Ashford Student Writing Handbook

Student Writing handbookonline edition© 2008 Ashford UniversityTable of ContentsOverview. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3Ashford University Writing Standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4Papers and Other Written Assignments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4Research Requirements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4Discussion Postings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5Initial Posts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5Responses to Initial Posts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6Citing/Documenting Sources in Discussion Posts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7Plagiarism. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7Types of Academic Writing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8Interpretive Writing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8Analytical Writing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) About Writing Papers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10How long should my paper be?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10How do I develop a paper?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10Step 1: Planning. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10Step 2: Prewriting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10Step 3: Drafting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11Step 4: Revising. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11Step 5: Editing and Formatting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11Step 6: Proofreading and Printing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12What is a thesis statement?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12Can I use contractions in my writing? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) about APA Format and Documentation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13How are the in-text citation and the Reference List citation related?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13How do I cite a source that was quoted in my textbook?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13How should I format my source citations?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13How do I cite a personal communication or an interview?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14What do I do if my source does not have a publication date?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14Appendices. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15Appendix A: Sample Paper in Ashford University APA-Style Format. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15Appendix B: How to Build a Winning Discussion Posting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212OverviewStrong writing skil s are critical to both academic and professional success. Research indicates that individuals who possess excel ent writ en communication skil s are highly valued in most professional work environments. Writing is an integral part of all Ashford University courses and an important component of the university’s learning/teaching model.Ashford University is commit ed to help students succeed and has developed writing standards and resources to support students in developing their writing skil s. This handbook outlines these standards and provides students with university expectations and guidelines for effective academic and professional writing.Unless your instructor notifies you about different requirements for a specific assignment, follow the guidelines in this handbook for all your papers, written assignments, and written exercises for Ashford University online courses. 3Ashford University Writing StandardsPapers and Other Written Assignments All papers must be prepared in Microsoft Word, not in Microsoft Works, WordPerfect, or another word processing program. All papers must be double-spaced, in a Times New Roman 12-point regular font, and formatted according to the APA style as shown in The Little, Brown Compact Handbook.  All papers must have a title page formatted according to the APA style and the sample APA title page shown in The Little, Brown Compact Handbook. Abstracts are not required for undergraduate papers unless specifically requested by your instructor. Abstracts may be required for graduate papers. (See syllabus instructions for each graduate course). All ideas that are not your own, whether quoted or paraphrased, must be documented in your paper in APA style, unless the idea is common knowledge. They must also be documented in an APA-formatted reference list at the end of the paper.Please review the sample paper in Appendix A for illustrations and additional information concerning the proper Ashford University APA-style format for written assignments.Research RequirementsAcademic research and papers must meet certain standards of quality recognized by the academic community. What constitutes quality academic research? Primary (original) sources written by experts in the field of study. Secondary sources supported by research in primary sources. Credible sources (experts in the area of study). Relevant research (materials pertinent to the area of study). In graduate work, the use of peer-reviewed journal articles (journal articles reviewed by recognized experts in the relevant field of study) is required. Educational websites may be appropriate, in some cases, but should be evaluated carefully.What sources are not acceptable for academic research and referencing? Encyclopedias Dictionaries Wikipedia, other wikis, or blogs Websites and other sources that do not provide quality researched materials (do not use credible sources to support the information in the document).All research must reflect professional academic protocol and must be documented according to APA standards. (See section titled Plagiarism below.)4Discussion PostingsUnless your instructor notifies you about dif erent requirements for a specific assignment, fol ow the guidelines below for posting to all class discussion boards. Also review the additional information on discussion postings in How to Build a Winning Discussion Posting in Appendix B.The discussion boards simulate classroom discussions, so your language and writing style does not have to be as formal as in your written papers. However, you must write in complete sentences and in paragraph form. Your posts should also be grammatical y cor ect, punctuated and capitalized properly, and proofread. For lengthy posts, we suggest you type your post in Microsoft Word, spell check and grammar check it, and paste the text into the discussion post.You must acknowledge any ideas or references to the text or other sources you use in your discussion posts. However, you are not required to provide a formal APA in-text citation and a reference list, as you are in a writ en assignment. Document sources in your discussion posts as shown below under Citing/Documenting Sources in Discussion Posts.Students and faculty are expected to treat one another with respect. We may disagree with one another’s ideas, but name cal ing, personal at acks, or of ensive language on the discussion boards wil not be tolerated. See the Ashford University Code of Student Conduct (in the Ashford University Catalog) for more details.Initial PostsTo provide time for others to respond to your discussion postings, your initial post for each discussion is due on or before midnight (Pacific Time) on Day 3 (Thursday) of the Learning Block. Instructors have the right to assess late penalties or to refuse to accept late postings. If you use any ideas other than your own in your discussion posts, make sure you cite your sources in your discussion posts. Follow the guidelines for citations shown below under Citing/Documenting Sources in Discussion Posts.Below are some guidelines for initial posts. Read the discussion board requirements and your instructor’s guidance thoroughly to make sure you understand the discussion assignment. Make certain your posting answers all questions and addresses all issues required in the discussion assignment. Your initial post should contribute to the topic. It should demonstrate that you have read, understood, and critically evaluated the topic. Give examples and cite specific sentences or paragraphs from the text or from outside research to support your statements. Relate the topic to your own experiences. Consider using examples from your personal experiences and discuss how they relate to the topic under discussion. Review grammar, punctuation, and spelling and proofread your posts before submitting them.5Responses to Initial PostsYou must make the required number of response postings to your classmates’ posts on or before midnight (Pacific Time) on Day 7 (Monday) of each Learning Block. Instructors have the right to assess late penalties or to refuse to accept late postings. If you use any ideas other than your own, make sure you cite your sources in your discussion posts. Follow the guidelines for citations shown below under Citing/Documenting Sources in Discussion Posts.Please confine your response posts to the course content and the discussion assignment. Do not publicly judge the quality of other students’ posts, comment on mechanical errors, or discuss personal issues unrelated to the discussion topic. These issues should be addressed “offline” with one another via email and/or with the instructor. However, you can certainly disagree or question ideas and comments expressed by the author and ask for clarification if you do not understand his or her comments.Strive to be as objective as possible in your responses, and identify your own assumptions. For example, you might state, “after reading your post, I interpreted your meaning to be….” instead of finger pointing by saying, “You were wrong when you said…” Your response posts should have some substance and should advance the discussion of the issues in the initial post. While statements such as “I agree,” “Well-written post,” or “Wow! I never thought of that.” are supportive of your classmates, they are not sufficient. Below are some guidelines for acceptable response posts. Validate the post by sharing your experience and stating how it relates to the course material or to the initial post. Agree or disagree with the post and explain why you agree or disagree. Expand on your classmate’s post to demonstrate that you understand the topic.  Reply to a question posed by one of your classmates or by the instructor and support your statements with sources from the text. Critically evaluate the post and make a suggestion or respectfully point out an area of the assignment that was not addressed. Ask a probing question or ask your classmate for a clarification or an explanation of a point made in the post. Share an insight or something you learned from reading your peer’s posting or from your other reading.  Explain how someone’s post helped you understand the material or made you rethink your own views. Offer an opinion and support it with examples from the text. Relate the information in the post to your course assignments and/or research projects. Challenge a statement in the post. If you would not let a statement go unchallenged in a classroom discussion, do not let it go unchallenged on the discussion board. Tie ideas together: Discuss how comments other students made relate to your peer’s post. Make sure you cite your sources for all references to the textbook and for any other ideas that are not your own.6Citing/Documenting Sources in Discussion PostsIn all your written work, including discussion postings, all ideas that are not your own or are not common knowledge must be cited. However, in a discussion forum, you may provide this citation informal y in the text. You do not have to use formal APA style as you do for writ en papers, and no reference list is required at the bottom of the post.For example, you might write the following:Sample Student Discussion Post with Acceptable Source Citation:According to our text, Albert Bandura believed that learning does not always have to be reinforced (p. 28).Or you might write the following:Sample Student Discussion Post with Acceptable Source Citation:In the assigned essay, the author used the phrases, “in the beginning,” “now,” and “finally” to transition from one idea to another (para.16).If you use information from an outside source, give the reader enough information to locate the source if they wish to do so. If you refer to a book or an article you read, you might write the following:Sample Student Discussion Post with Acceptable Source Citation:Russell Baker’s book, Growing Up, provides an interesting perspective of life in the United States during the 1950s. If you obtain information from the Web, give the URL (web address) for that information. For example, you might write the following:Sample Student Discussion Post with Acceptable Source Citation:The Online Writing Lab (OWL) at Purdue University is a wonderful source for additional information about APA style (http://owl.english.purdue.edu/).PlagiarismPlagiarism is the failure to acknowledge the source of any idea that is not your own or is not common knowledge. Whenever we communicate, whether in a written paper, a discussion post, or a speech, we have an ethical obligation to be honest and not to take credit for other people’s ideas. We are guilty of plagiarism whenever we present an idea as our own original thought and it really belongs to someone else. Plagiarism is thievery.Using someone else’s ideas, using a paper or information from the Internet, making it appear that someone else’s work is your own, copying wording from another source, resubmit ing one of your own papers that you submit ed in a previous class, or closely adhering to the content of work that is not your own (changing a few words), without documenting the source, are all examples of plagiarism.All written work must be your own, individual effort. Ashford instructors have access to plagiarism checkers. If plagiarism is discovered, university policies against plagiarism are strictly enforced. Plagiarism will result in disciplinary action, which may include a grade of “F” for the assignment, a grade of “F” for the course, and/or expulsion from the university.7Types of Academic WritingMost writing can be categorized into one of two types: (1) interpretive or (2) analytical. Some of your college assignments will require one specific type of writing or another. Many academic assignments are a combination of both types. You may be asked to analyze or to explain a concept and to cite examples from your reading or research to support your statements (analytical writing). Then you may be asked to apply the concept to your own lives and to use your own opinions and experiences to support your conclusions (interpretive). It is important that you understand what you are being asked to do for each writing assignment. Make sure to ask your instructor for clarification if you are not certain. The information below is designed to help you understand how to approach each type of writing. If you understand both interpretive and analytical writing and can switch gears from one type of writing to another when necessary, you have one of the most important skills necessary for effective, college-level academic writing.Interpretive WritingInterpretive writing is usually read from start to finish. It includes essays, reflective papers, personal opinion papers, position papers, and persuasive reports. In this type of writing, you relate your personal opinions and experiences or take a position on an issue. So, interpretive papers (or sections of an academic paper that are interpretive) are usually written in the first person (I, me, my, mine, we, our, etc.).In interpretive writing, headings to divide sections of text are usually not used because they interrupt the flow of the writing. You develop a focus for your paper by constructing a strong thesis statement; you try to capture and hold the reader’s attention with a strong introduction, well-organized body paragraphs, and a strong conclusion; and you use examples, anecdotes, and illustrations to support your point of view or to convince the reader to accept your position on an issue. An example of interpretive writing might be an essay on the joy you experience when you grow your own vegetables.8Analytical WritingAnalytical writing includes assignments such as research papers, informative reports, and case studies. This type of writing requires you to critical y evaluate an issue, to form a conclusion, and to support it with information from your text or findings from your research. An example of analytical writing might be a research paper on the most ef ective way to grow tomatoes in the Pacific Northwest.When you engage in analytical writing, you might imagine yourself as a scientist or an investigative reporter trying to uncover the truth. You should not express your opinion or try to convince others; you are engaged in a search to find the answer to a question. The writing is an organizational process, like put ing together a jigsaw puzzle until a picture begins to emerge. You may start out with an idea of what you might find (a hypothesis), but you do not try to make the evidence fit your preconceived viewpoint. You map out the ter itory and then suspend judgment, follow the evidence, and see where it leads you. Analytical papers (or sections of an academic paper that are analytical) usually make use of different levels of headings to functionally divide sections of the paper. See The Little, Brown Compact Handbook for guidance on using headings appropriately. Analytical papers are usually written in the third person (he, she, the author, the researcher, etc.). NOTE: Do not use terms such as “the/this author,” “the/this writer,” or “the/this researcher” to refer to yourself. In an analytical paper, if you are writing a section of the paper in which you are discussing the research or taking a position on an issue, that section is interpretive and should be written in first person (I, me, my, mine, we, our, etc.). Use first person sparingly, though; research papers strive for an objective tone.9Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) About Writing PapersQ. How long should my paper be? An assignment of 200−300 words is equivalent to about one full page of text in an APA-formatted paper. If the assignment is for a 2−3 page paper, the title page and the reference list do not count as pages for the assignment; you must have 2−3 pages of text in addition to the title page and reference list.Q. How do I develop a paper?No two people write in exactly the same way. However, most good writers break down the writing process into several distinct stages and follow a step-by-step method of developing their papers. These writing stages are discussed below. Refer to The Little, Brown Compact Handbook for detailed information about each stage of the writing process.Step 1: PlanningFirst, read the assignment careful y. What are you being asked to do? To analyze an issue? To argue a point? To compare and contrast two points of view? Are you expected to state your opinion about an issue (to write an interpretive paper) or to conduct research or apply concepts from the text to a specific situation (to write an analytical paper)? Make sure you clearly understand the assignment before you begin. If you are unsure about what is expected, contact your instructor for clarification. Make notes to yourself about the assignment requirements, so you can refer to them later and make sure you have met all these requirements.Step 2: PrewritingDetermine your topic and generate main points you plan to cover in your paper. You will either be assigned a specific topic, or you will have to select your own topic. Let’s assume you are taking a business course, and you have been assigned to compare and contrast different types of employee training. This assignment requires an analytical paper. In the pre-writing stage, you might brainstorm with yourself or with others about different types of employee training. You might also construct an outline to help you organize your ideas and/or conduct preliminary research on the Ashford Online Library to learn about dif erent types of workplace training. At the prewriting stage, you should try to finalize your topic, narrow it down so that it is appropriate for the length of the paper, and determine the main points you want to cover regarding the topic.10