University of Louisville

Using Sources

One of the most important skills in academic writing is being able to use the ideas of others. It is very important, however, to make sure that you acknowledge those ideas in your writing. Beyond giving recognition to your sources, you should provide smooth transitions between what you are saying and what the source is saying.

WHEN TO USE OUTSIDE SOURCES

·        You want to support your argument with specific facts or visuals.

·        You want to include the opinions of authorities.

·        You want to represent other sides of an argument.

GIVING RECOGNITION

·     You need to cite your sources whenever you

o   Use a direct quote.

o   Paraphrase or summarize someone else’s words.

o   Use another person’s ideas.

o   State a fact that is not common knowledge.

§  Common knowledge is information that is very well known, found in multiple sources, and not widely disputed or contested.

§  Within a discipline, some facts and studies are so well known that they can be considered common knowledge within the discipline. If you are writing within a specific discipline and you have a question about whether you need to cite a source, you should consult your professor or follow the lead of published authors in the field. If in doubt, cite your source.

§  Remember that common knowledge needs to be put in your own words.

·     How to cite

o   When you paraphrase, summarize, or quote, you will need to give an in-text citation—an indication that you got the idea from another source and some basic information about the source so the reader can find its entry at the end of your text.

o   There are many different citation styles. The most commonly used are Modern Language Association (MLA) and American Psychological Association (APA). The format and content of your citations will depend on the citation style you use.

o   Please see the corresponding citation style handbook or Writing Center handout for further details on how to format your citations. The citations given in this handout are formatted in MLA style.

INTEGRATING SOURCES

Quote

·        Introduce your source.

o   Use a signal phrase to identify your source

§  Simon Smith argues that “our waterways are being polluted beyond the point of no return” (23).

o   Let the reader know who the person you are quoting is.

§  Simon Smith, chair of the Kentucky Water Preservation Group, argues that “our waterways are being polluted beyond the point of no return” (23).

Note: If your source is an expert in the field or a respected person, then readers may view you as more credible and authoritative on the topic as well.

·        Give the quote.

o   Integrate the quote into the body of your own sentence.

§  Not effective: Many students are not aware of the serious consequences of plagiarism. “Plagiarism is getting easier and easier, and although students think they can avoid being caught, many are getting busted” (Andrews 85).

§  More Effective: Many students are not aware of the serious consequences of plagiarism. In his study on plagiarism among high school students, Joseph Andrews comments that “plagiarism is getting easier and easier, and although students think they can avoid being caught, many are getting busted” (85).

·        Explain the quote

o   Tell the reader how the quote fits into your argument. Why is it important? Why did you use it?

§  Many students are not aware of the serious consequences of plagiarism. In his study on plagiarism among high school students, Joseph Andrews found that “plagiarism is getting easier and easier because of the internet. Even though students think they can avoid being caught, more and more are getting busted” (85). Students often feel that they are anonymous and untraceable on the internet, but they do not realize how easy it is to type in a few lines of their papers to see if they are directly plagiarized.

Paraphrase

·        Translate the source material into your own words.

§  Original: “First, an eighteenth-century or Regency room, when compared with its Victorian successors, might, indeed, strike us as remarkably bare, but this view depends on the hindsight of a post-nineteenth-century perspective. It does not take into quite enough account the extent of interior changes—the quantity and resonance of things new and old and their new and old forms of dispersal and arrangement” (Wall 156).

§  Paraphrased: Although a modern person might see an eighteenth-century room as sparsely furnished, he or she needs to know more about past trends in interior decorating in order to understand the nuances of eighteenth-century design (Wall 156).

o   Make sure your tone when paraphrasing is consistent with the rest of your essay.

o   Do not use quotation marks when paraphrasing.

o   Make sure you cite your source when paraphrasing.

Summarize

·        Present a condensed version of the source material.

o   The summary should be a shorter version of the original, maintaining the same major idea and using your own words.

§  Original: “First, an eighteenth-century or Regency room, when compared with its Victorian successors, might, indeed, strike us as remarkably bare, but this view depends on the hindsight of a post-nineteenth-century perspective. It does not take into quite enough account the extent of interior changes—the quantity and resonance of things new and old and their new and old forms of dispersal and arrangement” (Wall 156).

§  Summary: In order to fully understand eighteenth-century interiors, we have to pay attention to the trends in interior design between the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries (Wall 156).

o   Make sure your tone when summarizing is consistent with the rest of your essay.

o   Do not use quotation marks when summarizing.

o   Make sure you cite your source when summarizing.

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