Working your sources into your writing is a very important part of the writing process and gets easier over time. You must also decide whether you will quote, paraphrase, or summarize the material when incorporating resources into your writing.
Academic integrity encompasses the practice of engaging with source material meaningfully and ethically, to the benefit of your own learning and the discourse community with which you interact. UMGC has carefully developed a philosophy of, approach to, and tutorial about academic integrity that can be found here: Philosophy of Academic Integrity Please review this material and familiarize yourself with both the best practices in this area and how to avoid running afoul of expectations.
How you incorporate your sources into your writing depends on how you are using them and why you are writing your paper. Many students have difficulty deciding when to quote, paraphrase, or summarize, and then when to cite a source.
Understanding why writers use citations in academic research can help you decide when to use them. Citing reliable sources gives your research and writing credibility, showing your familiarity with the work of a scholarly community and your understanding of how you are contributing to it. It also shows the reader that you have done the research and have gone to great lengths to make your paper as strong and clear as possible.
Keep in mind that sometimes it is difficult to figure out how to work the quotations and paraphrases into your own style of writing. You want to avoid using lengthy blocks of quotations or lengthy paraphrases of the sources. For more information about quoting and paraphrasing resources, check out Chapter 5, “Academic Integrity and Documentation.” Also, please take a look at the UMGC library Citing and Writing LibGuide.
At this level, you are expected to remain objective and impartial when presenting the research, with no personal opinions given. You report the information, taking on the role of an experimental researcher or even an investigative reporter.
Here, you are expected to put your sources in the context of a greater issue or debate. You have to offer enough explanation and discussion (through your own comprehension and interpretation) to help your reader see the connection between the material you are researching and the other references.
At this level, you help the reader understand the relationship, significance, and authority of the reference material by introducing and discussing its sources.
Here, you are asked to judge the source materials and their usefulness for your research project. This last position, most commonly found in literary, musical, or other fine arts criticism, involves you, the researcher, as a critical thinker in assessing the sources.
At this level, you are expected to remain objective and impartial when presenting the research, with no personal opinions given. You report the information, taking on the role of an experimental researcher or even an investigative reporter.
Here, you are expected to put your sources in the context of a greater issue or debate. You have to offer enough explanation and discussion (through your own comprehension and interpretation) to help your reader see the connection between the material you are researching and the other references.
At this level, you help the reader understand the relationship, significance, and authority of the reference material by introducing and discussing its sources.
Here, you are asked to judge the source materials and their usefulness for your research project. This last position, most commonly found in literary, musical, or other fine arts criticism, involves you, the researcher, as a critical thinker in assessing the sources.