This document provides guidance on properly introducing sources and writers to readers. It recommends assuming the reader is unfamiliar with the source and writer, and keeping introductions brief. Introductions should provide context about the writer and their credentials, as well as where the source is from. Examples demonstrate concise ways to introduce a source with just the needed information, rather than overwhelming the reader. The document advises against quoting full titles or assuming familiarity without context.

1. Introducing Sources

2. Here are the keys to introducing sources and
writers of sources.
1. You need to assume that your reader hasn’t read them.
2. You need to assume that your reader hasn’t heard of them. (Unless.
. . . See the slide later)
3. You need to assume that your reader wants to know about them.
4. You need to assume that your reader doesn’t want to read the
whole article yet.
5. You need to set up the information in as brief a way possible that
makes the source make sense to them.

3. Here’s an example of a problem paragraph.
The fact that female circumcision is unacceptable is not what is being
disputed by Katherine Marshall’s, Unkind Cuts, Washington Post article
and John Tierney’s New York Times article, A New Debate on Female
Circumcision. Katherine Marshall represents a view where the meaning
and importance of female circumcision to its native people are not taking
into consideration. Marshall states, “FGC has no benefits, it is clearly a
violation of child rights.”(Marshall) Here she concludes this fact without
including any ideas of the natives who practice female circumcision. In the
journal article, Virtuous Cuts: Female Genital Circumcision in an African
Ontology, written by Rogaia Mustafa Abusharaf, there is an emphasis on
the primitive characteristics of female circumcision when he states “It
became a conclusive validation of the view of the primitiveness of Arabs,
Muslims and Africans, all in one blow.” Not only is the procedure being
condemned but so are the societies that practice it. As the prevalence of
this practice is being considered there is no attempt to understand why
female circumcision is still widespread. For example in her Huffington Post
article, Female Circumcision—90 Percent of Childbearing Women in Egypt,
Evelyn Leopold discusses how “Three million girls face FGM/C every year
in Africa and worldwide, and up to 140 million women and girls have
already undergone the practice.” Here the statistics are stated but there
are not any explanations on why the procedure remains pivotal to these
native people. Many like to condemn this practice without understanding
it. These individuals do not have to know why or how important the
procedure may be to practitioners but they still want to have the practice
eliminated altogether. In her American Anthropologist journal, Bettina
Shell-Duncan establishes her view of about the female circumcision
process in her article, From Health to Human Rights: Female Genital
Cutting and the Politics of Intervention. She displays how Western
civilization views female circumcision when she states “the
conceptualization of a “human rights agenda” as Western and not African”
(Shell-Duncan) The western view of female circumcision remains based on
opinion and ideas of values rather than the justification by the individuals
who practice it. These opposing views for female circumcision make it
seem like an act of barbarism by uncivilized and uneducated people. But
the important issue to keep in mind is that this practice means something
very important in these societies. As Marshall argues that female
circumcision is wrong without acknowledging its meaning, Tierney
discusses that it’s more logical to also understand the practice’s
You probably stopped reading it.
Why? Because if you haven’t read
these articles, you really don’t
know what they’re about, and
you’re being bombarded with
information. This suggests that the
author wrote the paragraph for
him or herself, rather than thinking
about the audience.
Which is too bad, because this
seems like an important topic, and
I’d like to know more about it.

4. Here’s another problem
The organic market has gone up and down over
the last few years. In most countries the organic
sales were dropping until this current year of
2012. In the UK and Britain they began to see a
decline in the organic market in the early 2000s.
The author Don Johnston reports that “less
than 1 percent of the food sold in Britain is
organic ” (3). It seems that decline didn’t stop
sliding over the next five years. According to the
Author Richard Mercola who quoted The
Guardian States “Sales of organic products have
been falling since the credit crunch first bit in
late 2008” (1). However, when the news started
to spread, the organic market improved.
According to the author Walter Miller the
organic market started to rise, in 2013 “the
global market for organic food alone now
reportedly” exceeds “60 billion annually” (1).
This may be the result of news stations
reporting about organic food.
In this case, we’re getting a bunch
of authors who we’ve never heard
of, and we’re not sure what we
should be listening to them. We
really don’t know anything about
them other than the quotes we’re
given.
Who is Johnston?
Who is Mercola?
Who is Miller?
The information that each author
is giving is important, but I don’t
know why I should care about it.

5. Introducing
Sources
Let’s start by thinking
about how we’re going to
introduce a source and an
author to an audience
who might not have heard
of that source. Here’s a
web-site:

6. Introducing
Sources
How do I tell an audience
who this person is?
Here’s what matters:
Where its from? (Huffpost
Parents)
Who its by (Christine
Carter)
Its title (Want Success . . .)

7. Introducing
Sources
Here’s what not to do:
Christine Carter says “. . . .”
Who? Your reader might
not have read this article.
So this name doesn’t
mean much to them.

8. Introducing
Sources
Here’s what not to do:
In the article “Want Success and Happiness?
Be Divergent, Not Perfect,” an article by
Christine Carter on Huffpost Parents, she says .
. .
You get tired just reading
that, right? You don’t need
ALL that information.

9. So . . .
• Don’t quote complete titles.
• Give information that is useful to
your reader
• Explain who the writer is briefly.
Here’s a few samples:
“In an article about success and
happiness on Huffpost Post, Christine
Carter . . .”
“Christine Carter, a sociologist and
author, writes . . .”
“Christine Carter, a writer for Huffpost
Parents, explains . . .

10. “In an article about
success and happiness
on Huffpost Post,
Christine Carter . . .”
“Christine Carter, a
sociologist and author,
writes . . .”
“Christine Carter, a
writer for Huffpost
Parents, explains . . .
In the article “Want
Success and Happiness?
Be Divergent, Not
Perfect,” an article by
Christine Carter a
sociologist and
happiness expert and
PHD on Huffpost
Parents, she says .
See the difference?
The one on the left gives more information than your reader wants to read.
The one on the right is all the information that your reader wants to know.
We need to briefly set up the author. When we’re writing, It’s more important what she
says.

11. So . . .
Provide brief context either about what the
article is about
In an article about the effects of Google,
Nicholas Carr writes
OR
Explain where the article is from
In an article in the Atlantic, Nicholas Carr
argues
OR
Explain who the author is.
Nicholas Carr, a technology writer and
journalist, suggests

12. Also don’t do this:
“Tom Ley, a writer for
deadspin.com”
Refer to the title of the
Website:
“Tom Ley, a writer for
Deadspin, . . .”
In an article about Lebron
on Deadspin, Tom Ley . . .

13. One Thing . . .
You don’t need to worry about this when it’s an incredibly
famous person.

14. But if it’s someone who is kind of famous, you
might want to introduce them
Tony Kornheiser, an ESPN reporter . . .
Tony Kornheiser, the host of Pardon the Interruption
Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a Supreme Court Justice . . .
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg . . .

15. So the keys to introducing sources
Find out who has written in
Figure out who its from.
“Wesley Morris, a film
critic for Grantland . . .”

16. So a few don’ts
Don’t quote entire titles
Don’t expect your audience knows who a writer is
Don’t overwhelm your audience with information

17. And a reminder of the dos
Provide brief context either about what the article is about
OR
Explain where the article is from
OR
Explain who the author is.