Incorporating Research and Evidence

When you write a paper that exhibits an idea or argument, you should include some evidence or research to support your claims. However, you need to be aware of the right ways and the wrong ways to incorporate your backup information.

 

Avoiding Plagiarism

Whenever you incorporate any idea that is not yours, you must indicate it. You can either use a citation or somehow tell the reader where the information comes from. However you cite it, it is important that you do it.

To be safe, you should always cite anything that you did not create. This includes the following sources:

• books
• magazines
• journals
• articles
• TV shows
• artwork
• interviews

You can find different ways to cite these items. It all depends on what your instructor wants. The most popular citation styles include MLA, APA, and Chicago, but we cover those in other pages you can access. You can access more information on avoiding plagiarism here.

 

Practicing

Always take notes and indicate thoughts that are not yours when you are gathering your research so you will remember to cite them later. Do the same thing when watching something like a TV show or interviewing somebody. Make sure the notes you take are clear and indicate thoughts that are not yours.

 

Using the Evidence

You can provide backup in several ways. It really depends on what part of the research is important and/or what your instructor wants to see.

Here are three ways you can incorporate the evidence into your paper:

• direct quotes
• paraphrases
• summaries

 

Using Direct Quotes

If you come across a piece of evidence that is important and you use the entire quote word for word, you can still incorporate it into your own writing. Make sure you indicate where it was from and who wrote it. Also, remember to make it flow grammatically with your own writing. You can access more information about quotations here.

Direct Quote
I’ve always felt that “the taxes in Johnson County are too high compared to other counties in our state” (Smith 22).

As you can see, the direct quote follows the same grammatical structure as the rest of the sentence. I documented the source using MLA, but there are other citation styles you can use. Always remember to cite your source.

 

Paraphrasing

Sometimes you might want to include evidence from your source, but you wish to put it into your own words. A paraphrase is often shorter than the original idea, but you must still cite it. It is a little broader than a direct quotation, but not as much as a summary. Look at the following information from the original source and the paraphrase that follows.

Original Source
Many critics believe that James Cameron’s Avatar is a glorified mash-up of Fern Gully and Pocahontas, but I feel that the real merits of the film aren’t in the story’s concept. I think it’s more revolutionary in its advances in 3D entertainment.

Paraphrase
Although, it seems like Avatar takes a lot of its inspiration from Pocahontas or Fern Gully, its true draw is in how it uses 3D technology. The story, while engaging, is not the focus of the film’s popularity (Smith 15).

As you can see, the paraphrasing is similar to the original source information, but it is not exactly the same. However, it is still the author’s ideas, not yours.

 

Summarizing

A summary is much like a paraphrase, but much broader. You still put it into your own words, but you only need to cover the main points. They are even shorter than paraphrases. However, you still need to give the source credit. Always remember that anything that is not your own idea, you must cite.  Look at the summary of the same source from above.

Summary
Even though Avatar seems like Fern Gully or Pocahontas, audiences see it for the vivid 3D images it presents (Smith 15).

The summary is not as long as the paraphrased information and it is significantly shorter than the original source. It only hits the main points and does not elaborate any further. It merely gives the reader a preview of what the source information said. Just like paraphrasing, however, you still must cite the original author.

 

You can access more information on quoting, paraphrasing, and summarizing here.

 

Citing Information

Always cite information that is not yours. Credit the author where credit is due and you will avoid any sort of “unpleasantness” associated with plagiarism, namely academic probation or expulsion.

Whether you are quoting directly, paraphrasing, or summarizing, you are still using someone's thoughts. Cite, cite, cite. Keep in mind what sort of citation style you use (MLA, APA, Chicago). Evidence and research, when properly implemented, can be a powerful tool when you want to strengthen your own claim.

 

Click here to download a PDF version of this page.