PERRLA/Product/Discussion posts

Every discussion post, cited and ready to paste.

Discussion posts are half of the papers students write in PERRLA. Each one needs in-text citations and a reference list like any paper, just no title page. Start a Discussion Post, cite as you write, and paste the finished post into your course discussion board.

Try PERRLA free for 7 days See how it works

In APA, MLA, and Turabian. Discussion posts work in PERRLA Online, Microsoft Word, and Google Docs, with one library behind all three.

Week 2: Testing the Bigfoot Evidence

This week’s reading changed how I think about the hair samples that turn up in Bigfoot stories. When researchers ran DNA tests on 30 hairs credited to Bigfoot, the yeti, and similar creatures, every hair attributed to Bigfoot matched a known animal, from black bears to cows. The authors were careful about what that proves: the survey “cannot refute the existence of anomalous primates, neither has it found any evidence in support” (Sykes et al., 2014, p. 3). Only one of the Bigfoot hairs came back human (Sykes et al., 2014).

To me, that is the fair way to read the evidence. A hair that turns out to belong to a bear does not prove there is no Bigfoot, but it does mean the proof has to come from somewhere else. I would be curious what kind of evidence would change your mind, one way or the other.

References

Sykes, B. C., Mullis, R. A., Hagenmuller, C., Melton, T. W., & Sartori, M. (2014). Genetic analysis of hair samples attributed to yeti, bigfoot and other anomalous primates. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 281(1789), Article 20140161. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2014.0161

Copy paper to clipboard
A sample Week 2 post for an anthropology course, formatted in APA 7 the way PERRLA does it. The article is real; the post is made up.

From the prompt to the discussion board.

The same four steps in APA, MLA, and Turabian.

  1. First:
    start a Discussion Post

    Create a paper, pick APA, MLA, or Turabian, and choose Discussion Post. There's no title page to fill in, so the page opens ready for your first sentence.

  2. Before you write:
    add your sources

    Paste the DOI, ISBN, or link for the week's reading and PERRLA fills the reference from the published record. Anything you saved for an earlier post is already in your library.

  3. Mid-sentence:
    cite as you write

    Type an opening parenthesis in APA or MLA, or a # in Turabian, and pick the source. Add a page number for a quote. The references build underneath, alphabetized, from what you cited.

  4. Before you submit:
    copy it into the board

    In PERRLA Online, click Copy paper to clipboard, then paste the post into your course discussion board. The citations and references come with it.

A finished Week 2 discussion post in PERRLA Online citing Sykes et al. (2014), with its APA reference, beside the I'm Finished panel showing Download as Word Document, Download as PDF, Copy paper to clipboard, and no issues found.
A real Week 2 discussion post at I'm Finished, citing Sykes et al. (2014). Copy paper to clipboard is the third button.

When it's done: copy it, paste it in.

Copy paper to clipboard picks up the whole post, citations and references included, so there's nothing to retype in the reply box.

  • Your words, with each citation where you put it
  • The references underneath, alphabetized, from the sources you cited
  • No title page, because a discussion post doesn't need one

Copy paper to clipboard is in PERRLA Online, for discussion posts, reference lists, and annotated bibliographies. Canvas, Blackboard, Brightspace, and Moodle keep the post as close to APA as they allow; they drop the hanging indents and the double-spacing.

Two things PERRLA does with every post.

One saves you the reference this week. The other saves the whole post for later in the term.

Look up
Paste a DOI, get the source

10.1098/rspb.2014.0161

Sykes, B. C., Mullis, R. A., Hagenmuller, C., Melton, T. W., & Sartori, M. (2014). Genetic analysis of hair samples attributed to yeti, bigfoot and other anomalous primates. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 281(1789), Article 20140161. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2014.0161

Paste a DOI, an ISBN, or a link and PERRLA fills the reference from the published record. It's saved in your library for every post after this one.

Convert
From a post to a paper

Week 2 · Discussion Post: Bigfoot evidence

Week 9 · Research Paper: Bigfoot evidence

Convert a discussion post to a Research Paper and the writing, the references, and the citations come with it.

Converting a post to a research paper is in PERRLA Online.

Every week, in any format, wherever you write.

A discussion post is often due every week. The steps stay the same, and your library grows with every post.

APA, MLA, and Turabian

Discussion Post is a paper type in all three formats: APA 7, MLA 9, and Turabian 9. Pick the one your course uses.

PERRLA Online, Word, or Google Docs

Start the post wherever you write. One account and one library, so a source you cited in Word last week is ready in PERRLA Online tonight.

At a school with the Writing Timeline

On posts written in PERRLA Online or Word, a View Writing Timeline link sits as the last line of your references. You can take the link off any time, and taking it off deletes nothing. About the Writing Timeline

Questions about discussion posts

Do discussion posts need APA citations?
When your course asks for APA, yes: a discussion post needs in-text citations and a reference list like any paper. It doesn't need a title page, so PERRLA's Discussion Post leaves it off. Discussion Post is a paper type in MLA and Turabian too.
How do I get my post into the discussion board?
In PERRLA Online, click Copy paper to clipboard when the post is done, then paste it into the reply box in your course. The citations and the references come with it, as close to APA as the board allows: most boards drop hanging indents and double-spacing.
Can I write discussion posts in Word or Google Docs?
Yes. Discussion Post is a paper type in the Word add-in and the Google Docs add-on too, with the same library behind it. Copy paper to clipboard is a PERRLA Online button; in Word or Google Docs, the post is already in your document.
Can I reuse sources from last week's post?
Yes. Every reference you create is saved in your PERRLA library, so a source from your Week 2 post is ready to cite in Week 5, in any format, in PERRLA Online, Word, or Google Docs.
Can a discussion post turn into a research paper?
Yes. In PERRLA Online, convert the post to a Research Paper and your writing, references, and citations come with it, so a weekly post can become the start of the term paper.
Does PERRLA write any of my post?
No. PERRLA formats the post you write and, when you look up a source, builds the reference from the real record. The words are yours. AI reads, never writes: the one place AI is used is reading the first pages of a PDF you upload to help fill in its reference, and your post is never sent to it.

Next week's post starts with this week's sources already in your library.

Try PERRLA free for 7 days