LC-1117, Spring 2021

Group discussion questions, Session 2

The following questions review the online module on citations and avoiding plagiarism. Discuss the questions in small groups to ensure a common understanding of each question.

1.       Why is it not recommendable to leave the citation at the end of the paragraph when the whole paragraph is referring to one source?  What would be a better solution?

 

2.       Is it acceptable to see the same source marked several times in consecutive sentences within a paragraph? 

 

3.       It is quite common for writers to overuse the words “according to X”. What other solutions are there when you want to mention some other author’s view?

 

4.       The online module mentioned author-prominent and information-prominent citations. What is the difference? Had you heard about this distinction before?  Have you seen both used in articles from your field?

 

5.       What is the difference between paraphrasing, quoting and summarizing?

 

6.       Here is an excerpt from an abstract for an article published in an ACM journal.

The adoption of the Internet of Things is gradually increasing. However, there remains a significant obstacle that hinders its adoption as a truly ubiquitous technology: the ability of constrained devices to unambiguously exchange data with shared meaning. In this respect, the World Wide Web Consortium has developed the Web of Things architecture to provide semantic data exchange. However, such an architecture does not cover all possible use cases and still has important limitations.

References

[1] O. Novo and M. Di Francesco, “Semantic Interoperability in the IoT: Extending the Web of Things Architecture,” ACM Trans. Internet Things, vol. 1, no. 1, Mar. 2020. https://doi.org/10.1145/3375838

Your friend Pekka is writing a paper and has asked your opinion on how to use citations. Based on reading the above article and a few others, Pekka has written the following sentence for which he needs to add the citation(s): 

[…] = The interoperability of the Internet of Things devices still needs much development to ensure robust data exchange.

Which of the following forms are suitable in the IEEE citation style? Why some of them are not good style?

a.       According to [1], [...].

b.       Authors in [1] argue that [...].

c.       Novo and Di Francesco [4] argue that [...].

d.       [1] state that [...].

e.       [...] [1].

f.        Many studies have reported that [...] [1],[3],[7].

 

7.       What different citation styles are you aware of now?  Discuss their broad differences. Which are you planning on using for this course?

 

8.       Consider the original passage below and he paraphrased passages a + b + c.  Do you consider them acceptable? Why or why not?

Original:

We do not yet understand all the ways in which brain chemicals are related to emotions and thoughts, but the salient point is that our state of mind has an immediate and direct effect on our state of body.  

(Source: Siegel, B. (1986). Love, Medicine and Miracles (p. 69). New York: Harper and Row.)

Source for this exercise: https://integrity.mit.edu/handbook/academic-writing/avoiding-plagiarism-paraphrasing

Paraphrase A:

Siegel (1986) writes that we still do not know all the ways in which brain chemistry is related to emotions and thoughts, but the important point is that our mental state has an immediate and direct effect on our physical state.

Paraphrase B:

According to Siegel (1986), our mind affects our body quickly and directly, although we do not yet understand every aspect of how brain chemicals relate to emotions and thoughts.

Paraphrase C:

Siegel (1986) postulates that although the relationship between brain chemistry and thoughts and feelings is not fully understood, we do know that our psychological state affects our physical state.

9.       What are the benefits of using citation management programs / software?

 


Last modified: Tuesday, 27 April 2021, 10:17 AM