Adapted from: Fowler, Henrey Ramsey; Aaron, Jane E., and Janice Okoomian. The Little, Brown Handbook. 10th ed. New York: Longman. 2007.
“Editing and Proofreading.” The Writing Center. UNC College of Arts & Sciences. <http://writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts/editing-and-proofreading/>.
“Evaluating Sources: Overview.” Purdue OWL. <https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/553/01/>.
Searching for Sources
There are numerous possible sources for your writing, yet only few can provide you with a
comprehensive list of sources.
- Library holds
- Scholarly databases
- Articles and books
Avoid:
- reference works and general encyclopedias
- Popular articles and newspapers
Evaluating Sources
While many sources might seem professional or well-written, you have to evaluate them
carefully in order to decide whether a given source should be used or not.
Relevance:
- Is it relevant to my subject?
- Is the source appropriately specialized?
- Is the source recent?
Reliability:
- Where does the source come from?
- Is the author an expert in the field?
- What is the author’s bias?
- Is the source fair and reasonable?
- Is the source well written?
Exercise: Look at the following website (no 1.) and the following article (no. 2) and try to
find out what might be problematic about the sources.
1) http://antikoncepce.cz
2) http://veganka.cz/kampan-shac-pokracuje-stejne-jako-represe/
Adapted from: Fowler, Henrey Ramsey; Aaron, Jane E., and Janice Okoomian. The Little, Brown Handbook. 10th ed. New York: Longman. 2007.
“Editing and Proofreading.” The Writing Center. UNC College of Arts & Sciences. <http://writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts/editing-and-proofreading/>.
“Evaluating Sources: Overview.” Purdue OWL. <https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/553/01/>.
Synthesizing Sources
- respond to sources
- connect sources
- heed your own insights
- use sources to support your own ideas
Adapted from: Fowler, Henrey Ramsey; Aaron, Jane E., and Janice Okoomian. The Little, Brown Handbook. 10th ed. New York: Longman. 2007.
“Editing and Proofreading.” The Writing Center. UNC College of Arts & Sciences. <http://writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts/editing-and-proofreading/>.
“Evaluating Sources: Overview.” Purdue OWL. <https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/553/01/>.
Using Sources
Summary: to condense an idea or argument into a sentence or more using your own words
Paraphrasing: you follow more closely the author’s original presentation of ideas, but at the
same time you use your own words:
original paraphrase
Adapted from: Fowler, Henrey Ramsey; Aaron, Jane E., and Janice Okoomian. The Little, Brown Handbook. 10th ed. New York: Longman. 2007.
“Editing and Proofreading.” The Writing Center. UNC College of Arts & Sciences. <http://writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts/editing-and-proofreading/>.
“Evaluating Sources: Overview.” Purdue OWL. <https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/553/01/>.
Quoting: to provide an exact quotation of the words used by the original author
- provide the page! (you can use [ ] (square brackets), . . . (ellipsis marks)).
Exercise 1: Provide a summary of the entire following paragraph AND then paraphrase the first four
sentences.
Exercise 2: Combine a paraphrase and direct quotation to state the main idea of the passage below.
Using Sources in the Text
- You will have to modify your writing a little bit in order to accommodate your sources into your
paper. A poorly accommodated sentence can be distracting and confusing.
Adapted from: Fowler, Henrey Ramsey; Aaron, Jane E., and Janice Okoomian. The Little, Brown Handbook. 10th ed. New York: Longman. 2007.
“Editing and Proofreading.” The Writing Center. UNC College of Arts & Sciences. <http://writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts/editing-and-proofreading/>.
“Evaluating Sources: Overview.” Purdue OWL. <https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/553/01/>.
Alterations of quotations:
Documenting Sources
- Plagiarism” (from a Latin word for “kidnapper”) is the presentation of someone else’s ideas or
words as your own. Whether deliberate or accidental, plagiarism is a serious offence. Plagiarism can
also be using the same phrases without indicating you are using the same phrases!
Adapted from: Fowler, Henrey Ramsey; Aaron, Jane E., and Janice Okoomian. The Little, Brown Handbook. 10th ed. New York: Longman. 2007.
“Editing and Proofreading.” The Writing Center. UNC College of Arts & Sciences. <http://writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts/editing-and-proofreading/>.
“Evaluating Sources: Overview.” Purdue OWL. <https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/553/01/>.
Recognizing plagiarism:
Works Cited
Surname, Name. “Title of the Article.” Book Title (can be also underlined). City of publishing, publishing
house. Year of publication.
Surname, Name. “Title of the Article.” Website. Website company. Year of publication. (Basic) URL.
Mravenec, Ferda. “How I Met Ladybug.” My Life in the Anthill. Mravenecov, Kosmas. 2014.