researchers have found in specific geographical areas.\r\n\r\nSecondary Sources:<\/strong> These source materials interpret and discuss primary source materials. These can be used to assist in the problem solving of a research question and to provide commentary about a field of interest. Secondary sources often generalize, analyze, synthesize or evaluate the original primary sources. As an undergraduate student, you will likely spend most of your time finding, reading, and analyzing secondary materials, such as peer-reviewed journal articles, for your research.\r\n\r\nTertiary Sources:<\/strong> These are general or popular forms of information that synthesize primary and secondary sources, usually in a way that will be understood by an audience that doesn\u2019t have expertise in the field. These sources may come in the form of blogs, popular books, magazine and newspaper articles, encyclopedia articles (think Wikipedia) or links from a Google search. Use these sources as a way to investigate your interests in a topic area; they can help you find out exactly what it is you want to discuss in your research. These sources, however, are not the best options to support a scholarly argument as the information in these sources tends to be generalized and (over)simplified.\r\n\r\nOnce you have found your primary, secondary, and tertiary sources, you then need to cite those sources in your writing. In many classes, the sources you will consult when researching will be recorded in some kind of form, most often in written form. Using sources in a way that both respects the source and your own work requires an understanding of citational practice. You might have never heard this phrase before in your life. Here\u2019s a rather technical definition that we will unpack:\r\n
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\r\n\r\nCitation is a constitutive dimension of human language and social life in the sense that we constantly reproduce what we hear in order to fashion ourselves. Found everywhere to different \u201cdegrees and kinds\u201d (Barber 2008, p. 209), citation occurs across all media and in virtually every type of linguistic performance and must be considered \u201ca perpetual rather than secondary dimension of human living\u201d (Finnegan 2011, p. 264). All of language can be understood as citational\u2014from grammatical structure to particular phrases, genres, or registers to implicit metapragmatic frames.[footnote]Jane Goodman et al., \u201cCitational Practices: Knowledge, Personhood, and Subjectivity,\u201d Annual Review of Anthropology <\/em>43 (2014): 450,\u00a0jstor.org\/stable\/43049585<\/a>.[\/footnote]\r\n\r\n<\/div><\/blockquote>\r\nThis quotation might seem a little dense, but we include it to show you that citation is a consistent linguistic practice. Here\u2019s what this quotation is getting at: We are consistently citing when we speak with each other.\r\n\r\nIn everyday conversation, you might reference what \u201cthey\u201d say without ever identifying \u201cthey.\u201d That is a form of citation\u2014it\u2019s not reliable, but it doesn\u2019t have to be when you are hanging out with your friends. This reference to \u201cthey\u201d marks that you are reproducing what you might have heard from somewhere else in order to share information and also to express who you are.\r\n\r\nIf you are urging with your friends to go to a new Thai place where you want to eat, you might mention good online reviews from a reliable resource to prove your point. Here you are showing your friends that you know what you are talking about and that you can be trusted. Voila, this is a form of citational practice.\r\n\r\nIn university and college classes, we also cite our sources to show what we are talking about, but we also cite to build upon the knowledge of others, correct and test facts, counter ideas, and solve problems. This is all to say that citational practice in post-secondary research has a lot of work to do and is, therefore, more standardized and exacting. Why? Because oftentimes, we (in academia) are the \u201cthey\u201d others cite in the popular press, popular culture, and everyday life, so we understand what we are talking about!\r\n\r\nAs an undergraduate student, you are now a researcher and part of a community that relies upon this academic form of citational practice. In section 2.5 Reading Academic Writing<\/a>, we said you are like an apprentice, learning the ropes of academic research and writing. In your career, you may well become one of those \u201cthey\u201d that are cited widely, so by learning academic citational practices, you are also learning to be a reliable researcher and communicator.\r\n\r\nThere are a number of different ways to cite your sources, but cite them you must. If you don\u2019t then your work will be seen as committing an academic integrity violation. We realize that the phrase \u201cacademic integrity\u201d can seem quite strange to those outside of the academic sphere. It might conjure ideas of punishment and fear, but nothing could be further from the truth. Academic integrity is part of citational practice and ethics, which we discussed earlier in the chapter. Let\u2019s have a chat about academic integrity, shall we?\r\n

4.6.1 Academic Integrity: The Core Values of Research<\/h2>\r\nMost of the time, students think of academic integrity as plagiarism and cheating. These two words may well cause anxiety as you complete your assignments. A common question we often hear from students is: How do I know if I have violated the rules? What if we told you that plagiarism and cheating are just two relatively small aspects of what academic integrity is? Would you be surprised?\r\n\r\nAcademic integrity is the practice of \u201chonesty, trust, fairness, respect, responsibility, and courage\u201d in your academic work.[footnote]Fundamental Values of Academic Integrity<\/em>, 3rd. Ed. (International Center for Academic Integrity, 2021),\u00a0academicintegrity.org\/images\/pdfs\/20019_ICAI-Fundamental-Values_R12.pdf<\/a>.[\/footnote] We are all members of an academic community, and part of a larger scholarly conversation. As part of this community, we adhere to shared values and ethical behaviour. This common ground is important because it allows your work to be evaluated fairly, ensures that you\u2019re really learning and developing skills needed for your future careers, and addresses the many kinds of value that everyone\u2019s work holds.\r\n\r\nThe fact is that information has value. This value is contextual (in our Canadian jurisdiction and within an academic context).\r\n
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\r\n\r\nInformation possesses several dimensions of value, including as a commodity, as a means of education, as a means to influence, and as a means of negotiating and understanding the world. Legal and socioeconomic interests influence information production and dissemination.[footnote]\u201cFramework for Information Literacy for Higher Education,\u201d Guidelines, Standards, and Frameworks, Association of College & Research Libraries, January 11, 2016,\u00a0ala.org\/acrl\/standards\/ilframework#value<\/a>.[\/footnote]\r\n\r\n<\/div><\/blockquote>\r\nAt its heart, all this passage means is that information has different types of value depending on who you are. If you are working in a research and development division for a corporation, then research is a commodity. If you are just about anyone else, research can help you influence others and convince them that your opinion is correct. If you are a student, you are learning how to be an ethical researcher, and there are guidelines to learn and new ways of knowing.\r\n\r\nThis new experience of engaging with research in complex ways can be overwhelming, but worth it. Believe us, learning to be information literate is perhaps one of the most important skills in your post-secondary career. Research is about learning to learn, and that is a skill prized both in and out of school.\r\n\r\nPart of being a skilled researcher is respecting others\u2019 work and intellectual property in a number of specific ways. Academic integrity policies in every post-secondary context reflect the standards understood across Canada. Post-secondary institutions have a list of precepts (or principles) and practices aimed at ensuring the lines of communication between researchers and readers remain open.\r\n\r\nFor example, the University of Victoria\u2019s Academic Integrity Policy<\/a> states that student researchers must \u201ccite all ideas or excerpts from the work of others\u201d and that they cannot submit for evaluation work or a paper that has been written by someone else or extensively revised by someone else. Why are these guidelines in place? Well, for one thing, as a student you are being evaluated on the work that you submit, which means that your instructors need to know which parts of your submissions are your voice\u2014your unique ideas!\u2014and which belong to other researchers in your field.\r\n\r\nThis doesn\u2019t mean that you shouldn\u2019t incorporate ideas from elsewhere. Not by a long shot. In fact, as rhetoricians Gerald Graff and Kathy Birkenstein remind us, \u201c[a]cademic writing in particular calls upon writers not simply to express their own ideas, but to do so as a response to what others have said.\u201d[footnote]Gerald Graff and Kathy Birkenstein, They Say\/ I Say: The Moves That Matter in Academic Writing, <\/em>4th ed. (W. W. Norton & Company, 2018), xiii.[\/footnote] In other words, academic writers make it clear that they are joining an ongoing conversation on a particular topic. A major part of academic integrity is ensuring that this conversation\u2014your conversation with the other researchers in your field\u2014remains clear.\r\n\r\nNeglecting to cite the work or ideas of others (fellow researchers, friends, colleagues, etc.) means that you are depriving them of deserved recognition. (And in the world of research and scholarship, this lack of recognition can have dire consequences for a researcher\u2019s career.) A lack of citations also serves to obscure the scholarly conversation we mentioned above, which means that your reader is likely to be confused and frustrated since (1) they\u2019re unable to fulfill their curiosity by following up with your sources and (2) they can\u2019t confirm your findings. For these reasons (and more!) it is important to practice what some folks call good \u201cresearch hygiene\u201d\u2014meaning you need to keep careful track of (and cite!) your sources.\r\n\r\n\u201cHygiene\u201d generally means maintaining cleanliness to avoid disease. What happens if you don\u2019t brush and floss your teeth? Gum disease and tooth decay. What happens if you do not keep track of your research? It becomes unhealthy in the sense that page numbers might get mixed up or you might lose a source. Taking care to quote, paraphrase, and summarize your sources accurately ensures that the conversation you\u2019re joining can continue in a respectful, accurate, relevant, and productive way. Even in instances where you intend to disagree with someone, you want to ensure that you\u2019re not misrepresenting someone\u2019s work. If you pay attention to detail as you gather sources and cite them, you will save yourself a lot of headache down the road.\r\n\r\nYou might be tempted to skip some of this work in the hope that no one finds out. We know that life can get busy. You may feel overwhelmed by your workload or assignments that are difficult. Instead of buying an assignment, having someone edit your work (by changing your words and writing in their own words), or cutting and pasting, please ask your instructor for help. If you feel you can\u2019t approach your instructor, then go to your writing centre. The staff there are incredibly helpful.<\/strong>\r\n\r\nBefore we move on from citational practice and good research hygiene, we want to save you even more headaches by covering an academic integrity issue that we see quite often: patch-writing. Read the following section carefully so you can avoid this issue!\r\n

4.6.2 Writing from Sources Versus Writing from Sentences<\/h2>\r\nOnce you have found your sources, you need to read them and write about them. This can be a difficult process, although if you read the advice about summarizing, quoting, and paraphrasing<\/a> in chapter two, then you understand that there are basic conventions for using parts of a written text in the context of academic writing. One of the major rules is that ideas from the sources you summarize and paraphrase must be reframed in your own words, and these sources must be cited.<\/strong>\r\n\r\nLet\u2019s talk about the reframing process a bit more. In chapter two we explained that patch-writing involves taking a chunk of text from an original source without changing its language enough to make it your own<\/a>. Examples of not changing the language enough include using synonyms for a few words or simply rearranging the original order of words and phrases. Presenting such minimally reworked passages as your own writing, even if you cite the original, is a problem. In fact, it\u2019s a type of academic integrity violation because you\u2019re basically passing off another writer\u2019s words and sentence structures as your own original text. Accurate citations are simply not enough to change the fact that you have patch-written\u2014a type of problem that occurs when you use sources by focusing on sentences instead of the source as a whole.\r\n\r\nIn an excellent article by Rebecca Moore Howard, Tricia Serviss, and Tanya K. Rodrigues, \u201cWriting from Sources, Writing from Sentences<\/a>,\u201d[footnote]Rebecca Moore Howard et al., \u201cWriting from Sources, Writing from Sentences,\u201d Writing & Pedagogy <\/em>2, no. 2 (2010): 177-192, citationproject.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/HowardServissRodrigue-2010-writing-from-sentences.pdf<\/a>.[\/footnote] the authors explain that many students (and, yes, professors) tend to write by trying to rework certain sentences<\/em> they find in an article rather than encapsulating the idea of the source<\/em> in their own words. Picture it: you have your peer-reviewed source beside you. Your fingers are poised on the keyboard, and you start looking at the highlighted sections of the article. You find a great quotation and start to paraphrase. You shift a few words around, add a synonym or two, add a citation, and then move on to the next highlighted section of the article.\r\n\r\nIf you approach paraphrasing or summarizing in this fashion, then you are likely writing from sentences. You risk patch-writing with this method. Instead follow this method (or any similar method) to avoid patch-writing :\r\n