Skills to be Learned post (Part 1)

As I was reading over the “Skills to be Learned” list, I realized that there were a few things I kind of already knew how to do fairly well such as summarizing and quoting sources.  After looking over the whole list, I also realized there were quite a few things that I either had no idea what they were or just did not fully understand.  One of these topics was paraphrasing. I have a little understanding of what paraphrasing is, but not only is it difficult for me to decide when and how to paraphrase it is also challenging for me to distinguish the difference between paraphrasing and summarizing.  I think the main difference is that summarizing is in the writer’s own words whee paraphrasing is rewriting the author’s words. I’m not really sure. 

Another problem I ran into is I am not completely sure I fully understand the function of an annotated bibliography.  I understand that it is basically a citation of your source with a short summary of the material that came from that source, but I’m not exactly sure why it is necessary. What is it’s purpose? Does it really have a purpose?  

Thirdly, there was the big issue of not being confidently able to evaluate and use the research information I find.  I can locate it just fine, it’s the deciding what is the most important and relevant part that I have trouble with.  So many things seem important!  Even if I know certain bits of information are not as important as others and they could probably be left out, I still feel as if they need to be included.  

As I continued reading, I realized that I have no idea what APA formatting is.  I have heard of it.  I know it it’s a format for citing sources that is used by engineers and possibly educators, but if I had to cite a source in APA format, I could not do it.  In short, I honestly hope I am able to learn how to use this format some time this semester because the field of work I plan on going into (recording technology) is considered a type of engineering.  As I stated before, APA is the format of citing used by engineers in their research papers.  

I also hope to understand what a block quote is.  I would also lille to learn how and when to use a block quote.