DOCUMENTING WRITTEN SOURCES

Documenting written sources is the habit of giving a kind of a ‘road map’ to the information used in one’s writings that do not originate from him or her. This road map, direct readers to the original article. Documentation of sources used for writing is an integral part of the writing process itself. This is because, academic writings all the times requires one to back up the ideas being projected with evidences from the works of other authors with similar idea. Documenting sources usually occurs in two places in the article: within the article and at the tail end of article.

Writing the sources within the paper is known as in-text documentation.  This type of documentation is used when the writer quotes or paraphrases an idea from the source article and align this idea to his line of thought.  The last name of the author and the year of publication is usually written either at the beginning or end of the sentence or quote. The page number from where a quote is taken should be referenced or documented as well. This should be used only when an author is quoted and not paraphrased. In-text referencing helps the reader to know the standpoint of the writer concerning the idea of discuss.

The other place where writers are obligated to document their sources is at the end of the article. This is called the reference list. This list contains the full names of all the authors whose works were used, title of the articles, year of publication, page number and if it is a magazine, volume and issue number should be included.  There are different formats of writing this list and each has its guidelines which must be followed meticulously. For instance, it could appear numerically serial as in alpha-numeric kind of referencing or it could appear in alphabetical order as in APA referencing. The order in which this should appear depends on the prevailing format of referencing in an institution or academic society. The writer should normally find this out and align his referencing to the accepted format. One point that is noteworthy while writing reference list is the fact that all in-text citations must appear in the reference list.

One may be tempted to ask,” why must we document all sources and at all times?’’ The answer is simple! Not only does it showcase to all readers the level of the writer’s proficiency in writing and in researching, it also tells the readers that the writer is honest, and therefore cannot be accused of plagiarism.

Friends, to sum up, I will encourage us to utilize proper in-text and reference list documentations in all our writings, while saying a big thank you to Dr. Dettlaff for teaching me most of the information I  put down here. cheers!

Best Way to Aquire New Vocabulary

            As a native english speaker, I've had the opportunity to learn and hear thousands of vocabulary words throughout my life. There are over 171,000 words in the english dictionary. The odds of hearing all of these words throughout your life is slim, but it is essential to learn new vocabulary words to improve your writing. Currently in our IDIS 100 class we are going through a vocabulary book weekly to increase our knowledge of words in english. But throughout my life I have found two major ways of learning new words. The two major ways I know of that will increase your vocabulary ability is by reading cognitively challenging books, and by using new words daily.
          Throughout my life in America, as a student, they have preached to us the necessity of reading books that challenge us cognitively. When I was in intermediate school, they rated books for A-Z with A rated books being easiest and Z rated books being the most difficult. But most books don't have these ratings. When your choosing a book to read, find one where you can read a paragraph of the book, but you might not understand every word in it. Highlight the words you missed and then you can go back and look up the definition of the words for you to remember. This is a strategy I used while reading Spanish novels in high school. It will drastically improve your ability to comprehend english writing and improve your writing abilities.
          After you are done reading, try to remember at least five of the words you have learned and used them throughout your day. Try to integrate them into your daily language and eventually they will become automatic like muscle memory. You can use the vocabulary talking to your friend, teachers or parents. Image how impressed your parents would be hearing you speak at a higher level than
them.
          English is considered one of the most difficult languages to learn, but by reading almost daily you will begin to pick up on the language quickly. These words will need to be spoken and understood for them to become part of your daily vocabulary.

Mid-Semester at St. Norbert College

Now, we are almost done with the semester. I would like to share with you my experience until this point. This semester I am taking three classes. What I like about taking three classes is that I have time to give each class the effort that it needs. That is why I think this semester is one of my best semesters for organizing my time, organizing the assignments and making sure to submit each one on time.

At this point, every student will know how they are standing so far in this semester. They can know their grades and see what they need to do to improve their grades and to make sure they reached their goal that they set in the beginning of the semester. For my experience, in some classes my grade got lower than I wanted to, but now I have the chance to improve it before the semester ends to be satisfied.

Overall, the mid-semester in St Norbert College is great. First, it is because the weather is getting warmer and the snow has melted. Therefore, the students are going outside to do some outdoor activities, which is fun because we were doing indoor activities for the past six months.

Next, the St. Norbert registrar office has opened classes for the students to register for next semester. In addition, SNC advisers always make it easier for the students to decide which classes they need to take.

Conclusion, the spring semester Have been a great semester, all the students should keep doing a good work, and prepare yourself for the final exams. 

Expressing My Opinion in Academic Writing

Expressing My Opinion in Academic Writing

There are many academic writing strategies in our life and every country has their way in academic writing and some people take those strategies from their school which are different from all countries. However, for me there are many reasons that I believe to be the causes for my academic writing to improve, because I am from Saudi Arabia and now I am studying in St. Norbert College in United States, so I will be comparing the academic writing between both.

        

First, in Saudi Arabi I studied at Dammam Technical Higher Institute for Engineering and Petroleum (THIEP), where I received my diploma degree in oil and gas exploration technology, there was writing but not too much like in the United States especially in St. Norbert College. However, when I want to write paper in my country I can use a word like '' I '' and there no problems with my teacher and my Institute, but when I came in US I learn different things in academic writing especially the word " I " I cannot used in assignments papers.

. Finally, there are a lot of styles in academic writing in our world but we do not know it after we try it. 

Best ways to acquire new academic vocabulary.

       

       There are different ways or methods a person can acquire new vocabulary and I do not think any method is totally right or wrong. For example, when reading a passage and you come across a word you do not know, it is advised that you look up the meaning of the word in order for you to learn the word. However ,some believe that it is better if you write down the word, and try to look at how the word is used in the passage to see if you can come up with a meaning before you look up the meaning of the word from the internet.

       I believe that there are eight ways or methods of improving one’s vocabulary and the first method is to read. It can be books, journals, articles, newspapers and so forth because the more words you’re exposed to, the better your vocabulary. The second method is to improve your context skill in other words, pay close attention to how words are used, you can even search for how the words are used in examples. The next one would be to practice. You can write down the word, find the definition of it and try using it in a sentence but you have to make sure you review the word or at least try using the word for the whole day when speaking to people.

         In the example I gave earlier, people believe we should try and get into the habit of looking up words that we don’t know. Nowadays, some phones come with a dictionary and in some phones you can download one so it won’t really cost you anything to use them. The last method, which is fun  for most people would to play with the words. For example, playing scrabble or doing crossword puzzles can be fun. For serious vocabulary students, you can use vocabulary lists or take vocabulary tests.There are many books that focus on words used in standardized tests and you can practice taking vocabulary tests online or in some text books but I strongly recommend the  SAT prep book .

                                   

        I think at least one of the methods should work for you but if it does not, you can try and find a new method.

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