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Running head: VARYING DEFINITIONS OF ONLINE COMMUNICATION
1
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Varying Definitions of Online Communication and
Their Effects on Relationship Research
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Elizabeth L. Angeli
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State University
Author Note
Elizabeth L. Angeli, Department of Psychology, State University.
Elizabeth Angeli is now at Department of English, Purdue University.
This research was supported in part by a grant from the Sample Grant
Program.
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Elizabeth
Angeli, Department of English, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 55555.
Contact: author@boiler.edu
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�VARYING DEFINITIONS OF ONLINE COMMUNICATION
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Abstract
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This paper explores four published articles that report on results from research conducted
on online (Internet) and offline (non-Internet) relationships and their relationship to
computer-mediated communication (CMC). The articles, however, vary in their
definitions and uses of CMC. Butler and Kraut (2002) suggest that face-to-face (FtF)
interactions are more effective than CMC, defined and used as “email,” in creating
feelings of closeness or intimacy. Other articles define CMC differently and, therefore,
offer different results. This paper examines Cummings, Butler, and Kraut’s (2002)
research in relation to three other research articles to suggest that all forms of CMC
should be studied in order to fully understand how CMC influences online and offline
relationships.
Keywords: computer-mediated communication, face-to-face communication
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glish.purdue.e
du/owl/resou
rce/724/01/
VARYING DEFINITIONS OF ONLINE COMMUNICATION
3
Varying Definitions of Online Communication and
Their Effects on Relationship Research
Numerous studies have been conducted on various facets of Internet relationships,
focusing on the levels of intimacy, closeness, different communication modalities, and
the frequency of use of computer-mediated communication (CMC). However,
contradictory results are suggested within this research because only certain aspects of
CMC are investigated, for example, email only. Cummings, Butler, and Kraut (2002)
suggest that face-to-face (FtF) interactions are more effective than CMC (read: email) in
creating feelings of closeness or intimacy, while other studies suggest the opposite. To
understand how both online (Internet) and offline (non-Internet) relationships are affected
by CMC, all forms of CMC should be studied. This paper examines Cummings et al.’s
research against other CMC research to propose that additional research be conducted to
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numbers:
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2009, p.
76).
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better understand how online communication affects relationships.
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has three
to five
authors,
write out all
of the
authors’
names the
first time
they
appear.
Then use
the first
author’s
last name
followed by
“et al.”
Literature Review
In Cummings et al.’s (2002) summary article reviewing three empirical studies on
online social relationships, it was found that CMC, especially email, was less effective
than FtF contact in creating and maintaining close social relationships. Two of the three
reviewed studies focusing on communication in non-Internet and Internet relationships
mediated by FtF, phone, or email modalities found that the frequency of each modality’s
use was significantly linked to the strength of the particular relationship (Cummings et
al., 2002). The strength of the relationship was predicted best by FtF and phone
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publication
year
because
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are
concerned
with the
date of the
article (the
more
current the
better).
�VARYING DEFINITIONS OF ONLINE COMMUNICATION
4
communication, as participants rated email as an inferior means of maintaining personal
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content
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supplement
s your
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relationships as compared to FtF and phone contacts (Cummings et al., 2002).
If you are
including an
appendix,
refer to it
in the body
of your
paper.
found that participants corresponded less frequently with their Internet partner (5.2 times
Cummings et al. (2002) reviewed an additional study conducted in 1999 by the
HomeNet project (see Appendix A for more information on the HomeNet project). In
this project, Kraut, Mukhopadhyay, Szczypula, Kiesler, and Scherlis (1999) compared
the value of using CMC and non-CMC to maintain relationships with partners. They
per month) than with their non-Internet partner (7.2 times per month) (as cited in
Cummings et al., 2002). This difference does not seem significant, as it is only two times
less per month. However, in additional self-report surveys, participants responded
feeling more distant, or less intimate, towards their Internet partner than their nonInternet partner. This finding may be attributed to participants’ beliefs that email is an
inferior mode of personal relationship communication.
Intimacy is necessary in the creation and maintenance of relationships, as it is
defined as the sharing of a person’s innermost being with another person, i.e., selfdisclosure (Hu, Wood, Smith, & Westbrook, 2004). Relationships are facilitated by the
reciprocal self-disclosing between partners, regardless of non-CMC or CMC. Cummings
et al.’s (2002) reviewed results contradict other studies that research the connection
between intimacy and relationships through CMC.
Hu et al. (2004) studied the relationship between the frequency of Instant
Messenger (IM) use and the degree of perceived intimacy among friends. The use of IM
instead of email as a CMC modality was studied because IM supports a non-professional
�VARYING DEFINITIONS OF ONLINE COMMUNICATION
5
environment favoring intimate exchanges (Hu et al., 2004). Their results suggest that a
positive relationship exists between the frequency of IM use and intimacy, demonstrating
that participants feel closer to their Internet partner as time progresses through this CMC
modality.
Similarly, Underwood and Findlay (2004) studied the effect of Internet
relationships on primary, specifically non-Internet relationships and the perceived
intimacy of both. In this study, self-disclosure, or intimacy, was measured in terms of
shared secrets through the discussion of personal problems. Participants reported a
significantly higher level of self-disclosure in their Internet relationship as compared to
their primary relationship. In contrast, the participants’ primary relationships were
reported as highly self-disclosed in the past, but the current level of disclosure was
perceived to be lower (Underwood & Findlay, 2004). This result suggests participants
turned to the Internet in order to fulfill the need for intimacy in their lives.
In further support of this finding, Tidwell and Walther (2002) hypothesized CMC
participants employ deeper self-disclosures than FtF participants in order to overcome the
limitations of CMC, e.g., the reliance on nonverbal cues. It was found that CMC partners
engaged in more frequent intimate questions and disclosures than FtF partners in order to
overcome the barriers of CMC. In their 2002 study, Tidwell and Walther measured the
perception of a relationship’s intimacy by the partner of each participant in both the CMC
and FtF conditions. The researchers found that the participants’ partners stated their
CMC partner was more effective in employing more intimate exchanges than their FtF
�VARYING DEFINITIONS OF ONLINE COMMUNICATION
6
partner, and both participants and their partners rated their CMC relationship as more
intimate than their FtF relationship.
Discussion
In 2002, Cummings et al. stated that the evidence from their research conflicted
with other data examining the effectiveness of online social relationships. This statement
is supported by the aforementioned discussion of other research. There may be a few
possible theoretical explanations for these discrepancies.
Limitations of These Studies
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The discrepancies identified may result from a number of limitations found in the
materials reviewed by Cummings et al. These limitations can result from technological
constraints, demographic factors, or issues of modality. Each of these limitations will be
examined in further detail below.
Technological limitations. First, one reviewed study by Cummings et al. (2002)
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APA
headings:
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glish.purdue.
edu/owl/reso
urce/560/16
/
examined only email correspondence for their CMC modality. Therefore, the study is
limited to only one mode of communication among other alternatives, e.g., IM as studied
by Hu et al. (2004). Because of its many personalized features, IM provides more
personal CMC. For example, it is in real time without delay, voice-chat and video
features are available for many IM programs, and text boxes can be personalized with the
user’s picture, favorite colors and text, and a wide variety of emoticons, e.g., :). These
options allow for both an increase in self-expression and the ability to overcompensate
for the barriers of CMC through customizable features, as stated in Tidwell and Walther
A Level 1
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Because all
research
has its
limitations,
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important
to discuss
the
limitations
of articles
under
examination
.
�VARYING DEFINITIONS OF ONLINE COMMUNICATION
7
(2002). Self-disclosure and intimacy may result from IM’s individualized features,
which are not as personalized in email correspondence.
Demographic limitations. In addition to the limitations of email, Cummings et
al. (2002) reviewed studies that focused on international bank employees and college
students (see Appendix B for demographic information). It is possible the participants’
CMC through email was used primarily for business, professional, and school matters
and not for relationship creation or maintenance. In this case, personal self-disclosure
and intimacy levels are expected to be lower for non-relationship interactions, as this
communication is primarily between boss and employee or student and professor.
Intimacy is not required, or even desired, for these professional relationships.
Modality limitations. Instead of professional correspondence, however,
Cummings et al.’s (2002) review of the HomeNet project focused on already established
relationships and CMC’s effect on relationship maintenance. The HomeNet researchers’
sole dependence on email communication as CMC may have contributed to the lower
levels of intimacy and closeness among Internet relationships as compared to nonInternet relationships (as cited in Cummings et al., 2002). The barriers of non-personal
communication in email could be a factor in this project, and this could lead to less
intimacy among these Internet partners. If alternate modalities of CMC were studied in
both already established and professional relationships, perhaps these results would have
resembled those of the previously mentioned research.
�VARYING DEFINITIONS OF ONLINE COMMUNICATION
8
Conclusions and Future Study
In order to gain a complete understanding of CMC’s true effect on both online
and offline relationships, it is necessary to conduct a study that examines all aspects of
CMC. This includes, but is not limited to, email, IM, voice-chat, video-chat, online
journals and diaries, online social groups with message boards, and chat rooms. The
effects on relationships of each modality may be different, and this is demonstrated by
the discrepancies in intimacy between email and IM correspondence. As each mode of
communication becomes more prevalent in individuals’ lives, it is important to examine
the impact of all modes of CMC on online and offline relationship formation,
maintenance, and even termination.
The
conclusion
restates
the
problem
the paper
addresses
and can
offer areas
for further
research.
See the
OWL
resource on
conclusions:
http://owl.
english.pur
due.edu/ow
l/resource/
724/04/
�VARYING DEFINITIONS OF ONLINE COMMUNICATION
References
Cummings, J. N., Butler, B., & Kraut, R. (2002). The quality of online social
relationships. Communications of the ACM, 45(7), 103-108.
Hu, Y., Wood, J. F., Smith, V., & Westbrook, N. (2004). Friendships through IM:
Examining the relationship between instant messaging and intimacy. Journal of
Computer-Mediated Communication, 10, 38-48.
Tidwell, L. C., & Walther, J. B. (2002). Computer-mediated communication effects on
disclosure, impressions, and interpersonal evaluations: Getting to know one
another a bit at a time. Human Communication Research, 28, 317-348.
Underwood, H., & Findlay, B. (2004). Internet relationships and their impact on primary
relationships. Behaviour Change, 21(2), 127-140.
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9
�VARYING DEFINITIONS OF ONLINE COMMUNICATION
10
Appendix A
The HomeNet Project
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Started at Carnegie Mellon University in 1995, the HomeNet research project has
involved a number of studies intended to look at home Internet usage. Researchers began
this project because the Internet was originally designed as a tool for scientific and
corporate use. Home usage of the Internet was an unexpected phenomenon worthy of
extended study.
Each of HomeNet’s studies has explored a different facet of home Internet usage,
such as chatting, playing games, or reading the news. Within the past few years, the
explosion of social networking has also proven to be an area deserving of additional
research. Refer to Table A1 for a more detailed description of HomeNet studies.
Table A1
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Description of HomeNet Studies by Year
Year
of
Study
1995-‐1996
1997-‐1999
1998-‐1999
2000-‐2002
Contents
of
Study
93 families in Pittsburgh involved in school
or community organizations
25 families with home businesses
151 Pittsburgh households
National survey
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�VARYING DEFINITIONS OF ONLINE COMMUNICATION
Appendix B
Demographic Information for Cummings et al. (2002)’s Review
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Vocabulary, Grammar, and Conventions Checklist for Proofreading
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clauses? I have not forgotten the commas for items in a list (including before the
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Reflective Writing Marking Scheme
Reflective writing has long been used by many of the Humanities to get students to express their
thoughts and feelings on oral and written information. The reflective writing assignment
presented here is to give students some practice in recording their personal reactions to the
science and policies underlying forest management. More specifically, this assignment should
concentrate on three aspects:
1. The identification of your subject and why you chose to focus on this particular aspect;
2. A commentary on what you perceive as its relevance to forest management;
3. An account of how it relates to personal experiences gained through your involvement
with forest related activities, i.e. jobs, volunteer work, outdoor ventures, past course
lectures / projects, guest lectures, conferences, etc.
Reflective writing differs from scientific writing in that students are encouraged to express
themselves without first substantiating ideas with facts. A first oral presentation will be on Local
Citizens’ committees, presented by Don Barnes, Commercial Fur Trapper Representative and
member of the Forest Management Planning Team for the Dog River Matawin Citizens’
Advisory Committee. The other six will concentrate on the biology and management of select
wildlife species—student groups will be responsible for delivering these presentations. These
presentations will provide the focus for this reflection exercise.
NOTE: The best three writing assignments will be used to arrive at a 15% value, i.e. 5% each.
To keep this writing assignment as spontaneous as possible, we will be giving students a
half-hour window of time at the end of the laboratory session to reflect on oral presentations—
students will be expected to hand in the assignment before leaving the lab. Remember, that the
intent of this style of writing is to promote the generation of ideas and thoughts on an aspect of
the oral presentations. Here are some general directions to guide students in this writing
assignment:
Throughout the presentation, students should take good notes. If there are one or two
aspects which evoke a stir of emotional feelings or trigger past remembrances, then this
aspect(s) should be expanded for the assignment.
Once the oral presentation is complete, these quick notes are jotted down will be invaluable
when you are given the time to flush these ideas into solid prose.
Remain vigilant in ensuring that the commentary is structured with an opening, body, and
conclusion. There are five marks for organization, five for content, five for writing style.
In the opening paragraph, you should explain clearly on what aspect(s) you have decided
to base your reflection. Here you should remind your reader about its context and relevance
in forest management.
�
In the body, you should articulate your feelings, emotions, and ideas pertaining to your
issues. Good reflective prose draws heavily on past experiences pertaining to the subject
under consideration. In addition, knowledge gained through professional activities can also
be used drive your points home to your reader.
In the conclusion, you should summarize in a line or two the take home message you want
to leave your reader.
By way of example, let us assume that I am assigned to reflect on a presentation—Beavers
and Forest Management. During the presentation, the speaker talked about dam building
behaviour in beavers. I decide to use this as my focus for the assignment.
For this writing assignment I have elected to focus on the dam-building behaviour of
beavers. As a boy growing up in northwestern Ontario, I was always fascinated with the ability
of beavers to construct with such engineering prowess. Oftentimes I would walk downstream
from the dam and marvel at how small the stream truly was before being dammed.
From the presentation, I can now appreciate that the presence of beavers can have a
positive and negative effect on managers. The speaker showed that beavers have a real benefit to
many forest animals, like the moose, otter, ducks, woodpeckers to mention a few. On the
negative side, however, it is the beaver’s damming ability that causes forest companies a lot of
grief. It was interesting to learn just how much of a negative impact on operations beaverinduced flood can have. In some cases the flow of wood out of the forest has been stopped cold
by the flooding a haul road. A beaver’s effect on forest management is thus very profound.
I can remember thinking about breaking dams and didn’t realize it ends up as a career for
some operators! I have witnessed the washing out of roads, railway tracks, and farmer’s fields
by beavers. In time I have come to realize the importance of the trapper as integral in controlling
the beaver nuisance.
�
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Reflective Writing
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Fundamental Instructions: Reflective Writing
Reflective Writing
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Writing Level – First year
Department or Faculty – Environmental Studies
Resource Type 1 – Essay/Term Paper Assignment
Resource Type 2 – Rubric
Resource Type 3 – Peer Review Information and Template
GEOGRAPHY 1170, ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES
INSTRUCTIONS TO SUCCEED IN WRITING ON RESEARCH
We have four steps to take you through before you put the final draft of a paper together.
Invariably your career as a student will have you end up with “the night before it’s due”
syndrome…but staring at a blank screen is no fun when you have a looming deadline and
a ticking clock! Our four steps should become a natural way to avoid that syndrome every
time you are assigned a paper that requires academic- and/or professional-level
research. Here we will practice them in a formal fashion for grades in the lab mark along
the way (see below).
Your goal is to work in teams of four to six to put together an information set in a website
design to address an environmental issue, similar to what British Columbia MLA’s Andrew
Weaver did for the controversial wolf cull in that province’s effort to recover struggling
mountain caribou herds.
http://www.andrewweavermla.ca/2015/10/24/caribou/
As for any environmental issue, complexity demands several approaches to the literature
that Dr. Weaver (a former University of Victoria professor and Canada Research Chair)
has subtitled. The subtitled sections we envision in your website design, which is the final
step, should lend themselves well to separating group work into individual efforts that will
be most of the grade.
Here are some environmental issues to work with (you’re free to sub in your favourite for
me and the group to agree on as the basis for this assignment):
1. Where to put windfarms for minimum environmental and social costs?
2. How to approach urban geese?
3. What is an “overpopulation”? (In the sense of “too many” cormorants, white-tailed
deer, etc.)
4. What are the implications of not cutting our “annual allowable cut” from our forests?
5. What should the size limit be on a “clear-cut”?
6. What’s the solution to “fishing down” our marine food web?
7. Are the Alberta oil sands part of a sustainable economy?
8. Should we be fishing in our National and Provincial Parks?
9. To what extent should small, rural communities be supported in Canada?
10. How to save Canada’s Carolinian forest?
The four steps to preparing a good paper:
�1.
2.
3.
4.
The annotated bibliography
The structural outline
The peer review
The final revision
Normally, these steps are your own responsibility. This time, we will assign grades: 2
marks for booking a research consultation with the Liaison Librarian for the Faculty of
Natural Resources Management, Janice Mutz. and completing the annotated bibliography
by October 21, 2 marks for the structural outline by October 28, each based on your
subtitled section; then 2 marks for the peer review of the website design to be done on
November 4, and 4 marks for the final product, in which we will split the marks over your
subtitled section and the overall design.
1. The annotated bibliography
The annotated bibliography will be explained by Janice Mutz, Liaison Librarian, during your
visit with her. Below is a link to a helpful resource from the University of Toronto:
http://www.writing.utoronto.ca/advice/specific-types-of-writing/annotated-bibliography
The assignment is due October 21. You must show at least seven academic or
professional references.
2. The structural outline
The next page has the rubric on which we will grade what you have prepared as an outline
for your portion of the overall website design, your subtitled section that addresses a
component of the discussion on the environmental issue.
The best way for many people to start writing as the annotated bibliography is underway is
to use a draft introduction to organize approach to the paper. Your instructors and the
writing coaches will look for your draft introduction (we will assign it 15 of the 40 marks in
the rubric). It should have (following the Writing Manual and Style Guide for the Faculty of
Natural Resources Management):
•
•
•
•
A clear identification of the subject of your section of the website, including any
background material relevant to the topic or references to previous sections of the
website, as planned.
Evidence of your thesis, the controlling idea that will guide the writing in this
section.
Definition of any key terms or place names, species descriptions, etc. that will be
necessary to understand the writing that will come after the introduction.
A statement of the planned organizational structure. Since the introduction acts as a
blueprint for the section, you need to indicate the structure your section will follow.
Often you can indicate your plan with a statement of the major points (or subtopics)
you will discuss.
�Below the draft introduction, your instructors will look for the evidence that will be
discussed in a more complete draft of the writing. That counts for 25 of the 40 marks on
the rubric. Essentially, this step creates a reorganized version of the annotated
bibliography that begins to set up the paper.
The assignment is due October 28. The rubric is on the next page.
�Weight
on
mak
OUTLINE COMPONENTS
WEAK
DEVELOPING
PASS
PROFICIENT
Introduction is general or
vague and unclearly related to
thesis.
Introduction is focused and
clear but not well related to
thesis.
Introduction is focused,
clear and well related to
thesis.
Introduction is focused, clear
and well related to thesis.
Material is well researched and
accurate.
Thesis statement limited to
topic.
Thesis statement provides
unclear focus.
Thesis statement is clearly
focused and defensible.
Thesis statement is clearly
focused, defensible and
compelling.
Two to four subtopics are
listed.
Two to four subtopics are
listed appropriate to thesis
statement.
Suggested subtopics deal
effectively with the thesis
statement.
Suggested subtopics deal
effectively and exhaustively
with the thesis statement.
Information references the
subtopics but not clearly.
Relevant information
clearly references the
subtopics.
Relevant information clearly
and exhaustively references the
subtopics.
DRAFT INTRODUCTION
1
1
1
Introduction of topic: Relevant history and background
information, definition of key terms, if necessary.
Thesis statement: State the topic and the focus of your
investigation. Use sentence form and ensure that the
statement is defensible.
Organizational structure: List the subtopics you will use.
(Usually 2 to 4 subtopics are appropriate for a 5 to 8 page
essay.)
PLANNED SUPPORT OF THESIS
3
For each subtopic, list some information/evidence you will
use to develop your thesis.
Information is provided but
not clearly referencing the
subtopics.
1
List these pieces of evidence in a logical order.
No effort to provide order.
A logical order is
suggested.
A logical order uses key
words from the thesis
statement.
A logical order compellingly
uses key words from the thesis
statement.
1
Provide an in-text citation (author date) for each piece of
information/evidence.
Citations are provided but
incomplete.
Complete citations are
provided.
Complete and accurate
citations are provided.
Complete and accurate
citations are provided free of
style errors.
TOTAL
40
Points assigned
(as per rubric)
2
3
4
5
�3. The peer review
The goals of a peer review are to: 1) improve writing skills; 2) strengthen editing skills; and 3)
develop a quality final paper. The peer reviewer is assessing the writing for 1) content, 2)
organization, 3) grammar and style and 4) formatting. The instructors for the course will not be
marking the draft, nor will peer reviewers assign a mark. Do not mark up the peer’s paper; instead,
you will use the form on the attached page. Peer reviewers will be marked on their effort as shown
on the page submitted to the instructor.
The assignment is due November 4 (in class).
To gain the most out of the peer review process, authors should hand in a draft that is as complete
as possible. Authors will get the draft back with a second copy of the peer review form at the end of
class. This procedure will allow time to revise papers based on the peer-reviewer’s comments and
submit the final draft on November 11.
STEPS FOR PEER REVIEWERS:
1. Read the whole paper at least once before you begin your feedback.
2. Checking formatting against the Writing Manual and Style Guide for the faculty.
3. Write a summary of your peer review addressing: 1) content, 2) organization, 3) grammar and
style and 4) formatting. Use the attached form.
QUESTIONS YOU MAY WANT TO ASK AS YOU REVIEW THE PAPER
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
What is the main point of the paper?
What is the biggest problem?
What is the biggest strength?
What content does not fit the main point/and or audience?
Where should more details/examples be added? Why?
Is the organization confusing?
Is the writing unclear or vague?
�TERM PAPER PEER REVIEW FORM (Submit this copy to the paper authors)
Environmental Issues: _________________________________________________________
PEER REVIEW (Use back of sheet if necessary.):
1. THESIS (CONTROLLING IDEA)
2. ORGANIZATION
3. CONTENT
4. WHAT I LIKED BEST AND WHAT I LIKED LEAST
�TERM PAPER PEER REVIEW FORM (Submit this copy for 2 marks)
Peer Reviewer’s Name: ___________________________________________________
Environmental Issue: _____________________________________________________
PEER REVIEW (Use back of sheet if necessary.):
1. THESIS (CONTROLLING IDEA)
2. ORGANIZATION
3. CONTENT
4. WHAT I LIKED BEST AND WHAT I LIKED LEAST
�
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Assignments
Hyperlink
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URL
<a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1InXsRVlV0dw5JwE6JsEMUGBvUM2KAZx1ARNapM1R7Ig/edit?usp=sharing" title="GEOG 1170/ ENST Instructions to Succeed in Writing on Research" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">GEOG 1170 Instructions to Succeed in Writing on Research</a>
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GEOG/ENST 1170 Instructions to Succeed in Writing on Research
Subject
The topic of the resource
GEOG/ENST 1170
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d4df0974c11dc0d839e2b0356797c814
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Text
Writing Assignments and Instruction
at Ontario’s Publicly Funded Universities:
A View from Three Disciplines
Jordana Garbati, Kelly McDonald,
Lindsay Meaning, Boba Samuels, Cory Scurr
Wilfrid Laurier University
�Published by
The Higher Education Quality
Council of Ontario
1 Yonge Street, Suite 2402
Toronto, ON Canada, M5E 1E5
Phone:
Fax:
Web:
E-mail:
(416) 212-3893
(416) 212-3899
www.heqco.ca
info@heqco.ca
Cite this publication in the following format:
Garbati, J., McDonald, K., Meaning, L., Samuels, B., & Scurr, C.* (2015). Writing Assignments
and Instruction at Ontario’s Publicly Funded Universities: A View from Three Disciplines.
Toronto: Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario.
*Authors listed in alphabetic order
*
The opinions expressed in this research document are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views or official policies of the
Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario or other agencies or organizations that may have provided support, financial or otherwise, for this
project. © Queens Printer for Ontario, 2015
�Writing Assignments and Instruction at Ontario’s Publicly Funded Universities: A View from Three Disciplines
Acknowledgements
The authors extend appreciation and thanks to the faculty and staff at Ontario universities who generously
engaged in this research project. We also thank HEQCO for its support and the funding that enabled us to
carry out this research. We are grateful as well to the reviewers of this manuscript who helped us clarify and
adapt this work for publication.
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�Writing Assignments and Instruction at Ontario’s Publicly Funded Universities: A View from Three Disciplines
Executive Summary
The ability of postsecondary students to write and communicate proficiently is an expectation identified by
many, including not only organizations such as the OECD but also other public and employer groups. There is
concern, however, that students and thus employees often fail to meet expectations in these areas. To
address this concern, it is necessary to understand more about the writing skills that students learn during
their postsecondary education. This research project was designed to examine whether and how students
are taught to write at university.
This study used both qualitative and quantitative methods to analyze the writing opportunities afforded to
students at five Ontario universities in their first and second years. We analyzed course syllabi (n=215),
distributed online surveys to university instructors (n=31), and held focus groups (n=3) of faculty (n=8) to
identify the assignments and instruction that students received. We chose one representative department
within each of three disciplines (arts/humanities, sciences and applied fields) to study: history, kinesiology
and business.
The research questions that guided this research were:
What types of writing assignments do students receive in first- and second-year courses in the
humanities, sciences and applied fields (e.g., history, kinesiology and business)?
What are instructors’ perceptions about the in-class writing instruction they provide to address
these assignments?
Our findings indicate that university students write an average of 2.5 assignments per course. This finding is
consistent with the results of other research in Canadian and US universities. Based on these values and
assuming a course load of 5, students would write an average of about 12 assignments over the course of a
year, suggesting that university students do, in fact, have opportunities to learn advanced academic writing
in their courses. We also found, however, that there were significant differences between the number of
assignments expected across disciplines, with students in history writing almost twice as many assignments
as those in kinesiology or business. So while many students are receiving opportunities to learn and practice
writing in their first- and second-year courses, many others are doing little or no writing.
One instructional strategy that has been suggested to promote writing skill development is to use low-stakes
writing assignments. These can be incorporated into courses as nested assignments so students have an
opportunity to submit component parts of an assignment and receive feedback about their writing as they
work toward a final product. Our syllabi analysis shows that almost one-quarter of assignments were
categorized as nested assignments. There is therefore an opportunity for professors to increase the use of
the nested assignment model and to incorporate more low-stakes writing opportunities in first- and secondyear courses. We found that only about 5% of syllabi indicated an opportunity for students to receive any
form of in-process feedback on their writing assignments. Using a nested assignment approach increases the
amount of feedback that students receive from professors.
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�Writing Assignments and Instruction at Ontario’s Publicly Funded Universities: A View from Three Disciplines
Our faculty survey and focus group interviews elaborated on the syllabi data. Findings from these additional
data sources indicated that professors in all three departments at one institution relied on their own
undergraduate and graduate writing experiences to inform their current writing instruction. Kinesiology
professors appeared to feel the most competent to provide writing instruction to their first- and secondyear students. Professors did not indicate that they received any ongoing professional development
opportunities on writing instruction, so this might be worth considering when planning for departmental
development.
There were several differences between departments and among individual professors’ perceptions and
approaches to writing instruction. Unlike history and kinesiology professors, for example, business faculty
did not include a lot of writing instruction or assignments in their first- and second-year courses. History and
kinesiology professors indicated that they considered disciplinary goals when they planned writing
instruction and assignments, but business professors did not. Professors in the three departments reported
using both in-class and online instructional strategies but emphasized different topics in their classes (e.g.,
grammar in history, APA style in kinesiology).
Finally, professors in all departments perceived students as lacking in writing ability or engagement, and
while they recognized the writing centre as a reliable resource for students, they often spoke of it with a
remedial purpose in mind.
In conclusion, this study shows that student writing at university is poorly addressed in any systematic,
coherent way. Further, writing across the disciplines includes diverse experiences and instructional
approaches. Professors in some disciplines may be more focused on sharing subject content than providing
writing instruction. The barriers to university writing instruction identified in this study (i.e., lack of
institutional resources, low level of student abilities and engagement, inconsistent departmental support),
need to be addressed so that professors and institutions in general will be in a better position to support
writing development in the early years of undergraduate education.
Future study should extend this research to include examination of writing assignments and instruction in
other disciplines and with other student groups such as graduate students or international students. Also
suggested are studies that include larger numbers of instructors in the focus groups so that a more
comprehensive view of the departments from multiple perspectives is available. Finally, inclusion of
students in a similar study would be of value so that their perceptions of the instruction and assignments
they receive are considered.
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�Writing Assignments and Instruction at Ontario’s Publicly Funded Universities: A View from Three Disciplines
Table of Contents
Executive Summary.............................................................................................................................................. 3
Introduction ......................................................................................................................................................... 7
Literature Review ................................................................................................................................................. 7
Research Questions ............................................................................................................................................. 9
Methods ............................................................................................................................................................. 10
Findings .............................................................................................................................................................. 12
Quantitative Results: Syllabi Analysis ........................................................................................................ 12
Quantitative Results: Faculty Survey ......................................................................................................... 16
Qualitative Analysis: Faculty Surveys and Focus Group Interviews .......................................................... 18
Theme 1: Faculty Writing Qualifications .............................................................................................. 18
Theme 2: Writing Assignment Variety ................................................................................................. 20
Theme 3: Teaching Strategies and Types of Writing Instruction ......................................................... 22
Theme 4: Assessment, Feedback and Goals ........................................................................................ 23
Theme 5: Department-wide Goals and Guidelines .............................................................................. 24
Theme 6: Expectations and View of Student Abilities/Engagement ................................................... 25
Theme 7: Challenges: Class Size, Lack of Time, TAs and Resources..................................................... 26
Theme 8: Institutional Resources Available ......................................................................................... 28
Summary of Qualitative Findings ......................................................................................................... 28
Discussion........................................................................................................................................................... 29
Assignment and Instruction Descriptions .................................................................................................. 30
Three Barriers to Improving Student Writing ............................................................................................ 31
(1) Lack of Resources............................................................................................................................ 31
(2) Low Level of Student Abilities and Engagement............................................................................. 31
(3) Lack of Departmental Support........................................................................................................ 32
Limitations ......................................................................................................................................................... 32
Conclusion and Avenues for Further Investigation............................................................................................ 33
References ......................................................................................................................................................... 35
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�Writing Assignments and Instruction at Ontario’s Publicly Funded Universities: A View from Three Disciplines
List of Tables
Table 1: Number of Course Syllabi and Writing Assignments Coded for each Department ............................ 12
at each University
Table 2: Summary of Key Findings from the Syllabi Analysis ............................................................................ 13
Table 3: Record of Survey and Focus Group Interview Participants................................................................. 18
Table 4: Summary of Key Findings from the Interview and Survey Data Analysis ........................................... 28
List of Figures
Figure 1: Graph Depicting the Average Number of Assignments Given to Students in Each Discipline .......... 14
Across Institutions
Figure 2: Types and Frequency of Supplemental Materials Faculty Members Give to Students ..................... 16
Figure 3: Types and Frequency of Feedback Provided to Students by Professors ........................................... 17
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�Writing Assignments and Instruction at Ontario’s Publicly Funded Universities: A View from Three Disciplines
Introduction
The writing ability of university students receives considerable attention and is often criticized, not only in
the media (see Holland, 2013; MacQueen, 2013) but also from within the academy (see Goldberger, 2014;
Graves, 2013, 2014). Major reports on educational attainment, such as the OECD’s Education at a Glance
(2013), draw attention to the expectation that students at the postsecondary level be able to write well by
the time they graduate. In articles about employability and the skills needed to succeed beyond university,
communication skills factor highly in business fields and elsewhere (see Bloom & Kitagawa, 1999; Career
Builder, 2015; The Conference Board of Canada, 2014). At the university level, in policy documents such as
the 2007 Ontario Council of Academic Vice-Presidents’ Undergraduate Degree Level Expectations (UDLEs),
the ability of undergraduate students to communicate – orally and in writing – is prominently recognized as
an important learning outcome. These UDLEs are reinforced in the similar but more recent policies for
graduate students (see Ontario Universities Council on Quality Assurance, 2010). Given this attention to
students’ communication and writing abilities, it is reasonable to ask what instruction students receive in
university to develop their ability to write.
This project provides an analysis of writing/communication instruction in first and second year at publicly
funded universities in Ontario. We describe writing assignments given to students in three disciplines,
explore professors’ expectations for student writing, and identify the kinds of curricular instruction available
to first- and second-year undergraduate students. In the first phase, data were collected through syllabi
analysis and an online survey of professors. In the second phase, we conducted focus group interviews with
professors in three departments (business, history and kinesiology) at one institution. This project enables a
discussion of how current university writing instruction aligns with expectations for student outcomes,
public expectations about writing and best practices identified by writing researchers.
Literature Review
Identifying and describing the writing assignments that students are required to complete at university
provides one approach to understanding how students learn to write. Course writing assignments may be
designed to test students’ knowledge of content as well as to enable students to develop, refine and
practice necessary writing skills and to receive assessment on how well they are demonstrating those skills.
Under this view, it is assumed that students not only receive the assignment but also instruction on how to
complete it, along with clear and constructive feedback to guide them. Students’ poor writing may thus
reflect a variety of causes, including a paucity of writing instruction and feedback, in spite of the opportunity
or requirement to write for class. While the omission of instruction is not likely to happen in specifically
labeled “writing courses” with experienced writing instructors, it is possible in other courses, especially in
large first-year classes in which course content may be emphasized at the expense of writing development.
Despite its limitations, the identification and analysis of writing assignments given to university students is a
reasonable starting point for an exploration and improved understanding of student writing development.
One established method for identifying writing assignments is to analyze course syllabi. The benefits of
conducting a syllabi analysis to determine the number and types of writing assignments in any given course
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�Writing Assignments and Instruction at Ontario’s Publicly Funded Universities: A View from Three Disciplines
have been documented in the literature (Graves, Hyland & Samuels, 2010; Graves et al., 2014; Meltzer,
2003, 2009). Notably, course syllabi readily serve as a consistent component for examination across courses
and institutions because they are required for all courses and are usually publicly available. Syllabi are
understood to function as a contract between professor and student that outlines the expectations and
structure of a course. As such, syllabi are likely to reasonably reflect the work that students are required to
complete. Conducting a systematic analysis of course syllabi requires little reliance on professors or students
to provide their recollections about assignments within a course, across a discipline, or across an institution.
Stanny, Gonzales and McGowen (2014) summarize findings of four reviews of syllabi that occurred over a
five-year period at the University of South Florida and suggest that this research approach can produce a
rich data set that can address multiple focused questions about the nature of teaching and learning.
Previous research using syllabi analysis at a Canadian university indicates that students write on average 2.5
assignments of about four pages each in most of their classes, though this varies by program and faculty
(Graves, Hyland & Samuels, 2010). The types of assignments (e.g., essays and research reports) required in
students’ degree programs suggest that professors design assignments to teach students how to meet
traditional disciplinary and professional demands and expectations. Mathematics programs, for instance,
may include no writing requirements (Graves et al., 2014).
Research on writing tasks at the university level has often focused on science and engineering (for example,
Braine, 1995; Graves, Parker & Marcynuk, 2013), and relatively little attention has been directed to fields
such as business. In engineering, Graves, Parker and Marcynuk (2013) suggested that a lack of genre
identification or a misidentification of the required genre is a contributing factor to poor student writing. In
other words, it is not clear to students what it is that they need to write as an assignment. A variety of
undergraduate and graduate levels of study have also been examined to a limited extent. Recently, Samuels
and McDonald (2015) conducted a syllabi study in a faculty of science and observed an increase in the
number of assignments in third- and fourth-year undergraduate courses compared to first- and second-year
courses while the number of courses offered actually decreased. Their findings showed a significant
difference in the number of assignments in first- and second-year versus third- and fourth-year courses. In
the case of biology, for example, none of the first-year courses (n=2) required writing assignments and only
9% of the second-year courses (n=11) included such assignments. Together, these studies provide some
indication of the writing instruction students in the sciences may receive.
Although some recent research has focused on students’ development of communication skills in business,
systematic analyses of the writing tasks required in business courses remain rare (Zhu, 2004). In one early
study on business writing, Canesco and Byrd (1989) analyzed 55 graduate course syllabi and found a lack of
clarity regarding writing assignments. For instance, it was unclear from the syllabi how a “project” differed
from a “report.” Moreover, assignments often required teamwork and were controlled by the instructors.
Bogert and Butt (1996) also completed a syllabi analysis to determine the types of writing assignments
expected of students in MBA courses; the researchers found that MBA courses were designed to include
both writing and oral skill development. Zhu’s (2004) analysis of 95 course syllabi and handouts on writing
assignments in undergraduate and graduate business courses revealed that students were expected to take
on two roles: (a) an institutional role (writer as learner) and (b) a professional role (writer as business
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�Writing Assignments and Instruction at Ontario’s Publicly Funded Universities: A View from Three Disciplines
person). More recently, O’Day Nicolas and Annous (2013) conducted a syllabi analysis using the model
proposed by Graves, Hyland and Samuels (2010) in a Lebanese faculty of business. The researchers found
that 70% of syllabi in their data set made no reference to writing, and in the remaining 30% of syllabi that
did include a writing component, the function of the writing component was not made explicit. As these
studies indicate, a variety of conclusions can be drawn based on the type of data extracted from syllabi.
Many studies, like Zhu’s (2004), relied upon analysis of assignments from only one institution. As a result,
Zhu recommended that future research be conducted to analyze writing assignments from different types of
institutions and business programs.
The concern that writing assignments vary not only by course and program but also potentially by institution
is not well studied, though some differences are established. Writing instruction in Canadian universities
generally differs from that in the US, which has a strong history of first-year composition courses (ClaryLemon, 2009; Russell, 2002). Some Canadian universities do have introductory writing courses, writing
courses in the disciplines, or even whole writing departments, but these are not universally present. Adding
to the complexity, over the past few decades writing instruction in many school environments has adopted a
writing-across-the-curriculum model (i.e., all teachers are writing teachers) and/or a writing-in-thedisciplines model (i.e., writing is best learned in disciplinary contexts), with much overlap between these and
other approaches (Bazerman et al., 2005). As a result, writing instruction for university students is currently
addressed in a variety of ways and locations. Little is known about how structured or comprehensive such
writing instruction is in universities across Canada and what role assignments play in this instruction.
Research Questions
In this study, we sought to describe university writing assignments and instruction for students in the early
years of their undergraduate programs at Ontario’s publicly funded universities. The goal of the project was
to create a case study of three disciplines, focusing on their provision of writing instruction and writing
assignment design in first- and second-year courses. This study enables us to consider whether students are
being given sufficient opportunities to develop their abilities to write/communicate at advanced levels and
how this development is being addressed across the three fields of study.
Two research questions guided this project:
What types of assignments do students receive in first- and second-year courses in the humanities,
sciences and applied fields (e.g., history, kinesiology and business)?
What are instructors’ perceptions about the in-class writing instruction they provide to address
these assignments?
Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario
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�Writing Assignments and Instruction at Ontario’s Publicly Funded Universities: A View from Three Disciplines
Methods
Our mixed-methods investigation used document analysis and case study methods to explore the current
state of writing at Ontario universities. We analyzed course syllabi, distributed online faculty surveys and
conducted faculty focus group interviews to create a description of writing instruction across three
disciplines. Although our initial goal was to have three universities serve as institutional “cases” for this
project, difficulties in acquiring sufficient numbers of participants from each university and in data collection
within the appropriate time span resulted in a revised approach. To capture potential differences between
fields, we chose one department to represent each of the humanities, sciences and applied fields at any
participating institutions. The departmental “cases” chosen to represent disciplinary differences were
history, kinesiology and business. We also chose to focus on first- and second-year courses to limit the
amount of data and analysis to a reasonable level given the constraints of this project. This focus enables us
to separate the writing experiences of students in their early years of university study from those of upperyear students.
Procedure
Approval from the research ethics board was received to approach Ontario universities to recruit
participants for this study. We sent a recruitment letter (see Appendix A) inviting each of the three
departments at eight universities to participate by sharing the syllabi for their first- and second-year courses
with us. These eight universities were identified because each of them had the targeted disciplines and
departments. The departments were chosen primarily because of their popularity with students and the lack
of existing research about writing within these disciplines. Following approval of each department, all
professors (part-time and full-time) within the department were emailed an invitation to participate in an
online survey about student writing and writing instruction and, if they wished, to participate in a focus
group to discuss writing. We later emailed respondents interested in the focus groups to coordinate a
meeting time. Two members of the research team conducted each focus group interview (n=3). The focus
groups followed a semi-structured format; each focus group was about one hour in length. Each group’s
discussion was audiotaped and transcribed for analysis.
Participants
Five Ontario universities that offered programs in the targeted departments or disciplines participated in the
first phase of this project, the syllabi analysis. They ranged in size from medium (17,000 students) to large
(30,000 students). A total of 31 instructors at five universities participated in the online survey, which was
distributed to all full and part-time faculty in the targeted departments. Faculty focus group interviews were
carried out at one institution and each group included faculty from one of the three departments: business
and economics (n=4), history (n=1) and kinesiology (n=3). By conducting departmental focus groups, faculty
members had an opportunity to respond to and comment on their colleagues’ responses. In addition, it was
ideal to conduct focus groups rather than individual interviews because of the time limitation of this project.
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Insufficient numbers of volunteers from other institutions made conducting focus groups at these
institutions not feasible in the timespan of the study.
Data Collection and Analysis
We collected syllabi from all first- and second-year courses offered in the Winter 2014 and Fall 2014 terms in
the selected departments at the participating universities. The appropriate program assistant provided us
with electronic copies of all syllabi. We coded and analyzed syllabi for characteristics of the writing
assignments given to students (e.g., number of assignments, length of assignments, marks allocated, type of
assignments, etc.), following the model used by Graves, Hyland and Samuels (2010). Appendix B provides an
explanation of the coding categories. We organized the data into a shared Excel spreadsheet. Frequent team
meetings were held in order to discuss the coding process and ensure that each researcher was interpreting
syllabi and coding in a manner consistent with the others; differences in interpretation were resolved
through group consensus. We then analyzed these data using SPSS software to determine frequencies and
significant differences between departments.
Next, we distributed an online survey to professors to collect data on their perceptions of student writing
and writing instruction. The purpose of this survey was to augment information collected from the syllabi
with comments and elaboration from professors about their approaches to writing instruction in their
discipline. The survey contained a mix of open-ended and Likert scale questions (see Appendix C). Finally, we
conducted three semi-structured focus group interviews with a total of eight professors to explore their
perceptions concerning: (a) the volume of student writing required, (b) the barriers faculty face when
assigning writing, (c) the quality of student writing submitted, and (d) faculty awareness and use of
instructional resources such as the writing centre and library. See Appendix D for the questions asked in
these focus groups.
While ideally qualitative analysis would be conducted through lengthy immersion in the field and interaction
with the data, the timeline of this project necessitated the adoption of a more efficient method. As a result,
we interviewed each professor only one time and we limited our recruitment methods to what was
manageable in the time frame. We used the coding program QDA Miner Lite (2015) as our tool to facilitate
analysis of the survey’s open-ended responses and focus group transcriptions. We created a series of codes
that represented a range of possible topics concerning writing instruction; codes were added as new topics
emerged out of the data. Each mention of these topics in the transcripts was flagged with the relevant code,
and the program allowed us to evaluate and compare the coded instances in detail. The analysis of the
coded transcripts allowed us to consider faculty comments on identified topics and their perceived
importance. The survey and focus group analyses complement the syllabi analysis and allow us to comment
on faculty members’ current pedagogical approaches towards writing.
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Findings
Quantitative Results: Syllabi Analysis
We collected a total of 215 first- and second-year course syllabi from the targeted three disciplines. These
syllabi yielded 544 separate records of writing assignments. Table 1 summarizes the number of course
syllabi and writing assignments for each department at each university.
To answer our first research question about the types of assignments given, we analyzed characteristics of
writing assignments given to students across the three disciplines of interest. An overview of the key
findings is listed in Table 2.
Table 1: Number of Course Syllabi and Writing Assignments Coded for each Department at each University
Discipline
Department
Institution A
Applied
Business
13
25
Humanities
History
15
27
Science
Kinesiology
30
67
Applied
Business
9
15
Humanities
History
23
77
Science
Kinesiology
11
6
Humanities
History
49
219
Science
Kinesiology
12
21
Institution D
Applied
Business
44
77
Institution E
Science
Biology*
9
10
215
544
Institution B
Institution C
Total
No. of Syllabi
No. of Assignment
Records
Institution
* This institution did not provide kinesiology department syllabi but did volunteer to contribute their syllabi from a related science
department to our research project.
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Table 2: Summary of Key Findings from the Syllabi Analysis
Characteristic of Assignment
Key Finding
Frequency of Assignments
The average number of assignments given to students per course was
2.5.
Types of Assignments
The most common genre of writing assigned to students was labelled
an “assignment” (e.g., tutorial assignment, written assignment,
personal assignment, etc.)
Length of Assignments
On average, writing assignments were 5 pages in length.
Value of Assignments
The average assignment accounted for 12% of a student’s final grade.
Nested Assignments
21% of the assignments coded were nested assignments (i.e., broken
down into separate components).
Learning Goals
Learning goals (i.e., explicit statements of the objective of an
assignment) were specified in 56.4% of assignments.
Rubric
Only 7.4% of assignment records contained rubrics.
Feedback
Only 4.8% of assignment records provided the opportunity for
students to receive feedback (e.g., peer review, comments on an
unmarked first draft).
Audience Specified
Very few assignments (1.8%) specified an audience for student
writing other than the TA or the professor
Frequency of Assignments. Across all of the disciplines and institutions, the average number of assignments
given to students per course was 2.52 (SD = 3.04). A one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was conducted
to determine if the average number of assignments per course differed by discipline. Results revealed a
significant difference between disciplines, F(2, 212) = 12.25, p < .001. More specifically, students in
humanities courses (M = 3.71, SD = 3.80) were asked to write significantly more than students in science (M
= 1.68, SD = 1.78) and applied courses (M = 1.77, SD = 2.28). This finding is represented in Figure 1.
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Figure 1: Graph Depicting the Average Number of Assignments Given to Students in Each Discipline Across
Institutions
Average Number of Assignments Given
to Students
5
4.5
3.71
4
3.5
3
2.5
1.68
1.77
Science
Applied
2
1.5
1
0.5
0
Humanities
Discipline
Types of Assignments. Of the 544 assignment records, 20% were identified by the professor as
“assignments.” Included in this category was a wide variety of instructor-labeled terms such as “tutorial
assignment,” “website assignment,” “written assignment” and “personal assignment.” The second most
common category (encompassing about 11% of all records) was “essay” and the third most common
category (accounting for 9% of all records) was “paper.” The remainder of the records identified a wide
range of assignments, ranging from lab reports to online discussions. Exploration of the distribution of types
of assignments across the different disciplines did not reveal any meaningful differences between
disciplines. Overall, the labels given by professors to the most common assignments were general and
provided little information about the specific elements or genre characteristics required in these
assignments (e.g., essay).
Length and Value of Assignments. Instructors specified the assignment length in only 39% of assignment
records (n=212). Of these, 20.3% were short assignments of one page or less. Assignments of two to four
pages comprised 34.6% of all assignment records. Together, assignments of four pages or less made up 55%
of assignments for which length was specified. Moderate length assignments (between five and 10 pages)
comprised 36.7% of assignment records, while long assignments (greater than 10 pages) made up 8.4%. The
average number of words per assignment was 1,307 words (approximately five pages), with a median of
1,000 words. Not surprisingly, the length of assignment significantly correlated with the value of the
assignment towards the students’ final grade, r(206) = .56, p < .001. Therefore, assignments that were
longer in length were also worth more towards students’ final grades. Correspondingly, individual shorter
assignments had less impact on students’ final grades.
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Nested Assignments. We also examined the extent to which assignments were “nested” within each other.
A nested assignment is one that can be broken down into separate components and handed in separately
over the course of a term (e.g., an annotated bibliography, proposal, first draft and final report). Students
are thought to benefit from these sequential assignments as they introduce different genres of writing using
a scaffold strategy. Overall, we found that nested assignments were not common. More specifically, 21%
(n=115) of the assignments coded were nested. The number of nested assignments did not differ
significantly across disciplines; however, there was a slightly higher percentage of nested assignments found
in the applied courses (24%) than in the science (21%) or humanities (18%) courses. This suggests that
applied courses may provide more structure for students as they learn the genres of the discipline.
Learning Goals. A learning goal is defined as an explicit statement of the learning objective(s) targeted by
the assignment. In our data, learning goals were fairly common and were specified in 56.4% of assignments.
The greatest proportion of assignments with learning goals was found in applied courses, with 87% of all
assignments in this discipline identifying a learning goal. Approximately 51% of assignments coded from
humanities courses contained a learning goal, and 40% of assignments coded from science courses
contained a learning goal.
Rubric. We examined how many course syllabi contained a grading rubric for writing assignments. An
assignment was coded as containing a rubric if it had a description of what the instructor would look for
when grading the assignment. This information could be presented in tabular form, lists, or as a written
comment, with or without numerical grades included. Our data indicated that rubrics were relatively rare,
only occurring in 7.4% (n=40) of assignment records. Of the assignments that did contain rubrics, the
majority of them (n=35) were in the format of written statements, with an average of four evaluation
criteria per rubric. Approximately half of the rubrics (48%; n=19) were found in assignments from the
applied courses, 33% (n=13) were found in assignments from humanities courses and 20% (n=8) were found
in assignments from science courses.
Feedback. We coded how many writing assignments gave students an opportunity to receive feedback
before the assignment was handed in for grading. Some examples of possible feedback include written
comments by a faculty member or TA on a draft, peer review in or out of class, or scheduled office hours
with a professor or TA. We found that only 4.8% (n=26) of assignment records indicated that students were
provided with an opportunity to receive feedback. Almost all (96%) of the assignments that did offer
feedback were found in the humanities.
Audience Specified. An audience for an assignment (other than a professor or TA) may be specified by the
professor and may be hypothetical or authentic. Our data showed that the audience was specified in less
than 2% of assignment records (n=10). Therefore, students almost always wrote assignments with the
professor or TA as the sole reader in mind. Examples of other audiences that were specified included a
potential investor, the History Channel, a high school class and camp counselors.
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Quantitative Results: Faculty Survey
To answer our second research question regarding faculty members’ perceptions of student writing and
writing instruction, we analyzed responses to our faculty survey. A total of 31 professors across five
institutions completed the online survey. The majority of survey respondents identified themselves as being
from an applied discipline (68.8%) and having tenured status at their institutions (80%). The distribution of
survey respondents is outlined in Table 3.
Writing Instruction. Almost all faculty members who completed the survey (97%; n=30) indicated that they
required students to write in their classes. They were also asked to identify the types of writing that they
assigned to students in their classes, and the most common types were “analyses,” “assignment” and
“paper.” Of the faculty members who required students to write in their classes, 80% (n=24) reported that
they provided supplemental materials and information to students about the writing assignments given in
their courses. The most common types of supplemental materials and information provided were out-ofclass written explanations (e.g., answers to email requests) and in-class oral explanations (e.g., answers to
questions). Figure 2 provides a breakdown of the types and frequency of supplemental materials and
instruction faculty members reported providing to their students.
Figure 2: Types and Frequency of Supplemental Materials Faculty Members Give to Students
30
25
23
23
In class, oral
explanations
Out of class,
written
explanations
20
Frequency
20
17
18
15
15
10
5
0
Marking
grids/rubrics
In class, written
instructions
Web-based
instructions
Out-of-class,
oral
explanations
Type of Supplemental Material
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Feedback. Faculty members were also asked whether they provided feedback or required students to seek
feedback on assignments before they were handed in for grading. Approximately half (51.6%; n=16)
indicated that they provided feedback to students on their work prior to handing in writing assignments.
This result was quite surprising given the findings from our syllabi analysis, in which very few writing
assignments were found to include an opportunity for feedback. The most common type of feedback that
faculty members reported providing was voluntary office-hour consultations. See Figure 3 for a breakdown
of the types and frequency of feedback that faculty members reported providing to their students. Faculty
members were also asked whether they provided written comments on writing assignments after they were
marked. A total of four faculty members (13%) indicated that they provided this type of feedback.
Support from Department. We were also interested in whether or not faculty members perceived that they
received support from their department about writing assignments and instruction. Approximately onequarter of faculty members (26.7%; n=8) reported that their department had either formal or informal
discussions about writing assignments and instruction, and 35.5% (n=11) of faculty members were unsure if
such discussions took place in their departments. A total of six faculty members (19.4%) reported that their
departments provided instruction for grading assignments, and four faculty members (12.9%) reported that
their departments had guidelines or recommendations about expectations for undergraduate student
writing. Taken together, these results suggest that faculty members perceived their departments as
providing relatively little support regarding writing instruction, grading and expectations of student writing.
Figure 3: Types and Frequency of Feedback Provided to Students by Professors
30
25
Frequency
20
17
15
10
6
5
1
1
Out-of-class,
oral peer
review
In-class,
written peer
review
2
2
In-class, oral
peer review
Required
office-hour
consulations
3
0
Type of Feedback
Out-of-class,
Written
Voluntary
written peer comments on office-hour
review
unmarked first consultations
draft
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Qualitative Analysis: Faculty Surveys and Focus Group Interviews
As indicated above, a total of 31 faculty surveys from five institutions were collected and coded. Our
invitation to faculty to participate in focus groups received few responses, so three focus group interviews
were conducted with eight professors, all from one institution, though all targeted departments were
represented (see Table 3). One focus group was held for each department. Eight themes emerged from the
coding and analysis of the surveys and interviews; these are described in detail below and summarized in
Table 4.
Table 3: Record of Survey and Focus Group Interview Participants
No. of Survey
Respondents
No. of Faculty in
Focus Group
Institution
Discipline
Department
Institution A
Applied
Business
14
4
Humanities
History
5
1
Science
Kinesiology
3
3
Institution B
Applied
Business
2
-
Institution C
Science
Kinesiology
1
-
Institution D
Applied
Business
5
-
Institution E
Science
Biology
1
-
31
8
Total
Theme 1: Faculty Writing Qualifications
Although all professors indicated that they felt competent in their own writing proficiency, their perceptions
of their ability to teach writing to first- and second-year undergraduates were varied, both within and across
departments. While many indicated that they were able to correctly identify grammar and syntax mistakes,
some felt inadequate or lacked the tools to explain the various errors using correct terminology. None of the
instructors indicated receiving any recent training to teach writing and dated most of their formal writing
development to their own graduate and undergraduate careers, or even earlier.
Business faculty reported different levels of ability to teach writing and a range of competencies to teach
specific elements of writing. Sophia1 stated:
1
Pseudonyms have been used to protect participants’ anonymity.
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I don’t feel I’m an expert on teaching writing. I think I’m much better at trying to give a succinct small
number of feedback [on] items than I used to be. […] But I don’t think I’d be able to teach a writing
course. No, let somebody else do that.
Luca felt
competent to teach writing at the level of structuring an argument, which is where I focus most of my
energy. I know bad grammar when I see it, but I can’t always label it correctly, so I don’t get into that
too much […] I used to know it better, 25 years ago. I’ve forgotten most of it.
Some faculty, like Mindy, noted “that [the business programs] have some [teachers] who enjoy and are
experts in [writing], but others who go, whoa.”
When asked about how they developed knowledge of writing pedagogy, business faculty referred back to
their own undergraduate and graduate experiences (and sometimes even high school). They spoke about
drawing on their own experiences in learning to write to inform their teaching practices. Luca said, “[My
teaching] would just go back to high school and college courses… what little I can remember. […] Yeah, I
took a number of courses as an undergrad and in high school, grammar and basic writing.”
Similarly, Emma stated:
I didn’t really get any formal grammatical training. I think in school, I think I was in the generation that
was not taught formal grammar, I did a bit of Latin roots and stuff, but that was it. […] Oh, and in my
undergrad we didn’t have formal writing training, but there were more writing assignments than you
would get here normally I think.
Mindy indicated that she took two courses in professional writing that were geared more toward creative
writing as a way to learn to write. Sophia stated that she had taken writing courses, “but not in the last ten
years. I took one in grad school and I took one after I was on contract here.” In sum, these business
professors did not identify any specific programs or experiences where they learned how to teach writing.
Instead, they drew on their own experiences as students.
Similar to business professors, history professors admitted a range of abilities in teaching first- and secondyear students to write. They indicated that they felt proficient in their ability to identify errors in students’
writing and they felt competent to tell students what mistakes to avoid. Most history professors indicated
that they felt competent to teach writing, in part because of their expertise in other languages. Despite this
general feeling of competency, at least one professor indicated a sense of inadequacy. Edgar, a professor of
history of 40 years, said, “I could stand at a blackboard and explain things if I can’t even remember the
terms, but there's things I know that I can't even (long pause) I know that I can't explain them.” Edgar had
never taken a writing course nor had he ever participated in professional development related to writing
instruction.
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Kinesiology professors indicated that they felt competent in their ability to teach writing to first- and
second-year students. When asked about their ability to provide writing instruction, most participants
attributed their ability to write and give clear writing instruction to their graduate degrees. “I had my
supervisor beat it into me,” revealed Natalia. Zoe affirmed this idea:
It’s the training you get as a graduate student, because you get so much feedback back and forth with
multiple drafts, and depending on your program and depending on the courses you had to take – I’m
thinking of some we did, it was very much about writing and evaluating each others’ work.
One professor was required to take a writing course during the fourth year of her undergraduate degree
because she was registered for a thesis. Similar to the business professors, kinesiology faculty relied upon
their own experiences as students to learn how to teach writing. Unlike business professors, however, they
more consistently reported feeling competent to teach their students to write.
Theme 2: Writing Assignment Variety
Within their departments, faculty noted that the amount and type of writing assignments varied, and
definite distinctions existed between departments. Business faculty indicated that first- and second-year
business students do little writing, a perception borne out when comparing their comments to those of their
counterparts in both history and kinesiology. In addition, they indicated that assignments in business focus
more on content than on writing development, whereas history and kinesiology assignments appeared to be
both content and writing-development driven.
Most business professors claimed that first-year students received no writing assignments, and second-year
students had limited writing requirements. One interviewee said:
We have a variety of courses at the second year level, some more textbook based and those lend
themselves much more to multiple choice exams, in part because they often have test banks
associated with them. […] Then – so that’s probably about half of our courses at second year level –
the other half have writing and or major data analysis work, which often involves some writing as
well.
Emma suggested that the focus for assignments is “more on the content than on the writing […] at that
point I actually don’t care about the grammatical side of things at all, and it’s just one sentence, two
sentence answers, if that. Dot [bullet] point answers even.”
Reflecting on the business curriculum as a whole, from first to fourth year, Sophia admitted that “third and
fourth year students have to do quite a bit of writing. Which, I guess now that we’re talking about it, I realize
must come as a bit of a jolt to them.” She also described the typical assignments in the program:
A lot of times they [write] on teams, the teams’ reports… so there’s a lot of team business reports,
some individual case analysis report type assignments – this would be in third and fourth year –
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some industry report-type assignments, and they also do their fair share of straight-on exam writing
short answer questions, that kind of thing.
Business professors emphasized writing for assessment purposes (e.g., point-form test responses) in the
early years and suggested that more business-focused writing tasks occur in third- or fourth-year
undergraduate courses.
In the history department, professors identified a limited number of discipline-specific assignments given to
first- and second-year students (e.g., essays based on a book of documents, research papers analyzing a
historical figure). Faculty responses, however, are contradicted by the findings of our syllabi analysis, which
showed history courses as requiring the highest number of writing assignments – almost double that of
business or science courses. Unfortunately, the limited number of surveys we received back from history
faculty, and even greater limitation in focus group interviews, mean that the conclusions we can draw are
tentative at best.
Similar to history, kinesiology professors indicated that writing assignments for first- and second-year
students were planned with disciplinary goals in mind. Zoe explained:
In first year, [students] have an individual writing assignment that we've changed a lot over the
years – there's usually three or sometimes four different instructors that teach the first year class.
We separate it into different sections, but we co-ordinate very much on the kinds of assignments
they do. So there may be some slight differences depending on the section and the instructor, but
we do have a writing assignment. It used to be purely individual, where they would – they would do
a paper that they would hand in, sort of like a one-time-only, hand-it-in-at-the-end-of-the-term
[paper].
Zoe claimed that this assignment was ineffective and concluded that for students “during first year, the
writing has been notoriously horrendous.” As a department, faculty decided to change the assignment to
better scaffold instruction and expectations:
[Students] do it in pieces. So it's a little bit at a time. And that has proved to be much better for the
student, much better from a grading perspective. So they just do little pieces of the writing
assignment, to the culmination at the end, but they get feedback at least three different points
across the term.
Second-year kinesiology students are required to complete a group assignment, “sort of a more term-paper
type of thing, [in] which they have to incorporate good writing as well as the incorporation of research into
that assignment” (Natalia). One participant explained the disciplinarily linked expectations of an assignment
that required students to summarize an article:
to summarize an article in a certain length of time, to a certain word length or space, in terms of
taking, you know, what are the key elements in terms of what's the thesis, what's the objectives in
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the study, what is the methodology, what did they find, and […] so it's more trying to read literature
and trying to synthesize that into a written document of some sort.
In sum, the kinesiology professors described a cooperative and coherent approach to the re-design of
writing assignments for students in their department.
Theme 3: Teaching Strategies and Types of Writing Instruction
Survey and interview data reveal the use of many teaching strategies and types of writing instruction across
departments. Professors in all three departments used several teaching techniques, both in-class and online,
for writing instruction. Some professors also indicated that writing instruction was provided in the syllabus
and outside of class.
In her approach to writing instruction in business, Emma claimed that she:
takes one class, about an hour, to get [the students] to read one of the articles on the reading list,
then go through in groups answering the questions [on our class website] and then trying to use the
class responses from that to come up with an annotated bibliography. I'm not sure I'm doing it very
successfully. […] I also use that lecture – because it's one and a half hours […] to try and teach them
what a journal article is, and how to break them down a little bit. Although that's also perhaps not as
successful as it could be.
While unsure of its effectiveness, Emma’s approach is one example of an in-class teaching strategy. Other
strategies included inviting a librarian as a guest lecturer, using podcasts, grading rubrics, and lists of
common mistakes in their writing instruction. Writing instruction was thus delivered via the syllabi, in-class,
and through the online course management system. Business professors reported instructing students on
topics such as formatting, assignment structure, expectations, referencing style and data presentation.
Similar to business, the history professors mentioned using a variety of teaching strategies and writing
instruction. Edgar explained that he:
made a slideshow on how to write, which, you know, it's advice like “start now,” “don't wait until the
end,” “do this” […] what is a comma splice, click on this link and go to websites that explain comma
splices, I can see who downloads it, right, who looks at it, and very few students bother.
History professors posted information about writing to the course management system online and on the
syllabus. They also reported providing weekly workshops and examples of previous students’ work to guide
their students.
Kinesiology professors reported using similar strategies as their colleagues in business and history. In
comparison to business and history faculty, however, they commented more frequently on formatting style
(e.g., APA). They reported that they incorporate online workshops and provide instructions about
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assignment structure online and on handouts. Zoe organized additional tutorial time outside of class time to
help students with their writing development. She said:
We did an extra tutorial outside of class time that was voluntary, if people wanted to show up, and
one of my grad students ran the tutorial. We ended up doing two, and it was to help them with their
writing and their APA and all that, and it was extremely well attended. So that was nice, because it
was outside of class time. Totally up to them if they wanted to go. That went really well.
Tammy felt that it is punitive to tell students “don’t do this” or “don’t plagiarize.” Rather, she showed
students
examples of what [those things] mean […] so we do try to teach them, here's what it would look like,
here's what you're trying to move towards with paraphrasing, initially – usually in first year they tend
to just direct quote, direct quote, and I'm a little lenient with them in first year, I tell them that I
understand you're probably going to over quote, but that's better at this point than under quoting.
Theme 4: Assessment, Feedback and Goals
Goals for student writing and assessment practices were varied. While participants indicated that they give
students feedback on their writing, there were notable differences in the type and timing of the feedback.
This suggests that departmental agendas are not necessarily involved when it comes to the type and amount
of feedback given to students; rather, feedback is contingent on the individual instructor. There was also
evidence to suggest that these individuals do set specific goals for their first- and second-year students.
In general, business professors recognized the importance of providing feedback to students about their
writing and identified a variety of feedback strategies including quality scales (e.g., unsatisfactory to
exceptional), posting of model writing and identifying grammar errors. These strategies were not always
seen as ideal: “I always mark run-on sentences and dangling modifiers, punctuation, and sentence fragments
[…] usually I end up writing all over what they've written, which is not popular” (Mindy).
In contrast, at least one professor did not provide students with detailed feedback on their writing “unless
it's […] if there are language issues I'll say there's language and grammar issues in this paragraph” (Sophia).
Referring to her perception of the departmental goals for students, Sophia explained:
I think one thing that makes us a little different from other faculties and departments is that we are
emphasizing business writing much more so than your average kind of thesis writing or even a formal
report. We tell [students]: short sentences, short paragraphs, put the punchline first, don't, you know,
work through to the end of your argument, tell us right up front what your recommendation is and
then lay out your sections. We like them to use headings and subheadings, and so in a way, it's clear
what we're after is clarity, readability, “skimability,” maybe.
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While it appears that the departmental goals in business may be similar, the amount of feedback provided
varies among individuals.
In history, the one professor interviewed believed that the purpose of his first-year writing assignment is to
get students to understand primary sources and how to formulate an argument. In contrast, in his secondyear class, he claimed to write comments on students’ work and make note of students’ use of grammar by
using a form “where I check what’s wrong, like comma splices, and then it explains what comma splices are
and how to avoid it.” For this professor, feedback appears to come only at the end of the writing process.
Similar to professors of business and history, kinesiology professors reported that they provide feedback to
students through written comments on assignments, though some reported taking this one step further.
Tammy explained that:
each individual's going to have their individual feedback, and then collectively I'll look across the
group and say, what are sort of the common things that I'm seeing, and then I present that to the
whole class. Yeah. So that hopefully helps. And then the [students] that come in – the rare ones that
actually come in to review their feedback – then they can get even more.
Zoe explained that “we want [students] to be able to come out of this degree being articulate enough to get
jobs in various kinds of careers, and they aren't going to be writing 20 page papers in most careers, or a lab
report, in most careers.” At the same time that professors reported these broad goals for students’ writing
development, the kinesiology professors who were interviewed referred several times to teaching first- and
second-year students about citation using American Psychological Association (APA) style. While not
acknowledged as a goal, it is clear that accurate use and reporting of sources was a high priority for some
faculty members.
Theme 5: Department-wide Goals and Guidelines
Departmental goals and support for writing pedagogy were not universally reported. Faculty members from
both the business and history departments stated that their departments identified no clear departmental
goals. Professors in kinesiology reported ongoing discussions in the department about writing instruction
and systematic efforts to plan curricula to better prepare students as they progress from first to fourth year.
Business professors reported that they were not aware of any departmental guidelines regarding the
expectations of first- and second-year students’ writing development. Luca claimed:
With over 110 faculty, we never get together to talk about teaching, or best practices, or invite people
in to give us advice or professional guidance. And the only talking we do about writing is me generally
complaining at the pub with other colleagues about how bad it is.
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Conversely, faculty teaching economics courses reported that:
in economics we have a weekly internal seminar series, which one week, every second week is
alternate between research and teaching, and so we've actually had sessions where we've discussed
what we do to teach writing, […] We have had the writing centre in, on occasion, into particular
classes. […] And of course there's quite a bit of informal discussion on what sort of writing
assignments we do, so – and other assignments as well. (Emma)
Edgar stated that the history department had not “had any formal discussions” pertaining to departmentwide goals for students. In surveys, however, faculty indicated that the department did adopt a new style
manual, but many colleagues did not follow through and use it. This suggests that there is a gap between
what faculty perceive as a departmental plan for writing and what actions appropriately constitute and
support that plan. It also suggests that history faculty members may exert a fair degree of autonomy over
curriculum planning rather than act as a collective group.
Unlike their counterparts in business and history, interview data in kinesiology revealed that the department
is taking clear strides to improve overall coherence of their program. For instance, Tammy explained that:
right now the department is trying to sit down and talk about how can we best, which are the best
writing courses, what kinds of writing material can
we get in there, and different formats. […]
So we're in the throes of trying to decide what those types of assignments would look like for first
year.
Zoe elaborated further:
We're making a much more conscious effort to have those [assignments] in our first- and second-year
courses right now, so that it's known across the department. In the past it's probably been one or two
people knew what one or two people were doing, but what we're attempting to do is make it so it's
kind of department policy or departmentally known that this is what we're going to do, this is what
whoever teaches 141 or 161 or 181, they're going to have – you can do whatever you want at one
level, but you're going to have these kinds of writing pieces, […] That's what we're attempting to do.
While the business and history departments show little departmental cohesion in setting program writing
goals and guidelines, faculty responses indicated that the economics program and kinesiology departments
were trying to implement clear goals and guidelines for their professors and students. In addition to the
planning of a coherent curriculum that includes writing, it was notable that kinesiology faculty were
passionate and excited as they spoke about these developments.
Theme 6: Expectations and View of Student Abilities/Engagement
In terms of professors’ expectations and views of student abilities or engagement, there was general
consensus among participants in all departments. Overall, professors believed that first- and second-year
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students’ writing abilities are weak and student engagement is low. Professors indicated that they held low
expectations of first- and second-year students’ ability to write, and there was clear frustration related to
their perceptions of students.
In business, for example, Luca reported that he had no expectations of students’ ability to write in first- and
second-year courses. Mindy also stated flatly, “Very few of our students can write well, very few.” Survey
data corroborate the attitudes of the interviewees; participants reported that students “don’t read or
listen,” are “incapable of following instructions” and “have poor attitudes.”
In addition to the conviction that students have limited writing and academic skills, faculty responses
indicated frustration with the state of affairs. Emma rhetorically asked, “What is the economic cost to
society of having all these graduates who can't write? It's got to be enormous.”
Faculty responses from the history department indicated similar disillusionment to that of their business
colleagues: “Just generally, we all agree [student] writing is abominable” (Edgar). Regarding student
engagement, Edgar complained that “the fact is the majority of students, and this is one of my biggest
complaints, don’t bother to pick up their essays. […] I've seen students pick it up, look at the mark, and as
they're walking out just drop the paper in a wastebasket.” Concern was also raised about students’ related
skills such as reading, which, in Edgar’s words, would give students “a feel for what makes sense.” In other
words, some faculty linked limitations in student writing with limitations in clear and logical thinking.
Like their colleagues, kinesiology professors reported that students’ engagement was low and professor
frustration high. Zoe, for instance, said:
It is frustrating when we've taken the time […] to spend writing all that feedback, and then you don't
see that they've made any attempt to correct it. That's frustrating for us, but it's also, it's like, but
then [the students are] not getting out of this what [they] need to. That's unfortunate.
When asked to identify what she would like to see in student writing, Tammy lamented that “proofreading
would be nice.” Summarizing the perceptions of many faculty, she claimed, “We still struggle with our
students and their writing. We have good students, [but] the writing is not good.”
Theme 7: Challenges: Class Size, Lack of Time, TAs and Resources
Faculty responses indicated numerous challenges regarding writing instruction and professors’ ability to
include writing assignments in first- and second-year courses. Class size and the lack of time, availability of
teaching assistants (TAs) and relevant resources were identified as the most prominent challenges.
Class size and a lack of TAs were identified as significant concerns for business faculty members. Emma
stated:
We have 1700 students in the course altogether, with multiple sections of instructors, so that makes
marking writing assignments consistently more difficult. And we have limited TA resources. Very, very
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limited TA resources, so it's really out of necessity more than anything [that business and economics
has limited writing assignments].
Luca explained further:
If you set an assignment for one section, the assignments for the other sections have to be at the
same time [according to departmental regulations], and then you've got 150 things to mark at once.
And just that volume of things coming in at the same time, especially for writing assignments, makes
it quite difficult to manage the marking. Just logistically, right? We've got the hours [for TAs], yes, but
the hours at that specific point in time? Maybe not.
History professors noted that lack of time posed a significant challenge for the inclusion of writing
instruction in class. Edgar reported difficulty in removing course content as a way to make room for writing
instruction:
I mean the thing is I've got so much… we have a twelve week term, I teach a course that has to cover
you know, War and Society, I start back with prehistoric man and I end with terrorism. So I've got all
this material to cover, in twelve weeks, and then to take out […] 50 minute lectures – what do I take
out to give them?
In addition to the perceived lack of time for in-class writing instruction, a survey respondent noted that
there was limited time to grade assignments.
Professors in kinesiology identified the main challenges to be a lack of TAs and time for writing instruction.
Zoe claimed:
It's manpower, person power issues. I find myself trying to go to the shortest, quickest, easiest, which
isn't necessarily the best, because it's just there's not enough hours to mark, especially when there's
no writing support in terms of grad student support or TA support or IA [instructional assistant]
support.
Furthermore, the lack of TA support was felt to discourage professors from including writing assignments in
their first- and second-year courses. Zoe reported adjusting her teaching approach because of a lack of TA
support. She said that she had “to be really careful about what I'm doing, I've redesigned courses where I've
taken out writing because I don't have time to mark it. So I think the biggest thing is the resource, the
people resource – TA support.” Tammy concurred and explained that even if a professor were allocated TA
resources, the quality of the TA may not be very good (i.e., the TA may have little writing expertise).
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Theme 8: Institutional Resources Available
Professors in the three departments mostly claimed some knowledge of the institutional resources available
for writing instruction, including the writing centre and the library. In particular, they reported that they
promote the writing centre as a resource for students.
Business faculty members especially identified the writing centre as a helpful resource, though it was clear
that their perceptions of the support available was largely remedial. Mindy, for instance, reported that when
she “can hardly make heads or tails of [a student’s writing],” she would suggest, “you need to go to the
writing centre.” Similarly, Emma indicated that she recommends the writing centre to her students: “I will
often say to people, look this is really, this really needs some work, you need to go and talk to the writing
centre.”
Like his colleagues in business, Edgar reported recommending that his students visit the writing centre. He
said, “I send lots […] I mean I send, I often write, I would say, 15-20% of the students I write, you know, ‘you
might find it useful to consult the writing centre.’ How many of them follow up on it [is unclear].”
Professors from kinesiology also indicated that they promoted the writing centre as a support tool for
students. Like those in history, however, they noted that such promotion was no guarantee that students
actually used the service. Zoe explained:
We let them know about the resources, we sometimes give them the links to all the learning services
and encourage them, I sometimes talk about oh hey, you know there's an upcoming study skills or
writing centre whatever, and I tell them about it, and my understanding is that that is under-utilized
by our students, yes.
Summary of Qualitative Findings
Table 4: Summary of Key Findings from the Interview and Survey Data Analysis
Theme
1: Faculty writing qualifications
2: Writing assignment variety
3: Teaching strategies and types of
writing instruction
Key Finding
Professors in all three departments indicated their reliance on their
own undergraduate and graduate writing experiences in order to
increase their competencies to teach writing to first- and second-year
students.
Business does not include much writing instruction or assignments in
first- and second-year courses.
History and kinesiology professors considered disciplinary goals when
planning writing instruction.
A variety of instructional strategies – both in-class and online – were
reported.
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Theme
Key Finding
5: Department-wide goals and
guidelines
Writing instruction emphasized topics such as grammar (e.g., in
history) and APA style (e.g., in kinesiology).
Variety exists among interviewees and survey respondents across
departments.
Types of feedback provided to students include comments on written
assignments, an overview for the whole class, and online comments
and discussions.
Kinesiology seemed to have department goals about writing
development that were supported by professors.
6: Expectations and view of student
abilities/engagement
Professors in all departments viewed students as having a lack of
ability or engagement.
7: Challenges
Class size, lack of time and lack of TA support are challenges
identified by professors across all three departments.
All three departments note the writing centre as one resource for
students outside of class.
4: Assessment, feedback and goals
8: Institutional resources available
Discussion
This study began by asking two questions: what assignments are university students in their early years
required to write, and what instruction do students receive in their programs to help them learn to write
these assignments. We found that students in the first and second years of their programs in science
(kinesiology, biology), history and business (including economics) write an average of 2.5 assignments in
each of their courses. This number of assignments is consistent with earlier data that indicated that
university students write about 2.5 assignments per course in a Canadian liberal arts college (Graves, Hyland
& Samuels, 2010). Over a typical academic year in which five courses are taken, this would mean that
students are writing about 12 assignments per year. Students, therefore, are writing, and given that our data
focus on students in the first two years of university, we can say that novice students in particular are being
given opportunities to learn to write.
This average number of assignments, of course, masks differences between courses and programs, some of
which contain little or no writing in first year and some of which require students to systematically write
three or more assignments as steps towards completing a larger project. We found, for instance, that history
courses contained significantly more writing assignments than did courses in business, which in turn
required more writing than did science courses. Our data thus support the perception that students in some
programs, such as those in the arts and humanities, have more opportunities to write than do other
students, such as those in the sciences or business. So students are writing, but not all students are writing
the same amount.
Professors were accurate in their assessment of how much writing was required in their departments,
responding insightfully when asked to describe the amount of writing that students in their programs were
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required to undertake. Their comments suggest that established disciplinary expectations regarding what is
taught to entering students may be quite influential. Business faculty indicated that their priority was to
present a large number of students with large amounts of subject-matter content, so writing expectations
were not prioritized. In history and science, on the other hand, faculty members’ comments identified an
expectation that students in their fields should begin learning discipline-specific writing and communication.
As a result, history students wrote many assignments and science students were facing increasing numbers
of writing assignments.
This simple indicator of assignment frequency within courses leads to many other explorations, including
comparisons of assignment characteristics between disciplines, consideration of why these characteristics
are seen (or not), what they signify and how assignments might be improved. In addition to describing the
types of assignments and instruction currently available, this case study identified three barriers to
improving student writing in university settings. We describe each below.
Assignment and Instruction Descriptions
Research in academic writing has identified a number of characteristics associated with effective writing
pedagogy (see Bean, 2011), including short, low-stakes assignments (see Elbow, 1997), providing formative
feedback, supplying a rubric, identifying a learning goal, and specifying a relevant audience (e.g., Ashbaugh,
Johnstone & Warfield, 2002). Our data indicate that, in addition to a moderate average number of
assignments (with the caveat of significantly different numbers of assignments between disciplines), the
length of assignments we found across the three disciplines is consistent with previous research (Graves,
Hyland & Samuels, 2010). When specified in the syllabus, the majority of assignments were four pages or
less in length, and the average length of assignment was about five pages. The value of assignments tended
to go up as the length increased, meaning that many students did have an opportunity to complete short,
low-stakes assignments. In addition, some nested assignments were observed, and learning goals were
commonly identified, particularly in business. Unfortunately, many assignments (60%) did not contain
guidance on how long a completed assignment should be, almost half had uninformative general labels
(“paper” or “assignment”), few (less than 8%) included rubrics, even fewer (less than 5%) provided for inprocess feedback – these were almost all in history – and almost no assignments (less than 2%) specified any
audience other than the professor or TA. In short, the assignments given to first- and second-year students
demonstrated an uneven mixture of effective pedagogical elements along with a greater proportion of
missed opportunities for student instruction.
Professors indicated in their surveys and interviews that they used a wide variety of instructional strategies
to teach writing, in contrast to the relatively conventional assignment design we found through syllabi
analysis. Professors used online resources and distributed handouts, provided in-class and extracurricular
workshops as well as extra tutorials on writing, used models of exemplary texts, and discussed expectations
and rubrics with students. They indicated awareness of campus resources such as the library and the writing
centre and claimed to use these resources. Their commitment to writing instruction was counterbalanced,
however, by limitations in their knowledge of effective writing pedagogy. For instance feedback, when
provided, was often focused on error identification and checklists rather than interaction with student
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authors. Similarly, resources and handouts were sometimes identified as generic “tip sheets” rather than
genre-specific guides. Finally, half of all instructors claimed to provide feedback or instruction on student
writing, despite the finding from our syllabi analysis that indicated such feedback was rarely incorporated.
The explanation for this anomaly is that professors viewed office hours, responding to emails and students’
in-class questions as the primary means by which writing instruction was given. Whether this view of
instruction is reasonable or productive is debatable. Also notable in professors’ comments was their low
assessment of students’ writing abilities and engagement with academic work, as well as their frustration. In
contrast, professors in departments that actively promoted collaborative planning of program curricula to
include writing appeared to be moving beyond identifying concerns about student abilities to addressing
them.
Three Barriers to Improving Student Writing
(1) Lack of Resources
Professors identified large class sizes, limited numbers of teaching assistants (TAs) and rigid departmental
rules on the use of available resources as impediments to more effective writing instruction in their
disciplines. In high-enrolment disciplines like business, the existence of large first-year classes with few TAs
was cited as a barrier to including writing instruction because marking large numbers of assignments would
be prohibitive. In smaller classes like history, the barrier was one of time, i.e., how to include sufficient
content instruction and writing instruction in a short, 13-week period. Other considerations mentioned were
the lack of time for marking student assignments and the uneven ability level of TAs to support writing
instruction. Professors, in other words, identified writing instruction as a labour-intensive and time-intensive
activity and indicated that they felt their institutions did not provide them with adequate resources to
support this activity.
(2) Low Level of Student Abilities and Engagement
A consistent theme across professors’ responses was a criticism of students’ level of preparedness to write,
as well as their engagement in academic activities. Although teacher criticism of students may be easily
dismissed as long-existing complaints, it is important to recognize that faculty members’ perceptions of
students are an important element in the university context of teaching and learning. Concerns regarding
students’ failure to follow instructions, ignorance of basic language features and poor reading skills are not
simply items of academic skills deficits but the identification of student characteristics felt to be beyond
professors’ ability to “fix.” Some faculty linked these concerns with access issues, i.e., the lowering of
entrance standards. Across all disciplines, faculty voiced low or no expectations about students’ ability to
write or communicate, most often in tones of resignation and frustration.
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(3) Lack of Departmental Support
Two elements regarding departmental supports are notable in their omission. First, many faculty noted that
while they themselves felt competent as writers, they felt poorly prepared to teach writing. Few faculty had
taken any courses in writing instruction or identified this as an option in their own professional
development. Most relied on their own experiences as graduate students for insight into how students learn
to write in their discipline. Interestingly, faculty from the history department identified their knowledge of a
second language as an important factor in being able to teach students to write. Overall, faculty
acknowledged that they lacked formal knowledge of writing pedagogy, identified no opportunities within
their departments for such professional improvement, and instead relied on informal experience to guide
their instruction.
Second, faculty were asked about departmental goals for writing instruction and whether these were
articulated and addressed in their program’s curriculum. Business and history faculty provided mixed
responses, suggesting that clear departmental goals were not in place. This lack of coherent program
planning to include writing instruction suggests that the resources that might support such programming are
also unavailable. While some attempts were made to specifying departmental writing expectations – such as
through the adoption of a common style guide in history – professors did not consistently follow these
initiatives, indicating that individuals rather than departments hold the balance of power in curriculum
planning. Such imbalances result in an undermining of the ability of departments to plan and support writing
instruction. In science, a collaborative effort involving many professors was directed towards designing a
systematic progression of writing assignments to develop identified disciplinary writing skills. It is not clear
why this kinesiology department is successfully progressing towards coherent and systematic writing
instruction when similar-sized departments falter. It is notable, however, that the largest number of
volunteers for our faculty focus group came from this department.
Limitations
We acknowledge that there are certain limitations regarding our methods of data collection. As discussed
earlier, the process of syllabi analysis has been criticized in the past because syllabi may not accurately
represent the amount of writing actually performed by students, and descriptions of assignments may be
missing or incomplete in the syllabus. Syllabi analysis has been used successfully in past studies, however,
and we believe that any shortcomings in the resulting data can be supplemented through additional sources
of information, such as surveys or focus groups, both of which we used.
The issue of whether the group of professors who responded to our online survey and participated in focus
groups was a truly representative sample of undergraduate instructors is also noted, especially given the
small sample sizes from each university. Since responding to the survey was entirely voluntary, those who
did respond may have been more likely to already be interested in the issue of writing instruction and have
strong views on writing. Whether these professors would be more likely to view writing positively or
negatively is not clear. Similarly, participants in the focus groups were selected because they indicated on
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their returned surveys that they would be willing to participate. Those who were interviewed were
therefore likely to be more interested in issues concerning writing instruction than other faculty. While
greater participation from faculty across all departments would have been preferable, we believe the data
collected do provide some indication of what faculty members in general perceive about writing.
In addition, because we had a relatively small number of professors who completed the online survey and
the focus group interview, we cannot claim that the data are representative of any department nor are we
able to draw valid comparisons between disciplines or institutions because the number of participants was
too small. Ideally, we would have conducted focus groups at all of the institutions where we gathered syllabi
data.
While we did not set out to gather data about students’ perceptions of writing instruction, this might be a
productive addition for future research. Collecting and analyzing data from first- and second-year students,
as well as graduate students or English language learners, would provide insight about their perceptions
about writing instruction and skill development and would allow for possible comparisons between student
and professor perceptions.
Conclusion and Avenues for Further Investigation
Findings from this study provide evidence that student writing at university is poorly addressed in any
structured, coherent way. The picture of writing across a variety of disciplines is one of diverse experiences,
with some students introduced early and often to opportunities for relevant writing practice, and other
students facing few opportunities to improve their writing and communication skills. The instruction that
students receive is likely to be based on professors’ idiosyncratic academic experiences rather than any
formal training in writing instruction. Finally, the barriers to more effective instruction that we identified
appear to be systemic and result in a good deal of faculty frustration.
Our findings suggest that action at multiple levels may improve the quality of writing instruction for students
and lead to more effective student writing. These levels include the institutional, the departmental, as well
as the individual level. Program administrators may use our findings to address gaps in writing instruction
within their departments and to plan for an improved incorporation of writing-focused learning outcomes
across designated university units. In particular, the three barriers to improving writing instruction need to
be recognized by upper administration and policy makers as prominent components to address when
considering what is desirable in terms of students’ experiences and learning outcomes. Departments may
recognize the need to study in more detail their own practices in comparison to other departments and with
larger sample sizes of faculty members. Such studies may improve the ability to draw conclusions about
university-wide and department-wide practices and effective strategies for implementing curricular change.
At the individual level, faculty may recognize the benefits of collaborative approaches to the planning of
writing instruction rather than relying primarily on their own experiences. Such approaches may also
influence the levels of frustration felt by individual faculty.
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Finally, this research moves the conversation about writing away from a critique of skills deficits to a more
productive discussion about integrating writing expectations and instruction across Ontario’s universities.
Such a discussion will be necessary if meeting expectations regarding students’ writing abilities is a priority.
Future studies exploring the successes and challenges of current departmental and institutional supports
may not only provide valuable information about the state of writing instruction, but also enable the
identification of potential benchmarks for effective writing instruction at the university level.
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Graves, R., Parker, A., & Marcynuk, K. (2013). Undergraduate writing assignments in engineering: Some
preliminary findings. Proceedings of the Canadian Engineering Education Association. Retrieved from
http://library.queensu.ca/ojs/index.php/PCEEA/article/view/4647/4629
Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario
35
�Writing Assignments and Instruction at Ontario’s Publicly Funded Universities: A View from Three Disciplines
Graves, R., Williams, A., Hyland, T., Jewinski, J., Parker, A., Samuels, B., McKeown, M., Borrows, G., Shaw, G.,
& Slomp, D. (2014). Writing assignments and curricular change: Implications from seven institutions.
Panel presentation at the Canadian Association for the Study or Discourse and Writing, St. Catharine’s,
Ontario.
Holland, K. (2013, November 11). Why Johnny can't write, and why employers are mad. CNBC. Retrieved
from http://www.cnbc.com/id/101176249
MacQueen, K. (2013, November 1). The flap over the fluency gap. Maclean's. Retrieved from
http://www.macleans.ca/news/canada/the-flap-over-the-fluency-gap/
Melzer, D. (2003). Assignments across the curriculum: A survey of college writing. Language and Learning
Across the Disciplines, 6(1). Retrieved from http://wac.colostate.edu/atd/archhives.cfm
Melzer, D. (2009). Writing assignments across the curriculum: A national study of college writing. College
Composition and Communication, 61, W240-261.
O’Day Nicolas, M., & Annous, S. (2013). Assessing WAC elements in business syllabi. Business
Communication Quarterly, 20(3), 1-16.
OECD (2013). Education at a glance 2013: OECD indicators. Paris: OECD. Retrieved from
http://www.oecd.org/edu/eag2013%20%28eng%29--FINAL%2020%20June%202013.pdf
Ontario Council of Academic Vice-Presidents (2007). Undergraduate degree level expectations. Retrieved
from http://www.cou.on.ca/publications/reports/pdfs/university-undergraduate-degree-levelexpectations
Ontario Universities Council on Quality Assurance (2010). Quality assurance framework. Retrieved from
http://www.cou.on.ca/publications/reports/pdfs/quality-assurance-framework-and-guide
Samuels, B., & McDonald, K. (2015, April 17). Writing assignments in the Faculty of Science: Program profiles
of seven departments. Paper presented at the Writing in the STEAM Fields: Science, Technology,
Engineering, Arts, and Math conference, University of Alberta.
Stanny, C., Gonzalez, M., & McGowan, B. (2014). Assessing the culture of teaching and learning through a
syllabus review. Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education, 1-16. Retrieved from
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/02602938.2014.956684
Russell, D. (2002). Writing in the academic disciplines. Second ed. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University
Press.
The Conference Board of Canada (2014). Employability Skills 2000+. Retrieved from
http://www.conferenceboard.ca/topics/education/learning-tools/employability-skills.aspx
Zhu, W. (2004). Writing in business courses: An analysis of assignment types, their characteristics, and
required skills. English for Specific Purposes, 23(2), 111-135.
Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario
36
��
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HEQCO Writing Assignments and Instruction at Ontario's Publicly Funded Universities: A View from Three Disciplines
HEQCO
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Writing Assignments
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LAKEHEAD UNIVERSITY
DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY
History Essay Guide
http://history.lakeheadu.ca
Contents
Introduction
1
General Formatting
Information
2
Originality in
Undergraduate
Essays
3
How to Use
Footnotes &
Endnotes
4
Footnote &
Endnote
Formatting
5
Footnote &
Endnote Examples 5
Bibliographies
8
University
Regulations on
Academic
Dishonesty
8
Useful
Internet Links
© 2006
Lakehead University
Department History
8
Introduction
The purpose of this guide is to provide
you with general information about the
Department of History’s guidelines for
undergraduate history essays.
On the left side of this page, you will find
a “Table of Contents” indicating where
information can be found throughout this
guide.
Please note that some instructors may
require variations to the information
provided in this guide. When in doubt
about how your essays should be
formatted in a particular course, consult
your syllabus first and, if you are still
unsure, contact the instructor.
As is mentioned a number of times in this
guide, all students enrolled in history
courses are strongly encouraged to
purchase a copy of the latest edition of
Kate L. Turabian’s A Manual for Writers
of Term Papers, Theses, and
Dissertations (available in the University
Bookstore). The reason for this is simple:
while most basic formatting issues are
dealt with in this guide, not all have been.
rd
th
As you proceed into the 3 and 4 Years
of your program, the Turabian book will
be invaluable.
General Formatting Information
Unless otherwise indicated by your
course instructor, all essays written for
history courses at Lakehead University
must be:
Please note that APA and MLA methods
are not used by historians and are not
acceptable in papers submitted to
members of the History Department.
•
Typewritten in 12pt Times-New
Roman font;
•
Double-spaced;
•
Paginated;
•
Use 1” margins on all sides;
Serious students of History should also
become acquainted with Jacques Barzun
and Henry F. Graff, The Modern
Researcher (the latest edition of which is
also available in the Lakehead
University.
•
Be provided with footnotes (or
endnotes) and bibliography
composed in accordance with Kate
L. Turabian’s A Manual for Writers of
Term Papers, Theses, and
Dissertations. Note: The examples
provided in this guide are based on
th
the 6 edition.
�History Essay Guide
Page 2 of 8
Originality in Undergraduate Essays
Most undergraduate students, lacking
access to large collections of unexploited
manuscripts and documents, will not
produce original pieces of historical
writing in the sense that they will unearth
new evidence or create completely new
solutions for long-standing historical
problems.
Suffrage Poster
circa 1916
“In written work, sloppy
English indicates sloppy
thinking.”
Each piece of writing is original,
however, if it clearly bears the impress of
the writer's own thinking (even though it
contains evidence, ideas, and arguments
drawn from the work of others, with
appropriate acknowledgement in
footnotes).
It is perfectly possible, and highly
commendable, to use the insights of
others in such a way as to arrive at new
insights of your own. The scope for
originality lies in the way in which the
question is tackled -- in the effort and
ingenuity used in tracking down available
sources of information, and in the
organisation, convincingness, and
intelligibility of the resulting piece of
writing. It is by these criteria that essays
will be judged:
Sources of Information
Do not depend upon general history
surveys, encyclopædias and textbooks;
seek more specialised books, articles,
and documents whenever possible.
Organisation
Lake Tambyln Bridge
An essay should have three parts:
i) An introductory section, of not more
than one or two paragraphs, indicating
how you intend to approach the question
and what you do and do not intend to
deal with;
ii) A body, comprising most of the paper,
where you present your arguments and
evidence in a logical manner, taking
each aspect of the subject in turn and
dealing with it fully before moving to the
next; and
iii) A conclusion, of not more than one or
two paragraphs, summing up your
answer. Be sure to provide a clearlystated conclusion.
Your thoughts (and hence your essay)
should be organised in such a way that
both of you and the reader know exactly
what each sentence and paragraph
contributes to the paper, and how each
part relates to the whole. With
organisation, your thoughts will flow
logically from one aspect of the subject
to the next, and the reader will follow
your lead. Experimenting with various
alternative outlines before you start
writing is one of the best means of
achieving a well-organised essay.
Convincingness
The most common fault in undergraduate
essays (and, indeed, in examinations) is
that of failing to answer the question
which was asked and instead answering
some related, but different, question. The
solution is to read the question very
carefully and be sure that you
understand precisely what is required.
This seems self-evident, but in fact
requires practice. Learn to recognise and
concentrate on the key words and
phrases in any question. Ten minutes of
concentrated thought before you open a
book can save you ten hours of fruitless,
because irrelevant, reading in the library.
A simple recital of facts will earn, at best,
a grade of "C" or "D". A good piece of
writing requires that the author apply the
facts (the evidence) in such a way as to
produce a reasoned argument.
As in any argument, you will probably
favour and stress one position more than
another, but in doing so you should at
least indicate your awareness of, and
reasons for rejecting or de-emphasising,
the other points of view.
Continued on the Next Page
© 2006 Lakehead University Department of History
�History Essay Guide
Page 3 of 8
Intelligibility
The language that you should use should
be easily understandable and should
communicate precisely what you want to
say. It is for this reason, and not because
they are vitally important in themselves,
that grammar, spelling, and punctuation
require close attention. Choose your
words carefully and be sure you know
what they mean before using them. A
good dictionary is an indispensable tool
for any writer, whether novice or a Nobel
laureate. Other invaluable aids to the
achievement of intelligibility are Roget's
Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases
and H.W. Fowler's Modern English
Usage. If the question you are trying to
answer contains terms that may be
interpreted in various ways (e.g. "a
revolutionary development"), explain in
your introduction the range of meaning
you intend to apply to them in the course
of your paper.
In written work, sloppy English indicates
sloppy thinking.
Chancellor Paterson Library
How to use footnotes/endnotes
1. Where do I place them?
They may be placed EITHER at the
bottom of the page (when they are
known as footnotes) OR at the end of the
paper before the bibliography (when they
are known as endnotes).
2. When do I provide a footnote or
endnote?
a) When you copy more than two or
three consecutive words from a book,
article, or any other source, YOU MUST
PLACE these words in quotation marks
and provide a footnote/endnote. Such
direct quotations should:
i)
ii)
iii)
consist of the exact words of the
source;
fit grammatically;
be used sparingly. If more than
one-fifth of your paper consists
of direct quotations, concentrate
more on using your own words.
expressing it in your own words (which
you should try to do as much as
possible) no quotation marks are
necessary, but a footnote/endnote
should be provided.
Footnotes/endnotes are simply form of
intellectual honesty and should be
regarded as such. It is better to err in the
side of too many, rather than too few
footnotes/endnotes per page, though this
will vary considerably with the nature of
the topic, the sources being used, and
your particular approach to the topic of
question.
PLAGIARISM IS TO BE AVOIDED AT
ALL COSTS, AND WILL BE VERY
SEVERELY DEALT WITH SHOULD IT
OCCUR.
See page 8 for more information on
Plagiarism.
See the next page for Footnote/Endnote
Formatting.
b) When you are borrowing an idea or
information from a book, etc. but
© 2006 Lakehead University Department of History
Remember: It is better
to over-footnote than
under-footnote. Err on
the side of caution.
�History Essay Guide
Page 4 of 8
Footnote/Endnote Formatting
Footnotes are useful
for the following
purposes:
To identify quotations;
To acknowledge
indebtedness for words
or ideas borrowed;
To indicate where
additional evidence or
comment may be found
in printed books and
other authoritative
sources;
To furnish additional
material or discussion
which is pertinent
(otherwise it should not
be mentioned at all) but
which would disturb the
proportions of the text if
included there;
To refer to other parts of
the treatise itself;
1. These may be placed at the bottom of
the page or at the end of the paper
before the bibliography as endnotes.
2. In terms of number, err on the side of
caution, that is, over-footnote rather than
under-footnote.
3. Number footnotes consecutively, i.e.
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 . . .
4. Do not collapse footnotes -- e.g.
Smith, . . . 50-60 – instead write out a
new footnote every time you change
pages. You can save time and space
when you cite different pages from the
same source consecutively by using
Ibid. For example,
Each book must be footnoted in its full
citation only once. Thereafter, you can
use the author's name, comma, page
number. e.g. Smith, 50.
If one author has written more than one
book, you must also include the name of
the book.
Place the footnote after the first sentence
containing the relevant information from
the new source. The reader will assume
that all the information in the sentence up
to the sentence ending in the next
footnote is either from the same page of
the same or your own original work.
Smith, . . ., 50.
Ibid., 52.
Ibid., 56.
Ibid., 60.
Footnote/Endnote Examples
References to Books and Pamphlets
The complete form of a footnote reference to a printed book includes the following
details in this order and with the punctuation indicated:
a. the author's name (given name or initials first), followed by a comma;
b. the title of the book, underlined, followed by a comma;
c. the name of the editor or translator (if any), preceded by the abbreviation
"ed." or "trans.", and followed by a comma;
d. the number of the edition used (if not the first), followed by a semicolon;
e. the name of the place of publication, followed by a colon;
f. the name of the publisher, followed by a comma;
g. the year of publication, followed by a comma;
h. the volume number in capital Roman numerals (if the edition used consists of
more than one volume), followed by a comma;
i. the number(s) of the page(s) to which particular reference is made -- unless
the work has more than one volume -- and followed by a period.
The abbreviation "Vol." is not normally used in a footnote reference, and it is standard
practice to omit "p." and "pp." in reference to works of more than one volume. Thus "II,
171-182" means "Volume II, pages 171 to 182". Many scholars prefer to enclose
items (d), (e), (f), and (g) within parentheses, omitting the comma after (c).
Continued on the Next Page
© 2006 Lakehead University Department of History
�History Essay Guide
Page 5 of 8
A footnote containing most of these items looks like this if it is to go into typewritten
discussion:
2. G.E. Lessing, The Education of the Human Race, trans. F.W. Robertson (4th ed.;
London: Kegan Paul, Trench, 1883), 47.
Reference to Periodicals and Newspapers
The complete form of a footnote reference to an article in a periodical includes the
following details in this order and with the punctuation indicated:
a. The author's name (given name or initials first) followed by a comma;
b. The title of the article in double quotation marks, followed by a comma;
c. The title of the periodical underlined, followed by a comma;
d. The volume number in capital Roman numerals;
e. The date of the issue or volume to which reference is made, enclosed in
parentheses and followed by a colon;
f. The number of the page or pages to which particular reference is made, followed
by a period.
A footnote containing all these items should appear in this form:
First World War
Recruiting Poster
7. W.C.D Pacey, "Balzac and Thackeray," Modern Language Review, XXXVI (1941):
213-224.
Additional Examples
Work by one author:
1. Gilbert Norwood, Platus and Terence (New York: Longmans, Green, 1932), 53.
Work by three authors:
2. H.R. Plomer, G.H. Bushnell, and E.R. McC. Dix. A Dictionary of the Printers and
Booksellers Who Were at Work in England, Scotland and Ireland from 1726 to 1775
(Oxford: University Press, for the Bibliographical Society, 1932), 206.
Work by more than three authors:
3. W.H. Auden and others, The Internet of the Critic (Princeton: Princeton University
Press, 1941), 27.
Work in several volumes, each with separate subtitle:
4. Reuben Gold Thwaites, ed., The Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents, Vol. XLV:
Lower Canada, Acadia, Iroquois, Ottawas: 1659-1660 (Cleveland: Burrows, 1899), 2025.
Pamphlet (one of series not issued at regular intervals):
5. A.E. Stamp, Methods of Chronology, Historical Association Leaflet, No. 92 (London:
Bell, 1933), 5.
Continued on the Next Page
© 2006 Lakehead University Department of History
“Clarity. Clarity. Clarity.
When you become
hopelessly mired in a
sentence, it is best to
start fresh."
From Strunk and
White’s The Elements
of Style
�History Essay Guide
Page 6 of 8
Recent edition of early printed work:
“Writing is long periods
of thinking and short
periods of writing.”
- Ernest Hemingway
6. Lewes Lavater, Of Ghosts and Spirites Walking by Nyght (1572) ed. J. Dover
Wilson and May Yardley (Oxford: University Press, for the Shakespeare Association,
1929), 88-97.
Early manuscript document printed in a collection:
7. Cotton, Mather. "A Brand Pluck'd out of the Burning" (1693), in George Lincoln Burr,
ed., Narratives of the Witchcraft Cases 1684-1706 (New York: Charles Scribner's
Sons, [1914], 259-287.
Published diaries and letters:
8. Henry Kelsey, The Kelsey Papers, intro. Arthur G. Doughty and Chester Martin
(Ottawa: The Public Archives of Canada and The Public Record Office of Northern
Ireland, 1929), 19-25.
9. Diary of the First Earl of Egmont, Hist. MSS. Comm. (London: H.M. Stationery
Office, 1923), II, 161.
Collection of readings:
10. William Smith Clark II, ed., Chief Patterns of World Drama (Boston: Houghton
Mifflin, [1946]), 406.
Work in foreign language:
11. Henri Bresson, La Religion des classiques 1660-1685 (Paris: Presses
Universitaires de France, 1948), 47-52.
12. Karl Kerényi, Romandichtung und Mythologie (Zurich: Reinverlag, 1945), 19.
13. Benedetto Croce, Nuovi saggi di estetica (Bari: Laterza, 1920), 34-41.
Translation:
Cover of Canadian
Aviation Magazine,
circa 1941-1945.
Featured is the Fort
William produced
“Hurricane Bomber”
14. Kuno Fischer, A Critique of Kant, trans. W.S. Hough (London: Swan
Sonnenschein, Lowery, 1888), 37-40.
Article in periodical or annual volume:
15. "Some Account of the Harleian Collection of Manuscripts," Annual Register, VI
(1763), 140-155.
16. William M. Clyde, "Parliament and the Press," Library, ser. 4, XIII (1933), 395-424.
17. Watson Kirkconnell, "Six Sixteenth-Century Forerunners of Milton's Samson
Agonistes," Trans. Roy. Soc. Can., ser. 3, XLIII (June 1949), Section II, 73-85.
Unsigned newspaper article:
18. "U.S. Statement and Shipkov Affidavit on Bulgaria," New York Times, March 5,
1950, sec. 1, 46-47.
Continued on the Next Page
© 2006 Lakehead University Department of History
�History Essay Guide
Page 7 of 8
Essay in a collection by one author:
19. Irving Babbitt, "Humanist and Specialist", in his Spanish Character and Other
Essays (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1940), 183-197.
Contribution to single-volume miscellany by various authors:
20. Herbert Davis, "The Manuscript of Swift's Sermon on Brotherly Love," in Pope and
His Contemporaries, eds. James L. Clifford and Louis A. Landa, (Oxford: Clarendon
Press, 1949), 147-158.
Article in encyclopaedia or similar compilation:
21. F.E. S[kone] J[ames], "Copyright", Encyclopaedia Britannica, 14th ed. (1929), V,
413-418. [Or abbreviate title" Ency. Brit.]
Parliamentary records:
22. House of Lords Debates, 5th ser., 138 (1945-46), 692-695.
23. Canada, Parliament, House of Commons, Official Report of Debates, October 15,
1930, 5632.
A Note on Internet
Sources
Many instructors do not
allow the use of Internet
sources. However, if
allowed the following
information must be
provided:
•
•
•
24. Congressional Record, 79th Cong., 1st sess., 91:5 (June 15, 1945), 6087.
25. Testimony of William Johnson, Parliamentary History of England (London, 1803),
XVII, cols. 1078-1110.
•
Statute:
•
26. 12 George II, c. 36, s. 4. [Or, 12 George II, c. 36. s. 4.]
•
Law report:
Author's name;
Title of document,
in quotation marks;
Title of complete
work (if relevant), in
italics or underlined;
Date of publication
or last revision;
URL, in angle
brackets;
Date of access, in
parentheses;
Internet Documents (Website):
Do not use a site that
cannot provide all of the
above information. Also,
you must exercise the
same judgment in
evaluating an Internet
site as you would any
other source. The onus
is on the researcher to
make sure the
information, and those
providing it, can be
trusted.
31. Gail Mortimer, The William Faulkner Society Home Page, 16 September 1999,
<http://www.utep.edu/mortimer/faulkner/main faulkner.htm> (Accessed 19 November
1997).
If in doubt, contact your
instructor.
27. Gyles v. Wilcox (1740), 2 Atk. 141, Barn. C. 368.
Unpublished manuscript:
28. Public Archives of Nova Scotia, Manuscript Documents, vol. 35, dc. 2, Cornwallis
to Lords of Trade, July 24, 1749.
29. Bodleian Librarian, Rawlinson MSS., J, fol. 6.
Unpublished dissertation:
30. E.C. Morgan, "The Public Career of Joseph Addison" (Ph.D. diss., University of
North Carolina, 1941), 196.
Internet Documents (E-Journal):
32. Tonya Browning, "Embedded Visuals: Student Design in Web Spaces," Kairos: A
© 2006 Lakehead University Department of History
See to the left for
examples
�Page 8 of 8
“Plagiarism” shall be
deemed to include:
1.
Plagiarism of ideas
where an idea of an
author or speaker is
incorporated into the
body of an assignment as
through it were the
writer’s idea, i.e. no credit
is given the person
through referencing or
Journal for Teachers of Writing in Webbed Environments 3, no. 1 (1997),
<http://english.ttu.edu/kairos /2.1/features/browning/index.html> (Accessed 21
October 1999).
Internet Documents (Newspaper):
33. Christopher Wren, "A Body on Mt. Everest, a Mystery Half-Solved," New York
Times on the Web, 5 May 1999,
<http://search.nytimes.com/search/daily/bin/fastweb?getdoc+site+
site+87604+0+wAAA+%22a%7Ebody%7Eon%7Emt.%7Eeverest%22> (Acessed13
May 1999).
Bibliographies
See a style guide for further citation examples, or consult your instructor.
This should consist of an alphabetical listing, by author's surname, of all sources
cited in your footnotes/endnotes, and only of these sources.
footnoting or endnoting.
2.
Plagiarism of words
occurs when phrases,
sentences, tables, or
illustrations of an author
are incorporated into the
body of a writer’s own,
i.e. no quotations or
indentations (depending
on the format followed)
are present but
referencing or footnoting
or endnoting is given.
3.
Plagiarism of ideas and
words where words and
idea(s) of an author or
speaker are incorporated
into the body of a written
assignment as though
University Regulations on Academic Dishonesty*
“The University takes a most serious
view of offences against academic
honesty such as plagiarism (see side
panel), cheating, and impersonation.
Penalties for dealing with such offences
will be strictly enforced.
A copy of the “Code of Student
Behaviour and Disciplinary Procedures”
including sections on plagiarism and
other forms of misconduct may be
obtained from the Office of the Registrar.
The following rules shall govern the
treatment of candidates who have been
found guilty of attempting to obtain
academic credit dishonestly.
a) The minimum penalty for a
candidate found guilty of
plagiarism, or of cheating on any
part of a course, will be a zero
for the work concerned.
b) A candidate found guilty of
cheating on a formal
examination or a test, or of a
serious or repeated plagiarism,
or of unofficially obtaining a copy
of an examination paper before
the examination is scheduled to
be written, will receive a zero for
the course and may be expelled
from the University.
Students disciplined under the “Code of
Student Behaviour and Disciplinary
Procedures” may appeal their case
through the judicial panel.”
* From the Lakehead University
Calendar available online at
http://www/lakeheadu.ca/calendar/
they were the writer’s
own words and ideas, i.e.
no quotations or
indentations (depending
on format followed) are
present and no
referencing or footnoting
or endnoting is given.
From
www.lakeheadu.ca/calendar/
Useful Internet Links
Lakehead University Writing Centre
http://writingcentre.lakeheadu.ca/
Lakehead University Learning Assistance Centre
http://learningassistance.lakeheadu.ca/
Lakehead University Library
http://library.lakeheadu.ca/
Lakehead University Library Guide to History Holdings
http://library.lakeheadu.ca/wp/?pg=105
© 2006 Lakehead University Department of History
�
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Style Guide
Dublin Core
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Lakehead University Department of History Essay Guide
Subject
The topic of the resource
HIST
essay guide
HIST
-
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PDF Text
Text
WRITING MANUAL AND STYLE GUIDE
12th Edition
2014
FACULTY OF NATURAL RESOURCES MANAGEMENT
Lakehead University
Thunder Bay, Ontario
�ii
PREFACE
Much of this manual was adopted from the Writing Manual and Style Guide (6th
edition) by Yves Prévost and Anthea Kyle. The first version of a writing manual, which
was accepted by the School of Forestry’s Faculty Council in 1982, was prepared by N.J.
Phillips, and was based on the third edition of Format Requirements for Theses and
Reports in the Faculty of Forestry, University of New Brunswick.
The present edition has two purposes: 1) to provide a guideline for students in the
Faculty of Natural Resources Management for the appropriate style and format
requirements for course reports, essays and undergraduate theses and 2) to describe
how students will be supported and evaluated in their writing through a Writing Across
the Curriculum (WAC) program. If you have any comments about additions or
corrections or requests for clarification, please contact Peggy Smith at
pasmith@lakeheadu.ca.
�iii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Various people have worked on this manual over the years. We would like to
acknowledge especially Dr. Yves Prévost, Anthea Kyle and Sandy Dunning who initially
wrote and then worked to improve this manual. Peggy Smith has been the WAC coordinator since 2004, compiling Manual editions 6-9 and this edition. Jane Parker
provided valuable input to the 2010 edition. She also provided extensive writing support
for our students over a number of years. We thank the faculty and students who have
made valuable suggestions for making the manual more user-friendly.
�iv
CONTENTS
PREFACE ....................................................................................................................... II
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................... III
INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................. 1
What is WAC? ......................................................................................................... 1
How Does WAC Affect the Student? ....................................................................... 2
The WAC Assessment Process .............................................................................. 2
GENERAL DIRECTIONS ................................................................................................ 4
FORMATTING............................................................................................................. 4
Typing, Paper and Spacing ..................................................................................... 5
Margins ................................................................................................................... 6
Pagination ............................................................................................................... 6
Capitalization........................................................................................................... 7
Errors ...................................................................................................................... 7
PLAGIARISM .............................................................................................................. 7
FORMAT OF AN UNDERGRADUATE REPORT OR ESSAY ......................................... 8
COVER ....................................................................................................................... 8
PRELIMINARY PAGES ............................................................................................... 8
Report ..................................................................................................................... 8
Essay ...................................................................................................................... 8
TITLE PAGE EXAMPLE .......................................................................................... 9
Guidelines for a Title Page ...................................................................................... 9
ABSTRACT EXAMPLE ............................................................................................. 10
Guidelines for an Abstract ..................................................................................... 10
A Note on Keywords ............................................................................................. 12
TABLE OF CONTENTS EXAMPLE .......................................................................... 13
Guidelines for a Table of Contents ........................................................................ 14
LIST OF TABLES EXAMPLE .................................................................................... 14
Guidelines for a List of Tables ............................................................................... 15
LIST OF FIGURES EXAMPLE .................................................................................. 15
Guidelines for a List of Figures.............................................................................. 16
BODY OF THE REPORT OR ESSAY ....................................................................... 16
Reports ................................................................................................................. 16
Essays .................................................................................................................. 19
HEADINGS................................................................................................................ 20
In Technical Reports ............................................................................................. 20
In Essays .............................................................................................................. 21
TABLE EXAMPLE ..................................................................................................... 24
Guidelines for a Table ........................................................................................... 25
Long Tables .......................................................................................................... 26
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Table Headings ..................................................................................................... 26
Table Sources ....................................................................................................... 27
Table Lines and Spacing ....................................................................................... 27
Table Capitalization and Fonts .............................................................................. 28
Table Footnotes .................................................................................................... 28
FIGURE EXAMPLE ................................................................................................... 29
Guidelines for a Figure .......................................................................................... 30
In-text Reference to a Figure................................................................................. 30
Fitting Figures into Text ......................................................................................... 30
Figure Captions ..................................................................................................... 31
Figure Sources ...................................................................................................... 32
Illustration of Figures ............................................................................................. 32
IN-TEXT LITERATURE CITATIONS ......................................................................... 33
Author-Year System .............................................................................................. 33
Referring to a Source ............................................................................................ 34
Paraphrasing ......................................................................................................... 35
Direct Quotations .................................................................................................. 35
Examples of In-Text Citations ............................................................................... 37
FOOTNOTES IN THE TEXT ..................................................................................... 39
LITERATURE CITED PAGE EXAMPLE ................................................................... 40
Guidelines for a Literature Cited Page .................................................................. 41
Examples of Literature Cited entries ..................................................................... 43
APPENDICES ........................................................................................................... 50
STYLE EXPECTATIONS............................................................................................... 52
GENERAL GUIDELINES FOR REPORTS ................................................................ 52
GENERAL GUIDELINES FOR ESSAYS ................................................................... 53
Writing Concisely .................................................................................................. 54
ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS ....................................................................... 56
INTERNATIONAL SYSTEM OF UNITS (SI).............................................................. 57
Form and Format for SI Units ................................................................................ 58
Form and Format for Numerals ............................................................................. 58
Use of Prefixes with SI Units ................................................................................. 59
Prefixes Forming Decimal Multiples and Sub-multiples of SI Units ....................... 60
Metric Conversion Table ....................................................................................... 60
HYPHENATION ........................................................................................................ 61
DASHES.................................................................................................................... 62
NUMBERS ................................................................................................................ 62
NUMBERED AND BULLETED LISTS ....................................................................... 63
SCIENTIFIC NOMENCLATURE ............................................................................... 64
EQUATIONS, CHEMICAL REACTIONS AND FORMULAE...................................... 65
Guidelines for Presenting Equations and Formulae .............................................. 66
USE OF "I.E." AND "E.G." ......................................................................................... 67
THE UNDERGRADUATE THESIS ................................................................................ 69
Order of Thesis Sections ....................................................................................... 71
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Thesis Cover ......................................................................................................... 71
Thesis Title Page .................................................................................................. 73
Example of a Thesis Title Page............................................................................. 74
Library Rights and Caution to the Reader ............................................................. 75
Example of a Library Rights Statement ................................................................. 75
A Caution to the Reader ........................................................................................ 76
Example of a Caution to the Reader ..................................................................... 76
Abstract ................................................................................................................. 76
Contents ................................................................................................................ 77
Figures and Tables ............................................................................................... 77
Acknowledgements ............................................................................................... 77
Introduction of the Thesis ...................................................................................... 77
Literature Review .................................................................................................. 79
Binding .................................................................................................................. 80
Thesis Guidelines.................................................................................................. 80
PROFESSIONAL EMAIL ............................................................................................... 86
�1
If you have writing skills …, come and talk to me because I probably have a
summer job for you.
Peter Barynin, Forest Sector Competitiveness Secretariat
Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, 2006
INTRODUCTION
This manual outlines the format to be followed by students in the Faculty of Natural
Resources Management when they are submitting essays, technical reports,
undergraduate and graduate theses. Term papers and written assignments should meet
the standards set out in this manual. Use the checklist on the back inside cover to help
you familiarize yourself with the basic format and style requirements.
Individual professors may indicate format and style preferences that they wish
students to follow. If you are in doubt, check with the professor for whom you are
preparing material, and follow the professor’s preferred writing guidelines.
What is WAC?
In 1996, the Faculty initiated its Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) program for
its students. The intent of WAC is to improve communication skills by providing more
and varied occasions in all natural resources management courses for students to write
and speak publicly. Rather than having students take a first-year writing course offered
by the English department, a writing consultant was hired to support students as they
work to meet the communication needs identified by faculty and industry professionals.
Working together, professors and the writing consultant design writing and speaking
assignments to offer a more integrated program that addresses specific skills and offers
increased feedback and support to students.
�2
How Does WAC Affect the Student?
The Faculty applies the WAC approach in all of its courses; however, certain
courses over the first three years of both the HBScF and HBEM programs are
designated as WAC courses in which students must achieve a pass. By 4th year,
students are expected to have reached a satisfactory writing level. The WAC courses
are NRMT 0190, 0290 and 0390. All students must register in these courses. Student
achievement (pass or fail) is assessed in the following courses for both programs:
•
NRMT 0190, WAC I—NRMT 1010, Canadian Forest Plant Species
•
NRMT 0290, WAC II—NRMT 2210, Forest Ecology & Silvics
•
NRMT 0390, WAC III—NRMT 2054, Aboriginal Peoples & Natural Resources
Students are coached and assessed in writing skills by instructors of the Faculty of
Natural Resources Management and a WAC Consultant.
The WAC Assessment Process
The writing consultant will assess each student's writing skills in designated
assignments. If the writing skills are not at a passing level in an assignment, the student
must complete the following upgrading process:
1. Sign up for an appointment on the sign-up sheet outside the WAC office
(BB1017A) to schedule a conference with the writing consultant. The conference
will review writing skills, create a personal proofreading checklist to use when
writing future papers, practice careful editing, and set a deadline for
resubmission.
2. Resubmit a polished, revised paper along with your original paper, clearly
showing the changes you have made, and the original rubric.
�3
3. If you do not receive a Pass on this resubmission, you will repeat step l and, for
major problems, step 2.
Sample WAC Evaluation Rubric
UNSATISFACTORY
DEVELOPING
PASS
PASS/PROFICIENT
Major problems with format, grammatical correctness, and/or style impede reader
comprehension.
The writer’s message can be understood, but significant improvement is needed in
format, grammatical correctness, and/or style.
Ideas are communicated fairly clearly, and the writer is approaching competency
in format, grammatical correctness, and style.
The writer communicates ideas clearly, showing a mature style and a confident
command of format and writing conventions.
WRITING SKILLS
Unsatisfactory
1
FORMAT
Faculty Writing
Report/essay components and organization
Manual is seldom
Use of tables and figures
used as a guide.
Literature citations
Scientific Writing conventions: abbreviations,
acronyms, scientific nomenclature, etc.
GRAMMATICAL CORRECTNESS
Major errors
Spelling
impede
comprehension.
Apostrophe use
Capitalization
Punctuation
Grammar and usage
Sentence structure: Avoiding fragments and runon sentences
STYLE
Frequent lapses
Precise diction (word choice)
impede
comprehension.
Clear syntax (arrangement of words)
Organization: Ideas are developed around a clear
sense of purpose or thesis statement
Development of ideas with specific details
Sense of audience: Use of a formal style for an
academic audience. (Avoid contractions and
colloquial language.)
1
See Writing across the Curriculum Manual and Style Guide for particulars
Developing
Pass
Pass/
Proficient
Faculty Writing
Manual is
sometimes used
as a guide.
Faculty Writing
Manual is used
as a guide with
only one or two
lapses.
Faculty Writing
Manual is
consistently used
as a guide.
Frequent errors
lower the
reader’s
confidence in
the writer’s
competency.
Writer is
approaching
competency.
The conventions
of the English
language are used
with confidence.
Extensive
revision is
essential.
Some revision is
needed.
The writer has a
mature, effective
style.
For writing assistance, see
Natural Resources Management Writing Consultant
Office: BB1017JA
REMEMBER TO E-MAIL YOUR MARKED PAPER; IT IS AN EXCELLENT LEARNING TOOL!
�4
GENERAL DIRECTIONS
This Manual covers style, grammatical and formatting issues. However, writing a
good paper is not just about getting the format right, as essential as this is. There are a
myriad of resources to help you learn to write a good paper, including the Faculty
Writing Consultant and Lakehead University’s Writing Centre. Additionally, there are
writing manuals available in the Library and sources online. A good example is Teaching
Academic Writing: A Toolkit for Higher Education (Coffin et al. 2003). The book can be
found online and includes a helpful diagram that summarizes the steps in the academic
writing process.
FORMATTING
The following items are mandatory format details, and although they seem
inflexible, they are typical of the requirements you would have to follow if you were to
submit a paper for publication to a refereed journal. Get used to these few details; they
are constants in your undergraduate documents. If an individual professor’s preferences
vary from what is presented here, follow the professor’s preferred guidelines.
Not all formatting and grammar issues are addressed in this manual. You may
want to consult other sources for further direction. Two recommended references are:
Canadian Journal of Forest Research. 2009. Instructions to authors. http://pubs.nrccnrc.gc.ca/eng/journals/instructions/cjfr.html. Sept. 5, 2009.
The Canadian Style: A Guide to Writing and Editing. 2nd Edition. 1997. Dundurn Press
Ltd., Toronto, Ontario. 312 pp.
�5
Style Manual Committee, Council of Biology Editors. 1999. Scientific Style and Format.
The CBE Manual for Authors, Editors and Publishers. 6th Edition. Cambridge
University Press, Cambridge, UK. 825 pp.
Most students use Microsoft Word software
which has a “Styles” function under the “Home”
tab. You can set up and save a template with this
WORD TIP: You can quickly set up a
Word template by saving an already
formatted Word document in the
Template folder. See
http://wordprocessing.about.com/od/m
icrosoftword2007/a/FastWord2007Te
mplates.htm.
Manual’s formatting requirements so that the
software will automatically do the formatting. You will then be able to spend more time
on the content of your assignments, rather than formatting. Word also allows you to
mark text so that a Table of Contents will be automatically generated. Use the Help
button in Word to find out more about the software features or see Shaun Kelly’s
“Making the Most of Word in Your Business” at http://shaunakelly.com/word.
Typing, Paper and Spacing
•
Essays and reports must be typewritten in
plain typeface, such as Times New Roman
or Arial, in a 12-point font.
•
The bold function is generally not used at
WORD TIP: Although there is still
debate, because of the software, the
common practice is to use one space
following a period or colon (except in
journal citations where there is no
space following the colon after the
volume/issue number and preceding
the page numbers of the article.
all, and underlining is used sparingly.
•
A medium-weight bond paper, 21.5 by 28 cm in size, without punched holes, is to
be used.
•
Text is usually double-spaced, although single spacing should be used for
quotations longer than three lines, for footnotes, in the Abstract, in some tables,
in lists of tables and figures, in headings of
WORD TIP: Word has 3 functions
which help to control dangling text at
the end of a page—widow/orphan
control, keep text together and keep
lines together. You will find these
functions under the Paragraph tab.
�6
more than one line, within Literature Cited entries, and in appendices.
•
Print on one side of the paper only.
•
Avoid “hanging headings” where the heading is at the bottom of the page.
Margins
Set up page margins for all papers as follows:
•
Left margin: 4.0 cm (to allow room for binding)
•
Top, bottom, right margins: 2.5 cm
•
First order headings begin 4.0 cm from the
top of the page; other headings and text
begin at top margin (2.5 cm).
WORD TIP: Word Styles (found under
the Home tab) allows you to modify a
Heading style. For the 4.0 cm spacing
for Order 1 Headings, right click on
Heading 1, then select “modify”. Under
the format button, click Paragraph, In
the Spacing boxes, put 42.5 points
before and 15 points after. Click OK.
Pagination
•
All pages, except the title page and appendix divider, are to bear a number.
•
Preliminary pages that occur before the first
page of the text proper are to be numbered
with lower-case Roman numerals (i.e., i, ii,
WORD TIP: To change the page
number format in Word, use a section
break (under Page Layout, Page
Setup, Breaks). This allows you to tell
Word to change from Roman to Arabic
numerals.
iii), centred at the top of the page and without embellishments (e.g., dashes,
periods, parentheses).
•
Although the title page bears no number, it is considered to be page i. Pages in
the text proper are numbered consecutively in Arabic numerals (i.e., 1, 2, 3).
Numerals, also without embellishments, are centred in the top margin or header
of each page, 1.27 cm from the top of the page.
�7
Capitalization
This manual describes requirements for capitalization in headings, tables, figures
and literature cited. In the body of the text, many students unnecessarily capitalize.
Capitals are required only to distinguish proper nouns from common ones.
Errors
Submitted written assignments are an indication of a student’s academic skills and
rigour, and it is the student’s responsibility to ensure that submissions are professionally
done. All assignments must be proofread for accuracy of data, adherence to assignment
requirements and quality of writing.
PLAGIARISM
Understanding what constitutes plagiarism is the best way to ensure you have not
plagiarized in your assignments. If you copy someone else’s work or ideas without
credit, you are plagiarizing. Plagiarism extends to sharing, word for word, the data or
results of a partnered experiment in labs. To ensure that you are not plagiarizing your
sources, keep careful notes when you are doing research. When writing, give credit for
verbatim quotations or paraphrased ideas (ones that you have put into your own words)
by citing the author and year in parentheses. When in doubt, choose the most cautious
route, and cite your source. University regulations on plagiarism and its penalties are
described in the University calendar.
�8
FORMAT OF AN UNDERGRADUATE REPORT OR ESSAY
COVER
The first page of a technical report (which is optional) can be a cover that includes
the title of the work and the author’s name. Other than those two restrictions, the cover
can be as creative as the writer wishes.
PRELIMINARY PAGES
Report
Most reports contain at least the following preliminary pages in the order given: a
title page, an abstract, and a table of contents. Other pages following the table of
contents are added as appropriate: tables, figures, acknowledgements.
Essay
Unless otherwise specified, essays should have a title page. Instructors might
request other preliminary pages for an essay (i.e., cover page, table of contents, tables
and figures), but ordinarily these are not required.
�9
TITLE PAGE EXAMPLE
______________________________________________________________________
IMPACTS OF TIMBER HARVESTING ON WILDLIFE HABITAT
by
Courtenay Lavallée
NRMT 3219, Fish & Wildlife Habitat
Dr. Brian McLaren
Faculty of Natural Resources Management
Lakehead University
January 15, 2013
______________________________________________________________________
Guidelines for a Title Page
The following information must appear on an essay or report’s title page:
•
title, centred, single-spaced, in capital letters, in the upper half of the page;
•
author’s full name, centred, upper and lower case letters, just below title;
•
course number, course title, and instructor's name; and
•
date of submission, centred, 8 cm from the bottom of the page.
�10
ABSTRACT EXAMPLE
_____________________________________________________________________
ii
ABSTRACT
Drennan, D.J. 1999. Forest engineering manual for assessing areas with terrain stability
concerns in coastal British Columbia. 28 pp.
Keywords: cohesion, shear strength, shear stress, slope failure, slope movement, slope
stability, superficial material, terrain stability assessment, texture
Terrain stability assessments are an integral part of forest planning in British
Columbia. The purpose of assessments is to identify areas or instability and make
prescriptions to prevent damage to forest resources. Factors that influence slope
stability, types of slope movements common to coastal British Columbia, and the effects
of forestry practices on slope stability are reviewed. A manual that describes the factors
influencing slope stability--soil properties, geology and geomorphology, bedrock,
vegetation and hydrology--is included. Diagnostic keys to determine landslide hazard
rating and type of slope movement are provided. An actual terrain stability assessment
report for a proposed harvest operation by MacMillan Bloedel on southwest Vancouver
Island is discussed. The results of the assessment are compared with the procedure
presented in the manual section. Comparisons between the manual diagnostic keys and
the example report indicated results of the landslide hazard ratings were similar.
______________________________________________________________________
Guidelines for an Abstract
An abstract is an information summary of a report or thesis designed to give the
reader a clear idea of the scope and contents of the longer work. Because requests from
outside agencies for copies of the report are made on the basis of the abstract alone,
the information must be complete yet concise.
•
An abstract includes:
1. a full citation (author, title, date and number of pages);
2. keywords in alphabetical order; and
�11
3. a concise summary of the contents of the report, following the sequence
of the report itself: problem/scope, methods, results, discussion, and
conclusion.
•
In an abstract, avoid general, non-specific statements such as “The implications
of the results were discussed."
•
The first order heading, ABSTRACT, is to be capitalized and centred, 4.0 cm
below the top margin.
•
The citation of the abstract should begin 1.5 cm below the heading.
•
The abstract itself may be single-spaced and should occupy no more than one
page; an abstract for an undergraduate report will usually be one paragraph, or
approximately 600 words. A length guideline used by journals recommends that
you use one line of abstract text for each page of text.
•
Follow these specific rules when writing abstracts:
1. Single space the full citation, with a hanging indent of 1.27 cm on the
second line.
2. Skip one line.
3. Include at least three keywords in alphabetical order; single space if
keywords take up more than one line.
4. Skip two lines.
5. Single space the text of the abstract (double space if text is brief).
6. Keep abstract to one page in length. Distance from the top of the first line
of the title to the bottom of the last line of the text must not exceed 16.5
cm.
�12
A Note on Keywords
Many journals and institutions require the author(s) to provide keywords or
descriptions and, in formal reports, you will also be required to submit an abstract with a
full citation and keywords. The use of keywords helps the abstractor or reader catalogue
the report under the proper subject areas.
•
The following subject areas are often included as keywords:
1. the science or area of the report (e.g., tree biology, forest genetics);
2. special techniques employed or developed in the report (e.g., vegetative
innoculum, root regeneration potential); and
3. the name(s) of the organisms used in the study; include the common name
and the scientific name—white pine (Pinus strobus L.)—or the
geographical region, if it is important (e.g., northwestern Ontario).
•
Terms of more than one word (e.g., vegetative innoculum) are considered as one
keyword.
•
These keywords, usually numbering between five and ten, are listed
alphabetically, in lower case, except for proper nouns, and are separated by
commas.
�13
TABLE OF CONTENTS EXAMPLE
______________________________________________________________________
iii
CONTENTS
ABSTRACT
ii
TABLES
iii
FIGURES
iv
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
v
INTRODUCTION
1
METHODOLOGY
Regional Variables
Community Variables
Forest/Stand Variables
Individual Tree Variables
3
5
6
8
10
RESULTS
Program Inputs
Program Outputs
11
11
13
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION
16
LITERATURE CITED
20
APPENDIX I RATIONAL METHOD SURFACE COEFFICIENT
22
APPENDIX II SPECIES VALUE, LOCATION AND CONDITION VALUE
EXPLANATIONS
23
______________________________________________________________________
�14
Guidelines for a Table of Contents
•
The table of contents sets forth all the
subdivisions of the work.
WORD TIP: Word will automatically
generate your Contents if you use
Styles to mark your headings. Use
References, Table of Contents to
generate the Contents section.
•
The table of contents is titled CONTENTS.
•
Begin the list of headings 4.0 cm below the top of the page.
•
Justify page numbers corresponding to each subdivision along the right margin.
•
When appendices are used, the titles appear in sequence using Roman
numerals.
•
The cover, title page, contents page and appendix divider page are not listed in
the table of contents.
LIST OF TABLES EXAMPLE
____________________________________________________________________
iv
TABLES
Table
Page
1. Coefficients of determination with and without I/A included among the variables 9
2. Coefficients of determination for breast height growth regressions with 5
estimators
10
3. Best 5-X regression equations for breast height growth
12
4. Coefficients of determination for growth regressions with 5 and 6 estimators
15
______________________________________________________________________
�15
Guidelines for a List of Tables
•
The list of tables is titled Tables. It starts on a new page, with the title centred and
4.0 cm below the margin.
•
List the full headings of the numbered tables used in the text.
•
List the table headings in sequence, by number. Place the page on which each
table occurs (or begins) along the right margin.
•
Table captions may be single-spaced, but a double space must be left between
titles.
•
If you include a table in an appendix, it should not be included in the Tables.
•
For short reports that have few tables, you may list the tables in the sequence in
which they appear in the Table of Contents.
LIST OF FIGURES EXAMPLE
____________________________________________________________________
v
FIGURES
Figure
Page
1. Infinite slope model
2
2. Different particle shapes
4
3. Basic types of slope configuration
7
4. Key for determining hazard rating of slopes with past activity
13
5. Key for determining hazard rating of slopes with fine textured material
14
6. Key for determining hazard rating of slopes with coarse textured material
17
�16
Guidelines for a List of Figures
•
A list of figures is titled FIGURES. The title is centered 4.0 cm below the top
margin.
•
The figures listed must contain the complete caption (or a summary of a caption
where the complete caption contains extensive explanatory material).
•
The page number on which each illustration occurs (or begins) appears on the
right margin.
•
Titles may be single-spaced, but double space between titles.
•
A figure in an appendix should not be included in the Figures.
•
For short reports that have few figures, the figures may be listed in the sequence
they appear in the table of Contents.
BODY OF THE REPORT OR ESSAY
Each major section of the technical report or essay following the introduction
should be more or less complete in itself, and should convey a whole message on the
intended subject matter. The section’s scope should be outlined in a paragraph or two,
and should be brought to a conclusion so that the subject matter is presented
completely. Headings must be chosen with care, and sections must contain meaningful
material that warrants their separation. Headings do not replace text; they are signposts
only, and the work must read coherently without the titles.
Reports
Divisions:
Most reports have four divisions:
�17
1. introductory material, which includes the necessary background and a hypothesis
or purpose of the investigation;
2. the methods used to complete the investigation;
3. an account of the investigation and its results; and
4. discussion, conclusion and recommendations (if any are made).
The organization and distribution of content should follow a logical sequence so
that each subsection represents an important division of the subject investigated and
discussed. Headings used will reflect the category of material discussed.
Introduction
•
The introduction provides background information about the subject and states
the goals of the investigation.
•
Normally, an introduction briefly answers five of six “journalist’s questions": What?
When? Who? Where? and Why? The goal of the investigation (why) is often the
last statement of the introduction.
•
As well, you may be required to have a literature review in your introduction.
•
Presentation of methods and results should not be included in this section.
Methods
•
The sixth journalist’s question, How?, is developed in the Methods section, and it
describes in detail the equipment and techniques used to complete the
investigation.
•
Write in your own words, but use the third person; care must be taken that no first
or second person pronouns appear. Instead, choose a passive construction to
�18
eliminate a subject; e.g., “Measurements were taken of each sample and
recorded.”
•
If any of the work involves mathematical calculations, explain where the
equations come from, including sample calculations in your work. You must show
that you have understood what you have done in the lab.
Results
•
Do not begin the results section with a table or figure. Each table or figure must
be referred to in the text before it appears in the report.
•
The results section contains objective descriptions of what was discovered
through investigation. Essentially, you are answering the question: “What do the
data show?”
•
Begin the results section with an introductory passage that tells readers what they
will find in the section. Summarize briefly what the tables and figures will show,
then proceed with detailed explanations and tables and/or figures.
•
You should not comment on the results; simply report them, in paragraph form,
using explanatory text and tables and/or figures.
•
Tables and figures are used to support, not replace, the text. Table and figure
contents must be summarized as needed for clarity.
•
Ordinarily, the results section is written in the past tense.
Discussion
•
The discussion section explains the significance of the results and contains
insights into the thesis or data presented.
�19
•
Typically, a discussion looks at questions such as: “How do the results relate to
the problem or hypothesis presented in the assignment?” or “What are the
practical applications that can be drawn from the results?” In addition,
deficiencies that have come to light in the report are discussed.
•
Your conclusions must be supported by your results.
Conclusion
•
A conclusion is a final, brief summary of what can be drawn from the results.
•
Major points might be restated and conclusions or solutions summarized.
•
When appropriate, recommendations are made.
Essays
An essay usually includes three sections: an introduction, the body, and a
conclusion.
Introduction
•
Identify the subject, including background material relevant to the topic.
•
State your thesis (the controlling idea).
•
Define key terms where necessary.
•
State your organizational plan. Since the introduction acts as a blueprint, you
need to indicate the structure your essay will follow. Often you can indicate your
organizational plan with a statement of the major points (or subtopics) you will
discuss.
•
Sometimes a literature review is included as part of an introduction.
�20
The Body
•
The body of the essay moves through the subject matter in the sequence
described in the introduction.
•
Each major point (or subtopic) is identified and discussed. All major points in the
essay should support the thesis claim made, and supporting information should
relate directly to both the major points and the thesis.
•
When you introduce each major point (or subtopic), include a topic sentence
which repeats key words for your thesis. These key words will help your reader
follow your argument.
•
Include sufficient supporting evidence, using in-text literature citations. (See the
section on In-Text Citations for details.)
The Conclusion
•
The conclusion might summarize the essay, articulate the significance of the
subject matter, or make recommendations based on the essay’s findings. A wellwritten conclusion leaves the impression that the subject has been adequately
discussed and any questions or “holes” have been covered.
HEADINGS
In Technical Reports
If the essay is of sufficient length and complexity, headings are useful signposts for
the reader and can be a valuable organizational device for the writer. However, they are
not necessary and should be used sparingly as they tend to disrupt the flow of the
writing. Check with your instructor about specific preferences regarding format.
�21
In technical reports, headings are used for subdivisions of subject matter within the
text; thus they serve to break up a mass of text into meaningful sections and act as
signposts to aid reader comprehension.
In Essays
Headings are less frequently used in essays, but can be useful if the information
you are presenting is detailed or particularly complex. Spacing, capitalization and font
are used to distinguish the six levels/orders of headings.
Specific instructions when using headings
Heading Placement
•
Centre first order headings and place them 4.0 cm below the top of the page;
other headings are placed 2.5 cm below the top of the page and 1.5 cm after
previous text. (Word also uses points as a measurement. One centimetre =
28.3 points; therefore 1.5 cm = 42.5 points, 2.5 cm = 71 points and 4 cm =
113 points. See Word Tip on p. 5 for setting 1st order headings.)
•
Place second and third order headings along the left margin.
•
Indent fourth order headings .7 cm (six spaces) from the left margin.
•
Indent fifth and sixth order headings tab space (1 cm) from the left margin.
•
Place second to sixth order headings 1.5 cm after previous line of text.
•
Begin the next line of text 1.5 cm after the heading after first, second, third
and fourth order headings.
•
When using fifth and sixth order headings, continue text two spaces after the
period which ends the heading
�22
•
Headings requiring more than one line are single spaced.
Heading sequence
•
Heading sequence depends on the number of orders of headings required in
the work, but you should always begin with level one and move through in
order. For example, if you need five types of headings, choose first, second,
third, fourth and fifth.
•
Typical first order headings include CONTENTS, LIST OF TABLES, LIST OF
FIGURES, INTRODUCTION, METHODS, RESULTS, DISCUSSION,
CONCLUSION(S) and LITERATURE CITED.
Other Heading Requirements
•
Headings are extras to the text, and should be removable without affecting the
coherence or completeness of the text.
•
No references to the headings should appear in the text of the report or
essay.
•
Note that in the following heading orders, bold and italic functions are not used.
•
First and second order headings appear in uppercase letters; third, fourth and
fifth orders have initial capitals on key words; and sixth order headings have only
the first word of the heading capitalized. Third, fourth, fifth and sixth order
headings are underlined.
�23
•
The system of headings to be used is as follows:
1st Order
CENTRED, CAPITALS AND NOT UNDERLINED
2nd Order
CAPITALS, ALONG LEFT MARGIN AND NOT UNDERLINED
3rd Order
Initial Capitals on Key Words, Along Left Margin, Underlined
4th Order
Initial Capitals on Key Words, Indented Six Spaces, Underlined
5th Order
Initial Capitals on Key Words, Indented One Tab, Underlined, Ends
with a Period.
First word capitalized, indented one tab, underlined, ends with a
period.
6th Order
WORD TIP: When using Styles to
format headings, modify to put in
capitals and underlining for various
orders of headings under the Format,
Font section.
�24
TABLE EXAMPLE
_____________________________________________________________________
… no significant difference in number of tree per plot between irrigated (4 species/ plot)
and non-irrigated (5 species/plot) areas (Table 1). Tree density in the non-irrigated area
(531 stems/ha) was significantly different from the irrigated area (355 stems/ ha). The
non-irrigated area had more aspen (Populus sp.) than the irrigated area.
Table 1. Meana overstory (≥11cm in diameter) number of species per 0.04 ha plot,
density, basal area, and stocking for tree, shrub, and total species in irrigated and
non-irrigated areas (Larrick and Bowersox 1999).
Species group area
Tree
Irrigated
Non-irrigated
Shrub
Irrigated
Non-irrigated
Total
Irrigated
Non-irrigated
a
Number of
species
Density
Basal area
Stocking
Per plot
Stems/ha
m2/ha
Percent
4a
5a
355 b
531 a
19 b
27 a
73 b
100 a
<1 a
<1 a
6a
5a
<1 a
<1 a
-
5a
5a
361 b
536 a
20 b
27 a
73 b
100 a
Means with the same letter are not significantly different (α = 0.05).
The irrigated area had more ash (Fraxinus sp.) and mockernut hickory (Carya
tomentosa Lam. Ex Poir) stems than the non-irrigated area, but the numbers of ash and
hickory were low for both areas.
______________________________________________________________________
�25
Guidelines for a Table
A simple array of facts can be suitably presented in the text of the report or essay,
either following a colon or in tabular form. However, most data are best presented in a
formal table. The purpose of the table is to clarify, not confuse. Complicated data should
be divided into two tables. Tables also help readers to compare factual or numerical
information. Data which add to the overall presentation, but which are not necessary to
an understanding of the points being made, should be included in an appendix which
then is referred to in the text.
In-text Reference to Tables and Figures
•
Before you present data in a table or figure, you must introduce the table, briefly
explaining the data in sentence form.
•
For the reader’s convenience, each table and figure is numbered, using Arabic
numbers that begin the caption.
•
Tables and figures are referred to by number (not title) in the text.
•
Tables or figures are placed as close to the reference as possible; no table or
figure should be continued from one page to the next unless it is unavoidable.
Fitting Tables into Text
•
To fit onto one page, a table can be reduced in size, placed in landscape
orientation, or presented as a foldout.
•
If the table appears alone on the page, it should be centred vertically and
horizontally.
�26
•
A table should not extend into the normal margins of the page.
•
Pagination continues normally on pages with tables.
•
If a table has more than one part, each part is designated by a capital letter and
sub-heading (which is not to be listed in the table of contents).
Long Tables
•
Very long tables can be presented on more than one page; in this case, the word
“Table,” the table number, a period and the word “Continued” in parentheses
(e.g., “Table 1.2. (continued)” should be placed in the table heading position).
•
Headings within the table must be repeated in full on each subsequent page.
However, the bottom horizontal line is inserted only at the end of the table, not at
the bottom of each page. This convention serves to tell the reader that the table is
not yet complete.
•
If data are summed for each page, the subtotal should appear at the end of the
row or column on the page, and subtotals should appear at the beginning of the
row or column on the subsequent page.
Table Headings
•
A table heading/caption should concisely convey the nature and scope of the
data presented without being long-winded.
•
Punctuation can be used to help convey the message (colons can be particularly
useful).
�27
•
Table headings are placed above the table. The heading begins along the left
margin with the word “Table”, followed by the Arabic number, a period and one
space.
•
The first word in the table caption begins with a capital, but no other words,
except proper nouns, are capitalized.
•
\The caption ends with a period.
Table Sources
A table source should be acknowledged. If the table uses data from another
author’s work, the source is indicated in a parenthetical reference (e.g., (Smith 1997)) at
the end of the caption. The reference does not form part of the heading caption in the
List of Tables. A table source can also be referenced at the bottom of the table itself.
Table Lines and Spacing
•
Tables should be presented in the most reader-friendly way possible. Neatness,
spacing, quantity and quality of information are important considerations for the
writer.
•
A table is to be separated from the text by a solid horizontal line, typed one single
space below the last line of the heading.
•
The bottom of the table is indicated by a solid horizontal line that is placed one
single space below the last item in the table.
•
Use white space, not lines, to separate material in the table, leaving enough
space between lines and columns so that data can be easily read. Judicious use
of horizontal lines and spaces within and between the columns of data should
�28
clearly indicate how the table should be read. Avoid the use of solid (or partial)
lines between the columns and rows. Vertical rulings should be avoided where
the table content can be effectively presented without them.
Table Capitalization and Fonts
•
The following words are capitalized: “Table”; the first word in the caption; and
proper nouns. No other words in the title/caption are capitalized. The initial letter
of the first words in column and row headings and sub-headings should be
capitalized.
•
Text font should be of sufficient size to be easily read. For uniform appearance,
use the same font as that of the report. Avoid using bold and italics.
Table Footnotes
•
Use superscript lower case letters (e.g., 20.6a) to refer to footnotes for a table. If
letters cause confusion (e.g., when equations are presented), asterisks, daggers
or minute numerals may be used instead; however, the recognized use of
asterisks to indicate statistical significance must be respected.
•
Footnote references appear serially from left to right, line to line, within each
table. The footnote itself (and other explanatory notes if required) should be
placed a double space below the bottom solid horizontal line of the table.
•
Each letter or other footnote designation is to be indented five spaces from the
table margin and is followed by explanatory text.
•
Footnotes of more than one line should be single spaced. A double space
separates two different footnotes for the same table.
�29
•
If a table is longer than one page, the footnote is placed at the end of the table,
not at the bottom of the page where the footnote has been designated.
FIGURE EXAMPLE
________________________________________________________________
The study results support the hypothesis that the height of Douglas-fir
(Pseudotsuga menziessi Mirb.) exceeds the height of paper birch (Betula papyrifera
Marsh.) at an earlier age at the coastal site than at the interior site. However, it does not
mean that the paper birch will die out quickly once Douglas fir grows higher. In fact, a
few paper birch trees survive for a relatively long period (40 years after the height curves
crossover) in a Douglas-fir stand at the coastal site. The almost parallel height growth
curves observed in this study reflect this phenomenon (Figure 4).
40
Height (m)
30
a. Coastal site
20
10
0
0
20
40
Age (yr)
60
80
40
Height (m)
30
b. Interior site
20
Paper birch
Douglas-fir
10
0
0
20
40
Age (yr)
60
80
Figure 4. Comparison of functional plots of paper birch and Douglas-fir height growth at
�30
the coastal and interior sites in British Columbia (Wang and Kimmins 2002).
Guidelines for a Figure
Any illustration, such as a photograph, map, drawing, chart or graph that is used
in the body of the report or essay is a figure. Figures are used to graphically support the
information presented. The purpose of the figure is to enhance the reader’s
understanding, not to decorate the page, and gratuitous use of figures should be
avoided. Figures can help readers to visualize or compare data. However, as with
tables, a figure that is not necessary to an understanding of the points being made
should be included in an appendix which then is referred to in the text.
In-text Reference to a Figure
•
Before presenting a figure, briefly introduce the information contained in a figure
in sentence form in the text of your report.
•
Like tables, each figure is numbered, using Arabic numerals which begin the
figure’s caption.
•
Figures are referred to by number (not title) in the text of the report.
•
The figure is placed as close to the reference as possible.
Fitting Figures into Text
•
The rules governing use of figures are similar to those regarding tables, so use
your common sense when including figures in a report.
•
To fit onto one page, a figure can be reduced in size, placed in a landscape
orientation, or presented as a foldout.
�31
•
If the figure appears alone on the page, it should be centred vertically and
horizontally.
•
A figure should not extend into the normal margins of the page. Pagination
continues normally on pages occupied by figures.
•
If a figure has more than one part, each part is designated by a capital letter and
sub-heading (which is not to be listed in the table of contents).
•
Set figures off from the text with white space; borders are not necessary.
Figure Captions
•
A figure caption should concisely convey the nature and scope of the data
presented without being long-winded.
•
If it is necessary that the caption contain a legend or extensive explanatory
material, then the first part of the caption is to be sufficiently descriptive to act as
a title. Only the title portion of the caption is to be included in the List of Figures.
•
Punctuation can be used to help convey the message. (Colons can be
particularly useful).
•
Figure headings are placed below the figure. The heading begins along the left
margin with the word “Figure,” followed by the Arabic number, a period and one
space.
•
The first word in the caption begins with a capital, but no other words, except
proper nouns, are capitalized.
•
The caption ends with a period.
�32
•
A figure uses the same font as in the text. Avoid using bold and italics in figure
captions.
Figure Sources
If the figure has been redrawn from the work of another author/illustrator, the
source is to be indicated in a parenthetical reference [e.g., (Jones 1997)] at the end of
the caption. The reference does not form part of the heading caption in the list of figures.
Illustration of Figures
•
Consider the appearance of a diagram, chart, graph or drawing you wish to
include as a figure in your report. The type of information and the quality of the
graphic are important considerations for the writer. Therefore, font size and type
should be similar to that of the report or essay. If you are using a smaller font
size, make sure it is easily reproduced and read.
•
If photographs are not presented electronically, they must be permanently
mounted on the page, either using glue or dry mounting tissue. Do not tape
photographs to the page.
•
Letters and symbols not on your key can be hand-lettered or stencilled.
•
Parts of figures (A, B, etc.) must be clearly identified and the parts placed in
sequence for ease of reader reference, with a caption placed below each part of
the figure.
•
If a figure, because of its length, is continued on a second (or more) page, the
word “Figure,” the figure number, a period, and the word “Continued” in
�33
parentheses, are to be placed in the figure caption portion of each page where
the continuation occurs.
IN-TEXT LITERATURE CITATIONS
Most of the reports you write while at university require that you refer to existing
literature related to the subject you are studying. Proper use of literature is therefore an
integral part of your submissions. Citing the work of others is accepted academic
practice, and is done to indicate that the literature used: 1) conveys background material
about a subject; 2) indicates how other work is related to the topic; 3) presents a model
or method used in the work being reported; 4) substantiates a point/opinion you are
expressing; and (5) provides additional information about a point. As the writer, you use
the work of others to justify information/work presented, interpret results or data
presented, and support ideas in the text.
Using the actual words and ideas of another
WORD TIP: Word allows you to mark
your in-text citations to automatically
generate a bibliography. Use
References, Citations & Bibliography.
without crediting the source constitutes plagiarism.
Therefore, it is vital that proper citation is used.
Author-Year System
•
Use the author-year system for in-text citations (e.g., (Prévost 2001)).
•
There is no comma between the author and year.
•
In-text citations, which denote sources, are parenthetical and are made
immediately after the material appears in the essay or report.
•
When citing information from long works (i.e., in excess of 50 pages), include
appropriate page number(s) after the year of publication to indicate where the
�34
information was located in the text (e.g., Ross 1995:247). Some journals require
this practice for all citations.
•
When citing information from online sources, follow the same author-year format.
•
A citation in parentheses made at the end of a sentence must have a period after
it because the parenthetical reference is considered part of the sentence. In this
case, omit the period at the end of the quotation or paraphrase that precedes the
beginning of the parenthetical reference.
Referring to a Source
•
A source is referred to in one of two ways: either by quoting directly or indirectly.
•
Direct quotations are verbatim (exactly as written/said) copying of another’s
work, and the words are enclosed in quotation marks. Quoting directly from
another is sometimes unavoidable, but it is not encouraged, especially in
scientific papers (e.g., lab reports).
•
The preferred method of using a source is to summarize or paraphrase, in your
own words, the author’s ideas or findings. Paraphrasing is preferred over direct
quotation because it indicates that you have interpreted the outside source
correctly and therefore have completed worthwhile research. As well, a
paraphrase written in your own words makes for a seamless writing style that is
more appealing to the reader.
•
A paraphrase is always followed by an in-text citation.
�35
Paraphrasing
•
Learning to summarize or paraphrase well is vital to your academic writing so that
you can support your ideas and indicate to the reader you are presenting
thoughtful, researched material.
•
Any summary of material from another source ends with an in-text citation using
the author-year method. When an in-text citation occurs at the end of a sentence,
the period comes after the in-text citation. For example: “Forest management
models could be derived from binary search and simulation (Davis 1987).”
Direct Quotations
•
When quoting directly, be careful to use only the material relevant to your point.
•
Generally, avoid using quotations to end an essay. If you do use a quotation as
part of a conclusion, comment on what the author has said to bring your essay to
a close.
Setting off Direct Quotations from the Text
•
Quotation marks are used to enclose any direct quotation or each part of a direct
quotation if the quotation itself is interrupted by text.
•
Quotations of fewer than four lines, or any quotation used as part of a sentence,
should be treated as part of the paragraph in which they occur, and are simply set
off from the rest of the text by quotation marks.
•
A quotation used as part of a sentence, other than at the start, does not begin
with a capital letter (although it might be capitalized in the original) unless it forms
a complete statement.
�36
•
Place commas and periods within closing quotation marks, whether or not they
were included in the original material. For example: Ross and Smith (2002)
contend that “tenure reform, and the discarding of sustained yield as the core
principle of forest policies, is key to achieving these new objectives of
sustainability.”
•
Long quotations are set off from the text by single-spacing and indenting five
spaces (1 cm) from both the left and right margins. In long quotations, quotation
marks are not used; the indentations and single-spacing replace quotation marks.
The Council of Biology editors (1999) describe excerpts and quotations as
follows:
Short passages taken from another text are usually efficiently presented as
quotations with relevant punctuation in the line of the text quoting them;
such quotations are sometimes called “run-in quotations”. Long passages
may be more effectively presented as excerpts distinguished from the text
into which they are inserted by special typographical devices.
Use of [sic]
•
Direct quotations must be made exactly, except where you have modified a
capital letter beginning a partial quotation that is used as part of a sentence.
•
If an error occurs in the original quotation (for example, in spelling, grammar or
data), recognize the error by inserting [sic] after the error.
•
The word “sic” means “thus” or “so” in Latin, and you use it to indicate to the
reader that you recognize an error has occurred in the original.
Use of Ellipsis
•
If you omit portions of a quotation less than one paragraph in length, use an
ellipsis, three periods with no space between (…), but with a space before and
�37
after the ellipsis. When the omission occurs at the end of the sentence, use a
period before the ellipsis.
Examples of In-Text Citations
NOTE: There is no comma between the author and the date.
1. In its simplest form, the citation is placed at the end of a sentence.
Example: ... which is a major cause of earthworm distribution (Reynolds 1977).
NOTE: The period to end the sentence goes after the in-text citation.
2. When you name the author in the sentence, the citation includes only the date, which
appears immediately after the author’s name.
Examples: Meyer (1994) analyzed the effects on fire …
… the character of these plots was examined by Barnes (1998).
NOTE: Use this method sparingly to keep the focus on the topic, not an author.
3. Two joint authors:
Examples: … a second study (Carmean and Hahn 1983) indicated …
Parker and Bohm (1979) have introduced …
4. More than two joint authors:
Examples: … show the annual growth (Smith et al. 2000).
Brown et al. (1997) reported …
NOTE: Use a period after et al. because it is an abbreviation.
NOTE: Use et al. in the text, but write out the complete list of authors in the Literature
Cited section.
5. Two separate articles by two different authors with similar information cited.
Example: … juvenile period is passed (Meyer 1945; Reynolds 1976).
6. Corporate author:
Examples: … the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources has published a new forest
management planning manual (OMNR 2006).
The Canadian Forest Service publishes an annual State of Canada’s Forests report.
This year’s report (CFS 2013) explores …
7. For a book of more than 50 pages, page number(s) should be included:
Example: … under the circumstances (Ross 1995:247).
NOTE: After the date, add a colon and the page number or numbers (247-248).
8. Authors' initials are used with last name when two well-known authors are in the
same field, or where two authors having the same surname are cited in work.
�38
Example: … number of tree species (W.H. Meyer 1945). W.A. Meyer (1942) gave the
number of …
9. One specific article and additional unspecified material.
Example: Especially noteworthy is the work of Michaelsen, Stephenson, Gates and
their followers (Reynolds and Reinecke 1976 and many others).
10. More than one cited article by the same author in the same year.
Example: … against biomass per acre (Reynolds 1976c).
11. Two separate articles by two different authors with similar information cited:
Example: … juvenile period is passed (Meyer 1945; Jones 1976).
12. Several articles:
Example: Other presentations by Gates (1972), Reynolds (1972, 1976a, 1976b) and
Reynolds and Cook (1977) have shown that …
13. Corporate author:
Example: … the 2013 State of Canada’s Forest report (CFS 2013) ...
14. Corporate author as subject of a sentence:
Example: The Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources (2006) released a revised
version of the provincial forest management planning manual.
15. Author(s) of a chapter within a book edited by another or a symposium article:
Examples: … described by Prévost and Laing (1986) …
16. References in another work, original not read:
Cite original author and date in text. In Literature Cited, include author who cited the
work. For an example see the Literature Cited examples.
17. Neither the author nor the corporate author is known.
Example: … as it was described earlier (Anon 1887).
NOTE: Use Anon in the in-text citation, but use Anonymous in the Literature Cited
page.
18. Direct quotations fewer than four lines are included within the sentence in the text:
As this manual states: “Quotations of fewer than four lines or any quotation used as
part of a sentence should be treated as part of the paragraph in which they occur,
and are simply set off from the rest of the text by the quotation marks” (Smith 2008).
The citation should be placed outside the quotation marks, but before a period
indicating the end of the sentence.
19. Direct quotations of more than four lines, referred to as block quotations, are set off
through single spacing and indenting 1.27 cm from both the left and right margins.
No quotation marks are used.
�39
NOTE: For a block quotation, the citation is placed outside the closing punctuation.
Example:
Forestry has generally developed only after a period of exploitation that
has created actual or potential future timber shortages. The earliest stages
of forestry usually involve the institution of regulations designed to meet
certain objectives. Characteristically, these regulations are based on
administrative, short-term economic or strategic dictates and reflect little or
no knowledge of the ecological nature and variability of the forest. As a
consequence, such early attempts at forestry rarely succeed in solving the
problems that were their genesis. (Kimmins 1987)
20. Online sources follow the same author-text format. Example: Vaughan (2013)
in his Environment Blog, notes that in the past 10 years more than 130,000
hectares of forest have been lost.
FOOTNOTES IN THE TEXT
•
Footnotes are not used for literature citations.
•
Use footnotes sparingly. Footnotes may be used for explanatory material that is
not of sufficient length or importance to include in the text proper or as an
appendix. However, in many cases, the explanatory material can be placed in
parentheses in the text rather than in a footnote.
•
When a footnote is required, it should be designated with a superscript Arabic
numeral without parentheses. 1
•
The footnote itself occurs at the bottom of the page that contains the material to
be footnoted.
•
The footnote is single-spaced and its last line of text should conform to the
bottom margin width.
•
A double space is to be left between different footnotes on the same page. 2
1
2
Such numerals should be placed immediately after the word or statement that is being explained.
WORD TIP: Word automatically generates and formats footnotes. Use References, Insert
Footnotes.
�40
LITERATURE CITED PAGE EXAMPLE
____________________________________________________________________
LITERATURE CITED
Assmann, E. 1970. The Principles of Forest Yield Study. Pergamon Press, New York.
371 pp.
Gustafson, E.J., S.M. Lietz and J.L. Wright. 2003. Predicting the spatial distribution of
aspen growth potential in the Upper Great Lakes Region. Forest Science
49(4):499–508 (online).
Larsen, D.R. and J.A. Kershaw Jr. 1996. Influence of canopy structure assumptions on
predictions from Beer’s Law: A comparison of deterministic and stochastic
simulations. Agric. Meteorol. 81:61–77.
Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources. 2002. Status Summary of Ontario's Forest
Management Guides (review dates and consolidation details for new guide series).
http://ontariosforests.mnr.gov.on.ca/. Dec. 14, 2003.
Smith, F.D. 1995a. Management oriented yield tables for loblolly pine in the Georgia
Piedmont region. USDA Gen. Tech. Bull. NC-161. 63 pp.
Smith, F.D. 1995b. Compatible systems for estimation of tree and stand volumes. For.
Chron. 70(3):15–16 (online).
Smith, P., G. Scott and G. Merkel. 1995. Aboriginal Forest Land Management
Guidelines: A Community Approach. National Aboriginal Forestry Association,
Ottawa, ON.
Wagner, R.G., G.H. Mohammed and T.L. Noland. 1999. Critical period of interspecific
competition for northern conifers associated with herbaceous vegetation. Can. J.
For. Res. 29(7):890–897 (online).
Wang, J.R. and J.P. Kimmins. 2002. Height growth and competitive relationship
between paper birch and Douglas-fir in coast and interior of British Columbia. For.
Ecol. Manage. 165:285–293.
Xu, M. 1997. Growth efficiency of individual loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.) as affected by
crown morphology, stand characteristics and microenvironment. PhD. thesis,
University of Georgia, Athens. 286 pp.
�41
Guidelines for a Literature Cited Page
•
The Literature Cited section begins on a separate page located at the end of the
text of the report or essay (before any appendices).
•
The Literature Cited section contains only the sources you have cited within the
text of your essay or report. It is not a bibliography, so omit any works you might
have researched, but did not refer to in your submission.
•
The purpose of a Literature Cited entry is to give readers the information they
need to identify and retrieve the sources you have used to prepare your
document. The credibility and accuracy of your sources are therefore vital to the
overall integrity of your essay or report.
•
Citations are listed in alphabetical order and are not numbered.
•
The first line begins at the left margin; subsequent lines of the entry are indented
one tab.
•
Brackets, ( ), are used to enclose English
WORD TIP: Use the Word ruler to
format a hanging indent.
translations of non-English works when translations are known.
•
All non-English words must be completed with accents, umlauts, etc., as in the
original source.
•
The format for the information required in an entry is summarized below:
GENERAL FORMAT FOR JOURNAL ARTICLES: Author(s). Year. Article title.
Journal title volume number (issue number):inclusive page numbers.
Note that for journal article titles, only the first word (and other proper nouns)
is capitalized. The name of the journal is capitalized.
GENERAL FORMAT FOR BOOKS: Author(s) [or editor(s)]. Year. Title. Publisher,
place of publication. Number of pages. Note that for titles of books, all words
are capitalized except for articles (a, an, and the) and prepositions with fewer
than five letters.)
�42
GENERAL FORMAT FOR CHAPTERS IN BOOKS: Author(s) of the part. Year. Title
inclusive pages.in Author(s) [ed(s)]. Title of the book. Publisher, place of
publication. Number of pages.
GENERAL FORMAT FOR INTERNET CITATIONS: As above, with the addition of
the URL or website address and date viewed. For popular sources (as
opposed to academic peer-reviewed sources), indicate the type of internet
citation, e.g., Web Log Post (for blog), Video File (for youtube, etc.), Facebook
Post and the day, month and year of the post. For journal articles retrieved
from the internet, omit URL and instead put “online” in brackets following
inclusive page numbers.
•
The first line begins along the left margin, with subsequent lines of an entry
indented 1.27 cm (a “hanging indent”).
•
Entries are always listed alphabetically by the authors’ last names—they are
never numbered.
•
Each entry must be complete and contain information about the author and year
the work was published, as well as the title and publication details needed for the
retrieval of the specific text. Include the following items in any Literature Cited
entry:
o Author’s last name, separated with a comma from the author’s initials,
followed by a period and one space (i.e., for single author, Smith, P. and
for multiple authors, Smith, P., G. Scott and G. Merkel.).
o Year of publication, followed by a period and one space (i.e., 2003. ).
o For books: Complete title of the work, with significant words capitalized, not
italicized or underlined, followed by a period and one space (i.e., Forest
Ecology).
o For other printed matter, including journal articles: Complete title of the
work, with only the initial word and proper nouns capitalized, not italicized
�43
or underlined, followed by a period and one space (i.e., Tradable land-use
rights for cumulative environmental effects management. ).
o Publication information: name of publisher, name of journal or longer work
(if source is a chapter), or title of website page; place of publication, journal
volume and number; or internet address (i.e., for book, MacMillan
Publishing Co., New York, and for journal, Canadian Public Policy
28(4):581–593.).
o Number of pages in the book, page references for article in a longer work,
or date of retrieval for an internet source.
•
Personal communications are not listed in a Literature Cited section.
Instead, the reference is included in the text of the report or essay. As with other
citations, include the name of the author, the date the communication occurred
and information on the nature of the source; e.g., lecture notes, in literature, an
email, or as a personal (oral) communication. You might choose to introduce the
name of the source in the sentence itself.
Examples: Parker (in lecture NRMT 1010, Nov. 28, 2013) stated …
Barnes (pers. comm., May 7, 2013) indicated that …
You can further highlight an individual’s personal communications
contributions in the Acknowledgements section.
Examples of Literature Cited entries
There is such a variety of source material that it is best you learn and understand
the purpose of a literature citation rather than try to memorize all the different examples.
Scan journals for other possible examples. If you are in doubt about what information to
�44
include, keep in mind that it is better to include more rather than less information. Put
yourself in your reader’s shoes—what information do they need to easily find the
source? As well, while proofreading, check to make sure that names and dates of your
in-text citations match what is in the literature cited.
1. Single author, article:
Smith, P. 1998. Aboriginal and treaty rights and Aboriginal participation: Essential
elements of sustainable forest management. Forestry Chronicle 74(3):327–333.
Pulkki, R. 1984. A spatial database-heuristic programming system for aiding decisionmaking in long-distance transport of wood. Seloste: Sijaintitietokanta –
heuristinen ohjelmointijärjestelmä puutavaran kaukikuljetuksen päät`ksenteossa.
Acta For. Fenn. 188:1–89.
2. Single author, book:
Manion, P.D. 1982. Tree Disease Concepts. Prentice-Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, New
Jersey. 399 pp.
NOTE: Initial word, significant words and proper nouns are capitalized in book
titles, but only initial words and proper nouns are capitalized in other publications.
3. Two or more publications by the same author (notice sequence by year, with earliest
publication date first):
Farmer, R.E. Jr. 1963. Effect of light intensity on growth of Populus tremuloides cuttings
under two temperature regimes. Ecology 44(2):409–411.
Farmer, R.E. Jr. 1964. Sex ratio and sex-related characteristics in eastern cottonwood.
Silvae Genet. 13:116–118.
4. Two or more works by an author published in the same year (small letters
distinguish each publication; placed in the order cited in the text):
Reynolds, J.W. 1976a. The distribution and ecology of the earthworms of Nova Scotia.
Megadrilogica 2:1–7.
Reynolds, J.W. 1976b. Catalogue et clef d’identification des lombricides du Québec.
Nat. Can. 103:21–27.
Reynolds, J.W. 1976c. Die Biogreografie van Niirde-Amerikaanse Erdwurms
(Oligochaeta) Noorde van Meksiko. II. Indikator 8:6–20.
5. Publication by one author and with co-authors (repeat name):
Reynolds, J.W. 1978. The whole earthworm catalogue. Horticulture 56:41–48.
�45
Reynolds, J.W. and A.J. Reinecke. 1976. A preliminary survey of the earthworms of the
Kruger National Park, South Africa. Wet. Bydraes, P.U. vir C.H.O. (B), No. 89.
19 pp.
6. Multiple authors:
Grant, G.G., Y.H. Prévost, K.N. Slessor, G.G.S. King and R.J. West. 1987. Identification
of the sex pheromone of the spruce coneworm, Dioryctria reniculelloides
(Lepidoptera: Pyralidae). Environ. Entomol. 16:905–909.
Schnekenburger, F., K.M. Brown and J.E. Barker. 1985. Effects of nitrogen fertilization
and low thinning on snow damage in jack pine. For. Sci. 31:52–56.
Yang, K.C. and G. Hazenberg. 1987. Geographical variation in wood properties of Larix
larcina juvenile wood in northern Ontario. Can. J. For. Res. 17:648–653.
7. Publication in press:
Dickinson, T.A., P. Knowles and W.H. Parker. 1988. Data set congruence in northern
Ontario tamarack (Larix laricina, Pinaceae) Syst. Bot. (in press).
8. Publication by an institute:
Reynolds. J.W. 1977. The earthworms (Lumbricidae and Sparganophilidae) of Ontario.
Life Sci. Misc. Publ., Roy. Ont. Mus., Toronto. x + 141 pp.
NOTE: x = 10 pages of separately paged prefaces.
Reynolds, J.W. and D.G. Cook. 1977. Nomenclatura oligochaetologica, a catalogue of
names, descriptions and type specimens of the Oligochaeta. University of New
Brunswick, Fredericton. x + 217 pp.
9. Thesis manuscript:
Prévost, Y.H. 1986. The relationship between the development of cones of black spruce,
Picea mariana (Mill.) B.S.P. and their insect fauna. Ph.D. dissertation,
Environmental Biology, Univ. of Guelph, ON. 96 pp.
Dunai, A. 1998. Factors predisposing urban trees to insect defoliations in Richmond Hill
Ontario. B.Sc.F. thesis, Faculty of Forestry, Lakehead University, Thunder Bay,
ON. 68 pp.
10. Article in a published symposium, conference proceedings or a chapter in a book
with an editor(s):
Turner, N. 2001. “Keeping it living”: Applications and relevance of traditional plant
management in British Columbia to sustainable harvesting of non-timber forest
products pp. 66-77 in Davidson-Hunt, I., L.C. Duchesne and J.C. Zasada (eds.)
Forest Communities in the Third Millennium: Linking Research, Business, and
Policy toward a Sustainable Nontimber Forest Product Sector; Proceedings of the
meeting held in Kenora, Ontario, Canada, October 1-4, 1999. Gen. Tech. Rep.
NC-217. U.S. Dept. of Agric., For. Serv., N. Central Res. Stn., St. Paul, MN. 151
pp.
NOTE: There is no period after page numbers or before in.
�46
Hayter, R. and J. Holmes. 2001. The Canadian forest industry: The impacts of
globalization and technological change pp. 127-156 in Howlett, M. (ed.) Canadian
Forest Policy: Adapting to Change. University of Toronto Press, Toronto, ON. 446
pp.
11. Bulletin:
Reynolds, J.W. 1972. The activity and distribution of earthworms in tulip poplar stands in
the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Sevier County, Tennessee. Bull. Tall
Timbers Res. Stn., No. 11, pp. 41–54.
NOTE: If the article had been a bulletin all by itself: No. 11, 54 pp.
12. Book review:
Reynolds, J.W. 1973. Review of Gates, G.E. 1972. Burmese earthworms: An
introduction to the systematics and biology of Megadrile oligochaetes with special
references to southeast Asia. Syst. Zool. 22:197–199.
13. Unpublished duplicated material:
Van Slyke, A.L. 1967. Crown measures as indicators of tree growth in red spruce. Paper
read at Mensuration Sessions, Joint CIF-SAF Annual Meeting. October 19, 1967,
Ottawa. 18 pp. (mimeographed).
14. Unpublished manuscript:
Carmean, W.H. and D.J. Lenthall. 1988. Height growth and site index curves for jack
pine in north central Ontario. Unpublished manuscript.
15. Abstract:
Laing, J.E. and Y.H. Prévost. 1986. Seed and cone insects of black spruce. p. 23 in
Ontario Renewable Resources Seminar Abstracts Jan. 30–31, 1986 22 pp.
(abstract).
Parker, W.H. 1984. Flavanoid variation in Yukon populations of Abies lasiocarpa. Am. J.
Bot. 71, part 2:182–183 (abstract).
16. Publications in microfilm:
Reynolds, J.W. 1973. The Lumbricidae (Ammelida: Oligochaeta) of Tennessee. Ph.D.
dissertation, University of Tennessee, Knoxville. xii + 302 pp. (microfilm).
NOTE: This entry differs slightly from example 13 because the original or a
Xeroxed typed copy of the original document was not consulted.
17. Corporate publications, author(s) known:
[OMNR] Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources. 2001. Forest Management Guide for
Natural Disturbance Pattern Emulation. Version 3.1. Ont. Min. Nat. Res., Queen’s
Printer for Ontario, Toronto. 40 pp.
NOTE: This would be cited in text as OMNR (2001) or (OMNR 2001).
18. Corporate publications, corporation unknown, such as unauthored, independent
publications such as maps:
�47
Anonymous. 1957. Honey and beeswax. Stat. Rept. Serv. No. 388. 10 pp.
NOTE: Use n.d. (no date) if date cannot be determined.
19. Atlas:
Bartholomew, J. (ed.). 1957. The Times atlas of the world: Mid-century edition. Vol 5.
The American Times Publ. Co., Ltd., London. 57 pp. 120 plates.
NOTE: Enter under person or corporate body responsible, i.e., cartographer,
editor, publisher, government bureau, society, or institution. If responsibility
cannot be determined, enter under title.
20. Map:
Leppard, H. M. (ed.). 1961. Goode base map series. No. 202. North America. Dept.
Geography, Univ. Chicago.
NOTE: Enter in the sequence of person(s) or corporate body stated in the title,
cartographer, engraver, publisher, and copyright claimant. If responsibility cannot
be determined, enter under title.
21. Foreign language publication: in original language but with English abstract and/or
summary:
Reynolds, J.W. 1976. Un aperçu des vers de terre dans les forêts nord-americaines,
leurs activités et leurs répartitions. Megadrilogica 2:1–11. (In French; English,
French, German and Spanish summaries).
22. Foreign language publication; no translation, summary or other-wise, or translator
given:
Reynolds, J.W. 1976. Die Biogeografie van Noorde-Amerikaanse Erdwurms
(Oligochaeta) Noorde van Meksiko. II. Indikator 8:6–20 (in Afrikaans).
23. Foreign language publication; translation when English title not given:
Zuraiq, Q. 1948. Ma na an-Nakba [The meaning of disaster]. Dar al-Ilm lil-Malayin,
Beirut. 88 pp. (in Arabic).
24. Foreign language publication; English title given in original:
Frederiks, G.N. 1926. Table for determination of the genera of the family Spiriferidae
King. Izv. Akad. Naul, USSR. 20:393–423 (in Russian).
25. Legislation or Acts of Parliament.
Federal:
Combines Investigation Act, R.S.C. 1970, c. C-23, s.2.
NOTE: R.S.C. = Revised Statute of Canada.
Provincial:
Liquor Control Act, R.S.N.B. 1970, c. L-10, s. 13(1).
NOTE: R.S.N.B. = Revised Statute of New Brunswick.
26. House of Commons Debates (Hansard):
Angus, C. 2013. Statement on Economic Action Plan 2013 Act No. 2. Canada.
Parliament. Edited Hansard 147(009):1335. 41st Parliament, 2nd session.
�48
http://www.parl.gc.ca/HousePublications/Publication.aspx?Language=E&Mode=1
&Parl=41&Ses=2&DocId=6270979#TOC-TS-1335. Dec. 30, 2013.
27. Examples of the various types of Canadian Forest Service, Natural Resources
Canada publications:
NOTE: The names of government departments change over time; your citation
should use the name of the department at the time of publication.
i) Leaflet:
Wile, B.C. n.d. Balsam fir. Can For. Serv. MFRC. 12 pp.
ii) Unauthored, independent, map-like publications:
Anonymous. n.d. Common pests of ornamental hardwoods in Maritime Provinces.
Can. For. Serv. MFRC.
iii) Information reports:
Groot, A. 2001. User’s manual for “PC-Seed”. Can. For. Serv. Great Lakes For.
Cent. Nat. Resour. Can. Inf. Rep. GLC-X-4. 18 pp.
iv) Tree pest control leaflet:
Humble, L.M. and A.J. Stewart. 1994. Gypsy moth. Can. For. Serv. Pacific For.
Cent. Nat. Resour. Can. Forest Pest Leaflet 75, co-published by the BC
Ministry of Forests.
v) Internal report:
Renault, T.R. 1968. An illustrated key to arboreal spiders (Araneae) in the firspruce forests of New Brunswick. Can. For. Ser. MFRC Int. Rept. M-39. 41
pp.
vi) Local irregular publications:
Anonymous. 1978. The budworm’s point of view. Pith to Periderm. Can. For.
Serv. MFRC. 12:8–14.
Magasi, L. 1978. Forest insect and disease survey highlights (summer 1978). The
Green Chain, pp. 15–17. (Cab, For. Serv. MFRC).
vii) Co-operative reports:
Anonymous. 1978. Nashwaak Experimental Watershed Project, Annual Report
1976-77. Can For. Serv. MFRC. 23 pp.
viii) Abbreviations for laboratories of Environment Canada, Canadian Forestry
Service:
[Envi. Can. Can. For. Serv.] (before 1985); Forestry Canada [For. Can.] (after 1985);
and Natural Resources Canada, Canadian Forest Service, [Nat. Resour. Can. Can. For.
Serv.] (after 1993).
Before 1985 after 1985 after 1993
Newfoundland and Labrador Region
NeFRC
NeFC
Nfld. Lab. Reg.
�49
Maritimes Region
Quebec Region
Ontario Region
Northwestern Region
Pacific and Yukon Region
MFRC
LFRC
GLFRC
NoFRC
PFRC
MFC
LFC
CLFC
NoFC
PFC
Marit. Reg.
Que. Reg.
Ont. Reg.
NW Reg.
Pac. Yuk. Reg.
28. Citing an author quoted in an article by another author:
Duges, A. 1837. Nouvelles observations sur la zoologie et l’anatomie des Annelides
abranches setigeres. Ann. Sci. Nat. 8:15–35. (Cited in Reynolds 1983b.)
29. Television broadcast:
Reynolds, J. 1976. Interviewed by Peter Gzowski on “90 Minutes Live.” CBC Television,
Dec. 22, 1976.
30. Radio broadcast:
Prévost, Y.H. and Z Valdmanis. 2001. Interview by Gerald Graham on the “Voyage
North Show.” CBQ Radio, Thunder Bay, Dec. 3, 2001.
31. Lecture:
See Personal Communication on page 43 of this manual.
32. Film or filmstrip:
Fueter, H. 1968. Waste: The penalty of affluence. Condor Film, on behalf of World
Wildlife Fund. Colour, 18 minutes.
Discovery Channel. n.d. Extreme Loggers, Ice Logging, Episode 3, Part 1/3. Video File.
Posted on youtube.com by gustavopcastro, Oct. 16, 2013.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHrOIx6CgBo. Dec. 30, 2013.
33. Newspaper article:
Prévost, Y.H. 2001. Urban forester benefits outweigh salary. The Chronicle Journal,
Thunder Bay, ON. Dec. 12, 2001, p. A6.
Canadian Press. 2003. Ban on spring bear hunt here to stay. Toronto Star, Toronto, ON.
Dec. 17, 2003. www.torontostar.com. Dec. 17, 2003.
34. Record or tape:
Ramsey, F. Jr. 1958. John Henry from Jazz, vol.1. Folkway Records, Toronto. FJ
2801. Side 1, cut 4.
35. Internet source: Author. Year. Title. Publisher. URL. Date viewed.
NOTE: Internet sources should be in the same format as the citations above, with
the addition of the website address (URL) and date viewed. For online journals, omit
the URL, date viewed and simply note “(online)” following the volume, issue, page
number information. If there is no specific author cited for the source, use the
corporate author format, citing the organization hosting the website. Dates are often
unclear on websites; if the date is not clear at the top of the page, use the “last
�50
updated” date usually listed at the bottom of websites or n.d. (no date).
Canadian Forest Service. 2003. Guide to Tree Diseases of Ontario. Can. For. Serv.
Great Lakes For. Cent. Nat. Resour. Can.
http://www.glfc.cfs.nrcan.gc.ca/treedisease/index_e.html. Dec. 17, 2003.
Le Guerrier, C., D.J. Marceau, A. Bouchard and J. Brisson. 2003. A modelling approach
to assess the long-term impact of beech bark disease in northern hardwood
forest. Can. J. of For. Res. 33(12):2416–2425 (online).
i) Blog Post: Last name, initial. Year. Title of post. Web Log Post, Month, day,
year. Url. Date viewed.
Pacheco, P., K. Obidzinski and G. Schoneveld. 2013. Biofuels and forests:
Revisiting the debate. Web Log Post. CIFOR Forests News, Oct. 17, 2013.
http://blog.cifor.org/19515/biofuels-and-forests-revisiting-thedebate#.UrhDa_RDsXs. Dec. 23, 2013.
ii) You Tube Video: Last name, initial. Year. Title of video. Video File, Month, day,
year. Url. Date viewed.
Pitt, D. 2010. Harvesting practices in the boreal forest. Video File, Nov. 24,
2010. Ottawa: Natural Resources Canada.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OA7FB2vrM. Dec. 23, 2013.
iii) Facebook Post: Username. Year. Title of post. Facebook Post, Month, day,
year. Url. Date viewed.
Rachel Chalat. 2013. Learn about the work of IFRI researchers and affiliated
groups. Facebook Post, Dec. 16, 2013.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/IFRIresearch/. Dec. 23, 2013.
36. Student record of unpublished data gathered at a summer job:
Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, 2002. Unpublished data.
37. Legal cases: Case name, neutral citation as given by court.
Mikisew Cree First Nation v. Canada (Minister of Canadian Heritage), 2005 SCC 69.
APPENDICES
•
An appendix contains material that is not integral to the report (or thesis), such as
tabular or graphical material, a very long quotation, original documents and raw
material. You might also include supplementary information that is too long to include
in the text of the report. Indicate the inclusion of an appendix in text, e.g., “A table of
raw data is presented in Appendix II.”
�51
•
The appendix section is preceded by a divider page which has the word APPENDIX
(if you only have one appendix) or APPENDICES (if you have more than one),
centered 10.0 cm from the top of the new page. The divider page itself is counted,
but not numbered (similar to a title or cover page).
•
If more than one type of material is to be placed in the section, each type should be
given a new section designation and its own title.
•
Each appendix should begin on a new page, with the appendix number (usually
upper case Roman numerals—e.g., I, II,—or capital letters—e.g., A, B) centred 4.0
cm from the top of the page.
•
The appendix designation should be centred on the first line of text, followed by a
double space, then the title in uppercase, also centred on a second line of text.
•
Leave 1.5 cm between the appendix title and the beginning of the appendix. You
might find this process time-consuming, but the appearance is much improved over
hand-lettered titles.
�52
STYLE EXPECTATIONS
The Faculty of Natural Resources Management requires that students write for
different purposes and occasions. By the end of your program, you will be skilled in
journal, essay and technical report writing. You will have submitted both informal and
formal works, you will have written alone and with others, and you will have presented
your findings verbally. The different assignments will have different format and style
expectations and although standards of grammar, spelling and punctuation are
consistent, wording and organization of the material conform to either essay or technical
report writing styles.
GENERAL GUIDELINES FOR REPORTS
Reports (for example, lab, technical, recommendation) require that the writing style
follow the conventions of scientific writing: they are objective and specific in content. To
achieve these requirements, reports generally adhere to the following guidelines:
•
When reporting your own findings, use the past tense, but when discussing the
findings of others, write in the present tense.
•
The Abstract, Materials and Methods and Results sections are written in the past
tense; the Introduction and Discussion are in the present tense.
•
General truths are also stated in the present tense, but specific conclusions that are
not yet considered general truths are written in the past tense.
•
Until the Discussion/Conclusion, the writing is descriptive; a writer’s opinion or
conjecture does not occur until the objective evaluation of the findings.
�53
•
Generally, the Methods section is written in the passive voice so that the writer
can avoid using I or we.
•
It is preferable to use the word data as a plural; you might find it easier to
remember this if you substitute the word findings for data.
•
Avoid using conversational, informal language, contractions (i.e., use “it is” rather
than “it’s”) or colloquialisms (slang) in formal writing unless the expression is a
direct quotation from another author.
•
Finally, remember that your submissions are public documents: edit out what you
do not think others would appreciate/understand, write for your audience, not
yourself, and include only information that pertains to the subject of the report.
GENERAL GUIDELINES FOR ESSAYS
Although you have had experience in writing essays, many of you will find the level
of analysis expected at university exceeds your experience. Therefore, it is important
that you are able to not only describe your subject or source, but also analyze or
interpret the material you are presenting.
•
A scientific essay often starts with an opinion/thesis that is then proven or explained
by looking at evidence.
•
Most often, the evidence is taken from the work of others. Your ability to summarize
the work of others and apply it to your central thesis is crucial to the readability and
academic worth of any writing you submit.
•
An essay that is without peer-reviewed, academic, referenced sources is not an
academic piece of writing.
The following guidelines might be useful reminders:
�54
•
Think about and clearly articulate your thesis. What is the central idea of your
essay? Avoid choosing a topic that is too large or too small for the length of the
work.
•
Make sure that you understand the requirements of the essay: due date, format,
structure and acceptable topics.
•
Before beginning to write, use a point form outline to organize your material in a
hierarchical fashion: the thesis/central idea is supported by main points which are
explained by supporting details.
•
Keep references organized: use file cards or notes with complete citations of your
sources clearly marked, and then organize the material by point, topic, etc.
•
Spend time as soon as you get the assignment to make a work plan and jot down
notes; the more you do early on, the less you will have to do at 4:00 in the
morning of the due date.
•
Get an outside reader (two are better!) to proofread your work; others will pick up
errors you miss.
Writing Concisely
In all technical writing, conciseness is a virtue. However, if you lack confidence in
your researching or writing ability, you might try to compensate by over explaining or
repeating your points. This type of redundancy makes for tedious reading. As well, a
disadvantage of composing on a computer is that your writing tends to become
unnecessarily long-winded. Watch out for “filler” constructions, language that does not
contribute to understanding the topic (e.g., in other words, at this point in time, basically,
�55
due to the fact that). The following list, adopted from editing guidelines in The Journal of
Wildlife Management, gives sensible alternatives for rambling expressions:
WORDY CONSTRUCTIONS
SUGGESTED SUBSTITUTES
the purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis
in this study we assessed
we demonstrated that there was a direct
Were responsible for
played the role of
on the basis of evidence available to date
in order to provide a basis for comparing
in order to
as a result of
for the following reasons
the reason is because; due to the fact that
during the course of this experiment
during the process of
during periods when
the nature of
a large (or small or limited) number of
conspicuous numbers of
a substantial quantity of
a majority
a single
seedlings, irrespective of species
all of the species
various lines of evidence
they do not themselves possess
were still present
the analysis presented in this paper
indicating the presence of
despite the presence of
checked for the presence of
in the absence of
a series of observations
may be the mechanism responsible for
it is reasonable to assume that
in a single period of a few hours
occur in areas of North America
in the vicinity
the present-day population
this particular point in time
their subsequent fate
whether or not
summer (winter, etc.) months
I (or we) hypothesized
we assessed
we demonstrated direct
caused
were
consequently
to compare
to
through, by
because, since, as
because
during the experiment
during
when
(omit completely)
many (or few)
many
much
most
one
all seedlings
all species
evidence
they lack
persisted, survived
our analysis
indicating
despite
checked for
without
observations
may have caused
with
in a few hours
occur in North America
nearby
the population
now
their fate
whether
summer (winter)
�56
are not uncommon
showed a tendency to
devastated with drought-induced desiccation
may be
tended to
killed by drought
If you are prone to terseness (being too concise), have someone else read your work
and comment on the thoroughness of your explanations.
ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS
Abbreviations and acronyms can improve the readability of a work, but overuse can
frustrate the reader.
•
Avoid using abbreviations and acronyms unnecessarily or if you are using the term
only once.
•
Avoid using similar terms in close proximity.
•
No sentence should begin with abbreviations, symbols, acronyms or numerals;
neither should they be used in headings.
•
When you use an abbreviated form throughout a work, on first use give the full term,
followed by the abbreviation in parentheses. Then use the abbreviation throughout
the text.
•
If you are using units of measurement that are preceded by a number, you may use
the abbreviated form at first usage. Note that there is no period following abbreviated
metric units of measurement.
•
Dimensional units not preceded by a number must be written in full; e.g., “...
measured in litres per second.”
�57
•
Acronyms are words formed by the combination of initial letters or syllables in a
series of words: for example, Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC), and the Ontario
Ministry of Natural Resources (OMNR).
•
Notice that most acronyms leave out the periods between letters.
•
On first use of an acronym, the full name should be given at with the acronym
following in parentheses. Subsequently, the acronym can be used throughout the
text.
INTERNATIONAL SYSTEM OF UNITS (SI)
The Système Internationale d’Unités (SI) is the form of the metric system
advocated by the Canadian Standards Association (CSA). SI is the official system of
measurement in Canada, and all other metric units are considered by the CSA to be
obsolete.
•
Seven fundamental units exist in SI: metre (m), kilogram (kg), second (s), ampere
(A), Kelvin (K), candela (cd) and mole (mol). All other units are derived from these. It
is important to use the units, the spelling of their names, and their symbols exactly as
given.
•
Note that the Canadian spelling is metre, and although your spell checker will want to
change it to meter, the -re ending is preferred.
•
Note that “metric” and “decimal” are not synonymous. “Decimal” relates to tenth or
tens whereas “metric” refers to the measurement system based on the metre. Thus,
half a litre is metric but not decimal; 0.5 quart is decimal but not metric; 0.5 L is
decimal and metric.
�58
Form and Format for SI Units
a) When the names of SI units are written out in full, the initial letter of the name (with
the exception of Celsius) is not capitalized, except at the beginning of a sentence.
b) A derived unit formed by division has “per” between the units; e.g., kilometre per
hour, not kilometre/hour.
c) A symbol represents a unit name and is the same in all languages.
d) The symbols do not change in the plural; e.g., 10 kilometres = 10 km
e) The symbols are never followed by a period except at the end of a sentence.
f) The symbol of a derived unit formed by division may be shown by using an oblique
line (/) between the symbols in the numerator and those in the denominator (50
kg/m2) or by the use of symbols with negative exponents (50 kg.m-2); e.g., km/h, not
kmph or k.p.h.
g) A space must be left between the numerals and the first letter of the symbol; e.g.,
320 lm, not 320lm for 320 lumens.
h) Do not use symbols to begin a sentence. As with numbers, write out the full name.
i)
o
with oC but not with K; for example, 37oC = 310 k (approx.), not 37oC = 310oK.
Form and Format for Numerals
a) In text, if a numerical value is less than one, a zero should precede the decimal point.
In tables, when several or all values in a column or columns are less than one, only
the first (topmost) value in the column needs to have a zero preceding the decimal
point.
b) Although some countries use a comma as a decimal marker, the practice in Britain
and North America is to use the period as a decimal marker.
�59
c) To avoid confusion, use spaces instead of commas to divide a long row of digits into
easily readable blocks of three, in both directions, from the decimal point: 3 244
453.246 07.
d) A dot should not be used as the multiplication symbol in conjunction with numerals,
although the dot is permitted with symbols.
Use of Prefixes with SI Units
a) Prefix symbols are printed in upright type without spacing between the prefix symbol
and the unit symbol.
b) Only one prefix symbol is applied at one time to a given unit; e.g., nanometre (nm),
not millimicrometre (mum).
c) In the case of the kilogram, the root name to which the prefix is applied is “gram” as
only one prefix should be used; e.g., milligram (mg), not microkilogram (mkg).
d) The prefix symbol is considered to be combined with the unit symbol that it
immediately precedes, forming a new symbol. The new symbol can then be
converted to a positive or negative power and can be combined with other symbols
to form a compound symbol; e.g., 1 mm2/s = 1 (mm)2/s = (10-3m)2/s = 10-6 m2 s-1.
e) It is recommended that only one prefix be used in forming decimal multiples or submultiples of a derived SI unit. This prefix should be attached to the unit in the
numerator. An exception to this occurs when the base unit, kilogram, appears in the
denominator; e.g., m /m, not /km but J/kg (the exception).
f) The choice of the appropriate multiple of an SI unit is governed by convenience, the
multiple chosen for a particular application being the one that will lead to numerical
values within a practical range. The use of prefixes representing 10 raised to a power
�60
that is a multiple of 3 is recommended. The multiple can usually be chosen so that
the numerical values will be between 0.1 and 1 000; e.g., 3.94 mm for 0.003 94 m.
Prefixes Forming Decimal Multiples and Sub-multiples of SI Units
Multiplying Factor
1 000 000 000 000 000 000 = 1018
1 000 000 000 000 000 = 1015
1 000 000 000 000 = 1012
1 000 000 000 = 109
1 000 000 = 106
1 000 = 103
100 = 102
10 = 10
0.1 = 10-1
0.01 = 10-2
0.001 = 10-3
0.000 001 = 10-6
0.000 000 001 = 10-9
0.000 000 000 001 = 10-12
0.000 000 000 000 001 = 10-15
0.000 000 000 000 000 001 = 10-18
Prefix
Exa
Peta
Tera
Giga
Mega
kilo
hecto
deca
deci
centi
milli
micro
nano
pico
femto
atto
Symbol
E
P
T
G
M
k
h
da
d
c
m
μ
n
p
f
a
Metric Conversion Table
If you know
multiply by
to get
miles
chains
yards
feet
inches
1.609 34
20.116 8
0.914 4
0.304 8
2.54
km
m
m
m
cm
acres
1 mil-acre
square feet
square inches
square miles
square yards
0.040 5
4.046 9
0.092 9
6.451 6
2.59
0.836 1
ha
m2
m2
cm2
km2
m2
cords
cubic feet
cubic yards
3.624 6
0.028 3
0.764 6
m3
m3
m3
�61
cunits
gallons
2.831 7
4.546 1
m3
L
ounces
pounds
tons
28.349 5
0.453 6
0.907 2
g
kg
t
cords per acre
cubic feet per acre
pounds per cubic foot
square feet per acre
tons per acre
8.956 5
0.07
16.018 5
0.229 6
0.241 7
m3/ha
m3/ha
kg/m3
m2/ha
t/ha
HYPHENATION
Hyphens are used as structural grammatical elements and also as a publishing
convention. As a structural element, the hyphen (or short dash) is used as follows:
•
between words in any phrase that functions as a single adjective before a noun; for
example, “... a 30-m-long, 10,000-kg prototype ...”;
•
after the first part of a compound when the second part is to be inferred from its
occurrence in a following compound in the same grammatical unit; for example, “We
never used anything brighter than a 40- or 60-watt light bulb”; and
•
between the parts of spelled-out fractions and numbers from twenty-one to ninetynine, as in “one-third of the seedlings”.
As a publishing convention, the hyphen is used to:
•
represent a missing part of a word; for example, “She could never spell beyond
Pseudo- in Pseudotsuga menziesii”;
•
indicate a syllable break at the end of a line of text;
•
demonstrate a letter-by-letter spelling of a word, as in “The instructor spelled the
word: m-e-t-r-e”; and
�62
•
separate a prefix from the rest of the word when the prefix might cause confusion; for
example, “semi-integrated, non-Canadian”.
DASHES
The long dash (“em” dash) is used as a substitute for the colon, semicolon or
comma, designed to give more emphasis in the sentence; for example, “ a number of
formatting styles are unique to the Faculty of Natural Resources Management—in-text
citations, scientific nomenclature and headings. The “en” dash is used to indicate a time
period between two inclusive dates, as in “from November 12–16, 1999” or to indicate a
range between two values: “Readings were from 0–500 Kohms.”
NUMBERS
•
Write out all numbers that begin sentences.
•
Usually, numbers less than ten are written out in full regardless of their position in the
sentence, unless they are part of an expression of measurement, as in decimals and
SI units.
•
Spelled-out and non-spelled-out numbers are not mixed in the same phrase except
to avoid confusion, as in “five 10-kg bags and fifteen 20-kg bags.
•
Approximate numbers should be expressed in words.
•
Large numbers, such as those in the millions, should be written out, but the number
of millions may be given in numerals (e.g., 20 million).
•
Dollar amounts in different currencies should be designated if the origin of the
currency is unclear and may change the meaning of the amount used; for example
�63
CAD$20 for Canadian dollars; USD$20 for United States currency, AUD$20 for
Australian dollars and EURO$20 for European Union.
•
When writing out percentages, there is no hard and fast rule, but do be consistent.
You can write 60% or 60 per cent. (Two words, per cent, is preferred British and
Canadian spelling; one word, percent, is preferred in the U.S. Again, be consistent in
your choice.)
NUMBERED AND BULLETED LISTS
In consideration of the reader, a series of statements or points may be separated
by numbers or bullets.
•
If the material is in a single paragraph, the numbers are to be enclosed in a single
parenthesis without a period.
Example: An introduction includes: 1) background material to introduce the topic,
2) a thesis statement, and 3) a statement of the organizational plan.
•
When the enumeration is by long statements or in paragraphs, then each paragraph
is to bear a number, not in parentheses, followed by a period. A similar format is to
be followed when a series of short items is set off from the text by a numbered list or
a series of bullets.
•
Whatever the case, remember that point-form lists and numbered items are not
satisfactory substitutes for proper English sentences. Numbered and bulleted lists
are more appropriately used in how-to manuals, and are almost never used in
essays. Even in reports they should be used sparingly.
�64
SCIENTIFIC NOMENCLATURE
•
The first mention of a common name must be followed by the scientific name and
authority of a species enclosed in round brackets.
Example: choke cherry (Prunus virginiana L.)
Where:
1. choke cherry is the common name;
2. Prunus virginiana is the scientific name, which is a Latin binomial
consisting of the genus name (Prunus) followed by the specific epithet
(virginiana); and\
3. L. is the authority, i.e., the abbreviated name of the original author.
Here L. is an abbreviation of Linnaeus.
•
After the scientific name and authority has been stated once, the common name
may be used alone. This rule applies to all flora and fauna mentioned in a work,
including genus names. If the first mention of a species is in a heading or a table
caption, give the full scientific reference after the first mention of the common
name in the text.
•
When the original authority has been corrected, the original authority is put in
parentheses.
Example: black spruce (Picea mariana (Mill.) BSP)
•
Common names are not capitalized unless proper nouns are involved; for
example, black spruce (Picea mariana (Mill.) BSP), but Norway spruce (Picea
abies (L.) Karst.).
�65
•
The Latin words used in genus and species names are written in italics (or
underlined if written in longhand).
•
The genus name is capitalized, but the species name is not.
•
Acceptable abbreviations can be found in an appropriate taxonomic text.
•
In some works, it is preferable to use scientific names only. Then, the authorities
must be given at first mention, but need not be included thereafter.
•
Generic names occurring more than once in a single paragraph may be
abbreviated at the second and subsequent mentions within the paragraph to the
initial capital letter, in italics or underlined.
Example: P. marinana and P. abies were …
However, do not use abbreviations where confusion between different genera
with the same initial letter could occur, as with Pinus and Picea used in the same
paragraph.
EQUATIONS, CHEMICAL REACTIONS AND FORMULAE
•
When an equation is very brief, well-known, and used as an addition within a
sentence that is grammatically correct without it, you may place the equation in
round brackets within the text.
Example:
Albert Einstein, Novel Laureate, and Mick Jones, guitarist and singer of
The Clash, have at least one thing in common. The famous equation (E =
mc2) is both the title of a song and one of the basic concepts of the
General Theory of Relativity.
�66
•
Longer, more complex equations are to be typed on a separate line or lines, not
run into the text. Note that the equation remains a part of the text for purposes of
punctuation.
•
Where equations do not include fractions, use the standard Word program to
write them out.
Example:
Y = b0 + b1V1 + b2V2
Equation (1)
where Y is the dependant variable, such as tree height; b0, b1 and b2 are
constants; and V1 and V2 are explanatory factors that contribute to the value of Y
(e.g., age and diameter at breast height).
• Where equations are more complex, it is best to use specific software, such as
Microsoft Equation Editor.
Example of use with text:
_____________________________________________________________
Honer's equation was used to determine total stem volume:
Equation (2)
where V = the volume of a tree (m3), DBH = diameter at breast height (cm),
H = total height of the tree (m), and b, c1 and c2 are species specific constants.
_______________________________________________________________
Guidelines for Presenting Equations and Formulae
•
Short equations are centred.
•
Longer equations are begun flush at the left margin and continued (if necessary)
on subsequent lines, indented two spaces.
�67
•
Leave sufficient white space above and below the equation to set it off from the
rest of the text.
•
If equations or formulae are numbered for subsequent reference, enclose the
numbers in parentheses on the right margin, separated enough from the end of
the equation to avoid confusion. When referring to an equation, use the term
“Equation” and the parenthetical number, e.g., “Equation (7).”
USE OF "i.e." and "e.g."
Although often viewed as interchangeable, the terms “i.e." and "e.g." have distinct
meanings. Both are followed by a comma.
•
i.e. is an abbreviation of the Latin "id est". The abbreviation i.e. means "that is" or
"in other words." Use i.e. when your example is the only one that applies in this
case.
Example:
To compute the volume of the tree reported to be the largest in the world,
i.e., the General Sherman Tree in Sequoia National Park, foresters used
the practical equivalent of calculating the volume of an irregular cone.
(Note: There are many large trees, but The General Sherman Tree is the one
reported to be the largest in the world; thus, "i.e." indicates that The General
Sherman Tree is the only example that applies in this case.)
•
“e.g.” is an abbreviation of the Latin exampli gratia meaning "for the sake of an
example." Use e.g. to mean "including", indicating that you are not intending to list
everything being discussed.
Example:
�68
Some towns on Lake Superior, e.g., Nipigon and Red Rock, are working to
improve tourist trade.
(Note: "e.g." indicates that Nipigon and Red Rock are only two examples of many
northern towns trying to attract tourists.)
�69
THE UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Completion of an undergraduate thesis is a requirement for graduation from
both the Honours Bachelor of Science in Forestry and Honours of Environmental
Management programs. The thesis is completed through two courses—NRMT 4010 and
4030. NRMT 4010 introduces students to the manner in which knowledge is advanced
and communicated through research. Lectures and assignments cover topics such as
the scientific method, hypothesis testing, data collection, data analysis, defining a
research topic, and writing a literature review. Students must complete a major literature
review for the course. NRMT 4030 involves completion of the thesis designed in
NRMT 4010.
A thesis presents the results of original research on a particular subject that has
been approved by the student’s faculty advisor. The process of selection and approval of
the thesis subject matter should commence well before the end of the winter term in
third year. In many instances, material for the thesis is gathered in the summer between
third and fourth years. If summer employers agree to supply data, students should
ensure employers understand why and how the data will be used. Any person supplying
data should be made aware that a thesis is a public document and the material will not
be confidential. All data (or other information) should be available by October of the
academic year in which the thesis is to be prepared.
Tentative approval for a topic should be obtained before the end of third year.
Students should secure approval of their topic and selection of advisors (major advisor
and second reader) by the first Friday in October of the academic year when the thesis
�70
is to be prepared. A title and complete plan for development, including sources, should
be submitted by the third Friday in October (preferably sooner). The title and outline can
then be fully discussed and, if acceptable, approved. For topics involving research with
human subjects or animals, e.g., doing interviews with people, handling animals in the
wild, students will have to prepare a proposal and seek approval of the Faculty
Research Ethics Committee or the Animal Care Committee before commencing
that part of the project.
The student’s faculty advisor will set aside time when (s)he will be available for
consultation about the thesis. Ultimately, students are responsible for informing advisors
of the status of the work.
A completed first draft, done to the advisor’s expectations, is to be submitted on
an agreed date. A revision process continues upon the advice of the faculty advisor.
Students are strongly encouraged to meet regularly with their advisor in order to
understand his/her expectations for the thesis in terms of quality and quantity.
Students will verbally present their research findings twice: first, in a faculty
seminar usually held the last week of classes in the Fall term (NRMT4010) and then in
the term in which the thesis is due (NRMT4030). The final draft, typed and bound, is to
be submitted by the second Friday following the end of classes. As deadlines may vary
from year to year, students should consult with their advisors as early as possible in the
year.
The Faculty of Natural Resources Management requires three (3) copies of the
thesis that must be signed by the major advisor and second reader. These three copies
(allcoated to the Thesis Advisor, the Faculty library and the University Library) must be
submitted before a mark for NRMT 4030 can be awarded. Additional copies (i.e., for the
�71
second reader, a community partner, or for the student) are the responsibility of the
student. Printing, binding and distribution of thesis are also the student’s responsibility.
Order of Thesis Sections
1) Cover page
2) Title page
3) Library Rights Statement
4) A Caution to the Reader
5) Major Advisor Comments
6) Abstract
7) Contents
8) Tables
9) Figures
10) Acknowledgements
11) Introduction
12) Literature Review
13) Methods and Materials
14) Results
15) Discussion
16) Conclusion
17) Literature Cited
18) Appendices
Thesis Cover
Every thesis will have a cover page. The required elements are: 1) the title, 2)
Faculty of Natural Resources Management, Lakehead University, Thunder Bay Ontario
and 3) the author's name. You may be creative and add some artwork. See example
below.
�72
Example of a Thesis Cover Page
INTEGRATION OF NON-TIMBER FOREST PRODUCT AND
TIMBER MANAGEMENT: THE NEED FOR ABORIGINAL
KNOWLEDGE AND PARTICIPATION
by
Sarah Allen
Source: Natural Resources Canada 2000.
Source: Anonymous 2002.
Source: Plants of the Southwest 2002.
FACULTY OF NATURAL RESOURCES MANAGEMENT
LAKEHEAD UNIVERSITY
THUNDER BAY, ONTARIO
May 2011
�73
Thesis Title Page
The following information must appear on an essay or report’s title page:
•
title, centred, in capital letters, in the upper half of the page;
•
author’s full name, centred, upper and lower case letters, just below title;
•
the following statement, with information modified to suit the submission,
positioned at the middle point of the page, e.g.,
•
An undergraduate thesis submitted in partial fulfillment
•
of the requirements for the degree of
•
Honours Bachelor of Environmental Management
•
or
•
An undergraduate thesis submitted in partial fulfillment
•
of the requirements for the degree of
•
Honours Bachelor of Science in Forestry
•
•
the date of submission, centred, 8 cm from the bottom of the page.
•
Other information could include the course number, course title and instructor’s
name.
�74
Example of a Thesis Title Page
A VALIDATION OF THE STRATEGIC
FOREST MANAGEMENT MODEL
by
Taylor R. Chen
An Undergraduate Thesis Submitted in
Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the
Degree of Honours Bachelor of Science in Forestry
(or Degree of Honours Bachelor of Environmental Management)
Faculty of Natural Resources Management
Lakehead University
May 2012
_____________________________
Major Advisor
___________________________
Second Reader
�75
Library Rights and Caution to the Reader
A “Library Rights Statement” is required for all theses. It indicates the thesis is
available for study, but that restrictions regarding copying of the material apply.
Example of a Library Rights Statement
____________________________________________________________________
ii
LIBRARY RIGHTS STATEMENT
In presenting this thesis in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the HBScF (or
HBEM) degree at Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, I agree that the University will
make it freely available for inspection.
This thesis is made available by my authority solely for the purpose of private
study and research and may not be copied or reproduced in whole or in part (except as
permitted by the Copyright Laws) without my written authority.
Signature: _________________________________
Date: _____________________________________
�76
A Caution to the Reader
The thesis advisor may also request that the student include “A Caution to the Reader,”
which absolves the university and thesis advisors or readers of any responsibility for the
opinions expressed by the writer.
Example of a Caution to the Reader
______________________________________________________________________
iii
A CAUTION TO THE READER
This HBScF (or HBEM) thesis has been through a semi-formal process of review
and comment by at least two faculty members. It is made available for loan by the
Faculty of Natural Resources Management for the purpose of advancing the practice of
professional and scientific forestry.
The reader should be aware that opinions and conclusions expressed in this
document are those of the student and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the
thesis supervisor, the faculty or Lakehead University.
______________________________________________________________________
Abstract
Follow the instructions for the writing of abstracts for the undergraduate report;
however, make sure your thesis abstract does not exceed one page in length. The
distance from the top of the first line of the title to the bottom of the last line or the text
must not exceed 16.5 cm. Submit one unbound copy of your thesis abstract with your
presentation copies for publication in Forestry Abstracts.
�77
Contents
The Title Page, Major Advisor’s Comments, Library Rights Statement, Reader
Caution and Contents do not appear within the table of contents.
Figures and Tables
See section in Undergraduate Essay for more information.
Acknowledgements
In this section the authors recognizes those who have helped them substantially
with the completion of the thesis through provision of data, advice and/or constructive
feedback. As well, any source of funding is stated.
Introduction of the Thesis
The thesis introduction orients the reader to the study topic. It starts by some
general statements that become progressively more specific. The introduction should be
interesting. If you bore the reader here, then you are unlikely to revive their interest in
the literature review or in the materials and methods section. For the first paragraph or
two, tradition permits prose that is less dry than the scientific norm.
In the introduction the author introduces the importance of the research by stating
the problem that needs studying. Establish the nature and scope of the problem as
directly as possible. In many cases, the problem can be stated simply, for example, “A
fundamental problem of forest growth and yield modeling is….” If you wish to open by
setting the context for the problem, that is permissible, but do not ramble. Often, a single
�78
paragraph of background information followed by a concise statement of the problem is
all that is needed.
The introduction contains observations from the literature and from personal
experiences that present the nature of the problem. In describing what others have
done, your purpose is not to present a complete literature review. Instead, present the
highlights of the work that is most directly pertinent to your own study. Save the details
for the Literature Review chapter, which generally follows the Introduction.
The author also states how to study the problem. In describing your research
methods in the Introduction, your purpose is not to divulge all of the details that are
found in the later chapter on Methods and Materials. Instead, you should simply give the
big picture—an overview—that is sufficient to give the reader a general sense of the
material that follows. Many studies have a hypothesis statement that is the controlling
idea of the research and helps the author focus on what work will be done. Other studies
may not have a specific hypothesis but may be an exploratory study. In either case, the
specifics of the how the author will study the question are laid out as objectives.
You may find it easier to write the Introduction after you have written well-edited
drafts of the Literature Review, Methods and Materials, Results and Discussion
chapters. It is hard to give an overview of these items before they have been written.
You may also find it helpful to think of a progression from the title to the Abstract to the
Introduction. The title gives the reader an extremely compact synopsis of the thesis, the
Abstract expands on the title and the Introduction expands on the Abstract.
For additional reading on this topic, see Trelease (1958) and Day (1979). Also
examine the pages of the well-edited journals in your discipline to see how others have
handled the problem of writing an Introduction.
�79
Day, R.A. 1998. How to Write and Publish a Scientific Paper. 5th Edition. Oryx Press,
Phoenix, Arizona. 296 pp.
Trelease, S.F. 1958. How to Write Scientific and Technical Papers. MIT Press,
Cambridge, MA. 185 pp.
Literature Review
A literature review is an examination of a body of literature relevant to your
research question. The researcher becomes aware of the latest knowledge about a field
of endeavour and examines strengths and weaknesses of techniques used in
conducting that particular research. The literature review organizes information and
synthesizes the information into what is known and what is not known, possibly
identifying controversy and finally proposing research questions. The review should be
done to a large extent before starting experiments or surveys. It is essential to consult
what the experts in your field have to say.
Students often ask how long it should be. There is no recommended length; topics
that have been well researched have long literature reviews. A point to remember is not
to omit relevant papers by people who are likely to be your second reader. The literature
review helps the researcher focus and think critically about the chosen topic, and guides
the author to take the most fruitful direction. The two sources listed below offer further
information on writing a literature review:
Hart, C. 1998. Doing a Literature Review: Releasing the Social Science Research
Imagination. Sage Publications, London, England. 230 pp. Although focussed on
social science research, this is a good general text on literature reviews.
Skeyne, A. n.d.. Writing a Literature Review. University of Toronto Writing Centre,
Toronto, ON. http://ctl.utsc.utoronto.ca/twc/sites/default/files/LitReview.pdf. Nov. 8,
2013.
Here are some suggestions to help with your literature review:
�80
Before going too far towards researching and writing your own literature review, study a
few examples of successful literature reviews in the well-edited journals of your
discipline. It is often helpful to see how others have tackled the problem you are about to
engage.
•
Be sure to report the results of others who have worked on a similar problem. For
example, you may find that others have studied the same phenomenon but in a
different species or they may have studied the same species but in a different
geographic area.
•
Consider working backwards as follows: 1) identify the major conclusions of your
own work; 2) identify the experimental (or other data based) results you used to
establish those conclusions; 3) identify the research methods you used to
produce those critical results; and 4) identify the published work you must cite in
order to document the research methods used and the lines of reasoning you
followed to interpret your experimental results.
Binding
Following examination and acceptance of an undergraduate thesis, the original
manuscript and several printed copies must be bound. Both a cover page and a title
page are required for theses.
Thesis Guidelines
Responsibility for NRMT 4020 is shared by: 1) the Faculty Council of the Faculty of
Natural Resources Management, 2) the faculty supervisor and 3) the second reader.
The Faculty Council is responsible for setting general objectives, regulations and
�81
evaluation procedures for the course. This document outlines these responsibilities.
There is, however, room within the Faculty's general policy for faculty supervisors and
second readers to express their individual discretion. This being the case, individual
faculty (supervisors and, if appropriate, second readers) are responsible to prepare and
make available to the student written information concerning his/her specific course
requirements and evaluation procedures, and to file a copy of this information with the
Chairs of the HBScF and HBEM programs depending in what program the student is
registered in. The supervisor and the second reader should keep one another informed
as to their individual requirements as well.
The objective of NRMT 4020 is to provide a vehicle for students to:
•
increase their discipline knowledge of a subject area of special interest;
•
develop learning skills associated with independent study;
•
confront the problems associated with planning and managing a large project;
and
•
develop the organizational and communication skills associated with the
preparation of a technical report (the thesis).
NRMT 4020 has the following requirements
•
The undergraduate thesis is an original piece of work that may create new
information or organize existing information in a new or otherwise unique manner.
•
The thesis has a single author, although data may be shared by more than one
student with the approval of all supervisors involved.
•
The thesis project is under the direct supervision of a faculty member or adjunct
professor. Second readers are usually other faculty or professionals in the field
�82
(R.P.F., P.Eng., etc.). Check with the Chair if you have a question about
supervisors or second readers.
•
Students choose their own thesis topic of interest to them and their supervisor
(within the limitations above); however, the supervisor must agree to the choice in
both cases. In some cases a student may develop new interests or a thesis
project does not materialize as expected. In these cases a student may change
their thesis topic, supervisor and/or second reader with the approval of the
supervisors involved and the Chair of their program. In these cases a revised
Undergraduate Thesis Information Sheet must be submitted to the Chair. See
Table 1 for a suggested schedule of submissions, deadlines and penalties for the
written portions of the thesis.
•
The thesis is presented in accordance with the formal specifications given in the
Faculty of Natural Resources Management Writing Manual.
•
The final draft of the thesis is graded by both the thesis supervisor and the
second reader. These two marks will be averaged to determine the final mark. If
the supervisor and the second reader are far apart in their evaluations of the
thesis, the Chair may seek the advice of a third reader. The Chair will usually be
able to mediate such disputes to the satisfaction of all involved. If not, the student
may request a reappraisal of their mark as outlined in the University Calendar.
See Table 2 for an example of a final mark calculation.
•
Individual faculty have the option of reducing a student's final mark if the student
fails to meet a specified schedule of deadlines (suggested below). The application
of penalty points is at the discretion of the supervisor with the following exception.
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The Chair will determine the penalty associated with the first deadline
(submission of the Thesis Information Sheet). Students should discuss this matter
with their supervisor early in the thesis process to ensure that both parties are
familiar with and aware of the potential effect of late submissions.
•
Three bound copies of the finished thesis, signed by the student, the supervisor
and the second reader, and a copy of the abstract, must be submitted to the
Chair. The copies will be distributed to the Chancellor Paterson Library, to the
supervisor and to the Faculty of Natural Resources Management. Additional
copies, for the second reader for example, are the responsibility of the student.
A student's NRMT 4020 final mark will not be submitted to the Registrar's Office
until the signed, bound theses are submitted. Students are therefore advised that failure
to meet the mid-April deadline may prevent them from graduating at Spring
Convocation.
Table 1. Suggested schedule of submissions, deadlines and penalties for the thesis.
Submission
1
2
3
4
Thesis Information Sheet to the
Chair
Thesis Proposal to Supervisor*
First Draft to Supervisor
Three Bound Copies to the Chair
Deadline
End of September
Max.
penalty
points
5
Mid-October
Beginning of March
Mid-April
5
5
5
*NOTE: Individual faculty may wish to follow a different marking scheme from points 2-4
in the first column above. If so, they are responsible to prepare and make available to
the student written information concerning his/her course requirements and evaluation
�84
procedures, and to file a copy of this information with the Chairs of the appropriate
program.
Table 2. Example of final mark calculation.
Item
Max.
Obtained Marks
Marks
Supervisor
50
40
Second Reader
50
42
Sub-total
100
82
Submission of Thesis Info Sheet
-5
0 (on time)
Submission of Thesis Proposal
-5
-2 (late)
Submission of First Draft
-5
-3 (late, low quality)
Submission of Three Bound Copies
-5
0 (on time)
Adjustments for Meeting Schedule:
FINAL MARK (Adjusted Total)
77
�85
CHECKLIST FOR SUBMISSION OF FORMAL REPORTS AND ESSAYS
o
Submission requirements—due date, length, format, single or partnered writing—are
understood and met.
o
Topic chosen is appropriate for length and research requirements.
o
Purpose of paper is clearly stated in the Introduction.
o
Literature review is part of Introduction.
o
Academic, peer-reviewed sources are included in research.
o
When paraphrased or quoted directly, the work of others is credited.
o
In-text references are cited, using the author/date method in parentheses with no comma
between author and date.
o
Tables and/or figures (including photos) taken from other sources have been credited.
o
All tables or figures used are introduced and explained in the text of the paper.
o
The results section begins with a written introduction, not a table or figure.
o
All measurements are in SI Units; if an original measurement is not metric, the SI Unit will
be provided.
o
Scientific names and authorities follow the first use of a species’ common name.
o
Common names are not capitalized (e.g., white pine), unless they contain proper nouns
(e.g., Canada goose).
o
Acronyms or abbreviations are used only after the full term has been used the first time
followed by the acronym in parenthesis.
o
Document has been proofread carefully, and typographical, spelling and punctuation
errors have been corrected.
o
Margins conform to guidelines: top, bottom & right margins: 2.5 cm; left margin: 4.0 cm.
o
Font is a conventional size (12 pt.). Lakehead University has adopted Arial for
communications, but Times New Roman is also used for papers.
o
Headings, if used, follow in order (1st to 6th levels) and conform to Manual guidelines for
positioning, capitalization and spacing from top margin and preceding and following text.
o
Literature Cited section is organized alphabetically, by authors’ last names.
o
Contractions and colloquial language (slang) are not used.
o
Commonly misused words have been edited and corrected during proofreading process:
data means findings and is plural; species is both the singular and plural form; metre is the
preferred spelling; it’s means it is and is not the possessive pronoun its; would of is not
synonymous with would’ve; use would have.
o
Commonly misspelled words have been edited and corrected during the proofreading
process: e.g., affect/effect, lead/led, their/they're/there, then/than, principle/principal/
were/where, etc.
�86
PROFESSIONAL EMAIL
When emailing professionals, such as instructors or future employers, keep the
following principles in mind:
•
In general, two types of email are used professionally—the informal message,
which is an electronic equivalent to a note or memo, and formal
communications—letters, papers, etc.—sent electronically.
•
All professional email should reflect you as a person and show that you are
capable of high-quality work.
•
Professional email should follow the same standards of format and correctness
as are outlined in this manual.
•
Include your affiliation and contact information with emails.
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Style Guide
Hyperlink
A link, or reference, to another resource on the Internet.
URL
<a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1crDVS9sxdIWC13QDI5UDbWnIHKTEZAiks3Lw3goSAkk/edit?usp=sharing" title="NRMT Style Guide" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">NRMT Style Guide</a>
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Natural Resources Management Writing Manual and Style Guide
Subject
The topic of the resource
NRMT
-
https://writingresources.lakeheadu.ca/files/original/49f352a8912d07b034ae76dd3a0da386.pdf
c69fb9f10432d5e768580b6314eb04ba
PDF Text
Text
LAKEHEAD UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF NATURAL RESOURCES MANAGEMENT
Annotated Bibliography Assignment
PURPOSE
The intention of this assignment is to provide you with an opportunity to begin finding
scholarly sources for your term paper and to develop your summary and analytical skills. The
assignment follows the citation formatting laid out in the Faculty Writing Manual and Style
Guide, 12th edition (2014). For students in other faculties, an alternative style is acceptable,
as long as the style is recognizable (e.g., Chicago, APA, MLA) and you are consistent in
formatting. If you have not previously followed a style guide, pick one of the above or consult
The Canadian Style: A Guide to Writing and Editing (Dundurn Press).
WHAT IS AN ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY?
An annotated bibliography is a list of citations for books, articles, and documents
accompanied by an annotation. The bibliography is introduced by providing a title and
abstract of your term paper topic. Each citation is followed by a brief (usually about 150
words) descriptive and evaluative paragraph, the annotation. The purpose of the annotation is
to inform the reader of the relevance, accuracy, and quality of the sources cited (Engle et al.
2005). Further, the annotation addresses how you intend to use the citation in your treatment
of your term paper topic. An annotation is not a summary, but a critical description related to
your topic.
SUBMISSION DETAILS
The assignment is to be single spaced with a cover page. Citations should not be numbered,
but be listed alphabetically by author’s last name, followed by the annotation. Each citation
should follow the previous one; there is no need for a separate page for each citation. The
assignment title should read “Annotated Bibliography on _____” and then your term paper
title. Pages should be numbered. NOT REQUIRED: table of contents.
ASSIGNMENT DESCRIPTION
1. You will choose a topic for your term paper, with a proposed title and a one or two
paragraph abstract. Put your topic and abstract at the beginning of the annotated
bibliography.
2. Select at least 10 references, with at least five of them from peer-reviewed, academic
journals or books (Rouch 2012) that are relevant to your chosen essay topic. Your sources
can be print and/or online, but it is important that at least five sources are refereed.
Academic journal articles are usually peer reviewed. The online “Get It” service at the LU
Library, “will tell you via a green image beside the journal title if that journal is peerreviewed.” Some books will be peer reviewed and some not. The Library states that to
determine if a book is peer reviewed, “look for books that include footnotes or
bibliographies citing the sources for their information. Books without sources cited might
be considered to be equivalent to general magazine articles.” Newspaper and massdistributed magazines, government documents, personal websites or weblogs are
examples of non peer-reviewed sources. Your five non peer-reviewed sources may
include such sources as the websites of government departments or interest groups.
3. After close reading, write annotations for each source (each annotation not to exceed a
half-page, 2-3 paragraphs), summarizing and analyzing the source for relevance,
accuracy and quality and focussing on why the source is valuable for informing your term
Dr. M.A. (Peggy) Smith
7/6/17
�Annotated Bibliography Assignment
2
paper topic. There are many examples online about how to do an annotated bibliography.
Engle et al. (2005) is one example.
4. Each entry in your annotated bibliography will include a full citation of each source with
author, date, title and publication information (following the Literature Cited format from the
Faculty Writing Manual or another accepted style manual), followed by the annotation.
5. Please post your assignment electronically in the Assignments folder on the D2L course
website.
Example of what to include in an annotated bibliography (do not italicize):
Start with an abstract formatted according to the Faculty Writing Manual or style your
discipline follows. See example on page 10 of Manual. This includes a citation for your paper,
keywords and then an abstract, all single spaced. An example follows:
Citation for your paper:
Smith, P. 2015. The value of Social Impact Assessment in ensuring equity in environmental
assessment for Indigenous peoples.
Keywords: environmental assessment, equity, Indigenous peoples, social impacts
YOUR TOPIC ABSTRACT (format according to Writing Manual, single spaced):
This paper will explore whether Social Impact Assessment is an effective means of ensuring
equity in environmental assessment for Indigenous peoples. Environmental assessment, if
judged through the lens of sustainable development theory, should address social and
economic issues, as well as environmental issues. However, in the past environmental
assessment has been weak in addressing socio-economic impacts. EA has also tended to
neglect the impacts of development on minorities. Social Impact Assessment is a tool to
redress these omissions.
Your paper citation, keywords and abstract will then be followed by your ten citations and
annotations. Below is an example of a citation and annotation. Remember that at least five (5)
of your citations should be from academic, peer-reviewed sources.
George, C. 1999. Testing for sustainable development through environmental assessment.
Environmental Impact Assessment Review 19:175-200 (online).
This article explores whether environmental assessment upholds the principles of sustainable
development agreed to at the United Nations Conference on the Environment and
Development held in Rio de Janiero in 1992. The author develops two main indicators for EA
that he contends properly address the Rio principles: intergenerational and intragenerational
equity. He further develops criteria expanding on these principles. One of them, under
intragenerational equity, is “If Indigenous people or other minority groups are affected, have
suitable provisions been made for their participation in project decisions?”
The paper provides useful background for my exploration of social impact assessment as a
tool to address the equity issues involved in assessing environmental impacts on Indigenous
people. The concepts of intergenerational and intragenerational equity are often addressed by
Dr. M.A. (Peggy) Smith
7/6/17
�Annotated Bibliography Assignment
3
Indigenous people through concerns about their youth, which is growing in population, and for
the next generations, a concept captured in the phrase “for the next seven generations”.
LITERATURE CITED
Engle, M., A. Blumenthal and T. Cosgrave. 2005. How to prepare an annotated bibliography.
Cornell University Library, Ithaca, NY.
http://olinuris.library.cornell.edu/ref/research/skill28.htm. Dec. 17, 2015.
Rouch, A. 2012. How do I know if a source is peer reviewed? The John Spellman Library @
Grays Harbor College. http://blogs.ghc.edu/library/?p=9. Dec. 17, 2015.
Dr. M.A. (Peggy) Smith
7/6/17
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
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Assignments
Hyperlink
A link, or reference, to another resource on the Internet.
URL
<a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1oSi-luLZLywqjDhg49bScQch974HacGzCl5bwBOGkB8/edit?usp=sharing" title="NRMT Annotated Bibliography Assignment" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">NRMT Annotated Bibliography Assignment </a>
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
NRMT Annotated Bibliography Assignment
Subject
The topic of the resource
NRMT
Annotated Bibliography
Assignment
NRMT
-
https://writingresources.lakeheadu.ca/files/original/f6aa81e116f4a8d57e0fef2b32c9357a.pdf
7ebad537214382183cddce6f8804e877
PDF Text
Text
FACULTY OF NATURAL RESOURCES MANAGEMENT
Annotated Bibliography Mark Template
DATE:
COURSE:
STUDENT NAME:
TERM PAPER TOPIC:
Quality, range &
relevance of sources
(possible 4 marks)
Analysis of sources
(possible 4 marks)
Format
(possible 2 marks)
Dr. M.A. (Peggy) Smith
CRITERIA
At least 5 peer-reviewed sources are
included (2)
All sources are relevant to topic (2)
Good summary and analysis with
overview of article’s salient points (2)
Demonstrates well what reader
learned from article in relation to term
paper topic (2)
Sample format is followed with topic
title, abstract, 10 citations with
annotations in alphabetical order (1)
Writing is clear and grammar correct,
with no major style or formatting
problems (1)
COMMENTS
MARK (10)
MARK TOTAL
7/6/17
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Rubrics
Hyperlink
A link, or reference, to another resource on the Internet.
URL
<a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1KFY5tzJzVRdHkKStIYtWHoy2lLlSBSGPRKyo9nRZzKY/edit?usp=sharing" title="NRMT Annotated Bibliography Rubric" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">NRMT Annotated Bibliography Rubric</a>
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
NRMT Annotated Bibliography Rubric
Subject
The topic of the resource
NRMT
Annotated Bibliography
NRMT
Rubric