Chapter 20 Summary

                 

                   In Chapter 20 of the Bedford Research we discuss how to understand the documentation systems. The first key question you should ask is "what is a documentation system and which one should I use?" There are four major styles to choose from, and they all have different documents they go with. MLA is the style from the Modern Language Association and is used primarily in the humanities, English, philosophy, linguistics, world languages, etc. APA is the style from the American Psychological Association and is used mainly for the social sciences, psychology, sociology, anthropology, political science, economics, education, etc. Chicago is the style developed by the University of Chicago Press. This style is used mainly in history, journalism, and the humanities. CSE is the style from the Council of Science Editors and is used mainly for the physical and life sciences such as chemistry, geology, biology, botany, and mathematics. This fields will guide your choice in documentation system. The next question you should ask is "How should I document my sources?" How you answer this question will depend on your  writing situation. Most often you will provide a reference to your source within text, and provide a complete set of citations, or formal acknowledgements, for your sources in a work cited or reference list. The specific format of your in-text citations will depend on the documentation system you use. Key publication information is usually provided in a works cited list, reference list, or bibliography. These list appear at the end of the document and include the following information about each source. Authors and editors, title, publication date, publisher and city of publication, periodical name, volume, issue, and page numbers, URL and access date.    

Ch. 17 Summary

Calvin Gurtler

5/20/14

English 102

                    In chapter 17 of the Bedford Researcher we discussed revising and editing your document. There are several things you should consider when revising your document your writing situation, your argument and ideas, your use and integration of sources, the structure and organization of your document, and your genre and design. You also need to decide what strategy you want to use as you revise. The different strategies are saving multiple drafts, highlighting your main point, reasons, and evidence, challenging your assumptions, and scanning outlining, and mapping, your document. The main things to focus on are accuracy by checking facts and figures, economy by reducing the number of words to express an idea, consistency by treating concepts and numbers consistently, style by using the right words and using active and passive voice appropriately, and spelling, grammar, and punctuation. It helps to mark and search your document using a highlighting pen or highlighter too to mark errors or information that should be double checked. Word processor tools for checking grammar, spelling, and punctuation should be used with caution as they have limitations. They can't identify words that are spelled correctly but are misused. They also cannot recognize technical and scientific terms,  names, and unusual words.    

Ch. 14 summary

Calvin Gurtler

5/19/14

English 102

               In chapter 14 of the Bedford Researcher we discussed the proper way to draft your document. The outline that you have created is important in the drafting process. The outline will act as the skeleton of your draft. You can flesh out your document with effective paragraphs that focus on a central idea. Paragraphs often have a topic sentence that makes assertions, offers an observation, or asks a question. the remaining sentences elaborate on the topic. It is also important to follow an organizing pattern, often paragraphs follow the same organizing pattern as the document as a whole follows. The common styles are chronology: identifying the sequence in which events occur over time, description: presenting the distinguishing features of an idea, a concept, or an event, definition: presenting the distinguishing features of an idea, a concept, or an event, cause/effect: identifying factors that lead to an outcome, process explanation: tracing steps or explaining how something happened, pro/con: presenting reasons and evidence in favor of and against an idea, multiple perspectives: organizing according to a range of views, comparison/contrast: exploring similarities and differences, problem/ solution: defining a problem and presenting a solution. You should also use details to capture your readers' attention. The two types of details are minimal details and extensive, concrete details. It is also important to create transitions within and between paragraphs. Transitions include phrases such as however and on the other hand 

ch. 18 summary

Calvin Gurtler

5/12/14

English 102

                 In chapter 18 of the Bedford Researcher we discussed how to understand design principles. The first step to understanding design principles is to use design effectively. The first principles to understand are balance, emphasis, placement, repetition, and consistency. Balance is the vertical and horizontal alignment of elements on your pages. Emphasis is the placement and formatting of elements, such as headings and subheadings, so they can catch your readers' attention. Placement is the location of elements on your pages. Placing elements next to or near each other suggests that they are related. Repetition is the use of elements, such as headers and footers, navigation menus, and pages numbers, across pages in your document. Consistency is the extent to which you format and place text and illustration in the same way throughout your document. You should design for a purpose and present ideas, information, and arguments in a manner that helps you accomplish your purpose. You should also design for your readers. That means that you should have the following things in mind, that you are helping reader understand the organization of a document. That you are helping readers locate information and ideas. And that you are helping readers recognize the function of parts of a document.   

Ch. 15 Summary

Calvin Gurtler

5/11/14

English 102

                        In chapter 15 of the bedford researcher we discussed how to use sources effectively. One of the key questions you should ask yourself when writing your document is how can I use sources to accomplish my purpose as a writer? One of the ways is to introduce an idea or argument using a quotation, paraphrase, or summary. when you want indicate that a disagreement exists you can contrast ideas or arguments. You should base your choices on the clarity and conciseness of your sources. It is also important to provide evidence for your argument. Arguments that consist of a series of unsupported assertions don't earn the readers trust. If you support your assertions it is more likely that you will earn your readers trust. You should also align your argument with an authority such as a subject matter expert, a scientist, a politician, or a religious figure. This will give you assertion more credibility. Next it is important to define a concept, illustrate a process, or clarify a statement using your sources. You can choose quotation and illustrations with an eye toward establishing an overall mood for your readers. The emotional impact of images of a celebration or an expression of grief can lead your readers to react in specific ways.     

Chapter 16 summary

Calvin Gurtler

5/5/14

English 102

In chapter 16 of the Bedford Researcher we discuss how to write with style. The fist thing to think about when trying to write with style is to write concisely as people don't want to work any harder than necessary to understand the information in front of them.Writing clearly by keeping your words to a minimum helps you get your point across quickly. One of the easiest ways to cut down on unnecessary words is to cut out unnecessary modifiers. These are words that provide little or no additional information, examples of modifiers are fine, many, somewhat, great, sort of, and very. Remove unnecessary introductory phrases such as there are, there is, these have, these are, here are, it has been reported that, and so on. You should also work to eliminate stock phrases. 

It also helps to use active and passive voice effectively. A sentence written in active voice specifies a person or thing that carries out the action. A sentence written in passive voice indicates that something was done, but does not specify who or what did it. Passive voice can be helpful when active voice would require the inclusion of unnecessary information. 

Next you should adopt a consistent point of view whether it is first person, second person, or third person you should stick with it through out. 

        

Chapter 12 summary

Calvin Gurtler

4/27/14

English 102

                  In chapter 12 of the Bedford Researcher we discussed important ways  to properly develop your argument. When supporting your argument it is important to first support your thesis statement. The first step you should take when trying to support you thesis statement is to choose a reason. The kinds of reasons you choose will change based on the type of document you intend to write. For example, readers of reflective documents, such as blog posts and academic essays, will expect you to focus on a particular subject. While readers of informative documents, such as reports, essays, and articles, expect you to help them understand something about an issue. You should then select evidence to support your reasons. You can draw evidence from your sources in the form of quotations, paraphrases, summaries, numerical data, and visual images. Again, you should be considering the type of document you intend to write. You also need to decide how you want to appeal to your readers, whether you want to appeal to authority, to emotion, to principles, values, and beliefs, to character, or to logic. The final main step in supporting your argument is to assess its integrity. You check your arguments for fallacies. the four major fallacies that arise in a document are fallacies based on distraction, fallacies based on questionable assumptions, fallacies based on misrepresentation, and fallacies based on careless reasoning.