As this week’s readings emphasize, summarizing, paraphrasing, and quoting are essential techniques for working with sources in academic writing. Mastering these techniques will not only help you avoid plagiarism but also generate stronger writing for research papers and many other kinds of writing.
For this concept worksheet, return to any discussion from a previous week in this class and find 2 posts from other learners that you admire or appreciate. Feel free to choose posts from a couple different past discussions.
In a document, provide the following:
The original post, followed by a full APA reference for the post. (See the tip below for how to do this.)
A short paragraph about the post that includes a summary, paraphrase, and quotation of the original.
Repeat the above for the 2nd post you chose.
Finally, write a paragraph evaluating the process of creating your summaries, paraphrases, and quotations.
Which is one of these is easiest for you? Why?
Which is most challenging? Why?
Which of these techniques do you think you’ll use most frequently in your Persuasive Research Paper for this class?
Tips for this assignment:
APA in-text citationsLinks to an external site. are always required for summaries, paraphrases, and quotations in formal writing. Next week we will study these in detail. This week, do your best to use correct APA in-text citations using the link above as a guide.
Here’s how to create a full APA Reference for an online discussion post:
Lastname, F. [username]. (Year, Month Date). Title of post [Online forum post]. Publisher. URL
Post with no title should be titled Untitled post.
For the publisher, use Nightingale College.
the first post is from student named Madison Maus an the discussion topic is The Ethics of Using Bias-Free Language
In this week’s discussion, the guideline that I have chosen is gender. What I learned about gender guidelines is that gender is rapidly changing. It is important to use basis free language, with gender it is easy to offend someone if you use the wrong language. Gender guidelines can be useful in writing research because you can get more data from the new categories of gender. For example, 60% of people identified as cisgender women and 1% as nonbinary (Bias-Free Language, 2020). Gender nowadays has so many categories and it is very fluid. This allows the research to open to many people and many people can relate to the specific research. Also, when writing a research paper, you want to have the knowledge of picking a sensitive label so that people are respected (Bias-Free Language, 2020). You don’t want to offend someone by using a slur label, this can put a bad taste in the audience’s mouth.
In a healthcare setting, you’re always going to be dealing with gender. Personally, I must be careful when addressing a patient. In my experience, I always look at the patient labels because at times the person may look like a certain gender, but the label states otherwise. If I’m ever in doubt, I always ask the patient what they want to go by. You always want to have a good rapport with your patients and being sensitive to their gender can make the situation better. This also goes hand in hand with professional communication. In a professional setting, I do see that people now put their pronouns and it is important to address them by their preferred pronouns. The communication challenge that gender guidelines can present is, that some audiences have beliefs or are unwilling to keep up with the times, making them hard to communicate with or have a hard time relating to gender guidelines.
American Psychological Association. (2022, July). General Principles for Reducing Bias. Https://Apastyle.apa.org. https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/bias-free-language/general-principles
Bias-Free Language. (2020). Bias-Free Language. Https://Apastyle.apa.org. https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/bias-free-language
the second post is from a student named Samantha carpenter on discussion about – Audience Types: Who do You Communicate with at Work?
In this week’s reading, four main types of audiences were emphasized, which of who should be taken into consideration when technically writing. The four audiences are: experts, technicians, executives, and nonspecialist. I will apply my experience within the healthcare environment and give my opinion on who fits in the different types of audiences.
The experts are those who are well versed in the field and often heavily decorated with degrees and certificates. Experts are trusted resources and are often in charge of the basis of why we are all here. In healthcare, experts include but are not limited to Surgeons, Therapists, Pharmacists, and Specialists. The technicians are those who work alongside the experts to aid in carrying out the mission or operation. Technicians are the worker bees. In healthcare, technicians include but are not limited to Physician Assistants, Nurses, Facilities, and Information Technologists. The executives are those who are economically and politically driven and are working behind the scenes. Executives decide the direction of where the company is headed and what it will provide to its staff and consumers. In healthcare, executives include but are not limited to Shareholders, Executive Officers, Administrators, and Human Resources. The nonspecialists are the consumers. In healthcare, nonspecialists are the patients.
Personally, I find it easiest to communicate and build report with the technicians. One, they are my colleagues and two, we share a common goal. For the most part, the technicians are on the same level of understanding, which helps with effective communication. It is most difficult to communicate with executives. I find this to be true because we are not like minded. We are comparing apples to oranges within the workplace. I find being honest and respectful is always key to effective communication.
McMurrey, D. (2019). Open Technical Communication Ch. 5.2 Audience Analysis (4th ed.). Kennesaw State University. https://alg.manifoldapp.org/read/open-technical-communication/section/415d5b4f-758e-49ac-8149-18d4c3c4c10cLinks to an external site.
