August Live Webinar Schedule

Can you believe it’s August already? During this classic back-to-school season, check out our live webinar calendar. Hope to see you there!

Transitioning from Corsework to Doctoral Capstone Writing

Tuesday, August 4, 1:00-2:00 p.m. ET

Audience: Doctoral Capstone students

Writing a doctoral capstone document, such as a dissertation or a doctoral or project study, is a unique process with its own challenges. Often the shorter writing and research assignments you have done in courses do not accurately reflect what it takes to craft a book-length document that contains an original scholarly contribution, which is what your capstone will be. This webinar addresses the ways writing the doctoral capstone differs from writing for graduate courses and outlines some helpful strategies for how to approach the writing process as you move into the capstone phase.

Essential Elements for Writing Annotated Bibliographies

Thursday, August 13, 7:00-8:00 p.m. ET

Audience: Graduate students 

This session discusses the do's and don'ts of annotated bibliographies using examples. This session is relevant for any graduate students who will be or have completed an annotated bibliography as part of their course work or in preparation for a doctoral capstone study. We also explain how annotated bibliographies can be used by all writers as a way to take notes and organize research. If you are currently writing or will write a large research paper, this is the webinar for you!

Writing Literature Reviews in Your Graduate Coursework

Tuesday, August 18, 11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. ET

Audience: Graduate students 

Are you writing a literature review in one of your master's or doctoral courses? This webinar is for you! Literature reviews often require a large amount of research and organization as you collect multiple perspectives on a topic and synthesize them together. In this webinar, you'll learn tips for how to successfully write a literature review for your courses.

Note: This webinar will not address literature reviews in doctoral capstones (dissertations and project studies). To learn about literature reviews in doctoral capstones, see the webinar "Reviewing the Literature and Incorporating Previous Research," as well as the Doctoral Capstone Form and Style website.

If you are unable to attend any of these sessions in person, we post recordings of every live webinar event on the Walden University Writing Center website. The recordings of these sessions are posted 24 hours after they take place, and you can watch them free and on-demand. 

The Walden University Writing Center creates content to help students with a range of topics related to scholarly writing, APA style, and the writing process. We host webinars, and offer paper reviews, live chat, and a podcast.

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WriteCast Episode 58: Steps for Revising, Part II: The Small Stuff

A companion to Episode57: Steps for Revising Part I: The Big Stuff, this podcast episode focuses on line edits and smaller concerns like APA formatting and comma use.

To listen to this episode, click the player below. You can also visit our WriteCast Podcast show page to access our complete episode archive.

Recommended resources:

• Grammar resources
• Interactive grammar modules
• Grammarly 
• Revision journals
• "When/How to Conduct Revision and Proofreading" blog post
• "Top 10 Preproposal and Proposal Fixes for Capstone Writers" blog post
• Walden University Writing Center Blog posts on grammar and mechanics
• Interactive modules on APA style
• Paper reviews 
• Microsoft Word help for Walden students through the Academic Skills Center

The Walden University Writing Center produces WriteCast: A Casual Conversation for Serious Writers to support the community of scholarly writers at Walden University.

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WriteCast Episode 57: Steps for Revising, Part I: The Big Stuff

Revision is a major part of the writing process, and different types of revising warrant different strategies. Claire and Kacy give tips and resources for how to revise your writing for bigger patterns and issues in your current drafts as well as your future coursework.

To listen to today's episode, click in the player below. You can also visit our WriteCast Podcast show page to access our complete archive of episodes and view transcripts of all our WriteCast episodes. Enjoy!

Recommended Resources Mentioned in This Episode

• WriteCast Episode 14: The 5 Rs of Revision

• Walden University Writing Center website resources on revision

• Live Webinar Recording of "Improving Your Writing: Strategies for Revising, Proofing, and Using Feedback" 

• Walden University Blog Posts on Revision 

The Walden University Writing Center produces WriteCast: A Casual Conversation for Serious Writers to support the community of scholarly writers at Walden University.

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Thesis Sentences vs. Blueprint Sentences

“Dear, Kacy. This is a blueprint sentence, not a thesis.” 

This succinct comment stands out in my memory because it’s one of the first true pieces of constructive criticism I ever received on my writing.

The sentence was written in the margin of the first page of my first real research paper. As an end-of-year project, each student in my sixth-grade class selected a country to write a report on, and then we created poster boards and made traditional food from the country to share at an international day at my school. I picked Bermuda because at the time I was a little obsessed with the Bermuda Triangle. I remember cutting out pictures of business people wearing shorts with their suit jackets, and baking some really good cookies that seemed like sugar cookies to me but were also apparently very Bermudan.

For the first two weeks, I received every possible point for the project. I’d come to school with six (beyond the requirement of five!) books on the day our sources were required. I’d diligently written out the assigned number of index cards with individual facts. After turning in the outline I’d crafted using my index cards, I was fully prepared to collect another perfect score.

“What?? What’s a blueprint sentence?” Probably I should have asked what a thesis sentence was, because I had an example of a blueprint sentence right in front of me: Bermuda is located on a small island in the Atlantic Ocean and this paper is about its history, economy, and culture. Like the blueprint of a building, I’d provided a layout of the contents of my paper, but I hadn’t produced an argument or put forth any idea. My reader would know to expect a paragraph on Bermuda’s history, a paragraph about its economy, and a paragraph about the culture. But what did I want to say about the country?

I think my thesis statement ended up being something about the Bermuda Triangle, but I can’t say for sure. And I had to double-check that Bermuda is indeed in the Atlantic Ocean while drafting this post. So, the actual information I obtained during the project clearly hasn’t stayed with me too well. But I still think about this experience when teaching, tutoring, or writing myself. It’s great to give your reader an idea about the general format of your paper, but the most important part isn’t a list of the different topics you’ll cover. 

The advantage of hindsight (and a few additional decades of writing experience) tells me I should have realized this from the beginning. After all, I had picked Bermuda because of its mysterious Triangle, so why shouldn’t I use what peaked my own interest to grab my reader’s? And why is it that I can so vividly remember the picture I copied from a book, of a group of men holding briefcases and wearing shorts under their suit coats, but I can’t remember Bermuda’s capital? Or where I left my phone? 

Hmmm. Can someone try calling it?

Kacy Walz is a Minnesota native currently living in St. Louis, MO. She has been a Writing Instructor at Walden since 2016 and spends most of her free time trying to complete her PhD, seeking out adventure, and playing with her puppy dog.

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Grammar for Academic Writers: Can I Begin a Sentence with "And"?

During my 7th grade year, my English teacher conducted a multi-month unit on sentence structure. We learned patterns of sentences with acronyms like SV, SSVV, DC, IC, and the list goes on. These acronyms explained the different structures a “correct” sentence could take, with S standing for subject, V standing for verb, DC standing for dependent clause, and IC standing for independent clause. (There were many more acronyms and structures, but I’ll stop there for now.) The approach was a continual drill practice of sentence construction, which at the time seemed terribly tedious, but all these years later these patterns stuck with me.

When I say “correct” sentence construction, I’m referring to more formal, academic writing and what is deemed correct in that context. I clarify because in our day-to-day use of language, whether it is spoken or written, we often don’t follow these formal, academic patterns. Some of us might think we do, but it’s a rare person who speaks with the same grammatical accuracy and formality with which they write. Additionally, in different genres of writing, a broader range of sentence structures are often used and considered appropriate. 

Here are a couple of ways I wrote sentences this week that didn’t follow one of correct structures I learned in my 7th grade English class:

• I gave my daughter a strawberry. But she said didn’t like it even though she loved them yesterday. So I gave her a peach slice instead. And then she asked for a strawberry.

• I cleaned our front windows in preparation for the party. But then my toddler woke up from her nap. Needless to say, I cleaned them again. (Can anyone else relate?)

The “problem” in these sentences, from an academic writing perspective, is that some of the sentences begin with the words and, but, or so. These words (and other coordinating conjunctions) should typically be used within sentences to connect ideas rather than used to begin a sentence. Beginning a sentence with a coordinating conjunction can lend an informal tone to the writing, therefore impacting scholarly voice. Additionally, these sentences would be deemed incorrect by my 7th grade English teacher.

The best fix for a sentence beginning with a coordinating conjunction is to either make a compound sentence, using the coordinating conjunction to connect the ideas, or to use a different connecting or transition word that is more suitable to begin a sentence. 

Here’s what each situation might look like:

Using a compound sentence instead of starting with a coordinating conjunction 

I gave my daughter a strawberry, but she said didn’t like it even though she loved them yesterday, so I gave her a peach slice instead. Then, she asked for a strawberry.

Using an alternative connecting word

I cleaned our front windows in preparation for the party. However, my toddler woke up from her nap. Needless to say, I cleaned them again.

While I imagine not all of us can remember back to middle school English class, especially if the teacher didn’t use the drill method, there’s plenty of hope to be had. You’re already on the right track to learn about and be on the lookout for sentences that begin with and, but, or so. For a more comprehensive explanation of sentence structures in scholarly writing, including compound sentences, view our Mastering the Mechanics 2 and 3 webinars.   

Amy Bakke is a senior writing instructor and multilingual writing specialist at the Walden Writing Center. She enjoys researching cultural differences in education and considering how students with different educational perspectives and histories experience writing at Walden. In her non-work time, she’s outside (as much as possible in the Midwest) with her husband, toddler, and dog.  

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Can You Persuade Your Audience Like a Jedi? Appealing to the Forces of Rhetoric

As I was brainstorming this article, my husband David peeked over my shoulder and asked what I was up to. I explained that I was writing a blog post about the rhetorical triangle. His eyes glazed over and he looked at me with a blank stare. “Oh sure, sure” he replied. 

It was clear he did not know what I was talking about. Lucky for him, I was happy to geek out and breakdown the rhetorical triangle—a visual diagram that organizes Aristotle’s three types of appeals for persuading an audience. These appeals are:

Ethos (ethics) - By using ethos, a writer or speaker builds credibility and authority with the audience through the inclusion of evidence that supports their argument.

Logos (logic) - Arguments that use logos rely on reason to persuade the reader. Logical arguments are built on facts and use clear and concise language.

Pathos (emotion) - A speaker or writer uses pathos to appeal to a reader’s emotions. These types of arguments may draw passion, anger, or sympathy from the reader, thus persuading them to use their feelings to guide their decisions.

David nodded along as I explained the three appeals, and when I asked if the triangle made sense, he replied nonchalantly, “Yeah, it’s like Star Wars.”

Now it was my turn to give him a blank state. “Go on,” I told him.

He proceeded to breakdown how the three main characters in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope: Luke, Han, and Leia, provide excellent examples of ethos, pathos, and logos. In the film, the trio journeys through the galaxy to destroy the evil Empire’s Death Star, a massive spaceship that can detonate a planet with one shot.

Luke as Ethos
As they overcome many obstacles in trying to complete their mission, Luke relies on ethos, or ethics, to establish his credibility as a moral expert and persuade his friends and guide his actions. As a Jedi,—a “type of peace keeping space monk” according to David—Luke ‘s decisions are based on what he views as right or ethically sound for the good of others. Throughout the film, Han, Leia, and other characters fighting the Dark Side come to believe in Luke and value him as a leader because of his trustworthy character and moral actions. 

While you may not be able to use your moral code to save the galaxy, you can provide examples of yourself as an ethical writer and researcher in your scholarship, in order to best appeal to an academic audience. When you’re writing an academic paper, citing research shows the audience that you value the work of other researchers and that you also care about the accuracy of your own content. In turn, the audience trusts the claims you make because they know you are a trustworthy source.

Han and Pathos
Han is the opposite of Luke. Whenever a dangerous scenario begins to unfold, Han acts on his feelings with passion and anger, rather than trying to justify an argument with reason or a moral code. He is also an expert at appealing to others’ emotions and throughout the film he flirts and flatters his way out of a many risky situations. What you can learn from Han is what not to do in scholarly writing. 

Emotional appeals of anger or approval convey to an audience that you have not critically considered peer-reviewed research. These types of appeals usually rely on biased language and emotional reactions, depending on the type of audience, rather than concision and clarity to relay facts. While you shouldn’t rely on pathos to support an academic argument, you could effectively use pathos in marketing copy or fundraising to reach an audience more open to emotional appeals.

Leia’s Logos
Leia would never rely on emotions to make an argument. Han’s reactions and Luke’s moral code are illogical to the analytical Leia, who uses facts and possible outcomes when making decisions. Leia is a high-ranking official in the resistance to the Empire because she can present organized facts to the other officers. While her logic doesn’t always persuade Luke and Han, she is able to analyze the facts in front of her and make logical appeals to the appropriate audience such as generals and commanders. 

Making a logical argument may not work in arguments with a friend or partner, but in an academic or professional context, the audience will be more receptive to factual evidence you can provide in support of your argument.

At different points in the movie, Luke, Han, and Leia find success when their rhetorical choices appeal to the right audience. When writing a paper, the arguments you make must also convey your ethical choices and appeal to your reader through logic, while avoiding emotional and possibly biased claims. In persuading me that Star Wars was an excellent example of Aristotle’s triangle, David used logic to present evidence from the film; ethos, because he is a self-proclaimed expert and Star Wars nerd; and pathos to appeal to my love of the franchise. 

David, on the other hand, just claims he used the force.

Tasha Sookochoff is a writing instructor in the Walden University Writing Center. Along with earning degrees from the University of Wisconsin, Stout and Depaul University, Tasha has written documentation for the U.S. House of Representatives that increases government transparency, blogged for DePaul University, copy-edited the Journal of Second Language Writing, tutored immigrants and refugees at literacy centers, and taught academic writing to college students.

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Point of View Matters

I was nearing the end of my undergraduate program when an instructor recommended that I add a sentence to an analysis that said what my goal was. With those exact words: “My goal is…” I was floored. Throughout my entire academic career, I had it repeated over and over that academic writing is always done in the third person, which means I would never say I will do this, or my goal is that. But here was this type of document that allowed for use of first person, and I had an instructor who preferred it. I shrugged my shoulders and added it in.

Later, feeling comfortable using first person in my writing, I tried the same thing in a different course and was met with a fury of red pen: NO FIRST PERSON! Whoops. I guess not every instructor feels the same. This is why it is important to consider the points of view available to us as writers and the process in choosing which to use and when. So how do we consider which point of view is best to use in scholarly writing? Let’s walk through them each to learn more.

First Person Singular (I, me, my, mine)
As the writer, if you choose to use first person singular, you are referring to yourself and only yourself. But in scholarly writing, if you use first person in “I think” or “I believe” statements, you are actually weakening your writing. It is better to present your opinions without the use of first person. Take this for example:

Before: I think that legislation banning specific dog breeds is unethical.

After: Banning specific dog breeds is unethical

With the simple removal of the “I think” phrase, this sentence says the same thing but comes across with more power. Why is that? When a sentence begins with “I think” the subject and action of the sentence are you thinking. That means the main idea is just that you have an opinion. However, when a sentence begins with the actual main idea, banning specific dog breeds, that means the main idea is your actual topic and not yourself.

Walden has an official statement on the use of first person, and when it comes to choosing when to use first person or not, I recommend reserving it for times when you (and the actions you take) are the subject. For example, if you are conducting original research, we would want to see I will do A, B, and C. Additionally, if you are writing about your personal work and academic experiences, first person is required.

First Person Plural (we, our)
First person plural is less of a gray area. As we know, first person means you are referring to yourself, but the plural here means you are referring to yourself plus other people. In most academic writing situations, I advise against using first person plural because it assumes that your reader is in the same group as you, and we can’t guarantee that. For this reason, it is better to name who you mean.

Before: We must implement these leadership changes.

After: Organizations in transition must implement these leadership changes.

In the original version, the writer assumed every reader was part of a transitional organization. The edited version names who must implement the changes, and it is much clearer for that. As you can’t know the specifics of all your readers, it is best to always avoid first person plural in academic writing. Other forms of writing that are more casual, like blogs, or audience-specific, like an email to your team, benefit from first person plural.

Second Person (You, yours)
Using second person means you are speaking directly to your reader/s as if they were there in front of you. This can be powerful when giving a speech to an audience or proposing an idea to your supervisor, but it is trickier in academic writing when your audience isn’t in front of you. Second person, like first person plural, assumes things about your reader which might not be accurate.

Before: When conducting rounds, you should assess the care environment.

After: When conducting rounds, a nurse should assess the care environment.

In the original sentence, the writer assumed that all of their readers are nurses who conduct rounds. That can’t be guaranteed, so it is preferred to name who you are writing about. The revised sentence accurately identifies who should assess the care environment.

As we want to avoid assuming things about our reader, it is best to avoid second person in most formal forms of academic writing like course papers, major assessments, and any capstone document. However, you will probably find it useful to use second person when responding to a discussion post. If you know exactly who your “you” is, then it is appropriate to use it, which tends to be the case for a lot of writing outside of academia.

Third Person (it, he, she, they, them, their, theirs)
Third person singular and plural is the most preferred point of view in academic writing. This is because it is the most specific and accurate point of view. As we looked at, first person plural and second person can be unclear, so readers may wonder who is the “we” or “you” if it doesn’t refer directly to them. Clarity and accuracy are key in academic writing, and third person requires these things as writers must name the groups of people they are referring to. Third person also removes any assumptions a writer may make about their audience. As scholars, you should be striving for objective and research-based conclusions. While choosing a third person point of view should be your starting point for all academic writing, do note the times and situations where first person singular or second person may fit in.

As each assignment and situation differs, it is important that you think through your choice behind point of view. If you have any questions about what point of view would be most appropriate, ask your instructor for clarification and their preferences. Before you leave, consider going through this blog post to see what points of view I used throughout and why I may have chosen to use those.

Melissa Sharpe is a Writing Instructor in the Walden University Writing Center. Her favorite part of working with writers is helping to facilitate the writing process. 

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How To Write A Lot

On WriteCast, the Walden University Writing Center's writing-focused podcast, we recently shared a “book club” episode in which two of our writing instructors discuss the strategies in Paul J. Silvia’s How to Write a Lot: A Practical Guide to Productive Academic Writing. This is a great book for Walden students who have to write a lot as students at an online university! Today, I’m following up on that episode with some key points from Silvia’s book and some questions so that you can join our conversation. You can access WriteCast episode 65 on our podcast homepage by following this link. 

Make a Writing Schedule

Silvia’s primary recommendation is to schedule your writing time. Look at your schedule, figure out when you can write, and protect that time like you would any other appointment. There’s a romanticized idea that writers write when they are inspired, but Silvia points out that inspiration doesn’t really factor into academic writing. In fact, by showing up for your scheduled writing sessions consistently, you are more likely to feel inspired and less likely to experience “writer’s block.” (Note: I've put this term in quotes because Silvia argues that writer's block doesn't exist. We discuss this in the WriteCast episode, so if you'd like to consider this idea more, check out the episode!)

I find that I am best able to keep my commitment to my writing time when I schedule it for first thing in the morning. Then, it’s less likely to be interrupted by emergencies, and I won’t be tempted to schedule a doctor’s appointment when I should be writing.

When do you like to schedule your writing time, and how do you protect it?

Shift What “Counts” as Writing

Once you’ve scheduled your writing time, think about what you’ll do with it. If you’ve scheduled yourself for an hour every day, you might be wondering how you can possibly spend that much time writing. The idea of scheduled writing is much more palatable if you follow Silvia’s advice and expand your definition of what counts as writing to include all tasks that move your project forward: this means everything from initial research to final formatting.

This holistic definition of writing has been really important for me to stay consistent with my writing. Earlier this week, I rolled out of bed after my toddler had kept me up in the middle of the night. I convinced myself to sit down at my desk and get started, but I couldn’t seem to focus on the revision task I had planned for that session. Rather than abandon my writing entirely, I decided to spend the time formatting my references. This task wasn’t what I had planned, but it still needed to get done and still moved me closer to my goal.

What are tasks that need to get done before you can submit your work but may not feel like “real” writing?

Track your progress

It can be easy to feel overwhelmed with how far you have to go, especially when it comes to longer writing projects. To combat these negative feelings, Silvia recommends tracking your progress with objective data like minutes spent working or words written. Then, when you feel like you haven’t done enough, you can look back at your data and be proud of how far you have come.

I find tracking progress to be incredibly motivating. I do track the number of words I write each day, but I have found that using this metric alone doesn’t allow me to track my productivity on research-heavy days, when I am still working hard but may not be writing new words. In order to account for the different kinds of productivity that take place over the course of writing a dissertation, I also track time spent on the project each day, writing streaks (how many days in a row I’ve shown up for my writing), and have a calendar on my wall with a sticker for each day I’ve worked on my dissertation.

How do you keep track of your writing progress?

If you haven’t checked it out already, How to Write a Lot is a quick read with lots of great tips and a no-nonsense tone. Check it out, and let us know which strategies you’re using!

Cheryl Read is a Writing Instructor and the Coordinator of Asynchronous Course Visits in the Walden University Writing Center. She loves finding strategies to get lots of writing done. When she’s not helping student writers at Walden, Cheryl stays busy playing with her son and working on her dissertation.

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Using MEAL Plan Strategies for Tempo Learning Short-Answer Responses

As a student in a Tempo Learning program here at Walden University, I’ve gotten into a groove with my approach to each new competency. I open it up, check out the announcements, and then my next click is to the “Assessment” section to see what I’ll need to produce. I see variety in assessment formats, but what I’ve seen often are the short-answer assessments, and that’s what I’ll focus on today.

 
For short-answer assessments, there are usually a handful of prompts that require a response ranging from a few sentences to a few paragraphs. Usually I’ll download the provided template and scan through it to see what I’ll need to cover in the assessment, which also helps me decide how much time and attention to give to each the competency readings and materials.
 
After working through the competency materials and taking good notes, I usually find it rather easy to pull together the ideas for responding to each of the short-answer prompts. However, I noticed a pattern developing in my own writing for short-answer assessments that, as a writing instructor, kind of caught me in my steps. I noticed that I was sometimes responding to these prompts with two or three pieces of paraphrased evidence, and that was it. Sometimes my answers seemed a bit choppy or lacked flow (it can happen to the best of us, right?). Here’s an example of what I initially wrote for one of the prompts:

Short-Answer Prompt
Explain how a 2-year-old’s physical abilities compare to a 4-year-old’s physical abilities in a typically-developing child.

Response
Children around age 2 are typically running, climbing, bumping into things, and self-feeding (Stassen Berger, 2012). Four-year-olds may be catching balls, hopping on one foot, using scissors, and pouring from a pitcher (Stassen Berger, 2012).

Reference

Stassen Berger, K. (2012). Developing person through childhood (6th ed.). Retrieved from https://online.vitalsource.com/#/books/1464166528/

Somehow, I overlooked something that I work with Walden students on every day, and that’s creating strong academic writing and paragraphs. Understandably, the format of short answer is different than what is typical in most academic writing situations, so it might be easy to not think about implementing our “normal” practices for academic writing in this context. The prompts typically allow me to use just a few sentences and don’t necessarily stress crafting a well-developed, cohesive paragraph. However, in my Writing Instructor role, I know what I would say to this student. I’d say something like:

This evidence from the literature is a great start, and it definitely addresses the prompt. To take it a step further and demonstrate your knowledge and academic writing skills, you might use your own voice to introduce the evidence from the literature and also follow it up with your own voice, maybe adding some analysis or a wrap up for the paragraph. One helpful strategy for crafting paragraphs that flow well and are driven by your own voice is the MEAL Plan. MEAL Plan paragraphs start out with a topic sentence, or main idea, to help ease the reader into the paragraph. Then, they typically include evidence, analysis, and a lead out. Even if you’re not expected to go the extra step and create MEAL Plan paragraphs, it’s a great opportunity to practice.

So, with that in mind, I made sure to revise, using the MEAL Plan strategy as a guide:

Short-Answer Prompt
Explain how a 2-year-old’s physical abilities compare to a 4-year-old’s physical abilities in a typically-developing child.

New Response
There is a wide range and progression of physical development characteristics that children will exhibit from 2 to 4 years old. Children around age 2 are typically running, climbing, bumping into things, and self-feeding (Stassen Berger, 2012). These skills and behaviors continue to progress, and by the age of 4, children may be catching balls, hopping on one foot, using scissors, and pouring from a pitcher without spilling (Stassen Berger, 2012). The running and climbing practiced as a 2-year-old help prepare the child at 3 and 4 to hop, pedal a tricycle, and maneuver stairs without the use of hands. Developments in both fine and gross motor skills mean children can do more complex and precise movements as time passes.

Reference

Stassen Berger, K. (2012). Developing person through childhood (6th ed.). Retrieved from https://online.vitalsource.com/#/books/1464166528/

This revised response addresses the prompt in a more cohesive and complete manner than my initial version, which included only paraphrased evidence. The MEAL Plan makes a great guide, and though it might not fit perfectly for every short-answer prompt, using it can help you create well-rounded responses in your short-answer assessments.

Final note: Maybe you’re a Tempo student who’s coming into the program with a lot of experience, so it’s easy to write assessment responses maybe without even doing the reading. That’s great! One thing to keep in mind is that using evidence and citing sources helps improve your credibility as an author, so it’s still a good idea to bring in some evidence from a published source along with the evidence based on your personal experience.

Amy Bakke is a senior writing instructor and multilingual writing specialist at the Walden Writing Center. She enjoys researching cultural differences in education and considering how people with different perspectives and histories experience education at Walden. She also enjoys learning about child development as a student in Walden's M.S. in Early Childhood Studies Tempo program.

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Personal Communications in APA Style: When a Correspondence Becomes a Source

One source of information for evidence-based scholarly writing that gets somewhat overlooked is the personal communication. Though journal articles, academic books, and credible web pages are the most frequent sources used in academic writing, asking an authority in your field about a topic can certainly produce credible and useful evidence. Like other sources, though, APA requires that you document personal communications in a specific way. Identifying, citing, and referencing these sources correctly, while recognizing their limitations, gives authors a new well of information an evidence to help them support their ideas.

Identifying Personal Communications
Before you can work with personal communications, you first need to identify what sources fall under that category. According to section 6.20 of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, personal communications include “private letters, memos, some electronic communications, personal interviews, telephone conversations, and the like” (p. 179). Obviously, there is a bit of ambiguity here. One defining factor of personal communications is that they “do not provide recoverable data” (p. 179). There is not published document that is associated with these sources. This is one stark difference that separates personal communications from other sources.

Personal Communications and Reference Lists
Another distinguishing feature that is specific to personal communications is that they are not included in a reference list (Section 6.20). I know, this feels really weird. But, because there isn’t any published record of this source, there’s essentially nowhere to direct the reader for access to these sources. This too sounds weird. I assure you, though, these are acceptable sources.

Citing Personal Communications
Lastly, when you cite  personal communications, you include three pieces of information: the author’s name (including the author’s first initial), the words “personal communication,” and the exact date of communication (Section 6.20). This citation looks different than other citations that you may be more comfortable with. In a typical citation, you should include the last name of the author and the year of publication. In a personal communication, you show the reader in the very citation that this is a personal communication.

Personal Communication Citation Examples:

Narrative citation: M. Dusek (personal communication, August 30, 2018) argued that …

Parenthetical citation: (M. Dusek, personal communication, August 30, 2018).


Limitations of Personal Communications
Personal communications do have their limitations. As with all sources, you don’t want to lean to heavily on one particular source or type of sources to support your point. You want to include a strong variety of sources. This shows the reader that you’ve consulted a variety of perspectives on your topic. Similarly, because there isn’t a published, accessible record of personal communications, they should be used sparingly. This means that they aren’t verifiable by the reader, so these shouldn’t be the backbone of any argument that you are making. Lastly, the credibility of a personal communication is only as good as the person who is saying something. If the person you have corresponded with is of questionable credibility, your authority will similarly be questioned by the reader. To combat this, you can offer something of the person’s credentials as you introduce them to the reader.

For example: “M. Dusek (personal communication, August 30, 2018), Writing Instructor at Walden University, argued…”

Conclusion
Admittedly, personal communications aren’t the most common source used in academic writing. Still, for those of you participating in a long and detailed research process, this may be something that can be useful to you. As with all sources, citing these correctly can build your authority with the reader. It is also important to recognize that these sources have limitations and are meant to be used sparingly. Still, if you are wanting to use personal communications in your work, it is acceptable to do so.

Michael Dusek is a writing instructor in the Walden University Writing Center. He enjoys working with students and improving their writing skills. The idea that an essay is expressive as well as formal is a cornerstone of the way he views writing. He believes that approaching a writing project as a creative problem-solving activity can alleviate apprehension that students often encounter. In his personal life, he enjoys the outdoors, books, music, and all other types of art. 

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"That's Not Inflammable!" and other Double-Negative Adventures

When I was little I tried to use the explanation of double negatives to win arguments.

Older kid: “There’s not no such thing as Santa!”
Me: “You said ‘not no’! So you’re saying there is such a thing as Santa!”

This approach did not work. It was probably good foreshadowing for my future career interests, though.

Grammatically speaking, a double negative is when a writer or speaker uses two negations in a single sentence. And a negation is a word or addition to a word that reverses its meaning. Examples of negations include: no, not, nothing, nowhere, never, the prefixes un- (as in, uncovered or unintentional) and in- (as in inexcusable and indirect), and the suffix -less (as in useless and motionless). (Though just because the English language is weird, “flammable” and “inflammable” mean the same thing.) 

While it’s sometimes easy to understand the intended meaning of a double negative (like in the case of the kid who argued against Santa’s existence) it’s important to avoid double negatives as they can occasionally be confused with litotes.

Litotes is a fancy word for a figure of speech that uses understatement for emphasis. For example, someone might say “I don’t have no time.” If they are using a double negative, this would mean that they do not have availability in their schedule. In the case of litotes, however, they might be emphasizing the fact that they do have a little time. They could be clarifying that they’re not completely unavailable. Someone who says, “I can’t go nowhere” could either mean they are unable to leave their current location or that they absolutely must leave that location (“I can’t go nowhere!”) Like many other grammar rules, the difference between litotes and double negatives is usually obvious when said aloud, and is clarified by the speaker’s tone. Let's look at a few examples to illustrate my point.

In the 2016 Ghostbusters movie, Kristin Wiig’s character finds herself without her proton energy pack or identifying jumpsuit just as the supernatural apocalypse begins. She rushes to the street to flag down a cab and frantically tells the driver (Dan Aykroyd in a fan-appreciated cameo) where she needs to go. Aykroyd shrugs and tells her, “Eh, that’s a little bit further uptown than I like to go.” When Wiig protests that there are “real ghosts” invading New York, Aykroyd flippantly responds, “I don’t drive wackos, I don’t go to Chinatown, and I ain’t afraid of no ghosts” before driving off. Audiences watching this scene are not likely to confuse Aykroyd's meaning – he doesn’t want to drive Wiig to Chinatown, and he isn’t afraid of the ghosts she points out.

Alternatively, inflection is harder to convey in academic writing. A writer trying to clarify responsibility for patient care, for example, might want to emphasize the patient’s own agency while not diminishing the importance of responsible professional care. Their paper might read, “The patient’s care should not never be considered part of the patient’s own day-to-day priorities.” 

Here the writer would want the reader to read this as litotes. But a reader might mistakenly believe the writer is not following conventional grammar rules, and actually believes that the patient’s day-to-day priorities should never include their own care.

To ensure clarity, the writer could revise this to “Although a patient’s care is always an important part of a health professional’s responsibilities, the patient themselves should also prioritize their own care.” 

In U.S. academic writing, the onus is on the writer to make sure the reader understands exactly what each sentence means. Since we currently don’t have a way to establish tone and inflection in writing, it’s best to avoid double negatives, even now that you’ve got such an excellent understanding of how they work.

And while this post probably won’t help you win any debates through grammatical explanation, you can impress your friends with your knowledge of “litotes” at your next party. Or you can blow their minds with the whole flammable/inflammable thing.

Kacy Walz is a Minnesota native currently living in St. Louis, MO. She has been a Writing Instructor at Walden since 2016 and spends most of her free time trying to complete her PhD, seeking out adventure, and playing with her puppy dog.

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Thursday Thoughts: Live Webinars in May

Spring is a great time to build your academic writing knowledge and skills and we have several live webinars in May to help you do just that! As usual, we have relevant webinars for every student.

Plagiarism Prevention: The Three Components to Avoiding Plagiarism

Thursday, May 2nd, 2019 8:00p.m.-9:00 p.m. (Eastern)

Plagiarism can be an intimidating concept for many student writers. Everyone wants to avoid plagiarism, but it can be unclear what exactly plagiarism is and how to avoid it. Join the Writing Center for our three ways to avoid plagiarism in your writing. In this session you'll learn how to identify plagiarism, but then practical ways to avoid plagiarism in your own writing.

Mastering the Mechanics Part 3: Revising Sentence Structure

Tuesday, May 7th, 2019 12:00 p.m.-1:00 p.m. (Eastern)
In this webinar we will discuss advanced sentence structure errors and how to avoid them, focusing on revising tips and practice. Attend this webinar to learn how to become a better proofreader of your own grammar!

Strategies for Demystifying Walden Assignment Prompts

Wednesday, May 15th, 2019 6:00 p.m.-2700 p.m. (Eastern)
It's difficult to fulfill all of the requirements of an assignment if you're not sure what the assignment prompt is asking you to do, right? This webinar takes students through the three sections of Walden assignment prompts, presenting 7 strategies you can use for dissecting and demystifying the writing assignment requirements. We will also discuss what to do when you find an assignment prompt confusing and tips for what requirements are often required but left unsaid (like a thesis statement).

Writing at the Graduate Level
Monday, May 20th. 2019 8:00 p.m.-9:00 p.m. (Eastern)
We are not born knowing how to write academically, and you did not enter graduate school knowing how to write like a graduate student. After all, writing is a learning process. This session will discuss the characteristics of scholarly writing, giving you strategies to elevate your writing to graduate school expectations.

Discussing Method, Procedure, and Study Design
Wednesday, May 22nd, 2019 1:00 p.m.-2:00 p.m. (Eastern)
Your reader not only wants to understand the results of your study, but also how you achieved those results: in other words, the rationale for your design and the methodology for collecting data. Join this webinar for a discussion of common writing issues students face when discussing these elements as well as strategies for overcoming them.

Writing Effective Academic Paragraphs

Thursday, May 30th, 2019 12:00 p.m.-1:00 p.m. (Eastern)
Paragraphs are the building blocks of an academic essay, and the strength of your writing and argument depend on developing effective paragraphs. Learn how to develop effective academic paragraphs by using topic, analysis, evidence, and concluding sentences (including an explanation of the MEAL plan). You will leave this webinar with a better understanding of the components of an effective paragraph, as well as tips for creating cohesion between and within paragraphs.

If you are unable to attend any of these sessions in person, we post recordings of every live webinar event on the Walden University Writing Center website. The recordings of these sessions are posted 24 hours after they take place, and you can watch them free and on-demand. 

The Walden University Writing Center creates content to help students with a range of topics related to scholarly writing, APA style, and the writing process. We host webinars, and offer paper reviews, live chat, and a podcast.

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