Discussion 1: You’re the Editor

The APA Publication Manual is an essential reference guide for all students and practitioners in the social and behavioral sciences. The purpose of this Discussion is to assist you in becoming familiar with and applying key parts of the manual. For this Discussion, you will play the role of an editor who must provide feedback to the writer, identifying and correcting flaws in the writer’s use of citations, quotes, and references. How would you make the writer’s work reflect the language of the profession?

To prepare for this Discussion:

• View the video APA Citations Part I: The Methods to the Madness, and read the Study Notes from the Learning Resources.
• Become familiar with the APA Publication Manual; review Chapter 6, “Crediting Sources,” and Chapter 7, “Reference Examples,” and note their contents and the variety of topics covered.
• Review the “Assignment Sheet: Social Change” document (located in this week’s Learning Resources area) for an excerpt that includes quotes, paraphrased information, and reference information without format.
• Review the Course Announcement from your Instructor about the peer-review process, and note the colleagues that you have been paired with.

With these thoughts in mind:

Complete the following steps by Day 3:

Step 1: Select one paragraph from the Social Change excerpt to edit. This document is found in the Learning Resources.
Step 2: Referring to Chapter 6 of the APA Publication Manual, revise the paragraph in correct APA format, rewriting the citations, quotations, and references as necessary. Use the references listed for your paragraph number as your citation sources.
Step 3: For this Discussion, the references for each paragraph are listed in the Social Change excerpt. These references are not in correct APA format. Using the information from Chapter 7 of the APA Publication Manual, put the references for your paragraph in correct APA format.
Step 4: Post your edited paragraph and references to the Discussion 1 board.

By Day 5: Review your paired colleague’s post. Provide constructive feedback to help improve any aspect of his or her APA format editing. Post your feedback to your colleague’s work in the same Discussion thread. Remember to be professional in your communications and when providing feedback. Learning APA format is difficult; you are not expected to catch everything the first time!

Discussion 2: Peer-Review Process Feedback

In general, when one researches what helps students learn APA format, the sources usually suggest a lot of practice. You will be expected to put your main Discussion responses and Assignments in APA format in all of your graduate courses, so you will, indeed, get this practice. Peer reviews are also noted as one way to effectively receive feedback.

To prepare for this Discussion:

• Review the feedback that you provided and received for this week’s Discussion 1 exercise.
• Reflect on the process of receiving, as well as providing, constructive feedback.

With these thoughts in mind:

Post by Day 4 an explanation of the process that you followed in order to provide feedback to your partner. What did you learn about APA format or the Publication Manual as a result of this exercise? Do you feel the references that were cited were scholarly sources of information for the paper? Why or why not? What did you learn from the feedback that you received that will improve your APA-format writing style?

Read a selection of your colleagues’ postings.

Respond by Day 6 to at least two colleagues by providing an example or personal experience that illustrates one of the points made by your colleagues.

Assignment Sheet

Week 4

Social Change

1. Several key individuals and ideas that have shaped the philosophy of social change. The first of these is Mahatma Gandhi. According to Kapadia, Gandhi believed that ideas and ideals had no value if they were not translated into action. Gandhi talked frequently about social change and service to others: The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others. Implementing positive social change can be a difficult process. Gandhi was asked why people should not just achieve their goals by any means necessary. He believed that the means are connected to the end. Gandhi wrote: every problem lends itself to solution if we are determined to make the law of truth and nonviolence the law of life. According to Pal, Gandhi influenced many important social change movements and leaders. Some leaders who have acknowledged his influence are: Dr. Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, the Dalai Lama, Aung San Suu Kyi and Rigoberta Menchu. 

2. Another world leader who spent most of his life fighting for social change was Nelson Mandela. As described in information related to a Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) Frontline special on Mandela, not everyone is able to see the results of their hard-fought efforts in their lifetimes. Sometimes, they can only lay the groundwork for the next generation. Mandela was able to lead and experience this transformation in South Africa which brought an end to apartheid and now has a constitution that guarantees the rights of all people. According to Mendoza Mandela believed in the importance of changing yourself first and said, one of the most difficult things is not to change society — but to change yourself.

3. In our country, Dr. King embraced the tenets of non-violence in his leadership within the civil rights movement and enduring philosophy for bringing about social change. He wrote about his those who inspired his philosophy of nonviolent social change and Gandhi was a significant influence. According to Pal, King took a month-long trip to India in 1959 in order to visit the country of his inspiration. The King Center is dedicated to preserving his legacy and provide ongoing support for social change. Based on Dr. King’s teachings, The King Center published, Six Steps of Nonviolent Social Change. These six steps are: information gathering, education, personal commitment, negotiation, direct action, and reconciliation.

4. Social change is a founding value and educational goal at Walden University as expressed in the Mission and Vision statements, and incorporated in every course curriculum. The Walden Vision statement reads as follows: Walden University envisions a distinctively different 21st-century learning community where knowledge is judged worthy to the degree that it can be applied by its graduates to the immediate solutions of critical societal challenges, thereby advancing the greater global good. While bringing about social change on either a micro or macro level can be daunting, Mandela was quoted as saying: It always seems impossible until it’s done. The teachings of Gandhi, Mandela, King and many others continue to influence new generations of scholars and social change practitioners. 

References for Paragraph 1

Author: A. Pal Date: Jan 24, 2008. Title of article: 60 years after death, Gandhi is Making world a better Place. Published in: The Progressive. Website:http://www.progressive.org/mag_wxap012408

Mahatma Gandhi. 1961. Book title: Non-violent Resistance. City: New York Publisher: Schocken Books.

S. Kapadia, Published: November 29, 1995. Article title: A Tribute to Mahatma Gandhi: His Views on Women and Social Change. Published in: Journal of South Asia Women Studies, Vol. 1, Issue 1. Website:http://asiatica.org/jsaws/

Thinkexist. No date. Mahatma Gandhi quotes. Website:

http://thinkexist.com/quotation/the_best_way_to_find_yourself_is_to_lose_yourself/148517.html

References for Paragraph 2

Frontline. Date: May 25, 1999). Title: The Long walk of Nelson Mandela: Viewers’ and Teachers’ Guide. Website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/mandela/teach/

Author: Dorris Mendoza Date: December 16, 2013. Article Title: 9 simple ways to keep Nelson Mandela’s Legacy alive. Website: http://www.cnn.com/2013/12/16/living/keeping-mandelas-legacy-alive/

References for Paragraph 3

Author: A. Pal Date: Jan 24, 2008. Title of article: 60 years after death, Gandhi is Making world a better Place. Published in: The Progressive. Website:http://www.progressive.org/mag_wxap012408

The King Center. No date. Title: Six steps of nonviolent Social Change. website: http://www.thekingcenter.org/king-philosophy

References for Paragraph 4

Thinkexist. No date. Nelson Mandela Quotes. Website:

http://thinkexist.com/quotes/Nelson_Mandela/

Walden University (2013). Mission and Vision.

http://www.waldenu.edu/about/social-change/mission-and-vision