Choosing & Using Sources: Instructor Resources

Pre-Class Preparation

• Review the handout and answer key for this activity. Consider completing the handout yourself to get a feel for how this activity works.
• Review In-Class Procedure below.
• Decide whether you want students to complete the handout in print or electronically.
• If you decided on electronic handouts, put Handout 10A-1 in your learning management system.
• If you decided on paper copies, print Handout 10A-1 (1 copy per student and 1 for yourself) and Answer Key 10A-1 (1 copy for yourself).
• Prepare introductory remarks, or use the Possible Script, if it is helpful.
• Download and/or print In-Class Procedure and Possible Script so you can take them with you to class.

In-Class Procedure

(These procedures assume students will be completing the handouts in class. If you had them complete the handouts before class, start at Step 6 below for the discussion.)

1. If you’re having students use printed copies of Handout 10A-1, pass them out or set them where students can pick them up as they come in.
2. If you’re having students use an electronic Handout 10A-1, tell them how to find and open it.
3. Introduce the activity, using the Possible Script below or your own remarks.
4. Ask students to follow the directions on the handout to integrate the sentences of source text appropriately for academic writing. Give them 5 minutes to complete the handout.
5. After 5 minutes, ask a student to read his/her sentences aloud in the order they put them in, which should constitute one paragraph of integrated writing.
6. Share with students the suggested answers on Answer Key 10A-1 and ask all students to compare these to their own paragraphs.
7. Discuss the task. If students say that having to consider the sentences separately was confusing, tell them that the readers of their source paragraphs need help, too, to understand the argument.
8. Point out that integrating source material into academic writing is a skill that takes practice.
9. Remind students that a well-integrated paragraph of source text:

• Starts with a topic sentence and ends with a sentence that transitions to the next topic.
• In between those sentences are sentences from source material that make your argument.
• Also between the first and last sentence is your interpretation of source material that explains how the text contributes to the points you want to make in your argument.

Possible Script

In academic writing, you will often need to integrate material from information and data sources created by others into your own work. In this way, you join an ongoing scholarly conversation and show readers that you have research to back up your arguments. Integrating sources is often a vital part of the information creation process

Paragraphs in your academic writing will often start with an introductory sentence followed by a combination of evidence from source materials and explanation or interpretation of the evidence. Introductory sentences, or topic sentences, introduce the reader to the main topic of the paragraph. Evidence might take the form of data from, or quotations or summarizations of, other peoples’ work, all of which you must cite in some way. When you cite a source, you tell your reader who wrote or said something and in which publication you found it. Whenever you include the work of others, explain how it relates to the argument you are making. You will also usually include a transition sentence at the end of a paragraph that leads to your next topic.

Relevant Choosing & Using Sources Chapter:

Chapter 10, Writing Tips