Week 3 – Discussion: Reviewing the Academic Writing

Week 3 – Discussion: Reviewing the Academic Writing

I learned some valuable information while reviewing Dr. Branden Henline’s video on writing with integrity. Dr. Henline talked about not “double-dipping”, which I never knew was an actual thing. Double dipping is defined as submitting some of your previous work for another class, which is self-plagiarism and an academic integrity violation (Henline, 2015). Another thing I learned was not writing with my research materials open or near me. Dr. Henline (2015) suggests that writing with research materials closed builds good reading and studying skills. Reading my materials while taking notes and highlighting instead of writing with my materials open will keep me from using direct words and quotes from other authors (Henline, 2015).  Lastly, I learned that using direct quotes is not frowned upon. I was also told growing up in school not to use direct quotes if it’s not directly from me, so I have very rarely used direct quotes. Dr. Henline (2015) suggests that using direct quotes is an acceptable academic integrity practice only when following the correct APA guidelines, like using quotation marks and properly citing the authors.

To avoid plagiarism I first plan to cite all my sources. Citing your sources may be one of the most important aspects of avoiding plagiarism, as you give the proper credit to the people who deserve it. Along with citing my sources, I plan to complete correct references for all of my papers, this allows teachers to directly see where my sources are coming from. For my second way to avoid plagiarism, I plan to take Dr. Henline’s advice by not writing with research materials open. Writing without materials open will allow me to get my thoughts down without using other people’s words, and sentence structures. I think this will allow me to speak in my own words while still speaking knowledgeably about the topic. And lastly, I plan to properly revise my papers before turning them in. Doing this will allow me to find citing mistakes I could have made, or any other mistake in general where I’m not following proper APA guidelines.

As someone who wants an advanced degree and research career in the field of Psychology, continuing to have great academic integrity is a must and I feel like it will help me in reaching my ultimate goals.

References

Henline, B. (2015, April 27). Writing with Integrity [Video]. Prezi. https://prezi.com/ovhpinyensxd/writing-with-integrity/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy

Abstract 

I have come to the conclusion that the APA style of writing, exists mainly to ensure that students express themselves.  Emphasis is placed on avoiding plagiarism, it is the key to a good academic grade.  It is also important to give credit to the original author of an article.  This assignment, also reiterated the necessary steps and order to producing a good scholarly paper:  reading, highlighting, taking notes, closing the books, pondering what was read, perhaps working with the Writing Center and finally writing the paper – the scholarly way, according to Dr. Henline.