PAPER RESEARCH WRITING GUIDE
ANTHRO 2AC, FALL 2010
Part I: Finding a topic for your paper
A good place for you to start your research will be the OskiCat search engine on
the library website. For example, try searching California archaeology
excavations in the subject keyword field, and take a look at the results you find
interesting. You can also try author or title/subject searches for certain
archaeologists or sites you find interesting.
You are free to choose whatever site you wish, but remember that you must
consult a primary site report. It is a good idea to check with your GSI to make
sure that the book or report or dissertation you are using is okay for this paper.
Your GSI can inform you
about whether the site is appropriate for writing the research paper.
Many Berkeley archaeology graduate students have their dissertations in the
Main Library or available online through Digital Dissertations (under the
electronic resources link on the library home page). Some interesting
dissertations from California have been written by Lee Panich, Tsim Schneider,
Kathleen Hull, Stephen Silliman, Barbara Voss, James Allan, Antoinette
Martinez, Thomas Wake, and Adrian and Mary Praetzellis. They have worked at
such sites as Fort Ross, China Camp, Petaluma Adobe, and the Presidio of San
Francisco.
AnthroHub (http://anthrohub.lib.berkeley.edu/) is another useful resource for
finding a report to read for this paper. This database includes publications
produced by Berkeley anthropologists, including the UC Archaeological Survey
series and the UC Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology.
We also have a number of site reports on course reserve in the Anthropology
Library. They include:
1. The Archaeology and Ethnohistory of Fort Ross, by Kent Lightfoot and others.
2. The Native Alaskan Neighborhood: A Multiethnic Community at Colony Ross ,
by Kent Lightfoot and others.
3. Central California Coastal Prehistory: A View from Little Pico Creek , by Terry
Jones
4. Resource depression and intensification during the late Holocene, San
Francisco Bay: evidence from the Emeryville Shellmound vertebrate fauna , by
Jack M. Broughton.
5. The Emeryville Shellmound, by Max Uhle
6. The Ellis Landing Shellmound, by Nels Nelson
Part II: Citing References
As part of your research paper you MUST provide proper citations for any book,
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chapter, report, or article that you refer to. When you are quoting an author or
expressing someone elses idea or opinion, you need to cite them in your text.
Look back at some of the articles read for class already to familiarize yourself
with how in-text citations work and how references cited sections are
constructed. For your own paper, follow the American Anthropological
Association Style Guide (http://www.aaanet.org/publications/style_guide.pdf).
The basics of this format are described below:
-The general rule is to use the author, year, and page number. Example
(Lightfoot 2005: 194)
-Place citations at the end of a sentence or after the authors name if it is
mentioned in the text.
-Place citations for a quotation at the end of the quote.
Examples:
-Seven house pits were discovered at the Duncan Village site (Lightfoot 1983:
196).
-Lightfoot (1983: 194) indicates that several members of his excavation crew
were convicts.
-Excavation by bulldozer is not ideal, but it was the only alternative (Lightfoot
1983: 87).
REFERENCES CITED EXAMPLES:
The following examples demonstrate how to cite sources from different kinds of
publications.
Single-Author Book
Castles, Stephen
1990 Here for Good. London: Pluto Press.
Coauthored Book
Bonacich, Edna, and John Modell
1975 The Economic Basis of Ethnic Solidarity: Small Business in the Japanese
American Community. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Chapter in Book with Editor(s)
Rohlen, Thomas P.
1993 Education: Policies and Prospects. In Koreans in Japan: Ethnic Conflicts
and Accommodation. Cameron Lee and George De Vos, eds. Pp. 182222.
Berkeley: University of California Press.
Price, T. Douglas
1984 Issues in Paleolithic and Mesolithic Research. In Hunting and Animal
Exploitation in the Later Paleolithic and Mesolithic of Eurasia. Gail Larsen
Peterkin, Harvey M. Bricker, and Paul Mellars, eds. Pp. 241244. Archeological
Papers of the American Anthropological Association, 4. Arlington, VA: American
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Anthropological Association.
Article in Journal
Moll, Luis C.
2000 Writing as Communication: Creating Strategic Learning Environments for
Students. Theory into Practice 25(3):202208.
Ph.D. Dissertation or M.A. Thesis
DAmato, John
1989 We Cool, Thas Why: A Study of Personhood and Place in a Class of
Hawaiian Second Graders. Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Education,
University of Hawaii.
Part III: Paraphrasing, Summarizing, and Quoting
Please read the following information. We take plagiarism seriously.
To paraphrase means to restate a portion of a text with the purpose, usually, of
clarifying it. A paraphrase is about the same length (has about the same number of
words) as the original passage. A paraphrase should not include the wording of the
original passage, nor should it follow the same sentence structure as the original
passage. Paraphrased information must be accompanied by a citation, or in-text
reference to the source from which you took the information, just as quoted material
must be. Failure to provide citation will be interpreted by others as plagiarism, even if
you list the source in your bibliography.
To summarize means to restate a portion of a text in a shortened form. A summary
should bring out the main ideas of the passage, but it does not need to follow the same
order as the original text. A summary should be clear, concise, and accurate in
representing the original text. Like paraphrased information, summarized information
must be accompanied by a citation, or in-text reference to the source from which you
took the information, just as quoted material must be. Failure to provide citation will be
interpreted by others as plagiarism, even if you list the source in your bibliography.
To quote means to copy exactly a portion of a text to present the author's actual words.
Why use quotations, paraphrases, and summaries?
Quotations, paraphrases, and summaries serve many purposes. You might use . them
to . .
* Provide support for claims or add credibility to your writing
* Refer to work that leads up to the work you are now doing
* Give examples of several points of view on a subject
* Call attention to a position that you wish to agree or disagree with
* Highlight a particularly striking phrase, sentence, or passage by quoting the original
* Distance yourself from the original by quoting it in order to cue readers that the
words are
not your own
* Expand the breadth or depth of your writing
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*** More information on quoting and citing sources are available at UC Berkeleys paper
and writing resources website at: http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/EDP/citation.html
Paraphrasing
6 Steps to Effective Paraphrasing
1. Reread the original passage until you understand its full meaning.
2. Set the original aside, and write your paraphrase on a note card.
3. Jot down a few words below your paraphrase to remind you later how you envision
using this material. At the top of the note card, write a key word or phrase to indicate
the subject of your paraphrase.
4. Check your rendition with the original to make sure that your version accurately
expresses all the essential information in a new form.
5. Use quotation marks to identify any unique term or phraseology you have borrowed
exactly from the source.
6. Record the source (including the page) on your note card so that you can credit it
easily if you decide to incorporate the material into your paper.
Some examples to compare
Example A
The original passage:
Students frequently overuse direct quotation in taking notes, and as a result they
overuse quotations in the final [research] paper. Probably only about 10% of your final
manuscript should appear as directly quoted matter. Therefore, you should strive to limit
the amount of exact transcribing of source materials while taking notes. Lester, James
D. Writing Research Papers. 2nd ed. (1976): 46-47.
A legitimate paraphrase:
In research papers students often quote excessively, failing to keep quoted material
down to a desirable level. Since the problem usually originates during note taking, it is
essential to minimize the material recorded verbatim (Lester 46-47).
An acceptable summary:
Students should take just a few notes in direct quotation from sources to help
minimize the amount of quoted material in a research paper (Lester 46-47).
A plagiarized version:
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Students often use too many direct quotations when they take notes, resulting in too
many of them in the final research paper. In fact, probably only about 10% of the final
copy should consist of directly quoted material. So it is important to limit the amount of
source material copied while taking notes.
Example B
The original passage:
"visual defect resulting in the inability to distinguish colors. About 8% of men and 0.5%
of women experience some difficulty in color perception. Color blindness is usually an
inherited sex-linked characteristic, transmitted through, but recessive in, females.
Acquired color blindness results from certain degenerative diseases of the eyes. Most of
those with defective color vision are only partially color-blind to red and green, i.e., they
have a limited ability to distinguish reddish and greenish shades. Those who are
completely color-blind to red and green see both colors as a shade of yellow. Completely
color-blind individuals can recognize only black, white, and shades of gray. (Columbia
Encyclopedia, 6th ed.)
A legitimate paraphrase:
Color blindness, affecting approximately 8% of men and .5% of women, is a condition
characterized by difficulty in telling one one color from another, most often hereditary but
in some cases caused by disease. The majority of color-blind people cannot distinguish
some shades of red and green, but those who cannot perceive those colors at all see
red and green objects as yellow. There are people who cannot see color at all and
perceive all objects in a range of black through gray to white. (Columbia Encyclopedia,
6th ed.)
Common Errors in Paraphrasing: If you follow the sentence structure of your source,
only changing words here and there, you are not paraphrasing but plagiarizing. This
practice has often been accepted by teachers in reports that students have prepared in
early grades and may not be recognized as plagiarism.
Inadequate Paraphrase, Classified as Plagiarism
Based on the quotation above: Color blindness is a visual deficiency shown in a lack of
ability to distinguish colors. Some degree of difficulty in perceiving colors is found in 8%
of men and 0.5% of women, and is almost always an inherited sex-linked characteristic
that is transmitted through females but recessive in them. . . .
Quotations
From a definition of color blindness:
The original passage:
"visual defect resulting in the inability to distinguish colors. About 8% of men and 0.5% of
women experience some difficulty in color perception. Color blindness is usually an
inherited sex-linked characteristic, transmitted through, but recessive in, females.
Acquired color blindness results from certain degenerative diseases of the eyes. Most of
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those with defective color vision are only partially color-blind to red and green, i.e., they
have a limited ability to distinguish reddish and greenish shades. Those who are
completely color-blind to red and green see both colors as a shade of yellow. Completely
color-blind individuals can recognize only black, white, and shades of gray. (Columbia
Encyclopedia, 6th ed.)
The quotation, integrated:
Color blindness is a "visual defect resulting in the inability to distinguish colors"
(Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.). Most often it is a hereditary condition that involves
only some shades of red and green, but people with complete red-green color blindness
see yellow instead, and some people have no color perception at all. (Columbia
Encyclopedia, 6th ed.)
Common errors in quoting: If you misquote your source, you are not making fully
ethical use of that source. Be sure to closely check every word and punctuation mark in
the original text. Do not quote very long passages; consider using a combination of
quoting, summarizing, and paraphrasing to represent the argument or information
presented in the original text.
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