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Reading and Writing:
Roles in a Conversation
Reading - more often than, say, TV watching - is often likened to
a "conversation" or as participation in "discourse." To the
non-reading-theoreticians among us, this may seem like a bit of a stretch.
But it really isn't such a distant analogy; every time you come across
a statement or idea in a book, journal article or whatever, you have some reaction to it:
you agree, or disagree; you understand, or don't understand;
you have related ideas, and so on, and you articulate that reaction
- verbally, on paper, or at the very least to yourself - in
one way or another. That is a conversation, even if it's mostly
with yourself. One of the major ideas of academic writing is to let this
process - this conversation - be transparent, and quoting from the text you are
"conversing" with is one of the most important tools you have to achieve this transparency.
This isn't to say you should rely entirely on other people's
ideas to generate your papers! The advice in this guide
is meant to address that portion of your writing - hopefully
not excessive - that stems from the criticism and other secondary
material you have read; your first obligation is to carefully
read, and think about, your primary texts. The point we are trying
to make here is that you should address your secondary material consciously
rather than absorb and reproduce it unconsciously.
To put it in simplest terms, as an academic, non-fiction writer,
you serve at least two functions: one is to advance your own
ideas, and another is to introduce your readers to other people's
ideas. It is your obligation to be clear about which of these
functions you are engaging in at any given point in your writing;
in order to do this, it is crucial to have a close relationship
with all your source texts, primary and secondary, as you are
writing, and put citation information in your paper immediately
every time you quote or paraphrase. If you integrate these principles
and methods into your writing process, your chances of plagiarizing
will be greatly reduced.
Some Additional Resources:
Back to Conceptual
& Procedural Errors
Back to Plagiarism Tips
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