APA 4th edition brings changes

The American Psychological Association has issued the fourth edition of its Publication Manual. Since many departments at BSU require students to use APA documentation, faculty need to be aware of the new version.

Though the new edition makes no major, essential changes, there are several important smaller ones. For instance, margins are now supposed to be no less than one inch, as opposed to the inch-and-a- half requirement of the 3rd edition. Indentation in the References section has been reversed, so that each item is tabbed like a paragraph. And whereas, before, page numbers were cited only for direct quotes, writers are now encouraged (though not required) to cite page numbers of all borrowed material. These are just three of a number of small changes. There is also updated information on citing nonprint sources such as TV programs.

As before, the new manual is intended as a guide for professional publication, not for student papers. It does not specifically address student writing. The editors suggest that faculty adapt the style requirements to fit their own preferences. One feature that students need not use, for instance, is the "running head," which is a guide for typesetting professional journals, not a useful feature of student papers. Instructors may also choose to allow students to use italics rather than underlining, etc.

Faculty requiring APA format need to be familiar with the new requirements. They also need to specify which edition, the third or fourth, they want students to follow. This will be necessary during the transitional period when both editions will be floating around.

The fourth edition is bigger than the third: 368 pages vs. 208. It contains expanded coverage of content and organization of manuscripts, expression of ideas, APA editorial style, manuscript preparation, and editorial policies of APA journals. It may not make sense to require students to buy the fourth edition (it costs about $20), unless they will be using considerably more than the documentation section. Students can consult copies in the Writing Center. The Library reference department is also ordering copies and should have them available by the time this issue of Word Works is distributed.

Short blasts from the past

This summer we sat back to look over the history of Word Works, especially those earlier, shorter pieces we used to publish. Some of them still look pretty good. It occurred to us that we might dust a few of them off for the benefit of our readers who may have forgotten about them, or who came to BSU since they were published.

Here, then, is a collection of some of the most useful short, practical ideas for writing from those early issues. They still form the heart and soul of learning through writing.

Seven ways writing can help you and your students

From WW #14, October 1987. Adapted from Virginia English Bulletin.

Most of the following quick writing tasks can be inserted into the most tightly organized course. Each only takes a few minutes. As usual, the motive is not writing for testing, but writing for learning.

1. Writing to comprehend material. Encourage students to digest, paraphrase, and interpret what they read. Both during and after reading, students can write to explore and make their own meanings from the printed page.

2. Writing to clarify and reflect. During any classroom learning activity, ask students to stop and write for purposes of clarifying and reflecting. Students write to reflect on what they have done, heard, said, or seen, and on what lies ahead in a particular learning sequence.

3. Writing to define one's own learning. At the beginning of a topic or a class, ask students to write to remember, select, and record what they feel was their most important learning about a given subject the day before. By focusing attention on previous learning, this kind of writing prepares students for what is coming next.

4. Writing to summarize. Students can write to summarize for themselves the plot of a story; the most important information from a textbook chapter or journal article; the nugget of a lecture; the visual storyline of a film; the hard-won discovery of a lab experiment; the essence of a class discussion.

5. Writing to apply. Students can write to speculate about the practical value of their learning. Why should they always be asking the instructor, and not themselves? From such writing, and the discussion it generates, you might discover new reasons for what you're teaching.

6. Writing to inquire. Students will not likely develop the habit of inquiry unless they are urged to ask questions. Stopping at odd times and asking them to write a question elicits many useful responses. The questions might bring out

what the students don't understand

what they would like to know more about

some speculation about a relationship between what they are working on now and something they have done in the past

a need to have the purpose of the current subject or activity clarified.

7. Writing to evaluate. At the end of a week or a grading period, invite students to evaluate their learning over a period of time. Students can ask themselves the following questions:

What have I learned?

What has been most interesting?

What has been most useful or valuable?

How well have I performed?

Where have I fallen short and why?

Where have I excelled and why?

What interferes with my learning and how do I control the factors that interfere?

What do I need to stimulate my best performance?

Creating writing assignments

From WW #7, November 1986

Though it may seem obvious, writing assignments should always be written on paper and given to the students. This will prevent misunderstanding. Disappointed students will not come up to you afterwards and complain, "But you said...." If the assignment itself is in writing, and you've carefully chosen your words and staked out the boundaries of what students are expected to do, the students will have a much more productive, less frustrating time completing the work.

If you have a "most important" paper in your course, one you really want students to do their best work on, then don't have it due at the harried and bitter end of the semester. You may have to restructure your regular sequence of instruction, but the result will be worth it. The students will have time to do better work.

Break the "big term paper" grind. Instead of one blockbuster assignment, try three short papers, or even five shorter ones. (Sometimes, too, the series of short papers can be integrated into one final, longer paper if the nature of your course requires it.) Nobody likes one-shot deals; giving students a one-shot chance at a course paper is not being realistic about how they learn.

It makes monumental sense to build intervention stages into your assignments. Why wait till it's too late -- after the paper has been handed in -- before you make suggestions to help the writer? And this need not take tons of hours. You can quickly scan paper proposals, outlines, and especially preliminary drafts. You can have students work together in support groups to give each other feedback. You can send a copy of your assignment to the Writing Center and encourage students to go there for consultations on their drafts.

It will help everyone (you as reader, students as writers) if you request students to organize their papers into subsections with titles. Organization becomes easier, and you can more quickly fathom an entire paper, as well as the appropriateness of particular parts, if titled subsections are used. Also, in reviewing a paper with a student, you'll be able to more quickly retrieve information for discussion.

Be prepared to define and illustrate the words that you use in describing your assignment, because students are likely to interpret these terms differently. For example, if you ask students to write a "critical analysis" of a journal article, try to define and illustrate for them what kind of paper that is by putting a folder of sample papers on reserve in the library. Also, try to go through an example of a good paper in class.

Here are some questions to ask yourself about any of the writing assignments you make. Not easy questions, but necessary.

How does the assignment relate to the main goals of the course?

What do I want my students to learn from doing this assignment?

How is this assignment sequenced in relation to the other assignments? Does it build on what students have already learned? Does it lead to the concepts or skills of the next assignment?

Paper load too heavy? Try modeling

From WW #30, October 1989. From Literacy and Learning, newsletter for Writing Across the Disciplines, Chico State University.

There are many reasons we may feel we are drowning in an ocean of student papers: classes of 50-100 students, our valiant attempts to incorporate writing into our core classes, heavy teaching loads.... And when we assign writing, often we want and need to give our students feedback on what they've done -- what worked and what didn't, as well as suggestions for doing better with the next assignment. All this adds to the sensation of drowning. There are, however, some coping strategies you can try before going down for the third time. One such technique is modeling.

How does modeling work? In the modeling approach the instructor selects from the entire stack of student papers a few samples as models of what good (or potentially good) papers do. These three or four papers receive detailed commentary and are shared perhaps on overhead with the students, while the remainder of the papers simply receive grades (perhaps with minimal commentary).

Modeling works because students learn from seeing examples written by other students of successful (or even partly successful) pieces. The learning is focused when the instructor points out what makes certain pieces good -- concepts and ideas in it, its organizational approach, its use of support, its adherence to assignment format, etc. In a weaker paper, the instructor points out where the potential for a good paper is and how the author might have strengthened the piece. Important tip: Never use a failing piece of writing. It neither provides a useful model nor helps the humiliated author.

Fitting the technique to your class. The actual mechanics for using modeling can be adjusted to fit class size, time, and teaching style. Three possibilities:

No class time. Return each student's graded paper with Xeroxed copies of two or three graded sample papers, with your detailed commentary explaining strengths and weaknesses in each sample.

Five to fifteen minutes class time. Using overhead transparencies of the sample papers, lead a discussion of each paper's merits and demerits, with suggestions for improvement.

Fifteen to thirty minutes class time. Put the students into groups and give each group unmarked copies of papers to critique. The groups can then report back to the whole class, and, if necessary, you can guide discussion to key points in each paper. Another option is for you to collect the written evaluations (one from each group) and respond to them on the spot or at the next class period.

Building in student involvement. To help students get the most out of modeling, the instructor can ask that each student evaluate (in class or out) strengths and weaknesses in his/her own graded paper, based upon what the samples demonstrate. Skimming through these student evaluations can give the instructor a quick overview of which students do understand enough to improve the next time around and which may need a conference. In this way, each assignment -- paper or exam -- can serve not only to evaluate what the students have learned but also to teach them how to display their knowledge to its best advantage at their next opportunity.