Mohamed Lamine Debaghine Setif 2 university, Algeria MOAW lessons 2021-2022

Asma Khattala

Methodology of Academic Writing (MOAW) Lessons

Lesson 01: Revision (part 1)

Why conducting a master's research?
Thesis Vs Dissertation
Each school and program has its own guidelines for what a thesis and dissertation
should contain, as well as its structure. However, it is important to have an overview of the
difference between a thesis and a dissertation.
A dissertation is a lengthy piece of written work that includes original research or
expanded research on a new or existing topic. As a doctoral student, you get to choose what
you want to explore and write about within your field of study.
A thesis is also a scholarly piece of writing, but it is for those who are graduating
from a master’s program. A thesis allows students to showcase their knowledge and expertise
within the subject matter they have been studying.
There is a difference in length between these two major works. A master's thesis
should be at least 100 pages in length, likely a bit beyond that. However, a doctoral
dissertation should be much longer, because they involve a great deal of background and
research information, along with every detail of your proposal and how you arrived at the
information. A dissertation is an extremely complex work. It will likely be two, possibly even
three, times the length of a thesis.
The following table demonstrates the main points of difference between the thesis and
dissertation.

Parameter of
Thesis Dissertation
Comparison

A thesis can be submitted during

Time of A dissertation is commonly done in between
the completion of any graduate
submission the doctoral program.
program.

A thesis is successful if the Dissertations are successful only if there is

Knowledge research papers studied and the potential within the individual and the
observations noted are right. contribution thus is unique.

A thesis is a study report and is

Dissertation is a proof that the individual is
Expansion proof of the field of interest of an
capable of dealing in a certain field.
individual.

The length of a thesis is limited

There is no specific length for a dissertation.
Length and can be between 100-150
It is lengthier than a thesis.
pages.

Components of an MA thesis
an MA thesis is usually composed of the following:
• General Introduction
• Chapter 1: A literature review (with sections)
• Chapter 2: research methodology and design (research tools)

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• Chapter 3: results (analysis, interpretation, recommendations, and implications)

NB: The organization of the body depends on the field of research, the subject being
explored, and the department’s guidelines.

Lessons 02: Revision (part 2)

General Introduction components
It is composed of the following elements:
1. Background of the Study
2. Statement of the Problem
3. Purpose of the Study
4. Research Questions
5. Research Hypotheses (in the Experimental Design)
6. Significance of the Study
7. Overview of the Methodology
8. Operational Definitions of Key Terms
9. Structure of the Thesis
The general introduction items may differ from one thesis to another and sometimes they
may have a different order.
Importance of the exploration phase
Any research project should begin with an exploration phase. It enables you to
establish that there is an issue worth investigating and that your topic selection is reasonable,
rather than arbitrary. You may utilize observation checklists, interviews, focus groups, or
even informal discussions to indicate that the subject under inquiry is worth researching. This
step is critical because it acts as a reinforcer throughout the study problem statement
writing process. When referring to the problem at hand, you must explain how and why you
addressed it.

Writing a research problem

Writing a research problem statement usually goes through a three-phase process.
• Step 1 (Statement 1): Describe a goal or desired state of a given situation,
phenomenon, etc. This will build the ideal situation (what should be, what is expected
or desired)
• Step 2 (Statement 2): Describe a condition that prevents the goal, state, or value
discussed in Step 1 from being achieved or realized at the present time. This will
build the reality or the situation as it is and establish a gap between what ought to be
and what is.
• Step 3 (Connect the previous sentences): Connect steps 1 and 2 using a connecting
term such as "but," "however," “unfortunately,” or “in spite of.”
• Step 4 (Statement 3): Using specific details, show how the situation in step 2
contains a little promise of improvement unless something is done. Then emphasize
the benefits of research by projecting the consequences of possible solutions.

How to write the literature review

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Writing a literature review can be a systematic process that includes 6 main stages. After
gathering your references, deciding on an outline, and opening a new Word document page,
you need to:
First, create a skeleton: copy the information from the references under each heading of
your literature review outline. You will have a long first draft of your literature review
chapter.
Second, de-clutter: In this step, you will remove all unnecessary redundant information from
your items. In this step, the number of pages will be reduced to a minimum as only important
information is kept under each heading.
Third, Achieving Coherence: Now that only the essential information has been saved in the
text of your literature review, it is time to organize and rearrange the items based on their
proper order (chronology, order of importance, ...etc.). Organize the sentences and add
introductory and concluding sentences to the existing sentences. Add transition adverbs as
needed. Keep in mind here that we still have the content in people's words as it appears in
their written works. This leads to the next stage.
Fourth, Paraphrase: Now that you have coherent paragraphs but are still mentioned in other
people's words, go through your elements and paraphrase in your own words. You can use
the software applications mentioned on the last page of these handouts. It is better to
paraphrase than quote because this demonstrates your efforts to interpret others' ideas from
your point of view.
Fifth, Edit: At this point, you'll be checking for grammatical, spelling, and punctuation
errors. You can also change the sentence structure or add more specific terms just to refine
your work into its best version.
Sixth, Check for Plagiarism: Stealing the efforts of others is an unjustified act, and the least
you can do is paraphrase whenever possible. It is recommended after completing the entire
chapter of the literature review to check the plagiarism percentage. The latter depends on the
institution. Some institutions accept a maximum of 20 to 25% of plagiarism. However, the
lower the plagiarism rate, the better. When you find a higher percentage of plagiarism, try to
paraphrase where plagiarism seems to take up a large part of your text.

Important notes
• You have to cite while writing. List the full reference under the copied items so you
don't get lost later as you organize and paraphrase your ideas.
• show yourself! From time to time, state your orientation with respect to a particular
point or to make a more accurate and appropriate idea for your study. The reader
needs to make sure you are there from time to time.
• Remember that a literature review is about other people's work. Your touch is in
selecting and organizing ideas based on your research purposes.
• Don't edit as you write, it's best to write in a very basic language because the main
focus here is to get a first draft of the literature review. There will be several rounds
of editing in later stages.
• Within each section of a literature review, it is important to discuss how the research
relates to other studies (how is it similar or different, what other studies have been
done, etc.) as well as to demonstrate how it relates to your own work. This is what the
review is for: don’t leave this connection out!

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The length of the literature review

The length of a literature review varies depending on its purpose and audience. In a thesis,
the review is usually a full chapter (at least 20 pages).
The optimal length of literature review for this should be 20% of the total length of the thesis
project. The length varies with the length of the thesis a student is writing. For example, in a
70-page thesis, the literature review should be not less than 14 pages.

The tense to use while writing the literature review

APA calls for consistency and accuracy in verb tense usage (see APA 7, Section 4.12 and
Table 4.1). In other words, avoid unnecessary shifts in verb tense within a paragraph or in
adjacent paragraphs to help ensure smooth expression.
Use the past tense (e.g., researchers presented) or the present perfect (e.g., researchers have
presented) for the literature review and the description of the procedure if discussing past
events.
Use the past tense to describe the results (e.g., test scores improved significantly).
Use the present tense to discuss implications of the results and present conclusions (e.g., the
results of the study show…).
When explaining what an author or researcher wrote or did, use the past tense.
Patterson (2012) presented, found, stated, discovered…

However, there can be a shift to the present tense if the research findings still hold true:
King (2010) found that revising a document three times improves the final grade.
Smith (2016) discovered that the treatment is effective.

Simple past Vs present perfect

Rules for the use of the present perfect differ slightly in British and American English.
Researchers have also found that among American English writers, sometimes individual
preferences dictate whether the simple past or the present perfect is used. In other words, one
American English writer may choose the simple past in a place where another American
English writer may choose the present perfect.

Keep in mind, however, that the simple past is used for a completed action. It often is used
with signal words or phrases such as "yesterday," "last week," "1 year ago," or "in 2015" to
indicate the specific time in the past when the action took place.

I went to China in 2010.

He completed the employee performance reviews last month.

The present perfect focuses more on an action that occurred without focusing on the specific
time it happened. Note that the specific time is not given, just that the action has occurred.

I have traveled to China.

The present perfect focuses more on the result of the action.
He has completed the employee performance reviews.

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The present perfect is often used with signal words such as "since," "already," "just," "until
now," "(not) yet," "so far," "ever," "lately," or "recently."

I have already traveled to China.

He has recently completed the employee performance reviews.
Researchers have used this method since it was developed.

Lesson 03: All about thesis title and abstract

Title’s Content
• The title should be a concise statement of the main topic of the research and should
identify the variables or theoretical issues under investigation and the relationship
between them.
• The title should clearly demonstrate your case of study
• Avoid words that serve no purpose. For example, the words "method" and "results"
and phrases as "a study of" or "an experimental investigation of”.
• Avoid using abbreviations in a title; spelling out all terms helps ensure accurate titles
and helps readers to more comprehend its meaning.
Examples
1. The Effectiveness of Intercultural Awareness in Improving EFL Learners’
Communicative Competence. Case of Third Year English Students at Biskra
University
2. Students’ Perceptions toward the Role of Oral Presentations in Enhancing the
Speaking Skill. Case of Second Year LMD Students of English at Mohamed Lamine
Debaghine University Setif 2
3. Student Impressions of Syllabus Design: Engaging Versus Contractual Syllabus
4. “HOW TO IMPROVE WRITING SKILLS OF STUDENTS”

Title’s Format
Words are Capitalized when:
• Nouns, verbs (including linking verbs), adjectives, adverbs, pronouns.
• All words of four letters or more are considered major words more (e.g., "With,"
"Between," "From").
• The second part of hyphenated major words (e.g., "Self-Report," not "Self-report").
• The first word of the title or heading, even if it is a minor word such as “The” or “A”.
• The first word after a colon, em dash “_”, or end punctuation in a heading, even if it is
a minor word.

Example:
Media Influences on Self-Stigma of Seeking Psychological Services: The Importance of
Media Portrayals and Person Perception
An example to be corrected:
the Effects of Implementing the DRTA on the Inferential comprehension of Tertiary grade
Learners: the case of First-year Students of English at l’Ecole Normale
Supérieure of Sétif -Messaoud Zougar-Algeria

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The Effects of Implementing the Directed Reading Thinking Activity on the Inferential
Comprehension of Tertiary Grade Learners
Case of First-Year Students of English at l’Ecole Normale Supérieure of Sétif -Messaoud
Zougar-Algeria

Important Remark: lowercase only minor words that are three letters or fewer in a title.
• short conjunctions (e.g., "and;' "as;' "but," "for," "if," "nor," "or," "so," "yet")
• short prepositions (e.g., "as," "at," "by," "for," "in," "of," "off," "on," "per," "to," "up,"
via")
• articles ("a," "an," "the").

The Number of Words in a thesis Title

Although there is no prescribed limit for title length in APA Style, authors are
encouraged to keep their titles focused and succinct.
For example, a professor might ask a paper to have 15 to 25 words in the title. 10 to
15 is a great number to work with for a thesis title.
Never have a title that is less than 5 words.
Is the case study included in the counting? YES!
write in American or British English ONLY

Title’s Position in the Title Page/ Cover

The title is written in bold, centered, and positioned in the upper half of the title page
(e.g., three or four lines down from the top margin of the page).
If the title is longer than one line, the main title and the subtitle can be separated on
double-spaced lines if desired.

Thesis Abstract
The abstract is often the last item that you write, but the first thing people read when
they want to have a quick overview of the whole paper.
An abstract is a brief, comprehensive summary of the contents of the paper.
Abstract length varies by discipline and publisher requirements. Typical length ranges from
100 to 500 words, but very rarely more than a page.

Abstract elements
1) the overall purpose of the study and the research problem(s) you investigated;
2) the basic design of the study;
3) major findings or trends found as a result of your analysis; and,
4) a brief summary of your interpretations and conclusions.

Use the active voice when possible, but note that much of your abstract may require
passive sentence constructions. Regardless, write your abstract using concise, but complete,
sentences. Get to the point quickly and always use the past tense because you are reporting on
a study that has been completed.
Abstract Should NOT contain:
• Lengthy background or contextual information,
• Redundant phrases, unnecessary adverbs and adjectives, and repetitive information;

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• Acronyms or abbreviations,
• References to other literature [say something like, "current research shows that..." or
"studies have indicated..."],
• Using ellipticals [i.e., ending with "..."] or incomplete sentences,
• Jargon or terms that may be confusing to the reader,
• Citations to other works, and
• Any sort of image, illustration, figure, or table, or references to them.

Abstract Format
Place the abstract on its own page.
Write the title "Abstract" in bold title case, centered at the top of the page, and place
the abstract below the title.
Abstracts are written in paragraph format as a single paragraph without indentation
(one single block)
Important Remark: Never Cite Just the Abstract! because it is not confirmed whether or not
you read the entire paper/ thesis/ dissertation.
Keywords of the Abstract
Keywords are words, phrases, or acronyms that describe the most important aspects
of your paper. They are used for indexing in databases and help readers, find your
work during a search.
provide three to five keywords describing the content
Keywords are words or phrases that you feel capture the most important aspects of
your paper. To create yours, just think about the topics in your paper: What words
would you enter into a search box to find your paper? Use those!
Format of Keywords
Write 'the label "Keywords:" (in italic) one line below the abstract.
The keywords are written in lowercase (but capitalize proper nouns)
Keywords are separated by commas. (,)
The keywords can be listed in any order.
Do not use a period or other punctuation after the last keyword

Example
Algerian Higher education knew a transition to online courses caused by COVID-19 spread.
Without prior familiarity with this type of education, such a transition may negatively impact
the teaching/learning process. This study analyzes teachers’ and students’ perspectives about
online education and suggests implications for its improvement. Therefore, an online survey
and Likert scale questionnaire were administered to university teachers and students,
respectively. Results revealed that university e-learning suffers from basic issues, including a
shortage of internet and communication technologies. Among study proposing, we find that
online education should be gradually blended alongside conventional education considering
some important factors such as affordability and accessibility of information and
communication technologies as well as training teachers and students to use learning platforms
like Moodle.
Keywords: Higher education, Online education, COVID-19, Moodle

Lesson 04: Background of the study and the literature review

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What is the BG of the study?

The background of the study forms the first part of the Introduction section in a thesis.
It establishes the context for the study and helps the readers understand why your research
topic is important. The background of the study provides general information on what is
known to date about the topic of your study and identifies the gaps in knowledge that remain
unaddressed. It goes on to explain the need to address these gaps and how your study
proposes to fulfill that need. It also briefly summarizes what the study aims to achieve.

Thus, the background of the study does the following

1. Introduces the broad area of research leading up to the topic

2. Briefly summarizes previous research to accentuate progress in the field (A

chronological description and evaluation of events or research that have led up to the
current research problem)

3. Identifies gaps in knowledge that remain unaddressed

4. Justifies why these gaps need to be addressed

5. Summarizes what the current study aims to achieve

Differences between study background and literature review

We have seen that the background of a study summarizes previous knowledge about the
topic. Even as you read this, you might have asked yourself: But isn't that what the literature
review section of a paper is supposed to do? Well, both sections talk about the existing
scientific knowledge in a research area and highlight gaps that need to be addressed.
However, there are significant distinctions between them as mentioned below:

• The study background is the first part of the introduction section, which introduces
the research topic and sets the context of your research. The literature review stands
as an independent chapter after the general introduction.

• The background of a study is written to justify the need for and highlight the
significance of your research while the literature review is written to evaluate the
progress of knowledge in your research area.

• While the study background is written shortly and concisely, the literature review is
relatively detailed.

• We can say that the background broadly introduces the topic of your research while
the literature review tracks the existing knowledge in the field and helps identify the
exact gaps in research that your study will address.

Here are some tips on how you can write an engaging background:

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• Write clearly, but concisely: Don’t write a background that is too long or too short.
Focus on including all the important details in a concise manner.

• Don't be ambiguous. Writing in a way that does not convey the message to the readers
defeats the purpose of the background, so express yourself keeping in mind that the
reader does not know your research intimately.

• Center your discussion around the pivotal aspects of your research topic; i.e.,
highlight the gaps in the literature, state the novelty of the study, and the need to
conduct the study. Don’t discuss any unrelated themes.

• Organize your writing carefully. Chronologically discuss the themes to ensure that the
reader has a clear understanding of the progress in the field.

Avoid making these common mistakes

• Just the specification of preliminary data about the topic. Instead, delve deeper
into the topic’s key concepts.

• Providing information without references.

• Do not make the background with too much data and as a long drag. It causes a
loss of readers' interest and deviation from the topic.

• The information in the background should not digress into a broad literature
review or deviate too much from the topic. Instead, all ideas should be presented
to the reader in form of a story.

• Discussion of theories. Theories should be discussed in the literature review

instead. Only pivotal aspects like gaps, novelty or need of study should be
discussed.

• Avoid repetition and lack of flow. The content should not be disorganized. Inadequate
format prevents the delivery of relevant information to the reader; thus, all themes
should be presented chronologically.

Lesson 05: In-text citations in APA 7th style

An in-text citation is the brief form of the reference that you include in the body of your
work. It gives enough information to uniquely identify the source in your reference list. The
brief form usually consists of:

• the family name of the author(s), and

• year of publication.

In-text citations can either be in a parenthetical form or have part of the citation included
in the narrative of your work:

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Parenthetical citation
The general form is (Author, date), within parenthesis. Parenthetical citation is also
known as information-prominent citation: it is used to emphasize the information being cited.
... as has been shown in a recent study (Mihrshahi & Baur, 2018), and discussed at length in
the literature in years past (Smith, 2007).

Narrative citation
Narrative citation is also known as author-prominent citation. Narrative citations
place more emphasis on the author of the work you are using.
You do not necessarily need to use parenthetical citations in your work, but you must include
both the author and the date of the work you wish to cite within the body of your text. There
are multiple ways to include a citation within the narrative. Here are two examples:
Kessler (2014) found that among epidemiological samples . . .
In 2014, Kessler's study of epidemiological samples showed that . . .

Idea paraphrased Direct quotation included

Social media users will share different Social media users "attempted to curate their
Parenthetical
types of content on different sites, often shared content depending on how they
citation
basing their decisions on a mental model imagined their audience on different social
of how their audience on each site will media platforms" (Pitcan et al., 2018, p. 170).
react (Pitcan et al., 2018).

Participants in a 2018 study by Pitcan et Participants in a study by Pitcan et al. (2018)

The citation
al. shared different content on different "attempted to curate their shared content
included in the
social media sites, basing their decisions depending on how they imagined their
narrative
on a mental model of how their audience audience on different social media platforms"
on each site would react. (p. 170).

Number of authors in an in-text citation

• If the work you are citing has one or two authors, include them in your citation every
time. Separate two authors with an ampersand (&) in parenthetical citations, but write
out the word 'and if discussing the work in-text.
• If the work has 3 or more authors, your brief in-text citation will give only the
family name of the first author, followed by "et al." (which means "and others").

Other rules
More than one work by the same author
• In the same source (article, book, thesis ...etc.), If you use more than one idea by the
same author, use the letters a, b, etc., after the year.
"The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog" (Seuss, 2007a, pp. 7-8).
• Narrative Citations

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When you use the author's last name in the narrative of your paper, leave their name out of
the parentheses.
example: In his scholarly study, Dr. Seuss observed that "the quick brown fox jumped over
the lazy dog" (2007, pp. 7-8).
In 2007, Dr. Seuss suggested that "the quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog" (pp. 7-8).
• Complex cases
Jones, Smith, Liu, Huang, and Kim (2020)
Jones, Smith, Ruiz, Wang, and Stanton (2020)
They would be cited in-text as follows to avoid ambiguity:
(Jones, Smith, Liu, et al., 2020)
(Jones, Smith, Ruiz, et al., 2020)
In et al., et should not be followed by a period. Only "al" should be followed by a period.
• Referring to a title
If you refer to the title of a source within your paper, capitalize all words that are four letters
long or greater within the title of a source: Permanence and Change. Exceptions apply to
short words that are verbs, nouns, pronouns, adjectives, and adverbs: Writing New Media,
There Is Nothing Left to Lose

How do you cite multiple works for one idea?

Narrative citations can be in any order. To include multiple parenthetical citations for the
same idea, fold the references into the same set of parentheses, separated with a semi-colon.
Place the works in the order they appear in the reference list, which is usually alphabetically
by first author. If including two works with the same author (or first author) but different
dates, give the author only once, and list the dates in chronological author.
Please note that you do not need to include an exhaustive list, and too many citations can be
visually disruptive for a reader. Include only the citations you need to support your work.
What counts as an appropriate level of the citation depends on the context.
Multiple references, in general
(Cairns, 2013; Gemmill et al., 2001)
Same author, multiple dates
(Smith, 2015, 2019)

What if I want to cite something that is cited in another work (secondary citation)?
Citing content you found in one source that is originally from another source (e.g. a
quote from a book that was cited in a lecture) is called a secondary citation. Usually, you
want to avoid doing this: it is better to find the original source, read it, and cite that. You can't
be sure that the source you read has represented the original idea fairly.
If the original source is not available, give an end-text reference only for the work you
consulted, but mention the author and date of both the work you used and the original in your
in-text citations.

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For instance, if I wish to use material from an out of print poetry book by S. Khoo
(originally published in 1928), which was quoted in a 2020 video by L. Sheridan, my in-text
citation will look like this:
(Khoo, 1928, as cited in Sheridan, 2020)
Another example, if you read a work by Lyon et al. (2014) in which Rabbitt (1982)
was cited, and you were unable to read Rabbitt’s work yourself, cite Rabbitt’s work as the
original source, followed by Lyon et al.’s work as the secondary source. Only Lyon et al.’s
work appears in the reference list.

(Rabbitt, 1982, as cited in Lyon et al., 2014)

If the year of the primary source is unknown, omit it from the in-text citation.

Allport’s diary (as cited in Nicholson, 2003)

More examples with paraphrasing

Paraphrasing: restating the sentence in your own words.
author's name, the year of publication There is NO page number included here.
One author
At the beginning: (narrative)
Orr (2001) identifies further.........
By the end: (parenthetical)
ESP in a given location in the world may not be considered the same elsewhere (Robinson,
1980).
Two authors:
At the beginning:
Hutchinson and Waters (1987) noted that.....
Mackay and Mountford (1978) state that ESP is generally used to refer to the teaching of
English.....
By the end:
.......(Hutchinson & Waters, 1987)
The following table summarizes most of the cases of in-text citations in relation to authors’
number and type.

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Author type Parenthetical citation Narrative citation

One author (Smith, 2020) Smith (2020) examined ...

Two authors (Smith & Jones, 2020) Smith and Jones (2020)
examined ...

Three or more authors (Smith et al., 2020) Smith et al. (2020)

examined ...

Author of a chapter in an edited book (chapter author/s, 2020) Smith (2020) suggested...
If a chapter is cited, cite the chapter (Smith, 2020)
author/s, not the editor/s

Works with the same author and same date (Smith, 2020a, 2020b) In her papers Smith (2020a,
2020b) described ...
Add a, b, etc. to the year in the in-text
citation and reference list.

Authors with the same surname (A. Smith, 2020; B. Smith, Alexandra Smith (2020)
2019) and Brian Smith (2019)
Include the initials and arrange
provided ...
names alphabetically
APA Manual see p. 267, s8.20

Group author with abbreviation First citation - full name First citation - full name
with abbreviation: with abbreviation:
APA Manual see p. 268, s8.21
(National Institute of National Institute of Water
Water and Atmospheric and Atmospheric Research
Reference list: Use the full name of the Research [NIWA], 2020) (NIWA, 2020) reported ...
group. Do not abbreviate the group name
Subsequent citations: Subsequent citations:
(NIWA, 2020) NIWA (2020) provided ...

Group author without abbreviation (Ports of Auckland, 2020) Ports of Auckland (2020)
reported ...

Citing multiple works (Jones, 2020; Ports of Smith et al. (2020), Jones
Parenthetical citation: place citations in Auckland, 2019; Smith et (2020), and Ports of
alphabetical order separated by a semi- al., 2020) Auckland (2019) examined
colon. ...
Narrative citation: citations can be
presented in any order.

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 Mohamed Lamine Debaghine Setif 2 university, Algeria MOAW lessons 2021-2022
Asma Khattala

No author - use the title and date. APA A book with no author: A book with no author:
Manual p. 264. (Oral presentations, n.d.) In Oral presentations (n.d.)
there is ...
Use italics if the work title is in italics in the
reference list, e.g a book with no author. An article with no author:
An article with no author:
In "Understanding the
Journal or magazine article without an ("Understanding the
Sensory Memory" (2018)
author: use the title to replace the author's Sensory Memory," 2018)
there is a description...
place; use double quotation marks around
the title; use title case (sentence case is
usded in the reference list entry); shorten a (Anonymous, 2020)
long title.

If there is no author but "Anonymous" for a

work, use it in the citation.

Personal communication (E. Chapman, personal E. Chapman (personal

communication, January communication, January
Not recoverable. Do not include in the
20, 2020) 20, 2020) informed me of
reference list.
...
More examples on the personal
communication page.
APA Manual p. 260, s8.9

Quick remarks

• Write the name exactly as it appears on the published work

• Retain the author’s preferred capitalization ( if the name is written entirely in an upper
case, leave it as it is and do not turn it in the lower case when you cite it)

Direct Quotation
It is when you take the author’s idea as it appears in the source without any paraphrasing or
reformulation. If you are including a word-for-word quote from another work, you must
enclose the quote in quotation marks and add the page number or numbers to your citation.
For quotations that are on one page, type "p." before the page number. For quotations that
start on one page and end on another page, use "pp." instead.
Example:
Quote, two pages: "The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog" (Seuss, 2007, pp. 7-8)

Format of a quote
• If the quotation is fewer than 40 words, incorporate it into your paragraph and enclose
it in double quotation marks. Place the in-text reference before the full stop.
• If the quotation comprises 40 or more words, include it in an indented, freestanding
block of text, without quotation marks. At the end of a block quotation, cite the
quoted source and the page number in parentheses, after the final punctuation mark.
• If the quote is at the heart of a sentence, there is no need to put the FULL STOP either
before or after the reference.

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Mohamed Lamine Debaghine Setif 2 university, Algeria MOAW lessons 2021-2022
Asma Khattala

Example: Mindfulness has a range of meanings as it "has become a trend word conveying a
diversity of understandings dependent on context" (Crane, 2017, p. 586) and can
encompass...
Example: As Crane (2017) said, "Mindfulness has become a trend word conveying a
diversity of understandings dependent on context" (p. 586) and can encompass...

Long quote
Place direct quotations that are 40 words or longer in a free-standing block of typewritten
lines and omit quotation marks.
Start the quotation on a new line, indented 1/2 inch from the left margin, i.e., in the same
place you would begin a new paragraph. Maintain double-spacing throughout the quote.
Example 1:

Example 2:
Social media users will share different types of content on different sites, often basing their
decisions on a mental model of how their audience on each site will react.
Many participants curated a respectable online presence by avoiding sexual innuendo
and censoring opinions on controversial topics. Aviva was “very wary about the things
[she] puts online.” . . . She described her online self as a different “form.” She chose to
present a fragment of herself because certain facets of her being would be unacceptable
to her imagined audience. (Pitcan et al., 2018, p. 170)

Note the ellipsis (. . .) in the quote above. This indicates that some text from the original work
was omitted for this quotation.

More examples of Short quotations citations

One author (At the beginning):
Ibrahim (2017) explains, “Learning English has become purposeful, not only for pleasure but
because it is the language of technology and commerce” (p. 1).
By the end:
Mohamed Lamine Debaghine Setif 2 university, Algeria 15
Mohamed Lamine Debaghine Setif 2 university, Algeria MOAW lessons 2021-2022
Asma Khattala

Because of these reasons for learning, ESP is shaped as a “goal-oriented and well-targeted
instruction system” (Zhang, 2013, p. 72).
Two authors (At the beginning):
Hutchison and Waters (1987) explained that “ESP is ........” (p.6).
According to Jones (1998), "students often had difficulty using APA style, especially when it
was their first time" (p. 199).
She stated, "Students often had difficulty using APA style" (Jones, 1998, p. 199), but she did
not offer an explanation as to why.

Software applications that help you while working on your thesis

Quillbot (for paraphrasing)
https://quillbot.com/

Grammarly (for grammar, punctuation, spelling check)

https://app.grammarly.com/

Ginger
https://www.gingersoftware.com/grammarcheck

Turnitin to check plagiarism)

https://www.turnitin.com/

Websites to obtain resources from to write your literature review

Google Scholar for articles
https://scholar.google.com/

Library Genesis and Z-library for free books

http://libgen.rs/

https://z-lib.org/

Sci-hub to get paid article for free

https://sci-hub.hkvisa.net/
This website changes its host frequently so in case you didn’t find the website, only search in
google for the latest link.

Citation websites to generate references automatically

https://www.bibme.org/
https://www.citethisforme.com/

Or, you can use this software application called Mendeley.

This is a link to a tutorial on how to use Mendeley (in Arabic), you can find plenty of English
tutorials if you want.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GNg0AoVNMM&ab_channel=MohammedKaity

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Mohamed Lamine Debaghine Setif 2 university, Algeria MOAW lessons 2021-2022
Asma Khattala

As you write, you should, from time to time, store your work in a USB flash drive or upload
it online in any of the cloud storage sites like Google Drive and Dropbox, or simply send it
via email to a trusted account.

https://drive.google.com/
https://www.dropbox.com/

A final note: The content of these lessons has been collected from various online sources but
most importantly the Seventh APA Style Guide presents the most prominent source.

Instructors contact information

Email: asma.khatt@gmail.com

(To be continued…)

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