Glossary

A well-developed, concise summary of a scholarly research paper. It is not an excerpted passage from the paper, but a piece of original work. An abstract must be able to stand alone and make sense by itself.

The cognitive process of studying constituent parts to demonstrate an interpretation of a larger whole.

Excited and lively.

A guide detailing the features of the APA citation style; this guide can be used to ensure APA style citations have been created correctly.

When you’re writing, it’s easy to forget that you are actually writing to someone. Whether you’ve thought about it consciously or not, you always write to an audience: sometimes your audience is a very generalized group of readers, sometimes you know the individuals who compose the audience, and sometimes you write for yourself. Keeping your audience in mind while you write can help you make good decisions about what material to include, how to organize your ideas, and how best to support your argument. (from The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)

Either quoting or referencing information from another source in an academic writing or work.

A technique for brainstorming ideas and finding connections between ideas by starting with one central idea, then thinking of related ideas or concepts.

To combine content from various different sources into one larger body or list.

The different parts or sections of an argument.

Writing in a way that removes unnecessary length, meaningless repetition, and other unneeded elements. This often results in writing being “short and sweet” or “to the point”.

A record of what happened or what was discussed during a conference.

When there is widespread disagreement about something, and opinions are split.

Something that is trustworthy and reliable.

Decolonization may be defined as the active resistance against colonial powers, and a shifting of power towards political, economic, educational, cultural, psychic independence and power that originate from a colonized nation’s own indigenous culture. This process occurs politically and also applies to personal and societal psychic, cultural, political, agricultural, and educational deconstruction of colonial oppression.

Per Eve Tuck and K. Wayne Yang: “Decolonization doesn’t have a synonym”; it is not a substitute for ‘human rights’ or ‘social justice’, though undoubtedly, they are connected in various ways. Decolonization demands an Indigenous framework and a centering of Indigenous land, Indigenous sovereignty, and Indigenous ways of thinking.

SOURCE:

1. The Movement for Black Lives (M4BL), “Glossary.”

2. Eric Ritskes, “What Is Decolonization and Why Does It Matter?”

A conversation, discussion, or debate regarding a topic or issue.

The verbatim use of another author’s words. Can be used as evidence to support your claim or to demonstrate an interpretation or insight.

To spread, share, or disperse information.

To help someone gain the capacity or capability to achieve something they couldn’t have achieved previously.

A way of thinking that causes someone to doubt the possibility of improving at something, and instills a tendency to avoid challenges or other learning opportunities.

A technique where you simply write what comes to mind regarding a topic or idea, without pausing or going back to edit or revise (that can be done at later steps).

A shared understanding between writers and readers about how to respond to a situation or context. Genre = situation + form.

A way of thinking that is centered around the belief that growth or improvement within a particular area is possible, and that challenges are worth facing.

Abbreviation for a way to structure a scientific paper; the respective components represented by each letter are: introduction, methods, result, analysis, discussion.

A short-hand citation that is placed directly within a body of text; it indicates the source a particular statement within the text is referencing.

The process of looking for information to answer a question, can sometimes be as simple as asking a question.

When efforts are made to share information and/or knowledge with others, often as a tool to promote understanding, awareness, and change.

A land acknowledgement is a way that people insert an awareness of Indigenous presence and land rights in everyday life. This is often done at the beginning of ceremonies, lectures, or any public event. It can be a subtle way to recognize the history of colonialism and a need for change in settler colonial societies.

However, these acknowledgements can easily be a token gesture rather than a meaningful practice. All settlers, including recent arrivants, have a responsibility to consider what it means to acknowledge the history and legacy of colonialism. What are some of the privileges settlers enjoy today because of colonialism? How can individuals develop relationships with peoples whose territory they are living on in the contemporary Canadian geopolitical landscape? What are you, or your organization, doing beyond acknowledging the territory where you live, work, or hold your events? What might you be doing that perpetuates settler colonial futurity rather than considering alternative ways forward for Canada?

Adapted from Why Acknowledge Territory? from Native-Land.ca.

A literary technique where a word is used to describe an object or situation in a figurative way rather than literally.

The poet Anne Carson speaks about the function of metaphor in language as error, an act in which the mind is guided toward a productive mistake. For example, the moon is made of swiss cheese. This error allows a new and perhaps deeper understanding about the thing we thought we knew; as a result, we see the moon differently.

The rules and expectations for behavior that are upheld by society, usually through social pressure.

Reasoning and/or evidence provided to disagree with an idea or point being made.

An organizational pre-writing tool for planning the structure of a paper or other piece of writing. Various ideas are hierarchically organized in the outline; with a main idea used as a “heading” with multiple related ideas written underneath it.

Something that applies to an entire work or concept as a whole.

An author reiterates a main idea, argument, or detail of a text in their own words without drastically altering the length of the passage(s) they paraphrase. Contrast with summary.

If you use someone else’s work without clearly acknowledging the source—this is plagiarism. This includes paraphrasing or directly quoting any work, published or unpublished, that another person wrote without clearly acknowledging that person as the source. If you allow someone else to do your work for you and claim that work as your own, you will have committed collusion, which is a form of plagiarism.

A thought, opinion, or idea that takes form before sufficient evidence is found to prove it.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission report “defines reconciliation as an ongoing process of establishing and maintaining respectful relationships. A critical part of this process involves repairing damaged trust by making apologies, providing individual and collective reparations, and following through with concrete actions that demonstrate real societal change” (Honouring the Truth, 2015, p. 16).

A “complete” citation that references a source and includes comprehensive information regarding the source, such as: author, date of publication, format..etc. A reference citation is more detailed than an in-text citation.

A mode of writing that values the reader’s experience of and reactions to a text.

Making changes to a piece of writing with the intention of improving it.

The process of looking back over something that was written previously, and making changes to improve the writing.

Something that is academic in nature.

Scholarship includes those activities that contribute directly to the cumulative knowledge or creative resources in a discipline. Scholarship can take many forms.  Regardless of the form in which scholarship is presented it should: reflect one’s professional and academic expertise, be shared (disseminated), and be reviewed by peers.

Historically, Indigenous Ways of Knowing have been excluded from and dismissed by academic discourse and scholarship. Part of the process of decolonization is asking ourselves who decides what knowledge should be shared? To what end? And why?

The way scientists construct knowledge through testing hypotheses and communicating results—agreeing, disagreeing and adding to our knowledge of the world.

When summarizing or introducing a quotation or paraphrase, language that attributes the idea to the original author. Use verbs that are vivid and precise.

An author reiterates the main ideas, arguments, and details of a text in their own words, condensing a longer text into a smaller version. Contrast with paraphrase.

The placement of words in a sentence structure to express meaning or convey an idea.

The process of taking ideas and information from multiple sources, and incorporating it into one’s own work.

Sources that index, abstract, organize, compile, or digest other sources. For example: Wikipedia.

A statement that makes a claim or presents a theory. A thesis is the “focal point” of many academic works, which tend to hinge on either proving or challenging the main claim made in the thesis.

Tone refers to the writer's voice in a written work. It is what the reader or hearer might perceive as the writer's attitude, bias, or personality. Many academic writers mistake a scholarly tone for dull, boring language or a mixture of jargon and multisyllabic, "intelligent-sounding" words. Academic writing, however, does not need to be complicated nor lacking in style (see APA 7, Section 4.7); instead, it can be both engaging and clear. (Walden University Writing Centre)

When someone faces difficulty in figuring out how to express their thoughts through writing.

A feeling of anxiety or nervousness that is caused by the thought of a writing task.