Essay
• You have to write a 1500-2000 word essay
– The length must be within these limits
• You must write it alone
– Each student’s report must be completely unique; no
sharing or copying is allowed
– You can use books from the library and websites to
help you
– But you must not just copy from the books and
websites
• The essay is due on the last day of class
Essay planning
• You need to look at some essay writing
advice websites this week.
• One recommendation is
http://www.edgehill.ac.uk/tld/student/7step
s/essay.htm
• ***Ignore websites that offer to write your
essay for money.***
(look at planning now)
Use a search engine to find
information on the web
• But you must not *ONLY* use the Internet for your
research
• You can use the library for
– Books
– Academic online databases (more information next week)
• When searching, try
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–
–
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xyz article
xyz site:edu (in Google)
xyz bibliography
“books about xyz”
• Search www.wikipedia.org and www.amazon.com
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Starting your essay research
You must go to the library!
You can search the library website
It may be easier to find things by searching Amazon
Books
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Further reading in Yule
Fromkin (some copies in the library)
Further reading in Fromkin!
Other linguistics books
Books on morphology, syntax etc.
• Newspapers, journals
• Web
– Search engines
– Wikipedia (but not only Wikipedia!)
• Keep a record of
– Book title, author, date, publisher, publication city
– Website name, URL, author, date visited
– Newspaper/journal name, author, article title etc.
• You need this information for your bibliography, so
don’t lose it!
Format of your essay
• You can use MLA style
• Or any other format which looks good
• For your references, also use MLA style
– For in-text citation
– And for your list of references at the end of the essay
• Or, you can use the Harvard system for in-text
citation and the reference list
• On the next slide is a reference list in Harvard
format
Journals
• A lot of journals are available in room
F603
– Both in Chinese and English
• Some are kept on the library shelves
• Others can be accessed from the
computers in F603, or any campus PC
– Or you can set up your computer from home
Your homework
• Make a draft reference list for your essay (hand it in next
week)
• Don’t just copy a bibliography from the web, or from a teacher
• When you write the reference list for your essay
– Only list the books and other publications that you actually use and
cite in your essay
• Don’t use too many websites as references
• Don’t just give links to homepages
– Give the link that has the information
• I want to see
– Books
– Articles from journals (from the library), newspapers or magazines
– If you want, you can cite radio & TV, even videos
Essay researching
• You need to start the research for your
essay this week.
• You can find some helpful hints on these
websites
– http://www.aucegypt.edu/academic/writers/res
earching_faq.htm
Quotations
• Indirect quotations
– Jones (1999:123) believes [claims, says…]
that most Taiwanese students…
• Direct quotations
– According to Jones (1999:123), “most
Taiwanese students…”
– Jones (1999) writes “most Taiwanese
students…”
Chinese
• You can cite works in any language (as
long as you understand it!)
• In your reference section, give the English
name if the publication has one
– If not, give it in Chinese and translate the
name yourself
• Give indirect quotations in English
• Give direct quotations in Chinese, and
provide an English translation.
Your own work
• If you use someone else’s work, you must
show it is not your idea
– You must cite the work
• Direct quotations (English or Chinese)
– Maximum: one sentence
– DO NOT take something from the web and
copy it
– DO NOT translate a whole paragraph from
Chinese (not even if you are the author)
Your own ideas
• You can use quotations from other people
to support your arguments
• You must think of your own ideas too
– Give the two sides of your question
– Use your own ideas AND other people’s ideas
to reach YOUR conclusion about your topic
References for your essay
• Harvard style with a Chinese example
– http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/policy/academichonesty/p03_
2.htm
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•
•
•
Everything has an author, a title, a date
The author’s name goes first (family name first)
Websites have a URL and a title
Articles have a title and a newpaper or journal
title
• Everything (except a website) has a publisher
and city
Planning your essay
• There should be three main sections
– What are they?
• What should you say in the Introduction to
your essay (in general terms)?
– You might like to check this out