Incorporating outside sources into your writing

There are four ways to incorporate outside sources into your writing, but note that each has a specific justification. So, don't use them randomly, use them with your readers' needs in mind. Also, recall from the first page of this lesson, when you incorporate outside sources into your writing, you'll need to use an abbreviated citation, called an in-text citation. Your in-text citations will lead readers to a corresponding full citation that you'll provide at the end of your paper in your References Cited section, or in Footnotes at the bottom of the page where your in-text citation appears. Again, recall from the first page of this lesson that the way your in-text citations should look will depend on the style guide you are using.

Now let's look at four different ways you can incorporate outside sources into your writing.

1. Directly quoting

You can directly quote a source by putting quotation marks around any sentences, parts of sentences, or phrases that you've taken from the source. If you are quoting quite a lot of text, then you'd use a block quote. You can see examples of both in the excerpt shown on the right. Then, you'd add an in-text citation to show where the quoted material came from.

You should use direct quotes when it's important to show your reader what someone else said in their own words. To the right is an excerpt from this journal article:

Bruley, S. (2017). 'It didn't just come out of nowhere did it?' The origins of the women's liberation movement in 1960s Britain. Oral History, 45(1), 67-78.

Notice that the author uses direct quotes from women who were part of the 1960's feminist movement. Can you see how it is both informative and interesting to read what those early feminists had to say in their own words? This is exactly what direct quotes are for.

This feminist background led Sarah to the view that she was always destined to be a feminist, 'in a sense I was born to be a feminist, it was all there in my back ground so when feminism emerged then it seemed to be waiting for me'.33 Jilly Rosser also felt that she had a childhood feminist consciousness: [...] always inherently a feminist really. As a child I hated being sent in to help in the kitchen while the boys worked outside with Dad. I always thought it was extremely unfair I was meant to do more than the boys and I also thought it was very unfair that... they were really encouraged and helped to fulfil their sport ing potential whereas any sporting potential I might have had was incidental and not really nurtured.34 Jackie Barron grew up in Watford and also resisted the family view that girls were inferior: '[...] even when I was a little child I was always determined that I was not going to be any different to boys... I defi nitely felt I was second class because I was female even when I was a child'.35 The testimony of 'Sarah' is

Note that in science-writing, direct quotes are almost never used; it tends to be in humanities disciplines like literature, art, history, etc. where your reader might benefit from seeing how someone else said or wrote something, in their own words.

2. Paraphrasing

Another way to incorporate outside sources into your writing is to paraphrase information from a source, using your own words to express the same meaning as the content in the source.

You should paraphrase when you need to convey content from an outside source, but you can do it more clearly and smoothly for your reader by using your own words.

The example to the right shows an excerpt from this journal article:

Kovalova, A. (2018). Anna Karenina (1914): Reconstructing and Interpreting a Lost Russian Film. Film History, 30(2), 35-78.

... verifies that a new Anna Karenina adaptation was already rumored before the war. In her monograph The World Reads ‘Anna Karenina,’ Viktoriia Gornaia remarks that attempts to create a dramatization of the novel had begun even before its last chapters were published in the 1870s.10 Since then, Anna Karenina had been staged regularly, but in...

In this excerpt the author paraphrases from a work by Viktoriia Gornaia, rather than using a direct quote.

In this particular example it was probably essential to paraphrase from this source because, judging from the citation, it looks like it was written in Russian, not English.

3. Summarizing

A third way to incorporate sources into your writing is to summarize information from a source. You'd do this when you need to give your reader an overview of information you took from a source, but not all the nitty-gritty details. You'd then include an in-text citation showing what source you used.

To the left is an excerpt taken from this book:

Pinker, S. (2019). Enlightenment now: The case for reason, science, humanism, and progress. Penguin Books.

Studies of the effects of education confirm that educated people really are more enlightened. They are less racist, sexist, xenophobic, homophobic, and authoritarian. 10 They place a higher value on imagination, independence, and free speech. 11. They are more likely to vote, volunteer, express political views, and belong to civic associations such as unions, political parties, and religious community organizations. 12

In this excerpt, the author summarizes findings from multiple studies (circled in red), to make the point that more education leads to a more enlightened populace.

When you were reading the excerpts above, did you notice that paraphrasing and summarizing were often used in combination?

Something else worth mentioning is that paraphrasing and summarizing are harder skills to master compared to slotting in a direct quote in your writing.

Nevertheless, it's really useful to get practice reading and comprehending content, then summarizing and/or paraphrasing it in your own words.

But, if you are finding it difficult to do, try these tips:

Read the source, then set it aside and don't look at it while you write down the most important things you remember from the source.
Then, look over what you wrote, polish it up, and look at your source again to make sure you didn't borrow phrases and/or parts of sentences (or whole sentences).
You'll then need to insert one or more in-text citations to give credit to the source you used.

Soil texture was determined using the hydrometer method (Gee & Bauder 1979) and soil pH with the 1:1 soil:water method (Kalra 1995).

4. Referring

Last is to simply refer to a source to show where you got facts or information.

You'd refer when your reader doesn't really need to know any details; rather, you are simply giving them the option to find the same details that you found in that source by providing a citation the reader can follow up on.

The excerpt above is taken from this journal article:

Ware, I. M., Terletzky, P., & Adler, P. B. (2014). Conflicting management objectives on the Colorado Plateau: understanding the effects of bison and cattle grazing on plant community composition. Journal for nature conservation, 22(4), 293-301.

Note that the authors didn't feel they needed to give the reader details about how they determined soil texture, they simply referred readers to the sources they used for their methods.

QUESTION 1. In science-writing, if you are incorporating outside sources into your writing, then use any of these methods:

A. Directly quoting, paraphrasing, summarizing, or excerpting.

B. Paraphrasing, summarizing, or referring.

C. Directly quoting, paraphrasing, summarizing, or referring.

D. Copy/pasting, quoting, paraphrasing, or summarizing.

(Answer at bottom of page.)

QUESTION 2. You'd _____________ from a source when you can explain content from that source more smoothly in your own words (than if you used a direct quote).

A. synthesize

B. summarize

C. paraphrase

D. parachute

(Answer at bottom of page.)

QUESTION 3. The way you bring outside sources into your writing (whether it's quoting, paraphrasing, or referring) should be driven by how best to explain something to your reader.

true
false

(Answer at bottom of page.)

What's next?

Learn HOW YOU SHOULD CITE.

Answers to questions on this page:Question 1. BQuestion 2. CQuestion 3. true

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Incorporating outside sources into your writing

1. Directly quoting

2. Paraphrasing

3. Summarizing

4. Referring

What's next?

Learn HOW YOU SHOULD CITE.

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