Government Paper
Texas Government Paper Writing and Citing Tips Spring 2019 Assignment
Professor Cindy Casey Brown
Department Chair and Faculty
El Centro College
My Top 10
Writing Tips
Write about something you enjoy – if you are not enjoying what you are writing about the reader can tell!
Organize your thoughts before you write – make an OUTLINE of what you are going to write about. This helps you put your thoughts in logical order and tells you what research you need to complete. DO NOT do this last minute! Writing is a process and editing takes time.
**You will do an outline for me and it is worth 25 points!**
Never underestimate the power of simple words. Do NOT over-use your thesaurus. Many people will do this – be careful! Using “big” misplaced words can make your writing choppy and break up your reader’s concentration. Sometimes saying it simply is best! Which one holds your attention better?
“It was a great class. I learned a lot of valuable information.”
VERSUS
“The program was stupendous and provided immense opportunity for engaging my colleagues in banter on numerous topics of consequence. I was pedantic in my studies and this manufactured an astonishingly engaging atmosphere for scholarship.”
BUT do make your writing come alive – edit your work and see where you can do this - close your eyes and listen to this quote:
“Don't tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.” ― Anton Chekhov
Make sure you use words or transitional sentences to tell your reader where you are going and what you are telling them next – it helps your reader stay engaged – and helps your teachers grade your work.
Example: “There are three major challenges that the President is confronting this year. First…., Second… Finally….
Vary your sentence length. It keeps your readers engaged if every so often you have some nice, short sentences. It wakes your reader up and keeps them moving.
6. PROOFREAD. Write it, put it down for 24 hours, read it out loud to yourself. Double check your spell check (i.e. there and their – too, two, and to).
Read your paper out loud to yourself to make sure it flows.
8. Make sure your grammar and punctuation are PERFECT. Making silly mistakes makes your reader lose faith in your arguments. Presentation is important!
Read your paper and do a “Search and Find” for the words this, that, and these. Determine if you can take those words out – a lot of times they are extra words and you can remove them and clean up your writing and make it “crisper.”
10. CITE YOUR SOURCES!
When should you cite a source?
When you quote two or more words verbatim or even one word if it is unique to a source. (Example: “Let’s Roll!”)
When you introduce facts to your reader that are not common knowledge you need to cite to something.
When you paraphrase ideas, conclusions, discussions from a source – even though it is not a direct quote – cite the source after your sentence. If there are “quotation marks” your reader knows it is a direct quote. If there are no quotation marks your reader knows you got this idea / conclusion from the source you cite.
When you borrow or form an argument based on another’s argument.
If there is a question in your mind whether you should cite a source then CITE it.
6. Plagiarism = representing someone else’s language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions as your own. This is true even if it is not intentional.
7. If there is not a cite your reader assumes it is your original idea – as yourself if it is. If not then cite it!
8. Citing lends credibility to your paper – it shows your reader you have done your work to thoroughly research and understand the topic.
You cannot over-cite. It is common in graduate school thesis papers to have almost every sentence cited.
A citation tells your reader where to go to get further information about what you are saying. If it is your idea they should be able to come to you – if it is not your idea tell them where to go.
THINK: Should you cite or not?
The sky is blue.
The current president of the United States is Donald Trump.
President Trump has recently stated his key agenda item is increasing jobs in the United States.
The NRA received a lot of negative media coverage in the past year. Time wrote story noting their decrease in membership, The New York Times ran a full page on all of the politicians that do not support them, and……
I think the NRA has received positive media coverage in the past year.
Example of Citing in APA Style
To determine how to cite what you have (book, newspaper, internet article, etc.) you need to consult one of the many APA sources online or in a book. There are tons of sources to help you online – check the El Centro website library page for an easy link.
The Purdue University Online Writing Lab – “The Purdue OWL” - https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/
How you cite depends on what you are citing – i.e. book, article, internet site.
There are “short forms” that you use within your paper and then “longer forms” that you put in your Works Cited page. The purpose of short forms is to not take up too much space within the paper but tell your reader where to look at the Works Cited page for the longer form citation.
Example of APA citing, continued…
In your paper it would say:
“……………..Research shows bananas fight cancer, improve eye sight, and help you lose weight” (Brown, 2013).
This is not an accepted fact (if I said “the sky is blue” that is an accepted fact) – this is not an accepted fact so CITE IT.
On your works cited page:
Author Last Name, Author First Name (Year of Publication). Title of Work. Location: Publisher.
Brown, Cindy (2013). Bananas and Their Benefits. Dallas, Texas: Brown Publishers.
How do you know how to cite on the works cited page?
What your citation will look like depends on what kind of work you are citing.
Citations will look different depending on whether you are citing a newspaper, magazine article, book, journal, or website.
Go to the El Centro Library Page under the Giving Credit / Citing tab for examples and follow those examples.
How do you know how to cite in the text / how do you do short cites?
You don’t put the long citation inside of your paper – you only put the long citation on the works cited page.
Use a short form of your citation after sentences in your paper – these tell your reader what to look for on the works cited page to find the source – i.e. (Brown, 2014).
See the El Centro Library Page under the Giving Credit / Citing tab for the “in text citations table” that is very helpful.
Spring 2019 – Paper Assignment Option #1
http://libguides.elcentrocollege.edu/government
Go to think link then click on your class (2306) under the Assignment Tab.
You are going to pick a position / person in the Texas Government – past, present, or future (current candidates) – and write an overview of the person and the position.
Spring 2019 – Paper Assignment Option #2
“Pro Opinion, Con Opinion, My Opinion” Paper
Options:
Should we build a border wall at the southern border of Texas?
Should we have the death penalty in Texas?
Should we legalize marijuana in Texas?
Should we……….
What will your paper look like?
Your paper will be 12 point font, 1 inch margins, double spaced.
Use the APA template on our Government Library Page under GOVT – here is the link to cut and past into your browser:
http://libguides.elcentrocollege.edu/c.php?g=198387&p=2384793
Page 1 = cover page
Page 2 = abstract
Pages 3, 4, and 5 = content (A FULL THREE PAGES OF WRITING)
Page 6 = works cited page
You will cite within your paper in a short form that that the reader can then go to the separate works cited paper and look up the long cite.
At least four sources.
Use the Purdue OWL for questions on how to do the citations. Note that many of your computer programs will also do your citations for you – i.e. you plug in the information and it creates the citation.
Outline
Your Outline is Worth 25 points!
Outlining the paper gets you organized early, tells you what you need to do for research, and is a great planning tool!
It is REQUIRED!
You MUST use the APA format – go here for the APA format – on the right side of the page - http://libguides.elcentrocollege.edu/government/2306
The Learning Center can help you with outlines, I can help you, and there is a link on our ECC Library Page to help you.
Bring it to class on the date on your Syllabus to exchange with another student and make notes on it.
MUST turn in on BlackBoard by date in Syllabus for credit.