Professional Writing and Research Skills Practicum in LPSCS

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Copyright © Texas Education Agency All rights reserved. Images and other multimedia content used with permission. Steps in Developing a Research Paper Understand the Assignment – What ideas are you being asked to present? – Who is your audience? Select a Topic – Use books, encyclopedias, governmental websites, and/or the Internet – Discuss options and ideas with experts on the subject – Accept a topic defined by the person who assigns the paper 3

Copyright © Texas Education Agency All rights reserved. Images and other multimedia content used with permission. Steps in Developing a Research Paper (continued) Gather Resources – From the Internet – From books – From journals – From magazines Create a Bibliography – Use the correct format – Use the correct style (e.g. MLA or APA) 4

Copyright © Texas Education Agency All rights reserved. Images and other multimedia content used with permission. Steps in Developing a Research Paper (continued) Conduct Research – Evaluate the correctness of the information – Evaluate the credentials of the author – Evaluate how current the material is – Evaluate whether or not the material is based in opinion or fact – Evaluate the reliability of the authors 5

Copyright © Texas Education Agency All rights reserved. Images and other multimedia content used with permission. Steps in Developing a Research Paper (continued) Develop an Outline – Clarify your ideas before writing the paper – Organize the order of your ideas Write the Rough Draft – In your words, write down the information – Transfer ideas in your outline into sentences and paragraphs – Get all of your ideas down on paper 6

Copyright © Texas Education Agency All rights reserved. Images and other multimedia content used with permission. Steps in Developing a Research Paper (continued) Complete the Citations – Include citations within the paper – Use the appropriate format Modern Language Association (MLA) style American Psychology Association (APA) style Chicago Manual of Style (CMS) method 7

Copyright © Texas Education Agency All rights reserved. Images and other multimedia content used with permission. Steps in Developing a Research Paper (continued) Revise and Edit – Read the rough draft – Rearrange your thoughts as needed – Take out any unnecessary information – Add any needed information Proofread – Read the paper aloud – Check for grammar, spelling, and punctuation 8

Copyright © Texas Education Agency All rights reserved. Images and other multimedia content used with permission. Research Thorough and systematic investigation into a topic to discover or revise information about the topicdiscover Where to Gather Resources – Internet Conduct searches Check the reliability of information – Books Library or bookstore eBooks – Journals or magazines Library or bookstore Online 9

Copyright © Texas Education Agency All rights reserved. Images and other multimedia content used with permission. Research (continued) Bibliography – A list of works compiled according to a common principle (i.e. authorship, subject, place of publication, or printer) – Use the appropriate format (e.g. MLA, APA, etc.) 10

Copyright © Texas Education Agency All rights reserved. Images and other multimedia content used with permission. Writing Outline – A general sketch indicating only the main ideas – Use systematic numbering Rough draft – The first attempt at a piece of writing – Put in essay structure Citations within the paper – “The act of giving credit to an author or an authority or a precedent” – Avoid plagiarism 11

Copyright © Texas Education Agency All rights reserved. Images and other multimedia content used with permission. Writing (continued) Revisions – Changing something that is already written – Improve the writing and the paper Proofread – Checking and documenting needed corrections in a text – Make it accurate 12

Copyright © Texas Education Agency All rights reserved. Images and other multimedia content used with permission. Plagiarism Using the language and/or ideas of another author without permission and/or taking credit for another author’s work 13

Copyright © Texas Education Agency All rights reserved. Images and other multimedia content used with permission. Plagiarism (continued) Give credit for – Direct quotation – Information coming from any type of media (e.g. book, magazine, website, movie, song, etc.) – Replications of visual material (e.g. charts, pictures, diagrams, etc.) – Information gathered from interviews – Online information – Anything that originates with someone else’s thought or ideas 14

Copyright © Texas Education Agency All rights reserved. Images and other multimedia content used with permission. Plagiarism (continued Plagiarism (continued) Don’t give credit for – Common Knowledge Generally accepted facts (e.g. water freezes at 32 degrees Fahrenheit) Culturally accepted facts (e.g. national holidays) – Your own thoughts, ideas, experiences, opinions, etc. – Results gathered from your own experiments or lab work – Your own pictures, videos, or illustrations 15

Copyright © Texas Education Agency All rights reserved. Images and other multimedia content used with permission. Resources kill28.htm kill28.htm Do an Internet search for dictionary and key terms 16