1. Incorporating Source Material
English B1A
Incorporating Source Material

2. Source Material
When you use source material, there are three main rules of thumb that you need to remember:
Introduce the quote using a signal phrase explaining who is talking
Cite the quote by including an in-text citation at the end of your sentence.
Explain the relevance of the quote in the context of your essay. In other words, you should never end a paragraph with source material.
Remember the handy acronym ICE—introduce, cite, and explain

3. Introducing Source Material
Signal phrases are used to introduce source material.
Signal phrases explain who is talking.
Some example signal phrases include
Milgram argues
According to Asch
Fromm contends that

4. Using Source Material
When writing a paper where you’re using source material as evidence (or to address the counterargument), you’ll need to cite your sources to give credit to the authors that wrote them.
We use MLA citation in English
MLA stands for Modern Language Association

5. Citing MLA citation style uses parenthetical in-text citations.
In-text citations contain the page or the paragraph number that the source material appeared in if there are no pages listed. It comes in parentheses after the sentence that contains the quoted material.
Milgram claims, “The dilemma inherent in submission to authority is ancient” (para. 2).
Note that the quote is introduced by a signal phrase, and the in-text citation is followed by the end punctuation for the sentence.

6. Ways to Use Source Material
There are three main ways to use source material:
Quoting, or taking the direct words from a source and putting them into quotation marks.
Summarizing, or taking the main ideas of a piece and putting them into your own words.
Paraphrasing, or translating the entire piece of a text into your own words.

7. Quoting
When quoting from a source, you must keep the words exactly as they appear in the original.
If you need to add material for clarity, you put that material in brackets.
Asch reasons, “The most significant fact about them [those who went along with the majority] was not absence of responsiveness to the majority but a capacity to recover from doubt” (para. 10).
If you need to delete material for brevity, you put an ellipsis to replace the deleted material.
Milgram argues that “The point of the experiment is to see how far a person will proceed in a. . . Situation in which he is ordered to inflict increasing pain on a protesting victim” (para. 9).

8. Summarizing
When summarizing a piece, it is important to be brief and put the ideas of the piece into your own words.
According to Milgram, obedience is a necessary part of polite society (para. 1).
Remember to introduce and cite your summary just like you would a quote.

9. Paraphrasing
When paraphrasing a source, you must include all the ideas presented in the original but in your own words.
Milgram explains that the teachers are subjected to a small shock themselves before the experiment commences to make the whole scenario more believable (para. 9).
Remember to introduce and cite your paraphrase just like you would a quote.

10. Practice
Working together in small groups, find a paragraph from “The Perils of Obedience” that you’d like to paraphrase. On one sheet of paper with everyone’s name on it, write down your group’s paraphrase, including introduction and citation. Be prepared to share your paraphrase with the rest of the class.