The Economics Department is committed to improving the written communication skills of our majors. Our writing-intensive (WI) courses are designed to give written expression a heightened role in student learning and the evaluation of student progress. All SUNY Cortland students are required to take two writing-intensive courses with at least one (three credit) course in the student's major. The Economics Department has created a variety of upper-level WI courses which help fulfill this requirement. While each professor will tailor written assignments to the specifics of his or her course, the information below should prove useful to all WI courses in the economics department.
The most utilized writing style in the economics discipline is the American Psychological Association (APA) style. Other popular styles that your professor may require include Chicago Style and the Modern Language Association (MLA) style. Cortland's Memorial Library has copies of these style guides in the reference section.
An excellent, on-line summary and interactive practice guide of each style can be found at Diana Hacker's Pocket Style Manual website.
Locating quality sources is an essential part of the writing process. For any given assignment, there is a plethora of source types available to you, including: books, journal articles (from professional refereed journals), web sites, print media (newspapers, magazines), and government documents. Depending upon the assignment, some sources will be more helpful than others. In most cases, you will use a mix of sources. Rarely will web sources alone be sufficient (and for some assignments, web sources may be prohibited). You should ask your professor what his or her expectations are regarding the mix of sources you will need to produce a scholarly paper.
The best general rule for evaluating sources is to rely on well-established, reputable professionals, institutions, and advocacy groups always keeping in mind their ideological biases and tendencies. You should usually avoid sources with unknown authors, especially if the source is on the web where anyone with an axe to grind can make outrageous claims with impunity. Keep in mind that a half-dozen quality sources are better than a dozen or so questionable sources. If you are unsure about the quality of a source, you are better off ignoring it.
Plagiarism is the act of taking the words or ideas of another and passing them off as your own. It is “literary theft.” Plagiarism is a serious offense the consequences of which may include suspension from the college. It is therefore crucial that you uphold the highest standards of academic integrity in all academic endeavors, particularly when crafting a research paper.
The Princeton Writing Center provides examples of plagiarized text to help reinforce your understanding of what constitutes plagiarism and the Pocket Style Manual (see Research Exercises) contains excellent interactive exercises to test your comprehension of plagiarism.
In addition to these sources, you should familiarize yourself with the 2004-2006 College Handbook, specifically Chapter 340 on Academic Integrity at section 340.02, Violations of Academic Integrity. For an overview of what academic integrity means to you, a SUNY Cortland student, refer to Cortland's Writing Resource Center.
Your written work will be assessed and evaluated based upon a comprehensive set of criteria designed to measure your performance level. Your professor is likely to use some variant of the Economics Writing Rubric. This rubric can serve as a guide to help you identify the strengths and weaknesses of your writing as you work to improve your written scholarship. It is our hope as a department that repetition of use throughout our upper level courses will considerably improve the writing skills and hence career options and advancement opportunities of our majors.
SUNY Cortland Department of Economics