Patchwriting Identification

Patchwork Identification

While writing, an author may use patchwriting while paraphrasing information from another source.  Often times, words are omitted, synonyms are used to replace key terms, and grammar may be adjusted.  To avoid patchwriting the author must put the information into his/her own words.

Exercise 8.1 Recognizing Patchwriting

In the draft note there are several examples of patchwriting.  The paragraph was not put into the authors own words.  The author neglected to write the paragraph using his/her own words.  He/she deleted several words and used the same phrases with only minimal word replacement.    

Revised Draft:

A recent article that appeared in the Lowell Sun newspaper caused a blackout of Wikipedia on Capitol Hill.  The blackout was a result of several editors of Wikipedia reading the article that reported that members of Representative Meehan’s staff confessed that they altered information pertaining to Meehan on Wikipedia.  Wikipedia, unhappy with Capitol Hill, prevented access to Wikipedia on computers connected to the House of Representatives.      

What is evidence?

What is evidence?

While writing a research paper, the author will need to support the main idea or thesis.  This is done by providing evidence from other reliable sources and citing the source.  The evidence that an author can use include: facts, statistics, expert testimony, observations, examples, case studies, anecdotes, and textual passages.  The author may choose to include the visual support of tables, graphs, charts, time lines, and maps.  By using reliable supporting information, the author is providing evidence that supports the thesis and is credible.