Students are not usually expected to write a source paper until the high school research paper. As they learn about citations, cover pages and other details, one essential topic often is overlooked: appropriate use of source materials to support an opinion. Yet even middle school students can master this essential college writing skill in the course of writing persuasive essays.
Using sources correctly, whether in middle school or in college writing, means following a simple three-step strategy for each piece of evidence.
1) Prepare readers to understand the evidence
In speaking we say, "My mother says," "my boss told me yesterday," or "the weatherman said" before we present that person's ideas. In academic writing, writers also identify their source before they use the source's information.
Next, writers identify the source's credentials for speaking on the writer's topic. The head of the Mayo Clinic may not be as well qualified to speak about bunion pain as Aunt Irene, who has bunions.
Finally, writers tell readers what to look for in the evidence, supplying a keyword or context that the evidence may not provide.
Writers need not make a big production of preparing the reader for the evidence. Many times they can introduce the source, the source's credentials, and set expectations all in one sentence. Sometimes they can give the evidence in the same sentence.
2) Present a summary of the evidence.
Using paraphrases and quotations is frowned on in college writing. Writers are expected to summarize.
Readers assume that all the ideas borrowed from a source are between the source's name and the end of that sentence.
To avoid plagiarism, writers have to be very careful to leave no doubt about which ideas are theirs and which ones are someone else's. Savvy writers present all the source's information in one block, even if that information runs several sentences. Then they make their comments on that material.
3) Explain the relevance of the evidence to the thesis.
More often than not, writers have to explain how the source material is relevant to the topic sentence of the body paragraph in which it appears.
An example will show what I mean.
Let's suppose Josh uses this information in an essay: WFYI meteorologist David Dope predicts Central New York will have unusually snowy winters for the next 10 years. Josh could be writing about global climate change, the town's highway department budget, or why his dad should buy him a snowmobile. Unless he explains how the information is relevant to his case, readers may not see the connection.
The standard five-paragraph essay format calls for three pieces of evidence in each body paragraph. That means the writer would use the presentation strategy nine times (3 x 3 = 9) in a single persuasive essay. It won't take too many essays before even slow students have the process down pat.
Students who learn this simple strategy for presenting evidence will be ready to handle the source papers college writing demands.
Author Info:
Linda Aragoni is a writer, writing teacher, and editor of You-Can-Teach-Writing.com, the guide to enabling students grades 7-12 to become competent writers. Get a free copy of all five articles in the series "Is Your Teen Ready for College Writing? just by signing up for Linda's free monthly ezine by Aug. 1, 2008. Details at http://www.you-can-teach-writing.com/ezine.html
Copyright 2008, Linda Gorton Aragoni. You may reprint this article provided the whole text, the author's name, the links, and this copyright notice remain intact.
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