Appendix C: Integrating Source Evidence into Your Writing
Appendix C: Integrating Source Evidence into Your Writing
Suzan Last and Candice Neveu
Writing in an academic context often entails engaging with the words and ideas of other authors. Therefore, being able to correctly and fluently incorporate and engage with other writers’ words and ideas in your own writing is a critical academic skill. There are three main ways to integrate evidence from sources into your writing: quoting, paraphrasing, and summarizing. Each form requires a citation because you are using another person’s words and/or ideas. Even if you do not quote directly, but paraphrase source content and express it in your own words, you still must give credit to the original authors for their ideas. Similarly, if you quote someone who says something that is “common knowledge,” you still must cite this quotation, as you are using their sentences structure, organizational logic, and/or syntax.
Integrating Quotations
WHY: Using direct quotations in your argument has several benefits:
- Integrating quotations provide direct evidence from reliable sources to support your argument.
- Using the words of credible sources conveys your credibility by showing you have done research into the area you are writing about and consulted relevant and authoritative sources.
- Selecting effective quotations illustrates that you can extract the important aspects of the information and use them effectively in your own argument.
WHEN: Be careful not to over-quote. Paraphrasing can be more effective in some cases.
So when should you use quotations?
- If the language of the original source uses the best possible phrasing or imagery, and no paraphrase or summary could be as effective; or
- If the use of language in the quotation is itself the focus of your analysis (e.g., if you are analyzing the author’s use of a particular image, metaphor, or other rhetorical strategy).
How to Integrate Quotations Correctly
Integrating quotations into your writing happens on two levels: argumentative and grammatical. At the argument level, the quotation is being used to illustrate or support a point that you have made, and you will follow it with some analysis, explanation, comment, or interpretation that ties that quote to your argument. Never quote and run: don’t leave your reader to determine the relevance of the quotation. A quotation, statistic or bit of data cannot speak for itself; you must provide context and an explanation for quotations you use. Essentially, you should create a “quotation sandwich” (see Figure C-1). Remember the acronym I.C.E. → Introduce – Cite – Explain.
The second level of integration is grammatical. This involves integrating the quotation into your own sentences so that it flows smoothly and fits logically and syntactically. There are three main methods to integrate quotations grammatically:
- Seamless Integration Method: embed the quoted words as if they were an organic part of your sentence (if you read the sentence aloud, your listeners would n