Here I am again! Let's see how we can get perfect citing in our thesis!
I've never known one can choose even a style to quote in texts! I must admit it seems too much to me... when you're drafting your work there are so many things to keep in mind, to pay attention to, to think and re-think, to correct... This fact of having to follow a precise style even to quote and cite can drive me mad I guess! However, I gladly noticed that most of the rules explained both in APA and MLA sites are already part of my 'citing background'; for instance, to capitalize proper nouns and all words in a title is something I've always done, as well as italicize or put quotation marks around titles of books, articles or other material in a citing note. Moreover, I am used to inserting a reference number in the text for each footnote; regarding style, APA suggests to avoid as much as possible the first- preson point of view and gives advice on how to change the sentence structure without over-using the passive construction: this point is something that teachers have always warned us against, both at high school and university. Concerning conciseness and clarity, we have largely dealt with both of them in our last lesson and I was aware of their importance since I started learning English.
MLA style focuses better on reference lists, which should be a fundamental part of an academic text. The style is a little bit different from APA because it highlights how we should cite concentrating on format. It presents a different format for each kind of source we can find, giving detailed instructions on how to write titles, authors, editors and other basic information; it particularly underlines how the order of the elements in a citation are important to be clear and professional in our work. I was already aware of some of these features, such as to underline titles, or put first the surname of the author and then his name separating them by comma. Certainly it is a discovery to find so many differences in citing every specific type of source but I am glad to have all these chances to improve my final dissertation!
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17 anni fa
You're right, Sara, it seems too much to me, too. There are so many styles even for citing! These Americans are wonderful, they create problems where there's no need for them! Ahahah, just kidding!
RispondiEliminaHowever, discovering the APA and the MLA styles helped us notice that we already knew most of the rules regarding citing, so we can say we're not that bad in writing! ; )
LINGUISTIC FEEDBACK
Now, let's see if there are some mistakes I can correct in your post...
You wrote: "...to capitalize proper nouns and all words in a title is something I've always done, as well as italicize or put quotation marks around titles of books, articles or other material in a citing note."
Well, I think you should write "...capitalizing [...], as well as italicizing or putting..." 'coz you're treating these verbs like nouns, right?
Then you wrote : "...APA suggests to avoid as much as possible the first- preson point of view..."
I think in this sentence there are three mistakes. One is about the order SVOA, one is a typing mistake of the word "person" and the last one is about the verb "suggest" (suggest + somebody + verb in the base form). So, I think you should write "...APA suggests you avoid the first-person point of view as much as possible..."
In the same sentence, I think there are some other problems regarding structure. Let's see what you wrote: "Moreover, I am used to inserting a reference number in the text for each footnote; regarding style, APA suggests to avoid as much as possible the first- preson point of view and gives advice on how to change the sentence structure without over-using the passive construction: this point is something that teachers have always warned us against, both at high school and university." This is a very long sentence, I think it's better to divide it. What's more, you put a colon after "paasive construction", but I don't think it's appropriate 'coz you talked about avoiding the first-person point of view and avoiding the passive construction, but after the colon you referred only to the last one. If I were you, I'd write: "Moreover, I am used to inserting a reference number in the text for each footnote. Regarding style, APA suggests one avoid the first- person point of view as much as possible. It gives advice on how to change the sentence structure without over-using the passive construction, too. This last point is something that teachers have always warned us against, both at high school and university."
Next you wrote: "MLA style focuses better on reference lists..."
I guess you have to put the article "the" before "MLA style" and I guess it's better to use "more" instead of "better" 'coz I think that with "better" this sentence sounds like Italian.
Finally, you wrote: "...such as to underline titles, or put first the surname of the author..."
I think you should write either "...such as to underline titles, or to put..." or "...such as underlining titles, or putting..."
That's all, I hope not to say too many nonsense in my corrections! : )
Hi Vale!
RispondiEliminaThank you very much for your corrections, they are really precise and useful! I realized I didn't put enough attention while writing because many mistakes were very ridiculous, such as mispellings and wrong word order! However, I would like to object some of your points in this sentence: "Moreover, I am used to inserting a reference number in the text for each footnote; regarding style, APA suggests to avoid as much as possible the first- preson point of view and gives advice on how to change the sentence structure without over-using the passive construction: this point is something that teachers have always warned us against, both at high school and university."
When you say it is too long, you're quite right, but I think that the semi-colon is a strong pause similar to that of a fullstop; so, I'd better leave it as it is because the various clauses within this sentence are closely related. Another thing I'd like to point out is that, after the colon, I wrongly wrote "THIS point is..". Here I meant to refer to both the elements I had mentioned before, so the real mistake is that I should have put "these points are..".
Thank you again for your suggestions!
See you soon :)
Sara