Why do we use sources in our writing? Why does it matter?
Readers Need…
- citation. Where are these ideas coming from?
- background. What's this source all about? What is its relationship to truth?
- clarity. What ideas are coming from the source? What words are coming from the source?
- guidance. What do you want us to see in these stories or examples?
Introducing Sources
Before you talk about a source, tell your reader a little bit about it:
- Who wrote it?
- What's the title?
- Is there anything else you think they need to know about the text or author?
Take a few minutes and add a sentence or two introducing the source to the beginning of your paragraph.
Providing Background
Before getting into detail, give your reader some context.
- What's the book, article, or chapter all about? What is the writer trying to say?
- Is there background information that we need to know in order to understand the details you want to talk about?
Add some background information about the source to your paragraph (wherever you think best.)
Quoting and Citing
It's super important that we're clear about which ideas, and especially which words, are coming from the book--and where in the book they're coming from!
- Every time we use specific facts from a source, we need to add an in-text citation--that is, parentheses at the end of the sentence including the author's last name and the page number where the idea can be found. So, something like this (Novella 33).
- Every time we're using the exact words found in the text, we need to put quotation marks before and after to be clear that these are the writer's words, and not our own.
- Seriously, every time. Even if that means we have nine citations in one paragraph. (Although we can skip the author's name after the first one.)
Go through your source and add citations and quotation marks where appropriate. If you're already doing this, see if you can find a few more places where direct quotations might be helpful.
Giving Guidance
A lot of times, different people will look at the same information in different ways. Part of our job when we use sources is to make sure that our readers understand what we want them to see in our sources.
- After you've included some information from your source, make sure to explain what you want your readers to think about it.
- Tell us what it means to you, and why you think it's important.
- Partly, this means thinking about what you're trying to say in the paper overall, and how this information supports that goal.
Write a sentence or two interpreting the information in your paragraph. How does this information help answer your question?