Referring to Sources
Academic writing is not about providing the right answer; it is about listening to and entering into the ongoing conversations that scholars have been having over time to try to understand the causes, effects, determinants, or solutions to your assigned topic. In each course you take, your professors introduce you to the key topics, issues , theories, and concepts associated with that subject through their course outlines, lecture materials and assigned readings. Your examination of these materials – as well as any additional research you perform – extend your understanding of the particular topic you will engage with as you complete your assignment.
Incorporating these sources into your academic writing demonstrates that you understand the meaning of and connections between the information, ideas, interpretations, and significance of the material you have read to prepare for the assignment and are basing your position on evidence, rather than simply expressing a personal opinion. Referring to sources – either by quoting directly or by paraphrasing or summarizing the source author’s key ideas – can be a very effective way to lend their authority to and provide support for a particular claim.
Two key ways to incorporate source material in your writing include:
- Direct quotations, where you use the author’s exact words to encapsulate a key idea or add authority to a claim, and
- Summaries or paraphrases, where you use your own words to express the author’s key ideas or provide context for a claim.
In either case, it is important to demonstrate your understanding of how this material contributes to the position you have taken by explaining/showing the connections between the ideas expressed and the points you are trying to make (i.e., claims) in your writing.
Click the sections below to learn more about using source material. Also refer to Using Direct Quotations located in Resources.
Direct Quotations
Direct quoatations are like diamonds. They take up valuable space in your word count. Direct quotations, then, should contribute something important to your writing that cannot be accomplished in other ways. A quoted passage may, for example, explain a concept in a particularly succinct and effective way or be used where you wish to make the author’s language choices a point of discussion in your writing – passages from a novel, for example.
When quoting directly provide your reader with sufficient context from the source material to make the quotation understandable. And be sure that, by removing the passage from its context in the source material, you haven’t changed its meaning.
Indicate a direct quote by using quotation marks and providing the sources (e.g., author/date/page) it came from. Common ways to introduce quotations include:
- X claims “_____.” (in-text citation)
- According to X “_____.” (in-text citation)
- X states “_____.” (in-text citation)
There are a variety of ways for noting the source of a quotation, and the method you use will depend on the citation style you select for your assignment.
Summaries and Paraphrases
Summaries and paraphrases provide the gist of a source author’s ideas but do not include their exact words. Summaries provide an overview of the key ideas of a work in your own words, without much detail; paraphrases restate someone else’s ideas in your own language with roughly the same level of detail. They are introduced with phrases such as:
- Griffin argues that …
- Grewal claims that …
- the author questions that …
- the author complains that …, etc.
Summaries and paraphrases should be constructed by identifying the important aspects of the source author’s ideas and expressing them in your own words. Do not simply substitute synonyms for, or change the order of, the words that are used in your source. One of the best ways to move away from the author’s wording is to read the key section, move away/take a break from the source, before you write the paraphrase so you are working with the ideas or concepts rather than with exact original words.
Summaries and paraphrases do not require quotation marks, but their origin/source must be acknowledged with appropriate citations. Citation is important to avoid giving the mistaken impression that the ideas discussed are wholly your own.
