English Practice Now

Introduction to Incorporating Sources

Although most students are somewhat familiar with the idea of bringing sources into their paper to help build an argument, many are not yet proficient with how to integrate or incorporate that source into their writing. There are several steps to include when you bring research into your paper:

  1. Introduce the idea: Decide how the source connects to your main argument and build in a general explanation. You will be warming the readers up for the fact that you are about to provide. (In green, below)
  2. Introduce the source with a signal phrase: Introduce the source by discussing its context. This is often in the same sentence as Step 3 (In yellow, below – See here for how to build them)
  3. Provide the fact: Paraphrase the source (In grey, below – See here for help paraphrasing)
  4. Provide an in-text citation: Cite the source by adding an in-text citation – (In grey, below – See here for help building in-text citations)
  5. Explain and/or analyze the source and respond (In blue, below)
    1. (A) Explain how it supports your argument: If you are trying to build an argument, you will explain how it connects to your argument, either by supporting your argument or providing a counterargument for you to address.
    2. (B) Analyze your source: If you are analyzing it (such as for a literature review, for example), you will evaluate the source and the arguments it builds. You might connect it to a previous source that you already introduced.
    3. Respond: For either strategy, you will often react or respond to the information (See here for help building a response **).

Example

A major reason why peanut butter is a great food is its health benefits.  Many people avoid peanut butter to improve their health when they really should be eating more, since it can actually improve your quality of live in several ways. In fact, eating peanut butter can actually help you live longer.In their 2016 study, Glasgow and Cort investigated the predominance of peanut butter in the diets of people over the age of 80, analyzing the effects it had on their blood pressure and heart rate. They found that 85% of people over the age of 80 loved peanut butter due to its effect on blood pressure and heart rate (Glasgow & Cort, 2016). It is common knowledge that heart disease is a big health issue, especially among older people. This information shows that eating peanut butter can help old people not only live longer, but also have better quality of life. People are constantly searching for ways to live longer, when the answer is as simple as consuming more peanut butter. 

          Peanut butter also has other health benefits in addition to a longer life. A recent study by …

 Explanation

(Underlined = thesis; In red = subtopic)

PINK: Explain what you mean with this new subtopic.

  1. What, specifically, do you mean?
  2. You can explain how it connects to your topic thesis. 
  3. How is it possible that it’s related to your topic sentence and thesis?

 

Many people avoid peanut butter to improve their health when they really should be eating more, since it can actually improve your quality of live in several ways. 

GREEN: Connect the subtopic to your first study.

  1. No new facts will be introduced.
  2. It is often linked to the thesis or topic sentence.

 

In fact, eating peanut butter can actually help you live longer.

 

YELLOW: Introduce the source.

  1. Don’t say what it has found!
  2. Give the background!
  3. Why were they researching this?
  4. What were they looking for?
  5. Who were they?
  6. What were they doing?

In their 2016 study, Glasgow and Cort investigated the predominance of peanut butter in the diets of people over the age of 80, analyzing the effects it had on their blood pressure and heart rate.

 

GREY: Summarize the research and paraphrase its facts. Your citation MUST come after this!

  1. ALL your facts should be here!
  2. What did they do?
  3. What did their research show?
  4. What did they find?
  5. What were their results?
  6. What did they suggest?

 

They found that 85% of people over the age of 80 loved peanut butter due to its effect on blood pressure and heart rate (Smithson, 2015). 

 

NOTE: If you are integrating many, many sources, you do not need to introduce each one carefully. 

  1. You will often introduce the context and the fact in the same sentence using a signal phrase.
  2. The signal phrase should (1) let the reader know that you are about to cite from an outside source and (2) briefly indicate the name or nature of the source

 

-Analyzing recent research, climate scientist Jane Smithers (2008) claims that the problem will subside with time. 

-In a recent article exploring the problem, sociology professor Dr. Jones Smith (2010) points out that the situation can be resolved with desalination. 

-A recent study on the impact of this phenomenon in a Canadian context found no ill effects (Hiyla, 2020).

 

BLUE: Respond to the evidence. 

  1. EXPLAIN: 
    1. WHY did you include this?
    2. HOW does it support your thesis?
    3. WHAT can we learn from this?
  2. OR ANALYZE: 
    1. How was this information produced?
    2. What conclusions were drawn?
    3. How does it connect to other sources? Are there any patterns? Differences?
    4. What are some challenges or weaknesses with the source?
  3. RESPOND:
    1. How can it connect to our greater understanding of the issue?
    2. What suggestions might you draw from this?
  4. No new facts will be introduced.

It is common knowledge that heart disease is a big health issue, especially among older people. This information shows that eating peanut butter can help old people not only live longer, but also have better quality of life. People are constantly searching for ways to live longer, when the answer is as simple as consuming more peanut butter. 

 

Usage note: At this point, some students will naturally (and fairly) point out that some papers and texts completely skip introducing sources, and sometimes even the response!

It is associated with increased cholesterol levels (Stelle, 2003), higher heart rate (Becker & Conway, 2019; Schaefer, 2018), and spikes in glucose levels (Walmsley & Sheppard, 2022). In addition, other studies have found that….

This is a valid point. This will vary by field, genre, and journal.  Generally, the amount of text used to integrate texts is often inversely correlated with the number of sources. In other words, the more sources we use, the less likely it is we will introduce and explain each one carefully – this would make the word count far too high if you had a paper with 40-50 sources. On the other hand, if you only have 5-8 sources, then each source carries much more weight in building your argument, so you should be careful to integrate it more thoughtfully. It also might change based on the type of fact you are introducing. If it’s a simple measurement (population, counting, etc.), you might just cite it directly to help introduce another fact. 

Despite the government’s pledge to offer greater support to refugees, resources are not fully available to all applicants – in 2019, there were 6,290 applications for social support in the province, but only 5,210 were approved due to budgetary insufficiencies (Rosas & Dickson, 2018). One negative impact is greater hospitalization rates. A recent study by Gay and Feeney (2018) explored the impact that financial constraints can have on household safety. They found…

However, for this exercise, we will practice with all steps. Later on, you can choose to skip some steps if appropriate, rather than practicing with the shortest integration and struggling to expand your integration when it is required.

Practice

Practice 2: Building Signal Phrases