Citations, Practice and Appendix

Skype Session with Module One focus.

Today we talked about three points that are important across the course (all modules) but that you will first come across in Module One.

Citations and References
 Make sure your use of citations, references and quotes are all correct.
This includes.

• Put quotes on a separate line.
• Check you are using the correct citation method for the type of resource you are referencing (for instance web-sites need to include date accessed).
• When you refer to an author or theory in your text make sure you cite what you are talking about. Don’t just write ‘Smith says it is beautiful’ you need ‘Smith (2015) says it is beautiful’. This way  you indicate where and when it was said by Smith which is important. 
• Don’t use the quote to speak for you – make sure you explain your points in your own understanding (referencing where you got the idea from) and then use quotes to show how someone else explains the same thing – quotes are like an illustration of what you are saying. 

Your practice is central 
Make sure you clearly articulate what you see your practice being in the introduction. This gives context to what you are about to discuss. This is the same for all essays – introduce what it is about at the beginning. This Module One essay and the whole course is about your practice so you need to introduce your practice to us when you write about it.

Appendix
An appendix is for extra information. You cannot assume someone reading your essay will read any appendix. Re-read your essay and make sure it makes sense and you explain your points without any of the appendix. Then any appendix that is added just gives further information (not essential information).

Points we thought were important as we summarised the session.  
Introduce your professional practice to give focus
read more: https://naomiblogging.blogspot.co.uk

Don’t assume people know what you are talking about
read more: http://shanice-blissett.blogspot.co.uk

Explain what your practice actually is, don’t just explain the module, explain ‘you’.
read more: http://rachlhickey.blogspot.co.uk

Really focus on all aspects of your practice not just one part of it.
read more: https://nicoleblachford.blogspot.co.uk

Remember your practice is more than just what you are paid to do or your training it also has something to do with the artistry you feel you bring to things, what your plans and hopes are…

For many people after a couple of years working or auditioning or creating your ‘practice’ is different from ‘what you were trained to do’.

What do you feel - please comment below
Adesola

Why we cite

Here is a great  short video on why citation is important.

What do you think?

Adesola

https://youtu.be/mkn4SyhjylM

Campus session Module 3 more notes: Referencing help-useful pdf

http://www.staffs.ac.uk/support_depts/infoservices/learning_support/refzone/harvard/learning_support/refzone/harvard/

What you say and what other people say….

Hi

Christmas is coming!!! First, I wanted to put in a word for citations and using them!!! This is about linking your ideas to things beyond yourself. In Module One we talk about communication, reflection and networks.  These are foundational ideas that we return to each module. Think of citations in terms of them. Citing (talking about) other peoples’ work and ideas is how you show how your ideas link to the ‘network’ of ideas about a subject. This also shows how what you think links to the ‘reflections’ of others. As you do this you communicate your ideas in your own way and then share how other people have ‘communicated’ similar ideas.

Now don’t be afraid of citations just because they have a particular format. The formality of citations is just so there is a standard way of doing things; so we can all find the work you are talking about. I have talked about this in a couple of past blog posts have a look.

Starting up

What Sam and Billy say

Citations

Rubric

 

Now for word counts and editing – again don’t be afraid of these. Word counts and starting to edit your work is part of sharpening your skills in writing and being clear in your own head what you want to say.

Here are some ‘tips’ on self-editing

• Don’t get too attached to everything in the essay; nothing is ever lost; it can be used elsewhere. 
• Whatever you write, write about what is necessary to the points you are making.
• Be sure that everything in the essay contributes to what you want the Reader to experience or learn from your writing.
• Don’t read to edit immediately after you have written something. Take a break and come back to it.
• Write what you mean and stop when you’ve said it!!
• Put your ideas in order.
• Think of the essay as a whole: have only one beginning (introduction), middle (the points you want to make) and end (a conclusion drawing it all together). Don’t write a beginning middle and end for every thought you want to talk about.

Looking forward to reading your comments

Adesola

Rubric

I found this rubric as I was looking through some work. It is a good example of expectations for writing, might be especially useful for those writing their reflection of learning in Module One although I think it is interesting reading for writing in the context of  BAPP in general. What do you think?

Example for BAPP blog: Assessment Rubric (from 3/12/2008)

	Beginner fail (below level)	Expected	Developed	Progressing	Notes
External sources of Knowledge: Aware academic / professional ideas of other and seeing how they fit into your work.	Cite one or no external ideas.	Cite others work  two- three	Cite others work appropriately (examples) four or five Aware of others doing similar work as you	Cite others work effectively – (developed ideas on) more than five
Internal conception of knowledge: Recognising own practise as a source of knowledge.	Telling the story of something that happened that helped you	Realisation: Articulating an   event or incident when self practise developed, (without the aid a teacher).	Trust: Articulate a time when you acted on your practice (self knowledge / things you have learnt) without confirmation or direction of someone else.	Giving / Risk: being able to articulate a through-line (show us how it manifests) of your practice in life outside of the arts or work.
Selection and Justification of approaches to tasks	Wrote the work	Work has a number of drafts, final draft could track the development of the drafts (work went through development stages)	Work reflects other forms of thinking used in the process of composing the essay.	Work is a vehicle that summarises a whole process of learning. Almost like a report on the learning that has been done (persons went through development stages)
Ethical Understanding	Know external frameworks.	Work articulates how student can see the impact of themselves and their practice on others. Aware of external frameworks (rules) and apply them.	Articulate how practice is informed by awareness of particular views and experiences, aware of the effect they have on others.  Know external ethical frameworks and incorporate them into this knowledge of their actions.	Articulate a clear understanding of responsibilities: Practice is informed by student’s perceived place in society – student shows a range of ways to engage with others because of the impact research / study might have. Analyse external frameworks and develop them for themselves.
Analysis and synthesis	Ideas are evident.	Can track where ideas have developed and how they have been influenced by experiences.	Show how ideas have linked in the past and the range of ways ideas emerge. Show the different ways in which ideas can be used. (concepts, principles, systems, models)	Articulate the personal process for developing and applying ideas, shows awareness of other peoples’ processes as well.
Self appraisal / reflection on practise	Explain how a teacher has helped their develop	Explain how a past experience has informed the way the student does things now. The Student explains how their impression of their work has differed from a teacher’s.	Explain how past experience has been used to inform a wide range of elements of practice.	Shows how the student has developed their practice through   intentional use of self reflection (not instigated by someone or something else). Instances of this.
Action Planning leading to effective and appropriate action (B3)	Table or schedule of events	Evidence of how they plan, including prioritising and   setting of aims and objectives.	Showing evidence of having planned for themselves and others. Plan would accommodate a number of people and schedules &/or use existing action planning tool/s.	Shows understanding of ethical implications and the impact of their work has on others. Their work theorises or cites other planning methods.
Evaluation of information (B4)	Student describes information that they think is relevant.	Presents ways that have been   used to access information and identify what is important to their personal practice.	Present a range of existing evaluation tools/ formulas that they have found valuable.	Show personally devised ways and systems that are used to evaluate information.
Application of learning in number of contexts	Shows that student learnt stuff.	Learnt something and show how student used it in a different circumstance.	Learnt something and used it in two other contexts (home-life, teaching, technique class, relationships).	Learnt something and used it in more than two contexts, or at a very deep level.
Use of resources will be effective and wide ranging	Has put aside some time each week to study.	Shows understanding of relevant resources and how they would be useful.	Gathered a number of resources (such as people, things,   ideas, funding) in support of their work.	Sees impact of their work on others. Can describe the strategic implications of their work as a resource for others.
Effective Communication	Good at story telling.	Uses the standard methods of written and oral presentation for academia. (sentence construction, argumentation and citation)	Articulation of the use of a range of approaches to communication / presentation and some are used.	Successful and clearly decided approaches to support impact of ideas and concepts in their work. Articulation of why this approach was used.
Working and learning autonomously and with others	Evidence of being organised and punctual.	Organised work, with a method of working developed from past experience. Can identify the people they work with ‘best’	Shows strategies for working autonomously and with others. Is willing to take a number of roles within a group (challenge, reflect, support).	Shows knowledge of when to engage with others, is aware of their responses to different group settings. Shows awareness of when and how to challenge and support others. Can articulate personal perspectives in relation to working autonomously and with others.

Starting up

Hi

Welcome back returning students and welcome new people. As you start to organise yourself and read the handbooks I hope you will get going blogging and commenting. I am writing a quick blog on citations requested by Mel. Module Twos and Threes are thinking about their feedback. As you start it is a good time to look at your work with fresh eyes. If you are new starting Module One now is a good time to read through other peoples blogs and see what people have been doing and thinking.

We use the Harvard system. The idea of a citation is that you are letting the Reader know where you got an idea or quote from. It is making sure you recognise the places things come from. It also allows the Reader to go and find out more about that idea or the rest of the quote because they know where it came from. This is how they know you write the name of the person who said it and the date of the publication they said it in just after you mention it (for example (Smith 2012)). If it is a quote you also write the page number (for example Smith, 2012 p.65). Now the Reader has what they need to be a detective.

First they go to the end of your writing to the bibliography. There you will have written the longer version. The name of the person is first (Smith) so they can find the name you had in the text and then they check the date (2012). Smith might have written a number of things that you have quoted at different times so there maybe a (Smith, 2007) as well. Then the rest of the long citation in the bibliography tells us the name of the book and who published. The whole point of all of this is that the Reader can go to the library and get the same book you were looking at. Then they can turn to the page (p.65) and read what you read that led you to write about the idea in your paper. It is all about giving the write information so we can have the same (reading) experience as you.

If you quote someone – even if you have just said something about that person you still have to use a citation at the end of the quote, anyway you need to put the page number as well.

For example:

James Smith writes about cows in his book ‘I love milk’. Here he is point out that grass is really important.

‘It was green and beautiful and fed the cows very well’ (Smith, 2012 p.65)

Also see past posts:

Adesola's BA PP blog: What Sam and Billy say: What Sam and Billy say

What Sam and Billy say

Writing about experiences...

Looking forward to a great term everyone

Adesola

What Sam and Billy say

Hi I am going to address a question Alicia asked on her blog “when quoting my interviewees, how do I do it..?”

The idea of a citation for a book etc... is so that when we read your work we can then go and find the book (journal etc...) you had in your hand that you cited from. But the interviews are data you collected and we cannot go and find them somewhere. You are using quotes form interviewees as examples of something you are writing about, so it is a bit different from a citation for book (etc...) which is pointing us towards further reading or bringing to mind a theorised idea by someone else. So assuming you have given an outline of what you research looked like. [ie you interviewed six professional dancers. Billy works in UK, Jamie in Mexico etc... and any other relevant information we need to know about them while respecting their anonymity.] Then when you write about something they said you can write

'it's a long way to go to go to an audition' - Billy

So now a notes about quoting people in terms of the above:

First: the decision to give them names – many people say participant (1) or participant B. This is ok but think about the topic of your research. If it about people's experiences or feelings etc… then it is ok to present them as real people. Not labelled like test-tubes. If it’s a test-tube based data collection process then naming them A, B or C makes more sense. If you use names think about the implication of gender and cultural background a name can give.

Second, as I mention above take a moment  in the overview of the research project in your account to let us know who and where and how you collected the data so we can see any comments in the context of the inquiry. For instance some of my interviewee might be college students and other professional dancers and other teachers.

Third,  DO NOT use the quote to make your point. Make the point and then use the quote to give an example of what you are talking about.

'Most dancers I spoke to talked about the importance of auditions in terms of keeping current with what was going on, but also pointed out that there needed to a balance between the keeping current and the expense of preparing and traveling to an audition. 

'I live in Gistone (small village in the North of England) and most auditions I am interested in are in the South. its a long way to go to travel to an audition.' Billy (professional dancer)

Billy's comment underlined Smiths (2009) theory that dancers in the outside of major cities are disadvantaged when it comes to audition experience. However, Sam the other professional dancer I interviewed from the North of England saw a trip down South for an audition as part of a larger goal. Sam used the time to also meet up with friends and visit museums.

'I try to make going to auditions only part of what i do in a day. That way I feel less pressure in the audition. Otherwise I'm like thinking if I don't get this I've wasted the fare down here and what-not.' - Sam (professional dancer). 

Smith (2009) has said that professional dancers start to see auditions as away of socialisation. It seemed that the professional dancers who lived outside of major cities..... 

Smith quote....'

The quotes from Participants should be indented but I can't see how to do that on the blog post page and my computer keeps crashing, so I'M trying to get this posted before it dies again - but enough of my problems!!!!

Back to the quotes-- as we read more and more quotes we also start to get a sense of the personalities of the participants - that is also why its nice to give them names; it is easier to remember who said what.

As you start to write what you are handing in for assessment in any of the modules start to let go of the drive to make a point (tell the truth) - and think of the actual document you are making as also a work of art. how you write, structure and form the essay is an art too. It is not just about what you are saying because how we understand what you are saying is more subtle then just the idea, it is how the words are put together. I am very aware of this as a dyslexic - and it often seems like a magic trick to even get words together in the first place but every now and then you might read something or see something and think that was really well done. Think about what you think is well written and why. Alan did a post about truth, that was interesting to read. I guess I am saying the same thing. Let's suppose there is more than one 'truth'. What you are thinking about when you write should not be presenting the 'truth' of what you found but capturing the nature of what you found or experienced.   

(Sensitivity to the whole process not just an account of past.)

What do you think? Does this help with the quote question?

Adesola

Citations

I am in the middle of marking. It is nice to see everyone’s great work.  Here is a quick comment in general about citations:

A quote should be on a separate line, in italics and indented. The quote also needs a ‘lead in’ and ‘lead out’ in your text. You cannot just put it there to make a point by itself.

Example:

“Dewey’s Pragmatist perspective further develops the research’s understanding of dance as language. Whereas above phenomenological hermeneutics implies dance could be thought of as dealing with the leftovers of verbal language Dewey reverses this idea:

‘language, signs and significance, come into existence not by intent and mind but by over-flow, by-product, in gestures and sounds. The story of language is the story of the use made of these occurrences; a use that is eventual as well as eventful.’  (Dewey 1958, p.175)

Dewey sees verbal language as an adornment to the act of communicating. He sees communication as the drive to share and collaborate meaning. Effort of doing this can lead to verbal language but communication is not brought into existence by verbal language and the effort of communication could just as well lead to a movement language . ” – Akinleye, unpublished thesis

The citation (Dewey, 1958, p.175) is linked to the following in the bibliography, which should not be separate, but a part of the same document. That means that when you read the above quote you can turn to the back pages and see which book it is. The citation tells us this: to find the book you go to the bibliography and look for the name Dewey. I may have a number of books by Dewey I have quoted from so then you look for the one published in 1958. Now you can locate the full detail example below. 

If there were two books by Dewey published in 1958 in my bibliography then I would put

(Dewey, 1958a p.175). Then the bibliography I would put 1958a again so you know which one of the two books by him published in 1958 I was talking about. So the bibliography entry will look like this:

Dewey, J. (1958) Experience and nature, New York: Dover Publications.

This citation format is Harvard:

Surname, initcal of first name. (Year the book you are looking at was published), where it was published: who published it

Note the punctuation as well as the content of the text. Using this method means your work is in line with standard citation formats, which means that anyone who is used to doing research can read your work and find the very text you have copied the quote from. Every book published in UK is in the British Library. That means that someone can find the book you are talking about. That is what citation is for. It is not to prove you know the quote was in a book by X.

Also note that the date is the date of the book you are holding in your hand when you look at the quote. So for instance Dewey did not first publish ‘Experience and Nature’ in 1958, but that is the date of the book I have, so when I put the page number (…, p.175) you can find the page with the quote on it. In a book published earlier or later the print size maybe different or the size of the book pages etc… this means that that quote is not on page 175 of those books. This is why it is important the date is of the publication you have looked at, otherwise the page number is meaningless.

Please think about this….

Does it make sense?

Adesola

Books

I love Amazon! The strength of the dollar / pound means they can find me any book I look for!!! and tell me what other people read (!) making some really interesting links I would not have thought of.

I am keeping a personal citation library with Endnote. This is also so helpful. It means you can retrieve quotes, ideas and authors very quickly while you are writing.