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SUM2015 Summarising Skills |
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Attribution
To avoid plagiarism, it is essential to address the issue of attribution. Attribution is defined as "the act of saying or thinking that something is the result of the work of a particular person or thing" (dictionary.cambridge.org). It is "becoming skilled in ways to include source material in your writing while still making your indebtedness to the source absolutely clear to your reader" (Seyler, 2008:287).
In summary writing, often employed in a literature review, it is essential to ascribe the ideas, facts, or opinions to a particular author or group. Attribution is necessary when you are summarising ideas from several sources. When presenting the work of others, it is necessary to relate them in some way to one another - whether they support or refute current thinking or each other's theories on an issue.
Compare the two summaries. What is different? Click on each highlighted summary for comments.
While autistic traits are the same across cultures, early detection is not easy. This is because it is not always clear what causes autism. Autism can be associated with a developmental autism is a developmental condition. However, it can also be attributed to the way the child is raised, which could make parents feel responsible and guilty.
| In his book, An Anthropologist on Mars, Sacks (2012) points out that while autistic traits are the same across cultures, early detection is not easy because it is not always clear what causes autism. According to Asperger, autism is a developmental condition. Kanner, on the other hand, attributes it to the way the child is raised, which, Sacks suggests, could make parents feel responsible and guilty.
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Resources on attribtuion and citation
Click HERE for some common attribution ('lead-in') verbs.
Useful websites:
www.phrasebank.manchester.ac.uk (for a bank of academic phrases to improve coherence in summary writing - whether it is identifying and listing key ideas, exemplifying and elaborating, comparing or contrasting viewpoints on a topic expressed in a single text or several texts.
www.monash.edu.au/lls/llonline/writing/general/academic/6.xml
www.northwestern.edu/provost/policies/academic-integrity/how-to-avoid-plagiarism.html
www.academicintegrity.auckland.ac.nz
