Issue For September 3, 2007
Writing Question of the Week
This is usually a question submitted by an OWL user to the OWL Tutors. If you have a question you need answered quickly, ask one of our OWL Tutors or call the Writing Lab's Grammar Hotline at 765-494-3723. And remember, both services are free for everyone!
Hello OWL,
I am familiar with the OWL website and have my students use it frequently. It is a wonderful site. But we were unable to find specifically how to document a primary research survey (in both MLA and APA style). Could you help me some more?
Thanks, Julia
Greetings Julia,
When citing a research survey, you must refer to where it was published (in what form, etc.) in order to decide how to cite it. For example, if the research survey was published online, it would be cites as an online document. If it was published in a scholarly journal, it would be cited as a scholarly journal article.
However, APA does not cite unpublished sources in their References page. They do require that the information be cited within the document, but they state that this information, if unpublished (and it sounds like this material with which you are working is unpublished) not be cited at the end of the paper. You/the author(s) would refer to this information within the paper, stating that this is unpublished information in the form of a survey. Your wording on this is acknowledged to be individual, in the sense that you will be using specific language to describe it (since it is student designed, particular to a specific study, etc.).
The in-text citation for APA would be as follows:
(FirstInitial. LastName, survey, Month DD, YYYY).
Both MLA and APA imply that surveys are equivalent to interviews, (which - for APA - explains the lack of documentation at the end: APA does not document interviews.). It is interesting to note that neither the APA publication manual nor the MLA Handbook list 'surveys' in their index.
MLA, also, considers a survey as equivalent to an interview, and their format for interviews are as follows:
Last name, First name. "Name of survey." Survey. DD Month YYYY.
I know this can be (and may sound) confusing. It might be helpful, in addition to using the OWL information on APA and MLA, to obtain the publication manuals for both APA and MLA, if you are going to be spending a good deal of time on these. Alternately, you can refer to the OWL information and contact us again with further questions.
Best,
OWL Mail Tutors
The OWL Help Nest
Each week we publish Purdue OWL News readers' requests for advice or information and the responses from other Purdue OWL News readers.
In creative writing, what is the conventional punctuation when the writer wants to show a character stuttering? --Linda Robinson, Lake Charles, Louisiana
Th..th…there are di-di-di-fferent ways tu-tu-to this technique; I don’t believe any official rule exists. Be careful however — don’t over do it as I did above. It makes for difficult reading. Only use enough for the reader to understand the character’s speech impediment.
--Derrell B. Thomas, Novel Idea Christian Writer's Swarm
I'm having some issues with point of view. If I'm using an omniscient POV can I say things like, "Bob felt angry" AND "Sally thought she was too short" AND "Jack knew everything. Or so he thought," assuming that Bob, Sally and Jack are all in the same story. Is it advisable to have the narrator know everything about everyone and what are the limits if any? --Lori Rowsell, Ontario, Canada
If you want to delve into one character's deep experience, then staying with one character as the locus of consciousness is probably best (whether you use first or third person). If you want to delve into different perspectives on a single event, then you can use several "self" characters.
These sentences may be seen as from the perspective of a narrator who is "above" the action, which will move your readers away from the story level to a sort of Olympian level where a narrator is looking down. If you want to establish such an Olympian level in your story, then that is fine (though it adds a layer of complexity and distraction from the story). On the other hand, the two sentences above can also be the opinion of another character who is observing Jack.
In general, I prefer narratives that stay at the story level and stay away from Olympian observers. In "figural narration," as this is called, the story is centered inside the consciousness of one or more characters, and if there's more than one "self" character, there is usually some break--change of chapter or at least paragraph-- that shows the shift from one to another.
This kind of narrative may also have sections that are not inside anyone's consciousness but still stay at the story level--descriptions of time passing or landscape, for example--without introducing an Olympian narrator.
Modernist authors such as Virginia Woolf and James Joyce used this kind of narrative very effectively.
I hope this is helpful.
--Mary Galbraith, San Diego State University
The omniscient viewpoint provides information freely on any character in a story. However, the author must consider if it is wise to reveal everything about every character. Reveal to readers only what is necessary and helpful to get their fictional dream moving, while at the same time, keeping them guessing what a given character will do next. Viewpoints are difficult to understand and tricky in writing. I strongly recommend at least the following books on writing: Stein on Writing, and Characters and Viewpoint (Elements of Fiction Writing), by Orson Scott Card. And read much by the best authors.
--Derrell B. Thomas, Novel Idea Christian Writer's Swarm
Next Week's Questions
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This Week's Feature Story:
Over seventy Purdue University students from a wide range of disciplines competed last night in the first Digital Information Literacy Contest (insert link: http://www.digitalliteracycontest.org/index.html), which was organized by Daniel Poynter, a Purdue senior in philosophy. The contest took place in two computer labs on Purdue's West Lafayette campus. Students used their computer research skills to answer questions from various fields, such as economics, geography, rhetoric, math, and pop culture. Contestants were given thirty minutes to answer correctly as many questions out of one hundred as possible.
Daniel Poynter, Organizer of the Digital Literacy Contest
The winner, Daryl Lim, a first year computer science major, received $50 and a Purdue Writing Lab t-shirt. Second place winner, Alex Porter, received $20, and third place winner, Peter Clay, won $10. Members of the OWL staff were pleased to help with the contest and partner with Purdue University Libraries in assisting with such a successful event.
After the contest, participants gathered for free pizza to discuss the event and its future, as well as topics ranging from online credibility and research to open source information exchange. Students were excited about the contest and provided good feedback for its organizers. The contest's guiding force, Daniel Poynter, concluded that the event was, "Better than I could have imagined." Another participant, Marvin Weniger, a Purdue senior in nuclear engineering, said, "It was a lot of fun."
The Purdue OWL News is pleased to present an interview with the Digital Information Literacy Contest winner, Daryl Lim:
Purdue OWL: How did you hear about the contest?
I was coming out of a class when I saw the flyer on a notice board. It looked like an interesting challenge so I decided to register and try my luck.
Purdue OWL: Why did you participate?
The information on the website gave me the idea that the contest was basically a information wild goose chase, only online. I've been using computers since I was eight or nine, so I wanted to see how badly that had honed my skills and addled my brain.
Purdue OWL: Did you find the questions difficult to answer?
Some of the questions asked for pretty obscure information from a specific webpage or academic journal. Ironically, those were the easiest to score points on because there was no room for ambiguity - if you find the site, you have the answer, no questions asked. I skipped over every question that would have taken me more than three or four seconds to read, though.
Purdue OWL: How do you think these sorts of research skills can help the 21st century student?
In our connected world, the modern student has access to more information than ever before. That doesn't automatically guarantee his ability to make use of that information meaningfully, though - it just means he has more information available to him. The skills of searching through large volumes of information and filtering out what isn't important or accurate will become increasingly essential.
Purdue OWL: How did you tell the difference between reliable and unreliable sources?
This is going to be a politically incorrect answer, It's not what it seems, though. On the Internet, every source is potentially unreliable because anyone could have put the information up without peer review. Information from the academic fields, which does undergo review, is usually to be found on sites that are not free to access and therefore not part of the information landscape that most people can see. The most efficient way to verify the accuracy of a piece of information online is to hit as many sources as possible and aggregate what they say - each site will give you a general idea of one issue and you can form your complete picture later.
Of course, this contest tried to encourage accuracy by deducting points for wrong answers, but I treated it this way: in the time it takes me to verify a previous answer, I could have answered one or two more questions and potentially gained more points.
Purdue OWL: Do you think this contest and discussion helped your research skills?
Certainly. It forced me to make split-second decisions on what I could accept as accurate information and how best to perform Internet searches while keeping the number of words typed into the search engine as few as possible. Efficient search techniques are in every Internet user's interest.
Of course, it certainly made me practice my speed typing!
Purdue OWL: What search techniques (engines, resources, browsers, etc.) did you use most?
I stayed on Google and Wikipedia most of the time. I had previously considered opening up academic paper search engines, but Google is faster and it has already begun to index many books and papers, allowing them to be searched through Google directly.
In terms of techniques, it was more about figuring out how few words you could type to find the information you needed. For example, one of the questions asked about the highest point in Rwanda. The fastest way to find that out would be to type "wiki rwanda" into Firefox, hit F3 to bring up the search box and type "high", and then look at the height for the highest point. If you need to convert units from meters to feet, Google can do that. Just type in "1000 meters in feet" in the search box and it will handle the rest.
Purdue OWL: Would you participate next year if the contest is offered?
Certainly. As long as you keep offering free pizza. :)
The Purdue Writing Lab and the OWL staff congratulate Daryl Lim for winning the first Digital Information Literacy Contest.
Digital Literacy Contest Winners Daryl Lim, Alex Porter, and Peter Clay
What's Happening on the OWL at Purdue
- OWL Eye On...Usability Changes. We are nearing completion of a new front page that should be available in the next two weeks at our main owl site (owl.english.purdue.edu). Look forward to other new features including an updated search system, better navigation, and more for the fall semester!
What's Happening in the Writing Lab
- OWL Eye On...Conversation Groups. Conversation groups start this upcoming Monday. Visit our Writing Lab Conversation group page for more information: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/writinglab/topic/conversationgroups/.
This week's OWL News was edited by Dana Lynn Driscoll, OWL Webmaster and H. Allen Brizee, OWL Coordinator.
