Analysing Citations

Cases of In-Text Citation

    The theory under which the cases of in-text citations will be analyzed is the one followed by the APA style, that is to say the American Psychological Association (APA) Publication Manual (2010), 6th edition; which is a guide for writing academic documents. The article to be analyzed is Narratives In Teacher Education by Maarten Dolk* and Jaap den Hertog (2008) from which several types of citation will be retrieved.

    One of the examples of citation found in the article by Dolk and den Hertog (2008) represents a paraphrased citation in which the words of the author/s are paraphrased and the name/s together with the year of the work are included. As an illustration:

Goffree and Dolk (1995) identified reflection, narration, and construction as being particularly important for teacher education. (p.215)

Another example is block quotation. We use this kind of citation style when the citation takes 40 or more words and there is no need to use quotation marks. It is presented in a block separated from the paragraph and it presents a different indentation than the one the rest of the article uses. One example taken from the same article is:

Doyle and Carter (2003) saw narrative knowing as an important part of teacher education. The key phrase here is that we, as human beings, live storied lives, that we story the experiences we have. Although several stories of any particular experience are possible, it is very difficult to story what we have not yet experienced. Moreover, although experience does not uniquely determine a story, all stories are constrained by the experiences upon which they are forged. However, experience is a troublesome, if not unruly, term in teacher education curriculum. Of course, calls for infusing field experience into teacher preparation are pervasive, and student teaching is often seen as the capstone of programmes, especially by students. Yet, teacher educators are often ambivalent about experience in the preparatory curriculum and even distrust it. There are, for example, prominent members of the teacher education community who have written of the miseducative consequences of field experience . . . . This distrust exists for several legitimate reasons, but for present purposes it can be said that this scepticism has led to an underestimation of the potency of direct experience in the stories our students create. (p.216)

     Although only two examples of citation could be taken from the article, there exist at least three types of citation mostly used; paraphrased and block citation as shown in this analyses, and, direct quotation. Citing is necessary and highly important to support the information used in a document and to avoid plagiarism.

References

American Psychological Association. (2010). Publication manual of the American 

       Psychological  Association  (6th  ed.). Washington, DC

Dolk, M & den Hertog, J. (2008) Narratives in teacher education,

Interactive Learning Environments, 16:3, 215-229, DOI: 10.1080/10494820802113970

Classroom Interesting Experiences

Narrating Educational Experiences

     The following summary is about an informative and descriptive article which reflects upon the usefulness of narratives in the education field. The article Narratives In Teacher Education by Dolk and den Hertog (2008) argues that there exists a gap between theory and practice in the students teachers environment. To be able to bridge that gap, the authors of the text focus on one specific case study from a particular educational environment located in The Netherlands. This environment is basically a virtual platform which presents different examples through videos for students to delve into the investigation and teaching world. The case presents a group of students who are asked to analyze one segment of a classroom situation, build a story from it and become part of an investigation in which they have to consider implications for the educational field the story may bring through constructing narratives collectively.

     The virtual environment selected known as the MILE is a multimedia interactive learning environment that presents tools for student-teachers to be able to analyze theory and practice regarding primary education through the use of digital tools like videos and search engines. In this environment, students are asked to investigate under the narrative approach by which they will be able to gather new insights together with their own experiences so that to gain deeper understanding on the educational theory and practices. The methodology followed refers to design research that involves a cycle process through thought and educational experiments; meaning that reflection on a specific situation comes first followed by putting into practice the same situation considering the reaction of its participants and contrasting them to the previous thoughts. Finally, the article presents the framework of the study divided into six parts in which the main objective is the description of how to construct educational meaning through narratives.

     As we can observe, this is an article that argues that prospective teachers and even teachers in praxis should consider both, experience and theory in the educational field through reflection of these aspects under the narrative approach. The main product of that process could generate new and useful knowledge that may or may not be enlarged, changed or even improved through practice, starting a new cycle of knowledge development.

Reference

  Dolk, M & den Hertog, J. (2008) Narratives in teacher education,

       Interactive Learning Environments, 16:3, 215-229, DOI: 10.1080/10494820802113970