CM 220 Unit 4 Seminar Thesis statements, the writing process, and APA Citations

Unit 4 seminar Unit 4 discussion and project Persuasive thesis statements APA in-text and reference page citations

Unit 4 discussion For this discussion, you will be constructing and analyzing a reference using the APA style. Please be sure to refer to the readings for assistance, or consult an APA manual (if you have one) or the Writing Center's section on APA Formatting (Research, APA & Plagiarism). STEP 1: Choose one of the references you will be using in your paper and describe what type of source it is (for example, a book, an article in a magazine, an online periodical, etc.). Knowing what type of source you have is an important part of properly citing that source!

Unit 4 discussion Step 2: Create a proper full citation for your References page. Be sure to pay close attention to spacing and punctuation and please note that, due to technical limitations, you will not be able to indent or italicize in the discussion board. Sorry  Step 3: Write a sentence (or more) using that same reference with an in-text citation. You may paraphrase or use a direct quote, but again, be sure to pay close attention to spacing and punctuation and do not plagiarize! Step 4: Discuss why you used this particular format and why you believe it is correct.

Unit 4 Discussion Response Step 5: Review your classmates' posts. Do they appear correct? Are there any problems with the format they used? What about punctuation? Provide a thoughtful response for ONE classmate that will help him or her more clearly understand the APA Style of citation ( words).

Unit 4 discussion post example 1: My source is from a book with one author. 2: Doe, J. (2005). How to write a great paper: the writer's way of writing. New York: Makebelieve Publishers. 3. Many writers feel that writing a great paper begins with research, but "using a prewriting technique like brainstorming can actually jumpstart the process" (Doe, 2005, p. 10). 4. I looked up how to cite a book with one author in the Writing Center's document (RESEARCH, CITATION, AND PLAGIARISM) and found the format I needed. It specified to list the author's last name (followed by a comma), first initial (with a period), then the year published (followed by a period). Next comes the title (followed by a period), then the city or state in which it was published (followed by a colon) and finally, the name of the publisher (followed by a period). This wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be!

Unit 4 project 100 points (will have letter grade) Include your revised persuasive thesis statement Describe at least 3 main points that you will be making Discuss at least one potential objection to your argument and how you will address it Provide APA reference page citations for two sources and a short description/discussion of those two sources See the sample posted in unit 4 and Doc Sharing

The writing process Selecting topic and conducting research Prewriting (generating ideas for main points of essay) Creating a thesis Organizing ideas (writing an outline, annotated bibliography, sketching out main ideas) Drafting the essay Cooling Revising Editing

Persuasive thesis statements— what should they do? Take on a subject upon which reasonable people could disagree Deal with a subject that can be adequately treated given the nature of the assignment Express one main idea Assert your conclusion(s) about a subject— take a position! Use words like “because,” “since,” “therefore,” etc. to show relationships between ideas.

Example Weak: Adoption is a very serious issue, so people who decide to give up a child or adopt a child need to think about it carefully. Better: The United States needs to create national laws for adoptions because this will ensure that biological and adoptive parents are clear about their rights and those of the adopted child.

Three possible points Since states currently have different laws, parents may be confused about what their rights are and whether the law holds for the state where the adoptive or biological parents live. National laws concerning the rights of adopted children to find biological parents would also be helpful. International adoptions would have to abide by specific, national American laws as well.

Opposition points and issues to consider... Shouldn’t states have the right to set up their own adoption laws, as they currently do? Who would decide what the national laws should be? Would the laws favor biological or adoptive parents? For example, states like Florida have very short periods for biological parents to change their minds about the adoption (48 hours), while other states have a period of several months.

Source Arkansas adopts ban on adoption, foster care by unmarried couples. (2008, November 12). Education Week, 5. Retrieved August 17, 2009, from Academic Search Premier database. This article demonstrates how different states have developed specific laws concerning who can (and cannot) adopt. National guidelines outlining who could adopt would help to reduce confusion. What if an unmarried couple from California wanted to adopt a child from Arkansas? Would the Arkansas law apply, or the California law? National laws would make cross-state adoptions less complicated, and it would also ensure that more conservative states did not adopt such stringent guidelines that orphans could not get adopted.

What is APA? American Psychological Association: Standard for writing that is widely used by writers in the social sciences, education, business and psychology. Format that is used throughout the world in business and academia, and most Kaplan courses require it. APA style guides the layout of the document, requires parenthetical citations in the body of the essay, and uses a reference page with full citations for each source cited in-text (except for interviews or other personal communications that cannot be retrieved).

Document formatting and title page Title page: include title of project, author, institution, course, instructor, and due date Double-space and center information on title page Include header and page number in upper right-hand corner Document should be in 12 pt. font, double- spaced, header/page number on each page, first line of each paragraph indented one tab space. Use left justification. Put title on first line of page 2.

Title page formatting Header: Title and page number in upper right- hand corner of each page Running head (optional) on the left Center project, author, and course information in two sections of the page. Double-space. See guidelines for formatting document in the APA folder of Doc Sharing as well as ch. 12 of the handbook. Roll the credits 1 Running head: ROLL THE CREDITS Roll the Credits: Understanding and Avoiding Plagiarism Maggie Durham Kaplan University CM Professor Smith April 8, 2009

Why do I need to cite my sources? Enhance credibility Provide proper credit to your sources Give reader necessary information to find sources and do further research Avoid plagiarism—more on how to paraphrase and quote, the other element of avoiding plagiarism, next week!

In-text (parenthetical) citations Require three pieces of information:  Author’s last name  Year  Page number (for direct quotes) (Thompson, 2007, p. 345) (Thompson, 2007) According to Thompson (2007), “50 percent of the population have computers” (p. 345).

Common source types Books Journal articles Magazine articles Newspaper articles Web sites Interviews Speeches Remember, each source has a specific formatting style!

Reference page formatting Start on a new page, titled Reference(s), centered in upper- and lowercase letters. Include a page header and page number in the upper right-hand corner. Alphabetize by author’s last name. Double-space throughout. Use a hanging indent (1st line of each entry flush left, indent subsequent lines 5- 7 spaces). Match with in-text citations. Italicize titles of books and periodicals.

APA reference page formatting Start on new page. Use hanging indents. Double-space throughout. Alphabetize by author’s last name (use corporation name or article title if no author is available). End with retrieval date and database or URL for library sources and web sites. Roll the credits 5 References About APA style. (2006). Retrieved January 2, 2007, from APA Web site: Landau, J., Druen, P., & Arcuri, J. (2002). Methods for helping students avoid plagiarism. Teaching of Psychology, 29(2), Retrieved January 2, 2007, from Academic Search Premier database. Segal, C. (2006). Copy this. Chronicle of Higher Education, 53(4), Retrieved December 22, 2006, from Professional Development Collection database. What you need to know about plagiarism. (2006). Retrieved December 22, 2006, from Kaplan University: ms/ku_plagiarism.pdf. ms/ku_plagiarism.pdf Villano, M. (2006). Taking the work out of homework. T H E Journal, 33(15), Retrieved January 2, 2007, from Professional Development Collection database.

Book with one author Maslow, A.H. (1974). Toward a psychology of being. Princeton: Van Nostrand.

Journal article Miller, W. (1969). Violent crimes in city gangs. Journal of Social Issues, 21(10), 1-28.

Magazine article McCurdy, H.G. (1983, June). Brain mechanisms and intelligence. Psychology Today, 46,

Newspaper article James, W.R. (1993, November 16). The uninsured and health care. Wall Street Journal, pp. A1, A14.

Database retrieval information End citation with retrieval information if found on database (date, database used): Retrieved July 7, 2008, from Academic Search Premier database.

Internet source (author known) Lynch, T. (1996). DS9 trials and tribble-ations review. Retrieved October 8, 1997, from Psi Phi: Bradley's Science Fiction Club Web site: DS9/ep/503r.html. DS9/ep/503r.html

Internet source (author unknown) The Stratocaster appreciation page. (n.d.). Retrieved July 27, 2002, from