Failure to follow format will result in an automatic penalty
of half a letter grade.
"Slug" (the paper's I.D., project name, or abbreviated title)
your name
J203, GTF's name & lab time
date
Attribution
Unless they are common knowledge, statements of fact must be
expressly attributed to legitimate sources. (Of course, the ideas,
research, and statements of other people must also be credited;
see the discussion of Academic Dishonesty in this syllabus.)
See your GTF if you have any questions about whether a particular
statement constitutes common knowledge.
If a statement of fact is likely to stimulate a reaction such
as "Says who?" or "Where’d you get this?", then it needs an attribution.
Unattributed assertions are one of the most common shortcomings
of writers just getting started in their nonfiction careers.
Papers with undocumented assertions will be marked down. Be sure
to see your GTF with questions.
Specificity: Legitimate attributions are specific.
Concrete examples are much better than vague generalities.
Examples of good and bad attributions:
1. "Many experts believe …."
2. "As many people know ….."
3. According to media professor Bob Schmob’s book Interpreting Photographs (Springfield: Brown; 1998, p. 201), several studies suggest
that 15% or more of the photos appearing in purportedly nonfiction
media have been "substantially manipulated," and that in fashion/beauty
magazines the percentage is much higher.
Assertions 1 and 2 might be OK if accompanied by documented examples,
hard data (numbers, statistics), quotes from authoritative sources,
etc.; otherwise they’re not really attributions at all.
Example 3 is fine: It specifies the source, reveals that the
author is presumably authoritative, and provides concrete numbers
rather than vague generalities.
A comment such as "The flat-tax concept seems like a good idea
to many people …." begs for details: Which people? Who are they?
When and where did they express this opinion? What did they say,
exactly? How do you know?
Inadequate:
Dorothea Lange’s photo "Migrant Mother" changed the way Americans
viewed the Depression ….
This quote might be fine with added documentation, but by itself
it begs for amplification.
Compare:
According to photo historian Jessica Schwartz, the late-’30s
restructuring of federal agricultural policy was inspired in
part by the widespread publication of photos such as Dorothea
Lange’s "Migrant Mother" and other FSA images.16
16 Schwartz, Jessica, Photographing America (Cottage Grove: Boffo Books; 1997), p. 65.
Consider these two statements:
1. So-called children’s video is of limited value because most
of the ads children see appear during prime time.
2. According to Richard Harris’s A Cognitive Psychology of Mass Communication, the "kidvid" ghetto constitutes a minority of the hours of television
viewed by children. Harris writes, "Kidvid represents only 24%
of the viewing time for 6-year-olds and a mere 5% for 11-year-olds."9
9 Harris, Richard, A Cognitive Psychology of Mass Communication (Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence, 1994) p. 72.
Compare the previous two statements in terms of:
Citations: features vs. term papers
In a typical feature (such as your mid-term Profile and your
final written assignment), reference citations are less formal
than in a term paper. Instead of using footnotes and a bibliography,
your sources will be specified in the text proper. However, this
does not mean you can be any less meticulous about citing sources.
A good example might look like this:
In an article appearing in the December 2000 Journalism Today, veteran news anchor Dan Rather writes, "It’s getting to the
point where viewers can’t tell the difference between manipulated
and unmanipulated images."
Note that even though there are no footnotes or bibliography,
[1] the quote is attributed to a specific person, [2] he is identified,
and [3] the source and its date of publication are identified
as well.
Material appropriated from the Internet must be duly and fully credited, as is the case with material
gleaned from interviews, library books, research papers, reports,
etc.
Merely citing a URL is insufficient. It’s sort of like citing a book’s card-catalog number.
Along with the URL or web site, explain [1] what it is (an excerpt
from a book, a magazine article, etc.); [2] where it came from
(name of the book, institution, magazine, etc.); [3] the name
of the quoted speaker or writer if not specified in the text
proper, and [4] an identification of him or her (historian, interviewee,
author, or whatever the case may be).
In your J203 projects, quotations should be dated, one way or
another. Examples:
As astronomer George Bailey told Time magazine (June 7, 1999), "The planet Neptune appears to be made
of cheese."
Jesse Ventura has said that his pro wrestling skills would "really
come in handy in dealing with those weenies in Congress."14
14 "Ventura Ponders Presidential Bid," The New York Times, August
27, 2000, B2.
According to Northwestern University media professor Bob Schmob,
"Photography was manipulated from the start, but what’s different
today is that anyone can do it, and it’s impossible to detect
the alterations" [from an interview with the author, May 12,
2000].
Attributions in feature articles are typically in present tense,
unless the context clearly refers to events, interviews, or quotes
from the past. Example:
How useful is a journalism degree for aspiring professionals?
"It depends on the school and the program," explains Tina Brown,
Editor of Talk magazine in New York.
[Note present tense of "explains."]