Some Action Items going forward:

• The rest of the assignments will require a more formal approach and require synthesis of the research-based, scholarly LIS literature you’ve located and a high degree of critical thinking. This is an expectation of graduate level work.
• Review the assignment pages closely for our remaining assignments. They build toward the final deliverable: the research paper.
• Start with a cohesive outline and logical flow for your written work – especially the research paper.
• Use the assignment helpers and follow formatting directions closely for the research paper.
• Always cite your sources in written work. Get in the habit of using proper APA 7 (but remember that APA can’t be perfectly formatted in WordPress)
• Refer to Module 2 and other resources for citation guidelines in APA 7 and how to properly cite in text.
• Be mindful of making any generalizations in your formal writing without supporting evidence from peer reviewed and professional sources.
• Pay close attention to assignment guidelines and rubrics. The rubrics detail expectations for successful assignments.
• Please follow the submission procedures on each assignment page.

Further Action Items for your academic writing based on a few consistent things I noted in the reviews:

• Avoid the use of contractions in your academic writing. Phrases such as “It is…” or “It has..” should be spelled out. This also avoids any confusion with the use of it’s or its.
• Be mindful of colloquial phrases in academic writing. Colloquial: “Based on our research, it really seems like X and Y are connected, no doubt about it.”  Better:”The findings of this study strongly suggest a causal relationship between variables X and Y.”
• Scholars argue, write, find, discuss, note, etc in their studies and monographs.  If you are writing about an article, book, study, etc, use phrases such as “Dervin argues that….” or “In the article, Bates writes that information seeking…”or “Kuhlthau finds…” instead of using the verb “talks” (as in “In the article, Stephens talks about a professional development program…”)
• Avoid including article titles in your text, instead use the APA 7 standard: Last name of author and year published in parentheses. “Stephens (2016) finds that students using blogs….”
• Academic writing is balanced and uses evidence (studies, peer-reviewed articles, scholarly monographs) to support ideas and concepts.  Avoid sweeping generalizations or sharing opinions with out evidence to back the statements up.
• Most monographs in INFO 200 are non fiction not novels.
• Be mindful of grammar errors and typos. Proof your work closely. Ask a colleague or friend to proof as well.

Use these as guidelines as you prepare your next assignments.