Discussion Board #8

Many students struggle with documentation. They do not know how to integrate sources into their texts. They also are confused about the different documentation styles that vary from discipline to discipline: MLA, APA, Chicago/Turabian.

I have worked with many students who commit unintentional plagiarism by using whole sentences or passages from sources and just providing the source information in the bibliography or works cited, but offering no in-text signals what sentences are connected to which source (ie. author and page #).

Tutors often have to act as "informants," givers of key information that the writers might not be aware of.

Questions for DB:

You have been working with Daniel's essay (pp. 116-118) for Essay #3.  Let's look at his essay through the lens of this chapter:

What does Daniel need to learn about documentation?

What tools and resources can we provide him?

Also, what have been your own experiences with documentation? What have you learned that you wish Daniel to know?