Level Up: Using Sources Effectively
Resources for Upper-Year Students
Entering the Academic Conversation
In academic writing, your work is your unique and individual approach that you bring to a topic. Of course, you are not alone in this as you are able to use evidence from other sources in appropriate ways. The sources that you consult and the questions you ask yourself about the source add to your understanding of your topic.
You are entering an intellectual conversation that reflects evolving ideas, as knowledge is built on previous knowledge. By entering this academic conversation and using ideas from others (appropriately documented of course) you are building your own intellectual credibility. The process of paraphrasing, summarizing, and attributing other authors’ ideas and words acknowledges writers’ contributions to the academic field.
Using Sources Effectively
Please note that citation styles will vary by discipline, and you need to determine the style to use for your assignment. This information is often found in the course syllabus or on the assignment instructions. The Academic Skills Documentation Guide has samples of many of the common documentation styles.
Integrating evidence
The focus of your paper, or lab report, should always be on what you are saying, rather than on what any individual source is saying. You need to use evidence to support your argument. The way you blend evidence into your words and arguments depends on your discipline. Signaling lets your reader know that a paraphrase, summary, or quote is coming and distinguishes your thoughts from those of the source authors.
Integrating evidence: Signaling
There are two main signaling methods to integrate evidence: author prominent and information prominent.
Author prominent:
The author prominent signaling method integrates the author(s) into the body of the sentence and gives prominent recognition to the author(s) of the study.
Example:
Conolly and Obie (2021) study underwater marine archaeology in the Kawartha Lakes region to determine Indigenous occupation.
Conolly and Obie are the authors that are being attributed with this piece of evidence, and "study" is the signal verb (or verb of attribution).
The signal verb provides information about how the original authors intended the piece to be interpreted. There are many different signal verbs, or verbs of integration, which all have slightly different meanings and nuances. Take care to use the appropriate verb for your use. It is useful to have a list of signal verbs available as you write.
Information prominent:
The information prominent signaling method places the documentation at the end of a sentence or phrase and emphasizes the information presented.
Example:
Underwater marine archaeology is studied in the Kawartha Lakes region to determine Indigenous occupation (Conolly & Obie, 2021).
Attribution to the authors, Conolly and Obie, is the same as previous example, but is in a less prominent location in the sentence.
Integrating evidence: Situating (context)
It is important to situate, or position, the piece of evidence in the context that the original writer intended. To effectively use a piece of evidence it needs to be introduced and given context. When situating the evidence, you make it clear to the reader how the original author presented their information.
Example: Very little context
Conolly and Obie (2021) write about underwater archaeology in the Kawartha Lakes.
Example: Situates the evidence within the context
Underwater archaeologists, Conolly and Obie (2021) argue that using a model-driven approach to understand cultural features that reside beneath current water levels will reveal serious deficiencies in the known archaeological record in the Kawartha Lakes region.
Integrating evidence: Synthesizing
You choose a piece of evidence because it supports your argument, but the evidence does not speak for itself. Your synthesis is the glue that holds the pieces of evidence together and shows how the source supports your point. Begin by presenting your main argument or topic for your paragraph, followed by the summarized or paraphrased piece of evidence using either the author or information prominent methods of integrating evidence, being sure to consider the context of the original source, and, finally, analyzing the paraphrase and connecting it to your own argument.
Paragraph Structure
- Your topic sentence or mini argument for the paragraph
- Pieces of evidence from sources and explanation of their relationship to your topic sentence
- Concluding sentence to tie these ideas into your topic sentence
Example
The current archaeological record of Indigenous occupations in the Kawartha Lakes Region is sparse and new techniques are required to expand our knowledge. [Your topic sentence or mini argument for the paragraph.] Underwater archaeologists, Conolly and Obie (2021) argue that using a model-driven approach to understand cultural features that reside beneath current water levels reveals serious deficiencies in the known archaeological record in the Kawartha Lakes region. Modelling and underwater archaeology can be used to reveal the shoreline regions that are currently submerged due to higher water levels. [Pieces of evidence from sources and their relationship to your topic sentence. You may want to add how underwater archaeology has enlightened past occupations in other areas of the world {find another source for this} and follow with an explanation of how this research supports your main argument.] High water levels in Central Ontario have obscured our understanding of past Indigenous social interaction, and the use of modelling and underwater archaeology techniques will help us uncover these past occupations.[Concluding sentence to tie these ideas into your topic sentence.]
Typical moves in academic writing
When entering an academic conversation with others, you need to express your own ideas, but also respond to what others have said. Effective writers do more than make well-supported claims, they also map those claims relative to what others say. While the idea of entering the academic conversation may be intimidating at first, there are established patterns to help you through this complex maze.
Academic writers have a repertoire of established moves that they use frequently when they are communicating complex ideas. These moves, or templates, are often discipline specific and the more you read in your discipline, the more you will be able to understand these basic moves. You can develop an inventory of basic moves to help you express your thoughts in a clear and organized way. Here is an introductory list of templates to help get you started.