Writing from Readings: Definitions and Examples
Carol Lynn Moder
In academic settings, writers commonly base the content of their writing on materials they have read. For example, an instructor might ask you to describe or discuss specific information from an assigned reading (see Example 1). The first step to approach this writing task is to carefully read the assignment in order to make sure you understand what it will require.
Example 1:
Using information from The Cultural Feast and other assigned readings, Define ethnocentrism and cultural relativism. Provide specific examples of your reactions to the readings that might be instances of each.
This assignment indicates that the instructor expects you to use one key reading, called The Cultural Feast and other related readings to answer the question. The assignment makes clear that you need to have read these texts carefully and to refer to the text in your answer. So how do you refer to those texts correctly?
Informal In-Text Citations
As you saw in earlier chapters, there are a variety of ways to refer to another text in your writing. For many kinds of writing, you will have to use a formal documentation style, like APA, for your in-text citations and you will have to provide a reference page, as well. And other kinds of writing, particularly if you are referring to readings assigned for a class or if you are writing in a magazine or newspaper style, you may be allowed or expected to use a more informal way of referring to a text. You should check in with your instructor about which approach he or she expects you to use.
Note that the assignment in example one refers to the key text as The Cultural Feast. Here the instructor uses the title of the text and puts it in italics. The italics show this is the title of the book. Know if you are writing by hand, you would underline the title of the book, The Cultural Feast, since you can’t put it in italics. The title of an article or chapter would usually be put in quotation marks. In answer 2, we see this in the use of “Eating as a Cultural Affair.” In this example, the writer puts the title in parentheses and gives the specific page number, a variation on a more formal in-text citation. If the instructor uses an informal citation in the question, it is probable that you can use it in your response. Remember, though, that it is always a good idea to ask the instructor what in-text citation format he or she expects.
A second in-text citation strategy is to use the name of the author of the article or book. We see this in Answer 1, where the student writes: “In Davidson’s article…”
| Examples of informal in-text citations | |
| In The Cultural Feast, ethnocentrism is defined as… | →Title of book in italics |
| The chapter, “Eating is a Cultural Affair” describes… | →Title of chapter in quotes |
| Bryant, DeWalt, Courtney & Schwartz highlight “ “ | →Authors’ last names |
| According to Bryant and colleagues,…. | →First author’s name, ‘colleagues’ used