Incorporating Sources

1. Incorporating Sources English Comp 1

2. Crediting Your Sources: Parenthetical Citations Each time you incorporate source material, you must clearly direct your reader to the article/book/interview/etc. you are citing. The parenthetical citation should include whatever is first on the work cited entry. Usually this will be the author’s last name. However, if there is no author, it may be the title of the report or article. Unless your source does not have page numbers, you will also direct your reader to the page where the source material can be found. Examples: (Jones, 52) (“Most People Do Not Have Cosmetic Surgery for Vanity,” 7)

3. Crediting Your Sources: Attributive Tags Attributive Tags: According to Smith… In a recent report issued by the Department of Energy… Your first mention of an author should include their full name and identify them as an authority. Example: This is an issue that is especially important to Paul Lorenzi, an expert on nuclear energy. In a recent essay, he urges the re-examination of nuclear potential, stating…

4. Crediting Your Sources Your parenthetical citations need not repeat any information that has already been provided in the text. If you have given the author’s last name in the attributive tag, you do not need to include it in the parenthetical citation. Warning: The person you are quoting, particularly in an edited essay, may not be the listed author on your Work Cited page. In this case, you may have an attributive tag crediting the speaker and a parenthetical citation crediting the source.

5. Direct Quotations with Author and Page Numbers Using an attributive tag: According to Paul Lorenzini, an expert on nuclear energy, “in 2002, renewable sources supplied about 6 percent of U.S. total energy consumption, unchanged from the 6 percent they provided in 1970. And the bulk of that 6 percent is supplied by sources that are far from new: hydropower and wood waste” (31). Without an attributive tag: It is, however, important to note that “in 2002, renewable sources supplied about 6 percent of U.S. total energy consumption, unchanged from the 6 percent they provided in 1970. And the bulk of that 6 percent is supplied by sources that are far from new: hydropower and wood waste” (Lorenzini, 31). Work Cited Entry: Lorenzini, Paul. "A second look at nuclear power: by overlooking nuclear power in the quest for clean energy, we are condemning ourselves to a future of increased fossil fuel use." Issues in Science and Technology 21.3 (2005): 31+. Gale Opposing Viewpoints In Context. Web. 1 May. 2011.

6. Direct Quotations with No Author and No Page Numbers Example: Craig Bowren, a prominent medical ethicist, examines the difficult choices in a caring for the elderly, pointing out that, “in today's world, an elderly person or their family must ‘choose,’ for example, between dialysis and death, or a feeding tube and death” (“Excessive Treatment”). Work Cited Entry: "Excessive Treatment of People Dying of Old Age Is Cruel." The Elderly. Ed. Sylvia Engdahl. Detroit: Gale, 2011. Current Controversies. Gale Opposing Viewpoints In Context. Web. 1 May 2011.

7. Long Quotations When a quotation is more than 4 lines, format it as a separate block. Begin the quotation on a new line and indent the entire block a full inch from the margin. Omit the quotation marks and include the parenthetical citation after the closing punctuation. Maintain double spacing. Example: Medical ethicists examine the difficult choices in a caring for the elderly, pointing out that, In today's world, an elderly person or their family must ‘choose,’ for example, between dialysis and death, or a feeding tube and death Those can be very simple choices when you're 40 and critically ill; they can be agonizing when you're 80 and the bad days outnumber the good days two to one. (“Excessive Treatment”)

8. Summarizing In your own words, briefly recount only the main ideas from the original text. A summary should be significantly shorter than the original passage. A summary should not include any words or phrases from the original (with the exception of proper nouns).

9. Summarizing You must credit the original source with an attributive tag and a parenthetical citation (if appropriate). If your summary is several sentences long, use multiple attributive tags. Example: In a recent essay, Michael Smith detailed his concerns about nuclear energy, pointing out that his primary issue is with potential environmental impact. He went on to address additional concerns, including the high cost of building and maintaining reactors, the problem of nuclear waste disposal, and the inability of current technology to replace fossil fuel based electricity. Finally, he addressed the challenges of reactor placement, touching on both natural disaster risk and resistance from local populations.

10. Paraphrasing Like a summary, a paraphrase is written entirely in your own words (excluding proper nouns). Unlike a summary, a paraphrase is close to the length of the source text. You must clearly credit the source with attributive tags and (when appropriate) parenthetical citations.

11. Paraphrasing To paraphrase, you must change both the words and the sentence structure. One approach is to, first, find synonyms for all of the words in the original passage. Second, rearrange the sentence structure. Finally, incorporate appropriate attributive tags to credit your source.

12. Paraphrasing Students frequently overuse direct quotation in taking notes, and as a result they overuse quotations in the final [research] paper. Probably only about 10% of your final manuscript should appear as directly quoted matter. Therefore, you should strive to limit the amount of exact transcribing of source materials while taking notes. Lester, James D. Writing Research Papers. 2nd ed. (1976): 46-47 A legitimate paraphrase: In research papers students often quote excessively, failing to keep quoted material down to a desirable level. Since the problem usually originates during note taking, it is essential to minimize the material recorded verbatim (Lester 46-47)

13. Paraphrasing Students frequently overuse direct quotation in taking notes, and as a result they overuse quotations in the final [research] paper. Probably only about 10% of your final manuscript should appear as directly quoted matter. Therefore, you should strive to limit the amount of exact transcribing of source materials while taking notes. Lester, James D. Writing Research Papers. 2nd ed. (1976): 46-47 A plagiarized version: Students often use too many direct quotations when they take notes, resulting in too many of them in the final research paper. In fact, probably only about 10% of the final copy should consist of directly quoted material. So it is important to limit the amount of source material copied while taking notes.

14. Works Cited http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/12/