Linguistics: Language and Power

Welcome to the guide Language and Power. This guide will provide a starting point for those students writing a literature review focusing on linguicism and issues of race and national origin in the context of K-12 public schools in the U.S.

This guide covers:

1. Framing your topic: Scope, keywords, subject terms, evaluating sources, finding related sources (citation chaining).
2. Establishing your workflow: Search logs, citation managers, and literature review grids.
3. Synthesizing: choosing literary review organization (thematic, chronological, philosophical, methodological); incorporating your scholarly voice.

At the end of the session, you will

• Familiarize yourself with the Library's catalog's discovery platform to organize their academic work and find sources relevant to this course.
• Employ research methodologies to find scholarly works and articles from credible news sources and critically evaluate their relevancy.
• Determine keywords and subject terms concerning the scope of their literary review.
• Consider different paths to consolidate the organization of their literary review, finding their scholarly voice (thematic, chronological, philosophical, methodological).

OneSearch is a discovery search platform where you can find articles, books, book chapters, films, and other materials in print and digital format. The dashboard has several features that will help you create folders (Projects) to organize your assignments, save materials to your folders and view your older searches.

When materials are unavailable in the Library Catalog, Prospector or MOBIUS, it is time to request the item through Interlibrary Loan (ILL). 

Placing requests

1. You must make an account first if you have never requested an item through ILL. Click on the tab Login to ILLIAD to start and enter your Identikey username and password. It is better to use the first and last name that is associated with your Identikey when signing up. since loans will be delivered to you under that name.
2. Fill in the form with as much information about the item you need.
3. If you need multiple chapters within the same book or articles from the same journal, click on Clone Request, select the transaction number you want to clone, make the appropriate edits, and click submit.
4. You can request books, DVDs, CDs, dissertations, microform and other materials from lenders around the world.
5. The cost of borrowing materials, including shipping, is paid for by the Library.

• What literature review topic are you considering? (more than one is okay!)

• Based on what you know now, what do you think is the best scope for this topic? i.e. what's too broad, what's too narrow?

• What have you struggled most with when looking for sources in the past?

• Do you prefer reading and note-taking with print or electronic copies?

• How do you currently save/organize articles (if you do)?

Keywords: The topic of your literature review will generate keywords and related terms.

Research question Example: What is the impact of accent discrimination on code-switching behaviors among native Spanish speakers in K-12 schools?

• K-12 AND Spanish speakers AND code-switching AND impact
• Spanish speakers students AND code-switching OR  language alternation AND effect
• K-12 AND  Spanish speakers AND language varieties OR multilingualism AND consequences
• linguistics

• linguicism AND theoretical approaches OR conceptual framework
• K-12 public school* AND race AND US OR identity OR bilingual education OR accent discrimination 
• xenophobia OR conversation OR performance OR law OR policy
• multilingualism AND youth culture AND code-switching OR translanguaging
• primary school* AND bilingual education AND domestic policies AND US
• linguicism OR linguistic nationalism
• minorities AND linguistic profiles
• intersectionalities AND linguicism OR isms OR dominant narratives
• identity formation AND power dynamics OR biases

Keyword Grid with the research question example:

What is the impact of accent discrimination on code-switching behaviors among native Spanish speakers in K-12 schools?

• Education Research Guide as a search starting point: libguides.colorado.edu\education

• Linguistics Research Guide: http://libguides.colorado.edu/linguistics 

• Consider Search Log, Lit Review Grids/Synthesis Matrices - customize for your field/topic 

• Google sheet: goo.gl/6GxGm7

• Copy to your own Google Drive to adapt: File >Make a copy

• Use Mendeley or another tool to capture and group articles by sub-topic/method/theory/age group.

  • Quick Start Guide for Mendeley or Zotero: https://www.mendeley.com/guides/desktop/01-desktop-interface

• You share your Mendeley workflow, show article notes and highlights, and show Zotero + Zotfile - Kevin Seeber article

• Use citation manager’s Word plugins as you write

• How will you save and organize what you find? Do you prefer print or electronic copies?

• Do you prefer to read and take notes at home? On campus? At a coffee shop?

  • With annotation software, sticky notes, highlighters, via tablet or laptop?

• How will you start to compile and synthesize your notes? Will you use a lit review grid or another system?

A literature review grid helps you organize and synthesize important information found in the literature you covered. Your grid may have as many columns and rows, but the main idea is to highlight data points that will help you siphon the central idea, findings, and conclusions. This organizational chart will facilitate the writing process when you need to compare, make connections with different scholarships, and arrange the titles following your selected methodology.

Exercise: Find an article or book relevant for your literature review and fill in the grids on the chart.

• A search log or matrix records the databases you have searched, the terms used, the number of results, and any notes you have about the search. 
• A search log allows you to document the sources you used in your search (databases, Google Scholar, Internet), the keywords you used, the number of relevant titles, and details you want to remember in future searches.
• Having a search log will help you keep track of the terms you have tried and the places you searched. 
• You can use whatever format works for you to create a search log. Some people prefer a spreadsheet, some prefer a table, and some people keep a paper notebook. There is no right or wrong way. Do what works for you

What is a Literary Review: It is a self-standing piece or the section of a larger work that assembles scholarly work related to a specific topic previously written by other researchers. Your literature review will summarize the main points of the scholarly work you found and will include your interpretation, evaluation, and critique of this previous work, integrating the contributions of different authors and referring to the relevancy of these sources to the optic of your topic. Your literature review will highlight points of agreement and disagreement, including yours, in this scholarly conversation.

Find more information about writing a literature review:

• Literary Review Strategies from CU-Boulder University Libraries
• Writing a Literature Review from Purdue Online Writing Lab

The parts of a literature review are usually organized through an introduction, a body where you present the sources you found and offer your interpretation, analysis, and evaluation of these sources, and a conclusion. However, depending on the literature review you are doing, the length of these parts varies. 

• Literature Review as a part of a paper: The literature review that is a part of a paper is presented right after the introduction. This literature review tends to be smaller than a standalone one since it is a fraction of more extensive work.
• Literature Review as a standalone piece: A standalone literature review allows you to expand on each of the parts of this review.

Introduction: This section will introduce your topic and the methodology you followed in selecting your sources. You will also explain how you framed your analysis and what the reader should expect from your review.

Body:  The body contains the bulk of your work, where you will summarize essential points found in your sources, synthesize the information you found, providing your interpretation, analysis, and critique while highlighting issues of contention and agreement. Your voice should flourish in this scholarly conversation as you make connections, compare, and drive readers to see how your selected literature contributes to or affects your topic.

Conclusion: In this section, you will recapitulate relevant points found in the literature, connect them to your research topic, and note why they are relevant in building new knowledge or continuing the scholarly conversation.

You may organize your literature review in one of the different approaches that better suit your topic and the presentation of your sources.

• Chronological: The body of your review may be organized chronologically when you want to provide a sequential structure and note how the selected sources developed progressively throughout time. In this approach, you will organize your review based on the date of publication of the pieces.
• Thematic: The body of your review may be organized following a concept, movement, or subject.
  • For example, if your literature review covers the concept of linguistic nationalism, you could organize your review by grouping authors who refer to linguistic imperialism, nationalistic ideologies through language expression, and communal identity.
• Methodological: The body of your review may be organized by the type of research methodology used by different authors.
  • This approach is useful when your topic draws from different fields that use other research methods than your own or when you are comparing qualitative and quantitative data or considering empirical and theoretical-based research.
• Ideologically: The body of your review is organized by beliefs, principles, doctrines, school of thought, etc. 
  • For example, if the topic of your review relates to bilingual education, you could organize this section by educational philosophies that considers bilingualism as important for integration or detrimental for learning.

Writing Methods

There are three main effective ways to use the work of others in your writing:  

Summarizing

Brief presentation, in your own words, of another author's main points as related to your writing.

Useful practice when:

You need only short passages or sentences to convey the meaning

You wish to draw your readers’ attention to particular points, conclusions or observations

Paraphrasing

Your interpretation of another author's words or ideas, usually shorter passages or paragraphs.

Useful practice when:

Meaning is more important than exact phrasing

Ideas or resources are more important than exact wording

Simplifying concepts will help your reader

Images & sounds

Quoting 

Your use of an author's exact words, terms, or phrases in direct quotes. 

Useful practice when:

Author’s words are very effective or significant

Author is a recognized authority

Exactness, accuracy, or conciseness matter

You are pointing to or analyzing the original text

Tip: Summarizing is also a good note taking strategy and allows you to test your understanding. The more deeply you understand a topic, the better you will be at paraphrasing and quoting.

Read actively! Take notes and make annotations. Learn more about when to paraphrase and when to quote.

An essential part of the writing process is revising sentences. Look at the tips below and apply them to your writing when appropriate.

• State the subject of your sentence quickly
• Your subject should be concise and clear
• Use key actions in verbs, not in nouns.
• Build sentences with familiar information at the beginning and new information at the end
• Choose active or passive voice according to the guidelines provided

What is effective writing? Please take a look at it for yourself.

Example 1: Clear sentences

Needs work: A better understanding of student learning could achieve improvement in teaching effectiveness.

Better: A better understanding of student learning could improve teaching effectiveness.

Improved: If we better understood how students learn, we could teach them more effectively. 

Example 2: Focus on the first words

Needs work: The United Nations' insistence on acceptance by all nations of the principles of equal rights and self-determination of peoples is a product of its recognition that maintenance of stability in the world order requires that values beyond narrow self-interest guide nations.

Better: The United Nations insists that all nations accept the principles of equal rights and self-determination of peoples because it recognizes that maintaining a stable world order requires that nations be guided by values beyond narrow self-interest.

Improved: The United Nations insists that all nations accept the principles of equal rights and self-determination of peoples because it recognizes that maintaining a stable world order requires that values beyond narrow self-interest guide nations.

Example 3: Choose verbs carrying actions, not nouns

Needs work: During the early years of the First World War, the Great Powers' attempt at enlisting the United States on their side was met with failure.

Better: During the early years of the First World War, the Great Powers' attempt at enlisting the United States on their side failed.

Improved: During the early years of the First World War, the Great Powers attempted to enlist the United States on their side but failed.

Example 4: Provide familiar information first

Needs work: New insights into global weather patterns are emerging from recent research on the large low-pressure zones rotating above the Earth's poles, known as the polar vortices. Environmental changes that are leading temperatures at the poles to rise, this research suggests, are affecting the vortices. These temperature increases cause the vortices to deviate toward the equator, bringing with them the frigid air responsible for our recent colder winters.

Better: New insights into global weather patterns emerge from recent research on the large low-pressure zones rotating above the Earth's poles, known as the polar vortices. The vortices, this research suggests, are being affected by environmental changes that are leading temperatures at the poles to rise. These temperature increases cause the vortices to deviate toward the Equator, bringing with them the fridge air responsible for our recent colder winters.