Assignment 1: Citations

Use Data and Citations to Transform an Argument

Assignment

  • Write a paragraph that states information
  • Use at least two proper citations to back up that information
  • Use MLA as your citation style.

Assignment Goals

  • Start with an idea.
  • Learn to add verifiable facts to your writing.
  • Look for data bias.
  • Cite the facts.
  • Start viewing with suspicion any argument that doesn’t do this.

Example

Here is a paragraph from a student paper:

In the current age, traffic accidents have become a lot more common. This is because of the increase in amount of vehicles out on the roads and the new distractions that have come.
  • The idea behind the prior paragraph was good.
  • The wording isn’t very good.
  • Also, is the paragraph even correct?
  • With 15 minutes of searching and 15 minutes of proper citation work, I was able to research it and transform the paragraph.

Here’s my new paragraph, with citations:

Even with cell phones, car accidents haven’t gotten worse in the last ten years. Fatal traffic accidents decreased from 18.6 per 100,000 vehicles in 2003 to 12.2 per 100,000 vehicles in 2013 (NHTSA, 2014). Total accidents have been between 5.3 and 6.0 million per year from 2007 to 2013, and distraction related accidents have held steady between 16% and 17% of that number (NHTSA, 2011; NHTSA, 2015).

“Fatality Analysis Reporting System.” FARS Encyclopedia. National Highway Traffic, 2014. Web. 24 Aug. 2015.

U.S. Department of Transportation and National Highway Traffic Safey Administration, ed. “Distracted Driving 2011.” Traffic Safety Facts Apr. 2013.

U.S. Department of Transportation and National Highway Traffic Safey Administration, ed. “Distracted Driving 2013.” Traffic Safety Facts Apr. 2015.

Understanding Bias

  • Wait, was my data biased?
  • Bias does NOT have to be intentional
  • For example, surveying students at Simpson, to be representative of all U.S. people 18-22, would introduce data bias.
  • If the data is “hard numbers” that doesn’t mean it is biased.
  • If a website is .org, that does not mean it isn’t biased.

Good Assignment Examples

Assignment 1:

Ever since Lebron James entered the NBA there has been an argument about if he was better than the great Chicago Bulls player, Michael Jordan. Under initial inspection Michael Jordan seems to have the upper hand. Of the top 100 single season performances for scoring, Michael Jordan is listed 11 times, whereas Lebron James is only listed twice (Basketball Reference, 2015). On top of that Michael Jordan had 7 seasons where he scored more points than James did in his highest scoring season. Although scoring is a large part of the total game of basketball, defense also plays a major role in the game of basketball. In reference to rebounding Michael Jordan averaged 6.2 rebounds per game through 15 seasons (NBA.com, 2003). Lebron James is currently averaging 7.1 rebounds per game through 12 seasons (NBA.com, 2015).

“LeBron James Career Stats.” NBA Stats. NBA Media Ventures, LLC, 2015. Web. 1 Sept. 2015.

“Michael Jordan Career Stats.” NBA.com. NBA Media Ventures, LLC, 2003. Web. 1 Sept. 2015.

“NBA & ABA Single Season Leaders and Records for Points.” Basketball Reference. Sports Direct Inc. 2015. Web. 1 Sept. 2015.

Assignment 2:

Previous studies have shown a relationship between having your cellphone within reach from you at night and how well someone sleeps. Harvard Medical School scientist have found specific wavelengths of light can suppress the slumber-inducing hormone melatonin in the brain(News Max Health, 2015). Wayne Conn a sleep coordinator at Texas Medical Center says, “Using your phone right before bed is unhealthy, it overstimulates the brain, and will be harder to fall asleep and stay asleep” (Schmitt, 2014). So in conclusion if you want a better nights sleep then resist from using a cellphone before bed, and having it in reach while sleeping.

Schmitt, Madeline. “Cell Phones Believed to Cause Serious Sleep Problems.” KXII RSS. 26 June 2014. Web. 01 Sept. 2015.

News Max Health. “Smartphones Can Cause Insomnia: Harvard Smartphones Can Cause Insomnia: Harvard.“ Bloomberg News, 7 Jan. 2014. Web. 1 Sept. 2015.

Bad Assignment Examples

Assignment 1:

Which Sport is More Dangerous? Football or Rugby?

In football, the injury rate per 1000 hours is 35.3. Most of those injuries occur in the leg area. Rugby’s rater per 1000 hours is 69. That rate makes rugby the “most dangers” team sport in the world. Rugby also averages about 1.4 serious injuries per game.

Assignment 2:

League of Legends a sport?

League of Legends is a booming game that has player and fan base that is rising at extreme rates. This leads to the question, is League of Legends a sport? Some might think not but “Riot Games” the developer of League of Legends thinks otherwise. Riot Games reports increases in their player base over just a few years; it rose from 12 million players daily to 27 million in just over a year (Tassi, Jan. 27th, 2014) . The huge number of people that play League of Legends is really shown when compared to Call of Duty. The numbers for Call of Duty players combined monthly in the year 2011 only had 40 million players (Tassi, Jan. 27th, 2014). Many other things that are similar to professional sports include participation in tournaments, trading players during the off season, and a final championship that millions of people watch (Holly, Jul. 15th, 2013).

Bad Citation Examples

Don’t use a URL:

The dictionary is never a source:

“Stress.” Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster, 2016. Web. 01 Sept. 2016.

You can probably guess at least a year:

2013-14 Memphis Grizzlies. (n.d.). Retrieved February 27, 2015, from http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/MEM/2014.html

No clue where this came from:

List of United States university campuses by enrollment. (n.d.). Retrieved October 23, 2014.

Wait, you listed the publisher, but then said n.p.? And no date?

“Graduation Rate Trends 1999-2000 to 2009-2010.” Education Week. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Sept. 2015.

No way I’d find this again. It is basically saying “Here’s this random thing I found on the Internet. I’m not even going to tell you where I found it.”

“11 Facts About High School Dropout Rates.” 11 Facts About High School Dropout Rates. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Sept. 2015.

Oh, and never list Google as your source. That is like listing the library as your source.

Using Citation Generators

  • There are many on-line tools to help generate citations.
  • Be careful using the tools. Look at what they generate. Edit as needed.
  • Try to avoid using n.d., or n.p. which indicates no publication date or publisher. That probably isn’t a good source.
  • Make sure that even without a URL you would be able to find the information.
  • Ask the instructor if they want a URL or link in the citation.

Schedule for the Assignment

  • Ten minutes to pick a question.
  • Twenty minutes to pick data.
  • Twenty minutes to create slides
  • Prep presentation. Two PowerPoint slides, one paragraph and one citation slide.
  • Some of this, you’ll likely need to do outside of class. You will some time to review this on Thursday with myself, Maddy, and Christopher on Thursday.
  • Due at end of class Thursday.
  • We will go through them in a week. I won’t associate names with paragraphs.

Sample Questions

  • Who is the best player in sport <name sport>?

    • Is Ed Walsh as good as Cy Young? (baseball)
    • Is Aaron Rodgers the best quarterback in the NFL?

  • Who do we get our oil from?

  • What does the U.S. spend the most money on?

  • What is the number one killer in the U.S.?

    • What are the most common ways of dying for twenty year olds?

  • What is the best subject to major in at college?

  • What is the best paying job in the U.S.?

  • How likely is a student to drop out of college?

  • Is the high school dropout rate increasing?

  • Do statistics support that there is a “war on cops?”

  • Is the rate of suicide increasing?