CHAPTER 5 WRITING PREPARATION

MGT 3213 – ORG. COMMUNICATION

Mississippi State UniversityCollege of Business

Ever feel like this?

Preparing to Write

TRUE or FALSE? Effective writers wait until they are in

the “right mood” to begin a writing session.

Preparing to Write

Identify the time of day you are your most productive

Learn how to overcome your personal distractions

Use an outline to jump start your writing and re-focus after an interruption

Consider creating a “writing place” to help yourself focus

Make writing a habit, something you do everyday

Overcoming Fear of Writing

Reasons people fear writing: Negative orientation: pre-existing negative

associations or view of the task Risk of failure Fear of the unknown

Overcoming Fear of Writing

Overcoming negative orientation: Find a supportive mentor/editor Seek and use available resources (e.g. writing

centers) Start with something that is small and achievable to

build your confidence Overcoming fear of failure and fear of unknown:

Seek examples/conduct research Ask questions of your boss/professor about

expectations Remind yourself that the first draft doesn’t need to

be perfect

Planning Checklist

1. Determine your purpose.2. Evaluate message timing.3. Evaluate the credibility of your sources of

information.4. Evaluate the tone of your message.5. Evaluate your audience and their knowledge of

the subject.6. Anticipate audience response to message.7. Select appropriate channel for sending message.8. Double-check that content is ethical and

accurate.

Determining Your Purpose

First determine your general purpose: To inform To persuade To entertain To facilitate interaction To motivate Next, identify your desired outcome

What do you want the reader to do after receiving your message?

Determining Your Purpose

Next, determine if your purpose is realistic. For example, if attempting to change a behavior,

your message’s effectiveness is dependent on the willingness and readiness of the recipient.

Ask yourself, how aware is my recipient of this topic?

Are they receptive to my ideas? Or resistant? Asking for immediate action before someone is

even aware of the issue is usually ineffective.

Evaluate Message Timing

Consider your recipient and whether you have chosen appropriate timing for the message What events are going on in the recipient’s

life? Have you given too short of notice for an

important deadline? Enough advance notification for proper

preparation? Is proper staffing available to handle

responses to the message?

Evaluate Credibility of Sources How will your audience perceive your

message? Objective and impartial? Biased?

What is their perception of the sources you cite in your message?

If perceived as biased, will be more resistant to your message.

Evaluate Your Audience

What does your audience know about this topic?

How will they react? Try to envision how your audience will

respond to your message Correct potential areas of

miscommunication Selectively choose words and vocabulary

that will avoid negative reactions

Select the Appropriate Channel• Two-way, face-to-face

• Two-way, not face-to-face

• One-way, not face-to-face

Two-Way, Face-to-Face

Examples: informal conversations, interviews, oral presentations,

speeches, videoconferences Advantages:

Instant feedback, nonverbal signals, personal connection Disadvantages:

Expensive to convene groups spread across great distances, difficult to coordinate schedules

Best channel for conveying sensitive or unpleasant news

Two-Way, NOT Face-to-Face

Examples: Telephone conversations, online chats,

instant messaging, texting Advantages:

Instant feedback, real-time connection Disadvantages:

Lacks nonverbal elements, so verbal message must be especially clear

One-Way, NOT Face-to-Face

Examples: Letters, memos, reports, e-mail, fax, voice

mail, web pages, newsletters Advantages:

Message considered more permanent and official

(may be taken more seriously) Disadvantages:

Lacks both nonverbal elements and instant feedback

Confusion must be anticipated and prevented

Getting Started: Research

Now that you know your purpose and your audience, the writing process begins with research

Types of Research

Primary research — relies on firsthand research and obtains information from individuals or observations of behavior Involves talking to people! (focus groups, surveys,

interviews)

Or conducting experiments

Secondary research — provides information that other experts have already collected

Involves reading already published research

Start with secondary first!

Reasons to Start With Secondary Research

Establish a point of departure for further research

Avoid needless duplication of costly research effort

Reveal areas of needed research

Make a real contribution to the body of knowledge

Starting Secondary Research Where should you look for your information?

Start with a Google search to gain basic understanding of your topic.

Don’t stop there! Why?

Use library databases for access to more articles not readily available through Google

Visit the library shelves to get important articles not available electronically.

Some topics may be discussed in books more than journals or articles.

Conducting Online Research

Potential problems with internet resources: Resources are not always accurate and reliable. Some websites may have engaged in copyright

violation. Resources are not always complete in terms of

information or updating.

Be wary of the anonymous online website!! Be wary of “editable” mediums like wiki’s, or

question-and-response style discussion forums.

Conducting Online Research

Trusted sources of information: Government agencies (.gov) Respected non-profits and NGOs (.org) Academic journals Newspapers Magazines (avoid gossip/tabloids) University websites (.edu)

Are all posts on an education website credible? Addresses with a ~ (and a last name/user ID)

If you can identify an author and verify he/she is a good, unbiased source it should be okay.

http://public.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/errors.html

Evaluating Online Sources

Warning signs that a website is a BAD source: Poor quality writing (grammar errors, typos)

If they are careless with the words, they may be careless with the ideas …

Out of date links that no longer work If the links are no longer valid, the website has not

been updated … how old are the ideas? Are they still valid?

Poor website organization No way to contact the author

Can you verify the same information from another source? If no, be cautious.

Research Tips

Use abstracts and executive summaries Once you’ve found a good article, use its

reference list to find additional articles Use Google Scholar’s “cited by” function

(look for same feature in Library databases)

Why Should You Cite Your Sources?

Gives credit where credit is due (ethical conduct)

Protects writers against charges of plagiarism

Supports statements and thus increases credibility

Aids researchers in pursuing similar research

Original source (text) Alvin Kernan, The Playwright as Magician. New Haven: Yale

University Press, 1979. pp. 102–103. From time to time this submerged or latent theater in

becomes almost overt. It is close to the surface in Hamlet’s pretense of madness, the “antic disposition” he puts on to protect himself and prevent his antagonists from plucking out the heart of his mystery. It is even closer to the surface when Hamlet enters his mother’s room and holds up, side by side, the pictures of the two kings, Old Hamlet and Claudius, and proceeds to describe for her the true nature of the choice she has made, presenting truth by means of a show. Similarly, when he leaps into the open grave at Ophelia’s funeral, ranting in high heroic terms, he is acting out for Laertes, and perhaps for himself as well, the folly of excessive, melodramatic expressions of grief.

Almost all of Shakespeare’s Hamlet can be understood as a play about acting and the theater. For example, there is Hamlet’s pretense of madness, the “antic disposition” that he puts on to protect himself and prevent his antagonists from plucking out the heart of his mystery. When Hamlet enters his mother’s room, he holds up, side by side, the pictures of the two kings, Old Hamlet and Claudius, and proceeds to describe for her the true nature of the choice she has made, presenting truth by means of a show. Similarly, when he leaps into the open grave at Ophelia’s funeral, ranting in high heroic terms, he is acting out for Laertes, and perhaps for himself as well, the folly of excessive, melodramatic expressions of grief.

Original source (text) From time to time this submerged or latent theater in

Hamlet becomes almost overt. It is close to the surface in Hamlet’s pretense of madness, the “antic disposition” he puts on to protect himself and prevent his antagonists from plucking out the heart of his mystery. It is even closer to the surface when Hamlet enters his mother’s room and holds up, side by side, the pictures of the two kings, Old Hamlet and Claudius, and proceeds to describe for her the true nature of the choice she has made, presenting truth by means of a show. Similarly, when he leaps into the open grave at Ophelia’s funeral, ranting in high heroic terms, he is acting out for Laertes, and perhaps for himself as well, the folly of excessive, melodramatic expressions of grief.

Almost all of Shakespeare’s Hamlet can be understood as a play about acting and the theater. For example, in Act 1, Hamlet adopts a pretense of madness that he uses to protect himself and prevent his antagonists from discovering his mission to revenge his father’s murder. He also presents truth by means of a show when he compares the portraits of Gertrude’s two husbands in order to describe for her the true nature of the choice she has made. And when he leaps in Ophelia’s open grave ranting in high heroic terms, Hamlet is acting out the folly of excessive, melodramatic expressions of grief.

Original source (text) From time to time this submerged or latent theater in

Hamlet becomes almost overt. It is close to the surface in Hamlet’s pretense of madness, the “antic disposition” he puts on to protect himself and prevent his antagonists from plucking out the heart of his mystery. It is even closer to the surface when Hamlet enters his mother’s room and holds up, side by side, the pictures of the two kings, Old Hamlet and Claudius, and proceeds to describe for her the true nature of the choice she has made, presenting truth by means of a show. Similarly, when he leaps into the open grave at Ophelia’s funeral, ranting in high heroic terms, he is acting out for Laertes, and perhaps for himself as well, the folly of excessive, melodramatic expressions of grief.

Almost all of Shakespeare’s Hamlet can be understood as a play about acting and the theater. For example, in Act 1, Hamlet pretends to be insane in order to make sure his enemies do not discover his mission to revenge his father’s murder. The theme is even more obvious when Hamlet compares the pictures of his mother’s two husbands to show her what a bad choice she has made, using their images to reveal the truth. Also, when he jumps into Ophelia’s grave, hurling his challenge to Laertes, Hamlet demonstrates the foolishness of exaggerated expressions of emotion.

Is this plagiarism?

What if you completely paraphrase, but the order of the ideas is the same as your original source?

What if you’ve used the exact same paragraph structure is the original source?

Types of Plagiarism

Intentional grand larceny (using a paper mill, someone else’s paper)

Premeditated shoplifting (copy and pasting passages into your paper)

Tinkering with the evidence (making minor word changes, like using synonyms—but the structure stays the same)

Idea kidnapping (paraphrasing, but neglecting to cite the source)

Types of Plagiarism

Unauthorized borrowing of private property (citing the source, but essentially using the same sentence structure and only changing a few words)

Trespassing over boundaries (failing to indicate where your ideas begin, and the source’s end)

Submitting the same paper (or almost entirely the same paper) to more than one course

When Do You Need to Cite Your Source?

Exact quotes and facts from your source (even when enclosed in quotation marks)

Someone else’s ideas, even if you put them in your own words

Each sentence in a long paragraph if it is not clear that all the sentences paraphrase the same source

Facts, theories, statistics

You Don’t Need to Cite …

Common knowledge (the sky is blue, fairy tales, nursery rhymes)

Basic information available from multiple sources (historical dates, chronological events)

Is it really that big of a deal? What kind of reputation do you want? What do you stand for? Would you consider yourself a good

person?

Is it okay to steal? Is it okay to lie?

Plagiarism is Misrepresenting the Truth

Tips for Avoiding Plagiarism

At the beginning of the first sentence in which you quote, paraphrase, or summarize, make it clear that what comes next is someone else’s idea

According to Smith... Jones says... In his 1987 study, Robinson proved...

Lobo (2005) evaluated a social norms intervention among college men who were randomly assigned to experimental and control groups. The results showed that there were no significant differences between the two groups in their attitudes or behaviors (Lobo, 2005). Social norms programs have also been criticized for their potential to cause destructive changes in the intended outcome (e.g. Mollen, Ruiter, & Kok, 2010; Schultz, Nolan, Cialdini, Goldstein, & Griskevicius, 2007).

Because social norms campaigns expose participants to a comparison point for their behavior, individuals who are below the average may alter their behavior to conform to the norm, which has been referred to as a boomerang effect (Schultz et al., 2007). Despite somewhat inconsistent results, the social norms strategy has been widely adopted and implemented, especially on college campuses (Perkins et al., 2010).

Tips for Avoiding Plagiarism

Use quotation marks and cite when directly quoting a source

Know the required citation guide for the course American Psychological Association (APA) style or

Modern Languages Association (MLA) style

Cite paraphrased sources Be very careful to completely change the

sentence structure!! Cite your class notes

How to Effectively Paraphrase Read an article rapidly

Put the article aside

List the main and supporting points from memory

Review the article to verify significant points

After Today’s Lecture You Should … Be able to provide tips for preparing to write

and ways to overcome fear of writing. Explain the things to consider when

planning to write. Identify good and bad sources for your

research. Identify different types of plagiarism and

why it is important to cite your sources. Understand how to effectively paraphrase

and cite your sources.