Strategies for Source Integration

Thus far, we have engaged in relatively brief conversations about source integration (though we have talked about the differences among summarizing, paraphrasing, and quoting).  This document is an attempt to put into writing that discussion.

In the folder, you have more polished documents from UNA and from Excelsior College.  We can review these in depth along with some examples from Bruce Ballenger’s The Curious Researcher (8^th edition). If you have the book, I am talking about Chapter 4, “Writing with Sources” (170-184).

Strategies

I. 

The first strategy works if you are essentially featuring an author whose idea(s) will serve as a claim within your argument. 

Ex. One of your peers is writing a paper on school funding. She wants to use the City of Chicago’s 2017 budget book, which identifies specific budget changes to CPS funding. Her discussion of those budget changes functions as a claim in her overall argument about the relationship between school funding and student achievement.

Steps (At each step, include the relevant in-text citations for each sentence.)

1. Introduce the source by summarizing the entire source and identifying the author. Ex. In this case, introduce the 2017 budget book and what it does and indicate that the City of Chicago authors it.
2. Identify and discuss the significance of the section to be cited. Ex. In this case, focus the reader’s attention on the section of the budget book that discusses budget changes relevant to CPS and indicate that there is a list of specific changes to be made.
3. Insert the quotation as either a block quote or a relevant quote as needed.
4. Paraphrase the quotation. What does it mean in your own words?
5. Discuss at length how this claim relates to your argument.

II.

The second strategy works if you are essentially featuring an author whose idea(s) will serve as evidence for a claim in your argument. 

Ex. One of your peers is writing a paper that explains factors that contribute to college dropout rates. He wants to share evidence that he found that supports the claim that substance abuse is a factor.

Steps (At each step, include the relevant in-text citations for each sentence.)

1. State your claim. Ex. The student’s claim is that one major stressor for college students leading to high dropout rates is substance abuse.
2. Identify and summarize the source(s) that support that claim. Ex. Two sources that he read support that claim and provide evidence for it, so he must identify the authors and their works. — Smith, in “XYZ,” and Jones, in “ABC,” conducted studies that demonstrate that substance abuse is a major problem on college campuses and could be detrimental to persistence (Smith, 1992; Jones, 2011).
3. Insert the quotation as either a block quote or a relevant quote as needed.
4. Paraphrase the quotation. What does it mean in your own words?
5. Discuss at length how this claim relates to your argument.

III.

The third strategy works if you are providing an overview or historical background of a topic, and several authors provide information that supports what you have to say.  The documents included in the folder typically call it “synthesizing.” 

Ex. Below is an example from an annotated bibliography I recently completed that synthesized information regarding developmental education reform.  Below, I include the entire introduction to that annotated bibliography.  I have placed in bold the sentence that I shared with you in class.  You will notice that the sentence itself is in my own words, and it brings together several different types of reform from pedagogical/curricular reform to policy reforms, particularly in Florida.