Unit VI Discussion Board
With the information I have gathered about writing sources, I feel that I am ready to start my research. Before reading the course textbooks and other class materials, I had a feeling of paranoia about instances of plagiarism. The technical details associated with plagiarism and the citation process can also be distracting and overwhelming (Ballenger, 2018). I believe that I have gained control since I have chosen my writing voice as well as the purpose of writing projects. I also feel less constrained by documentation and citation demands. I now understand that the research question should guide the entire writing process so that sources used revolve around the theme of the paper.
One of my main setbacks is integrating materials in the paper. Sometimes, I do not understand how to integrate different sources in a single page within the research project while ensuring coherence and relevance. As I was going through the course textbook, I realized that there is active and passive blending when it comes to different types of quotations. I feel that understanding where and when to use these quotations is a major drawback. I also fear that the readers may fail to see the triangleness of my draft. Ballenger (2018) describes the triangleness of a draft as the pieces that define the paragraphs and sentences within the write-up. Finally, I have an issue with seeing mistakes in my research.
I have the difference between mistakes and fallacies. Although both can be committed unintentionally, innocently, and inadvertently, the difference lies in the rationalization after the pressure to change is withdrawn. A person is said to use a fallacy to benefit from a scenario if he/she reverts to the old ways once the reason for the change has been taken away (Aaron & Greer, 2019). Elsewhere, an action is considered a mistake if it does not reoccur once cautioned. I found the revelation surprising since most of the actions we call mistakes are actually fallacies. I also discovered that generalization ignores the uniqueness of situations and objects. Each object is uniquely different from the other. Therefore, one situation cannot be used to describe another. In writing, one scenario cannot be used to express another since there are inherent differences that may make such correlations wrong.
References
Aaron, J. E., & Greer, M. (2019). The Little, Brown compact handbook (10th ed.). Pearson Education Learning.
Ballenger, B. (2018). The curious researcher: A guide to writing research papers (9th ed.). Pearson Education Learning.