1. Chapter. 6 From Finding to Evaluating Sources
Chapter. 7 From Summary to Synthesis

2. Chapter. 6 From Finding to Evaluating Sources

3. Identifying Sources
 Consult Experts Who Can Guide Your Research:
 (1) Your Writing Instructor.
 (2) Librarians at your campus or local library.
 (3) Experts in other fields.
 (4) Manuals. handbooks, and dedicated websites.

4. Distinguish Between Primary & Secondary Sources
 Primary source- a firsthand, or eyewitness, account, the kind of
account you find in letters or newspapers or research papers in
which the researcher explains his or her impressions of a
particular phenomenon.
 Secondary source- an analysis of information reported in a
primary source.
 See table 6.1 p. 123-124.

5. Distinguish Between Popular & Scholarly Sources
 Popular sources- information from sources such as newspapers
or large circulation magazines.
 Scholarly sources- are written for experts in a particular field.
Subject driven materials that are created by experts in the same
field, which design their materials for colleagues or those in
similar fields of interest:
 (1) Peer review- scholarly materials will not get published until
they have been carefully evaluated by the author’s peers, other
experts in the academic conversation being conducted in the
journal.
 Table 6.2 p. 126.

6. Searching For Sources
 Keyword search.
 Try browsing.
 Perform a journal or newspaper title search.

7. Evaluating Library Sources
 The author’s background and credentials.
 The writer’s purpose.
 The topic of discussion.
 The audience the writer invokes and whether you are a member.
 The nature of the conversation.
 What the author identifies as a misinterpretation or a gap in
knowledge or an argument that needs modifying.
 What the author’s own view is.
 How the author supports his or her argument.
 The accuracy of the author’s evidence.

8. Skimming
 Skimming- briefly examining the material to get a sense of the
information it offers.
 4 steps:
 (1) Read the introductory sections.
 (2) Examine the table of contents and index.
 (3) Check the notes and bibliographic references.
 (4) Skim deeper.

9. Evaluating Internet Sources
 Evaluate the author of the site.
 Evaluate the organization that supports the site.
 Evaluate the purpose of the site.
 Evaluate the information on the site.

10. Chapter. 7 From Summary to Synthesis

11. Summaries, Paraphrases, & Quotations
 Paraphrase- a restatement of all the information in a passage in
your own words, using your own sentence structure and
composed with your own audience in mind to advance your
argument (p.140-141 eg).
 Steps to writing a paraphrase: (p. 143)
 (1) Decide whether to paraphrase.
 (2) Understand the passage.
 (3) Draft your paraphrase.

12. Summaries, Paraphrases, & Quotations (2)
 Summary- condenses a body of information, presenting the key
ideas and acknowledging their source.
 Summarizing methods:
 (1) Describing the author’s key claims.
 (a) Notice how paragraphs begin and end.
 (b) Notice the author’s point of view and transitions.
 (2) Select examples to illustrate the author’s argument.
 (3) Present the gist of the author’s argument.
 (a) Gist- expressing the author’s central idea in a sentence or two.
 (4) Contextualize what you summarize (Fig 7.1/p. 150).

13. Synthesis VS Summary
 Synthesis- a discussion that forges connections between the
arguments of two or more authors.
 Requirements for synthesizing:
 (1) Make connections among ideas in different texts (p. 165).
 (2) Decide what those connections mean (p. 166).
 (3) Formulate the gist of what you’ve read (Fig 7.2/p. 166-168).

14. Integrating Quotations Into Your Writing
 There are 3 things one must consider when integrating quotations:
 (1) Take an active stance- means knowing when to quote. Don’t
quote when a paraphrase or summary will convey the information
from a source more effectively.
 (a) It’s not fair to quote selectively-choosing only passages that
support your argument-when you know you are distorting the
argument of the writer you are quoting. You want to show that you
understand the writer’s argument, and you don’t want to make
evenhanded use of it in your own argument.
 (b) It’s not wise to fill up your paper with an overwhelming amount
of quotations that could lead readers to believe that you don’t know
your topic well, or don’t have your own ideas.

15. Integrating Quotations Into Your Writing (2)
 (2) Explain the Quotations- when you quote an author to support or advance
your argument, make sure that readers know exactly what they should learn
from the quotation (p. 183-184).
 (3) Attach Short Quotations to Your Sentences- make shorter quotations part of
your own sentences so that your readers can understand how the quotations
connect to your argument and can follow along easily. There are two main
methods to do this:
 (a) Integrate quotations within the grammar of the sentence- the quotation must
make grammatical sense and read as if it is part of the sentence (p. 185).
 Ellipsis-use when you omit any words in the middle of a quotation.
 (b) Attach quotations with punctuation- one can also attach a quotation to a
sentence by using punctuation (p. 185-186).
 DO NOT USE:
 Block Quotations- lengthy quotations of more than five lines that are set off
from the text of a paper with indention.

16. End Chapter. 7