Deciding when and how to use source material in your writing is an important skill to learn. If your essay uses too much source material, especially if it relies too heavily on quotations, it will feel like a patchwork quilt of other people’s voices, rather than your own writing. If you do not use sources enough, your essay may lack support or credibility. To show that you understand the perspectives on an issue, you must use your sources effectively, but to maintain your own voice in your writing, you must balance those sources with your own ideas and development.
Write: You will practice quoting and paraphrasing in your initial post. Then, you will consider when to use each strategy:
Pick one sentence that seems important enough to quote. Use a signal phrase to introduce the quotation. Incorporate the quotation into your own writing. You may paraphrase part of the sentence and quote only the most important phrases from the source.
Pick two sentences that contain important material, but that you may not need to quote in order to use them effectively, and paraphrase them. Be sure to combine the two sentences into one sentence. Remember that you must completely rewrite the source material into your own language. No words, phrases, or structure should remain from the original source
