Master2 (L&C) Dissertation Writing Syllabus

Introduction
Reading for research
(sources, note-taking, sorting)
The outline
Introduction, chapters divisions, Conclusion.
Style
MLA, APA, Chicago Style…
Handling References
Quoting, Paraphrasing, Summarizing
Editing
The abstract
 Dissertation Writing
A memoir is a 40-page personal and original research work which obeys
academic regulations. It is not just a compilation of references or
quotations but shows the student's ability to produce an organized,
coherent and enriching essay in a given domain.

Preparing Research
• narrow down the topic (not too broad to be efficiently handled)
• difference between subject (Shakespeare) and topic (witchcraft in
Macbeth)
• select bibliography
• refine approach to justify the choice of the topic (read what has
been written and present your own approach against this
background)
• read primary material and record your proper feeling and analysis
• read/study secondary material to challenge and criticize them, to
find ideas that justify or contradict your approach
• take notes by recording sources
• think of subtitles
• justify topic (insufficient material available on the topic, disagree
with traditional criticism, topic neglected by critics, correct biased
opinion by critics, etc…)
• make topic interesting to reader, not boring
• prepare outline

What is the difference between subject and topic?

Subject is a broad category while a topic is more specific and precise and
can be put into the form of a research question.
Primary vs Secondary sources
Sidney Silverman Library at Bergen Community College (NJ) offers a
straightforward definition of the difference between primary and
secondary sources. “Primary sources are original materials such as
autobiographies, poems, diaries, documents, research articles, original
data, or an original creation such as a piece of art.” Materials that
“describe, explain or interpret primary sources,” they explain, are
secondary sources. “These include literature criticism, biographies, books
about a topic, reviews, encyclopedias and dictionaries.”
Primary sources
§ autobiography
§ painting or object of art
§ personal diary or letters
§ treaty (government document)
§ poem, novel, short story, etc.
§ firsthand observer accounts of event
§ play, film, television show, performance
§ speech given by a person
§ research report by researchers
§ photographs
Secondary sources
§ biography
§ article reviewing or criticizing the art
§ book about the person or event
§ essay interpreting the document
§ literary criticism of the work
§ report on event years later
§ biography of the writer
§ commentary on the speech
§ interpretation of the research
§ explanation of photographs

Always start reading the primary source first, taking notes with
publication information and page numbers before reading secondary
sources by others scholars in the same topic. Record your reactions and
thoughts as well as ideas on how to deal with the topic. Otherwise, you
will be influenced by other scholars' opinions and adopt them as yours,
thus losing originality.
 What is a Scholarly Source?

Reliable scholarly sources can be generally be identified by several

features:
Content (topic being discussed)
Audience (for the layperson or specialists of the field)
Language (higher level language and discipline-specific terminology)
Intent (case study, report of experimental results...)
Authorship (qualifications of author to write on the topic, usually an
advanced degree with years of experience and research on the topic)
Peer-review (material is evaluated by experts and only published if it
meets the discipline's standards)
In order to be published in these journals, the article will be put
through a process called a “peer review.” The editors will send the article
to other scholars in the same field (the author’s peers) in order to get
their opinion on the article’s quality of scholarship, its relevance to the
field of study and its appropriateness for publication in the journal.
Checking out the publication’s credentials will help you know how
trustworthy the source is
References (other materials used in the research process are listed in a
bibliography or footnotes)
Listing (found in Research Databases such as Jstor ProjectMuse,
Proquest, Web of Science, Thomson and Reuters, Springer, Elsevier…)

Wikipedia is not a reliable scholarly source since articles have no

authors and can be edited by anyone.
Another hint is that if the publication is glossy paper with lots of pictures,
it is likely to NOT be scholarly. (Example: National Geographic is NOT
scholarly although the writer may be an experienced researcher in the
subject--the language is not for the researcher's peers, the content is for a
generalist audience, there are no bibliographies, and the editorial review
is by general editors, not scholars in (higher level language and
discipline-specific terminology)
 The Outline
The problematics determines the outline. It should guide the reader to
your topic and to the approach selected to deal with it. Group related
ideas within same chapter to avoid too many sub-divisions (maximum of
four chapters).

The General Introduction is the most important part of your

essay. It should present the topic, state the reasons for the choice of this
topic, explain the problematics, raise questions to be answered in your
essay, state your approach: the way you intend to solve the problematics
or the methodology and detail the outline (show the steps to be followed
in the form of chapters with short summary of the contents of each
subtitle, giving the reader an idea of the outcome of your research (what
are you demonstrating in this extended essay)
The First Chapter usually provides the background to your topic
(historical, social and critical material against which your topic is set). It
contains the necessary information for your approach to be clearly
identified.
Chapters should follow a logical progression in the building up of
your study. They should be ordered importance-wise to bring out your
argument in the last chapter. Avoid repetition of already stated material
in another way. Leave out non-pertinent and unnecessary material which
might throw the reader off the track or confuse him as to your aim. Stick
to the topic, do not let comments, asides ( ) be too obtrusive and distract
the reader from your topic; better put them in footnotes or in appendices
if they do not bear directly to the topic. Be careful not to find yourself
writing a completely different topic from the one introduced at first.
Chapters should be properly balanced (not one long chapter and
another very short one).
Provide transitions between titles, concluding the preceding title and
introducing the following one.
The General Conclusion recapitulates your demonstration and
restates the most important findings of your research which had been
foreshadowed in the introduction. It might open up new horizons for
future related research but it should not introduce completely new
elements that you have not at all dealt with in the body of your research.
 Style
A memoir is written in a formal, academic style (do not use
colloquial or familiar style). It should be as accurate and objective as
possible (avoid vagueness, too many images). Avoid expressions which
do not add meaningful ideas (needless to say, it is obvious that, as I have
already said…). Be careful of connotation (riot, revolution; terrorist,
rebel), pay attention to your position in relation to the references used
(our nation, national if found in an American source refer to the US
nation, not yours).
Try to be impersonal, do not use "I", but rather passive voice
statements. “I” is reserved it for your solid, personal, argument in the
General Conclusion.

The text of your memoir is typed in Times New Roman 12 and

double spacing, or 14 in 1.5 spacing.

Plagiarism is cheating in academic work. It means copying what

others have written without giving them credit.
There are three ways to use a source:
1. quote word-for-word,
2. paraphrase,
and 3. summarize.

Referring to the works of others in your text is done by using what is

known as in-text parenthetical citation. Immediately following a
quotation from a source or a paraphrase of a source's ideas, you place the
author's name followed by a space and the relevant page number(s).
Human beings have been described as "symbol-using animals" (Burke 3).

Footnotes and Endnotes

• Footnotes are no longer used for sources, they are rather for
explanations, comments or digressions that may break the line of
an argument in the body of your text.
• Avoid extensive use of explanatory or digressive notes.
• You may use endnotes or footnotes for evaluative bibliographic
comments, for example:
1 See Blackmur, especially chapters three and four, for an insightful
analysis of this trend.
2 On the problems related to repressed memory recovery, see
Wollens pp. 120-35; for a contrasting view, see Pyle.
• You can also use endnotes or footnotes for occasional explanatory
notes or other brief additional helpful information that might be
too digressive for the main text:
3 In a 1998 interview, she reiterated this point even more strongly:
"I am an artist, not a politician!" (Weller 124).

Quotation marks are reserved for direct, word-for-word quotes only.

The paraphrase expresses the exact same ideas as the quote. The
summary, in contrast, reduces what the source says, eliminating
unneeded details while expressing the important ideas in the source. Like
the quote, they both begin with an introduction, in the body of the paper,
of the source. For example, According to Dr. Doughnut of Boston
University, “policemen . . .”. This clearly establishes to any reader that
you are going out of your voice and utilizing the work of another source.
Like the quote, both the paraphrase and the summary end with
parenthetical documentation giving the page number(s) where the
information was found. Of course, if three or more pages are cited for two
sentences, it is obvious that you are summarizing, not paraphrasing.
If there are no quotation mark, it means that the words are yours.
When you introduce another author’s ideas, you have to give the source
in parenthesis.
To avoid plagiarizing an author’s language, don’t look at the source
while you are summarizing or paraphrasing. After you’ve restated the
author’s idea in your own words, return to the source and check that you
haven’t used the author’s language or sentence structure or
misrepresented the author’s ideas.
 When to quote?

The focus of your essay should be on your understanding of the

topic. If you include too many quotations in your essay, you will crowd
out your own ideas. Consider quoting a passage from one of your sources
if any of the following conditions holds:
1. The language of the passage is particularly elegant or powerful or
memorable.
2. You wish to confirm the credibility of your argument by enlisting
the support of an authority on your topic.
3. The passage is worthy of further analysis.
4. You wish to argue with someone else’s position in considerable
detail.

Condition 3 is especially useful in essays for literature courses.

If an argument or a factual account from one of your sources is
particularly relevant to your paper but does not deserve to be quoted
verbatim, consider
• paraphrasing the passage if you wish to convey the points in the
passage at roughly the same level of detail as in the original
• summarizing the relevant passage if you wish to sketch only the
most essential points in the passage

Quotations of 3 lines or less are included in the main text within “ “.

Longer quotations are indented and single-spaced without quotation
marks but with the in-text parenthetical reference at the end. For
example:
And afterwards. Verily the works and words of those gone
before us have become instances and examples to men of
our modern day, that folk may view what admonishing
chances befel other folk and may therefrom take warning;
and that they may peruse the annals of antique peoples and
all that hath betided them, and be thereby ruled and
restrained. Praise, therefore, be to Him who hath made the
histories of the Past an admonition unto the Present! Now
of such instances are the tales called "A Thousand Nights
and a Night," together with their far famed legends and
wonders (Burton 5).

When not quoting the text fully, use ellipsis … and when altering the
pronouns in the quote use brackets [his]. [sic] is used when there is a
mistake in the original quote to show that the mistake is not yours. If you
want to emphasize a word or expression, use italics and add (my
emphasis), or (italics mine).
 Plagiarism Guidelines.
There are correct and legal ways to borrow words or ideas from other people, but
you must follow certain rules so that you don't get into trouble.

Things you cannot do: Things you must do:

• Copy directly without quotes • ·.Put quotes around all borrowed

• Copy directly without citing the words
source • Cite your source for every quote
• Paraphrase without citing the • Cite your source for every
source paraphrase
Change some words to make it Use your own words and ideas
seem like your own words unless y ou cite y our sources.
• •
To introduce quotations
Argues, writes, points out, concludes, comments, notes, maintains,
suggests, insists, observes, counters assert, states, claims, demonstrates,
says, explains, reveals…
In the words of X, . . . According to X, . . . In X’s view, . . .

Paraphrase and summary

The original passage is from Oliver Sacks’ essay “An Anthropologist on Mars”:
The cause of autism has also been a matter of dispute. Its incidence
is about one in a thousand, and it occurs throughout the world, its
features remarkably consistent even in extremely different cultures. It is
often not recognized in the first year of life, but tends to become obvious
in the second or third year. Though Asperger regarded it as a biological
defect of affective contact — innate, inborn, analogous to a physical or
intellectual defect — Kanner tended to view it as a psychogenic disorder, a
reflection of bad parenting, and most especially of a chillingly remote,
often professional, “refrigerator mother.” At this time, autism was often
regarded as “defensive” in nature, or confused with childhood
schizophrenia. A whole generation of parents — mothers, particularly — were
made to feel guilty for the autism of their children.

What follows is an example of illegitimate paraphrase:

The cause of the condition autism has been disputed. It occurs in
approximately one in a thousand children, and it exists in all parts of the
world, its characteristics strikingly similar in vastly differing cultures.
The condition is often not noticeable in the child’s first year, yet it
becomes more apparent as the child reaches the ages of two or three.
Although Asperger saw the condition as a biological defect of the emotions
that was inborn and therefore similar to a physical defect, Kanner saw it
as psychological in origin, as reflecting poor parenting and particularly a
frigidly distant mother. During this period, autism was often seen as a
defense mechanism, or it was misdiagnosed as childhood schizophrenia. An
entire generation of mothers and fathers (but especially mothers) were made
to feel responsible for their offspring’s autism (Sacks 247-48).

The following represents a legitimate paraphrase of the original passage:

In “An Anthropologist on Mars,” Sacks lists some of the known facts
about autism. We know, for example, that the condition occurs in roughly
one out of every thousand children. We also know that the characteristics
of autism do not vary from one culture to the next. And we know that the
condition is difficult to diagnose until the child has entered its second
or third year of life. As Sacks points out, often a child who goes on to
develop autism will still appear perfectly normal at the age of one (247).
Sacks observes, however, that researchers have had a hard time
agreeing on the causes of autism. He sketches the diametrically opposed
positions of Asperger and Kanner. On the one hand, Asperger saw the
condition as representing a constitutional defect in the child’s ability to
make meaningful emotional contact with the external world. On the other
hand, Kanner regarded autism as a consequence of harmful childrearing
practices. For many years confusion about this condition reigned. One
unfortunate consequence of this confusion, Sacks suggests, was the burden
of guilt imposed on so many parents for their child’s condition (247-48).

Here is a summary of the passage from “An Anthropologist on Mars”:

In “An Anthropologist on Mars,” Sacks notes that although there is
little disagreement on the chief characteristics of autism, researchers
have differed considerably on its causes. As he points out, Asperger saw
the condition as an innate defect in the child’s ability to connect with
the external world, whereas Kanner regarded it as a consequence of harmful
childrearing practices (247-48).
 Your research paper is written in your unique voice. It is organized
around a topic which you have chosen as the very best answer to a
research question which you have selected.
You begin it with a paragraph totally in your own words which
asserts your control over the process and you end it with a paragraph also
totally in your words which leaves the reader with a convincing summary
of the telling points you have made to lead you to your logical conclusion.
The whole paper is in your voice. Each paragraph begins and ends in
your voice. Never create a kind of collage out of your sources to give an
overview of a topic and never manipulate the words of others to express
your own point. Instead, say everything that needs to be said in your
words and simply bring in sources to augment and lend credibility to
what you are writing. Do not let your sources speak for you. Their role is
simply to support your writing.
Never end a paragraph with a quotation, write your own comments
and explanations after each quote. Do not just insert a quote without
commenting on it.

Handling sources in your text is done following academic regulations

established according to 3 main formats, MLA, APA and Chicago Manual.
MLA is the easiest to use as it consists only in (author page). It is
very convenient for literary criticism. APA is preferred in social sciences
when the date is important since it contains it (author date, page).
Chicago manual uses footnotes for sources but it is no longer in use. Only
some conservative journals still use it.
Every in-text source should appear in the Bibliography at the end of
your memoir and every entry in the Bibliography (or Works Cited for
MLA) must have been cited in the body of your memoir.

Introduction to MLA Style Sheet

Academic writing is at its root a conversation among scholars about a topic or question. Scholars write
for their peers, communicating the results of their research through books, journal articles, and other
forms of published work. In the course of a project, they seek out relevant publications, to learn from
and build on earlier research. Through their own published work, they incorporate, modify, respond to
and refute previous publications.
Given the importance of this conversation, authors must have comprehensible, verifiable
means of referring to one another’s work. Such references enable them to give credit to precursors
whose ideas they borrow, build on, or contradict and allow future researchers interested in the history
of the conversation to trace it back to its beginning. The references are formatted in a standard way so
that they can be quickly understood and used by all, like a common language. Documenting sources is
an aspect of writing common to all academic fields. Authors use standard techniques to refer to the
woks that influenced or otherwise contributed to their research.

MLA
In 1883 a small group of distinguished scholars came together with a radical idea: that modern
languages deserved the same respect in higher education as classical languages (Greek and Latin).
They decided to form an organization that would advocate language study, research and the evolution
of scholarship. The organization they founded is the MODERN LANGUAGE ASSOCIATION. Today,
the MLA has over 25000 members in the US, Canada and around the world.
Since its founding, the organization has been committed to sharing ideas and research. Its
notable publications include the MLA International Bibliography, a major resource for researchers in
literature and language, and PMLA, one of the most respected journals of literary studies. But the
publication best known to the wider public is the MLA Handbook, which has served as the “style bible”
for generations of students. Like the association, it has evolved in response to changing needs over the
years.

Online resource
style.mla.org