Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
Critique
From the UNB Writing Centre
Topics
1. Thesis statements (key judgements and
their basis in a single sentence)
2. Presenting and citing evidence (and the
dangers of plagiarism)
3. Validity markers (hedges, emphatics, and
attributors)
4. Conciseness
5. Revision and final editing
Drafting Thesis Statements
O “A short statement conveying an explicit
judgment concerning a limited topic and
based on suitable evidence”
O It is what the paper discovers or
demonstrates
Purpose: Writer’s POV
O A check on the research/writing process
O The touchstone against which all else will be
judged
Purpose: Reader’s POV
O Informs the reader of the key findings
O Not a simple statement of accepted fact
O Not an “opinion”
O A judgment based on evidence
O Single-sentence “executive summary”
O Similar to requirements on some grant
applications
2. Effective Thesis statements
Ineffective Better
Once the regression coefficients for the selected set of orthogonal variables
have been calculated, they may be mathematically transformed into a new
set of coefficients which correspond to the original correlated set of
variables. These new coefficients (sometimes referred to as weights or
elements of the response function) are analogous to the stepwise regression
coefficients described in the previous section. . . . (Fritts, 1976, p. 353)
Quibbles:
Bradley & Fritts
Once the regression coefficients have been calculated, the eigenvectors
“are termed” vs. “referred to”
incorporated in the regression equation are mathematically transformed
“discussed earlier”
into a new set vs. “described
of n coefficients in tothe
corresponding theprevious
original section”
(intercorrelated)
SAME set of n EXACTLY
order of ideas variables. These new coefficients are termed
weights or elements of the response function and are analogous to the
stepwise regression coefficients discussed earlier. . . . (Bradley, 1985, p.
346) 42/55 words (76%
PLAGIARISED!
Once the regression coefficients for the selected set of orthogonal variables
have been calculated, they may be mathematically transformed into a new
set of coefficients which correspond to the original correlated set of
variables. These new coefficients (sometimes referred to as weights or
elements of the response function) are analogous to the stepwise regression
coefficients described in the previous section. . . . (Fritts, 1976, p. 353)
Do Cheaters Prosper?
O Moral of the story: document your sources
RIGOROUSLY, or the debate will be about
plagiarism and nothing more
O Plagiarism Roll of (Dis)Honour:
“Writing Answers”