LibGuides: Research Process: Putting it into Words

Integrating your sources

The video above will help you make sense of utilizing your sources correctly. If you want a how-to type of book on academic writing, check out the titles below.

Citation:

Downs-Jones Library. (2012, August 15). Incorporating Sources into Your Research Paper. [Video File]. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/yoQzXVmFXfk.

The Academic Writer's Toolkit: A User's Manual by Arthur Asa Berger
"[Berger] differentiates between business writing skills for memos, proposals, and reports, and the scholarly writing that occurs in journals and books. He has suggestions for getting the "turgid" out of turgid academic prose and offers suggestions on how to best structure various forms of documents for effective communication. Written in Berger's friendly, personal style, he shows by example that academics can write good, readable prose in a variety of genres."--Provided by Description on book's website.
Sin Boldly!: Dr. Dave's Guide to Writing the College Paper by David R. Williams
"Jammed with sage advice, genuine encouragement, and surprising examples (of how to write and how not to write), this book gives beginning writers and confident students alike an easy-to-follow roadmap for improving one of the most important skills for success. En route to Sin Boldly!-induced, A+ paper bliss, readers encounter such topics as· Choosing a Topic and Telling Your Story ("K.I.S.S.-Keep It Simple, Stupid")·"--Provided by "Description" on book's website.
They Say / I Say by Cathy Birkenstein; Gerald Graff
"They Say / I Say teaches students the rhetorical moves found in persuasive writing across all disciplines. The authors focus on the central rhetorical move that gives the book its title: how to begin with what others have said ("they say") in order to set up one's own argument ("I say"). The approach is practical and effective, and the language is engaging and jargon-free."--Provided by publisher's website.
Writing in College by Amy Guptill
"Writing in College is designed for students who have largely mastered high-school level conventions of formal academic writing and are now moving beyond the five-paragraph essay to more advanced engagement with text. It is well suited to composition courses or first-year seminars, and valuable as a supplemental or recommended text in other writing-intensive classes." --Provided by "About the Book" on the book's website

Citing your Sources

We use citations to communicate information about our resources with our audience and other researchers. By citing our sources, we're letting our reader know that we're not claiming work that isn't ours. We're also giving them the information they need to find out more about these ideas should they be interested in learning more. Because of this, we want to make sure that our citations are as correct as possible to help researchers retrieve the information we're discussing as quickly as possible.

Visit our Citation Guide to find information on how to properly cite and integrate your sources using APA, MLA, and Chicago.

Citation:

Avoiding Plagiarism - Cite Your Source (n.d.). Retrieved from https://integrity.mit.edu/handbook/citing-your-sources/avoiding-plagiarism-cite-your-source

An outline can be as rough or organized as you (or your professor) want it to be. If your professor expects you to turn in an outline, make sure to follow all of their guidelines. If you're trying to create an outline on your own, you will have a bit more freedom in terms of how much you want to include.

Outlines can be organized like the one below (give or take a few details) or they can be a bit more bare-bones with just your main points. For more outline templates, check out Purdue Online Writing Lab's Types of Outlines and Samples page.

Introduction

Background information--why is this topic important? Why should we care?
Thesis/Research Question

Literature Review (what are other researchers saying about your topic? Can you identify specific themes or arguments that people tend to make? How are they writing about your topic?)

Theme 1
Theme 2 (you may have more than two themes)
Review of what the literature says/what it means for your topic/paper

Point 1

What you want to say off the top of your head
Evidence to support point 1 (could be a direct quote, could be an article citation so you remember where you got your evidence from, whatever will help you most at this stage)

Point 2:

What you want to say off the top of your head
Evidence to support point 2

Point 3:

What you want to say off the top of your head
Evidence to support point 3

Conclusion:

So what?--briefly review your main points/ why we should care
Reiterate thesis
Explain the implications your paper has for your topic--what types of studies/questions should researchers consider next?

Citation:

Types of Outlines and Samples. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/the_writing_process/developing_an_outline/types_of_outlines.html

Literature Review

A literature review can be a standalone research assignment. But, you're more likely to come across it as you read scholarly papers and write longer research papers.

The literature review takes a close and thematic look at the literature that's published about your subject.

Because you're looking at a bunch of information that has been put out on your topic, it is essential to include opposing views in your literature review.

At this point, you're not necessarily arguing anything. Instead, you're giving your reader the relevant information already in the scholarly discussion that they need to be able to follow your paper and your arguments.

However, it's important to note that a literature review is not just a summary of your sources. It is a thematic study of your materials.

You're showing the reader how researchers have approached the subject over time. You do this by organizing your resources in a way that seems most logical (for example, theme, time, or argument).