Writer’s Guide to Mindful Reading: Source Synthesis, pg. 28 and Chapter 5.

Writing a Summary

Using Sources

MLA IntegratingSources PPT

Class, this is an important assignment. Please read all the instructions carefully. This is not a discussion. Use the Submit button on the upper right.

Outcome #1: Be able to utilize tested research questions and search terms to locate scholarly articles.

Outcome #2: Be able to write concise and accurate summaries, integrate source information smoothly into original prose and cite sources correctly using correct MLA style.

Instructions: 

• Using the research question(s) and search terms that you have been developing so far, find two sources that provide responses  to some aspect of one of your research questions.
• One of these two sources must be from a scholarly journal. Scholarly journals can be found in the library databases. Look for peer reviewed articles as you will be using this type of source in your final project. Do not use abstracts.

Write a brief summary of only the sections in each of the two sources that respond to your questions. This will be a page or less overall. (Please do not summarize the entire article.) These summaries should be written formally, as if they were part of your paper.

Explain how this passage addresses your question.

Each source/summary should provide very different possible answers to your question(s).

Both of your summaries must include a quotation or paraphrase. Cite your sources correctly, using MLA style, and integrate any direct quotes or paraphrasing smoothly into your summary, citing these as well.

Examples of the correct use of source material are in the Powerpoint tutorial under Week Six.

Important Notes:

You will need to have refined your research questions several times by this point. They should be specific, complex (multiple parts) and challenging.

Please include your research questions at the top of the page.