2 Integrating Evidence from Research Name: A good way to think about integrating any kind of research into your own paper is the analogy of planting a tree (from Mauk and Metz, The Composition of Everyday Life). When you plant a tree, you don’t just set the tree down on top of the grass and walk away. You dig a hole, preparing the earth for the tree by removing any large rocks or roots that are in the way. Then, you set the tree into the hole. Again, you don’t walk away to leave the tree to fend for itself in a hole. You connect the tree to the rest of the earth by backfilling the dirt, tamping it down, and watering the newly planted tree in the hopes that it will take root and flourish as part of the landscape. When you work with research in your writing, you should make the same preparations. Writers use the following order to integrate their sources into their writing. Read these three elements and then review the examples below: 1. Introduce (dig hole & prepare soil): Prepare your paper for the piece of research by crafting an introductionor signal phrase that sets the tone or positions the research for readers. This is also a good time to consider what readers need to know or might want to know about the source, like where it’s from and what makes the source credible. 1. Add Source (set tree in hole): Insert theresearch by summarizing, paraphrasing, or quoting, and cite it correctly in MLA style with quotation marks if it’s a direct quote and an in-text citation that corresponds to a works cited entry on your works cited page. 1. Comment (backfill, tamp, & water): Conclude the integration by commenting on the research, explaining it (if it’s a particularly dense piece of writing), connecting it to your main point, reacting to it if it’s particularly shocking or insightful, comparing it to other sources, or synthesizing it. Here is an excerpt from Guernsey’s article on the effects of screen time on literacy (to read the full article, click on the title of the Works Cited entry below). See how this source has been integrated, or planted, into the following color-coded examples: “As analysts and experts parse the data in the months and years to come, new twists may emerge. But the larger picture painted by today's statistics is hard to miss: Media is embedded in children's lives and dominating hours of their days, while reading is trailing behind. The next trick is to tease out what I call the Three C's: the content, context and the individual child. What kinds of media -- what TV shows, which online games? Who's with them as they read and play, and how is that experience integrated into what they are learning or interested in? And what ages and dispositions of children are drawn to what kinds of media for what reasons? Until we can answer these questions, we will continue to be in the dark about the impact of media and its complicated connection to literacy among the next generation.” Guernsey, Lisa. "Screen Ti ...

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Integrating Evidence from Research Name:
A good way to think about integrating any kind of research into
your own paper is the analogy of planting a tree (from Mauk
and Metz, The Composition of Everyday Life). When you plant
a tree, you don’t just set the tree down on top of the grass and
walk away. You dig a hole, preparing the earth for the tree by
removing any large rocks or roots that are in the way. Then,
you set the tree into the hole. Again, you don’t walk away to
leave the tree to fend for itself in a hole. You connect the tree
to the rest of the earth by backfilling the dirt, tamping it down,
and watering the newly planted tree in the hopes that it will take
root and flourish as part of the landscape.
When you work with research in your writing, you should make
the same preparations. Writers use the following order to
integrate their sources into their writing. Read these three
elements and then review the examples below:
1. Introduce (dig hole & prepare soil): Prepare your paper for
the piece of research by crafting an introductionor signal phrase
that sets the tone or positions the research for readers. This is
also a good time to consider what readers need to know or might
want to know about the source, like where it’s from and what
makes the source credible.
1. Add Source (set tree in hole): Insert theresearch by
summarizing, paraphrasing, or quoting, and cite it correctly in
MLA style with quotation marks if it’s a direct quote and an in-
text citation that corresponds to a works cited entry on your
works cited page.
1. Comment (backfill, tamp, & water): Conclude the integration

2. by commenting on the research, explaining it (if it’s a
particularly dense piece of writing), connecting it to your main
point, reacting to it if it’s particularly shocking or insightful,
comparing it to other sources, or synthesizing it.
Here is an excerpt from Guernsey’s article on the effects of
screen time on literacy (to read the full article, click on the title
of the Works Cited entry below). See how this source has been
integrated, or planted, into the following color-coded examples:
“As analysts and experts parse the data in the months and years
to come, new twists may emerge. But the larger picture painted
by today's statistics is hard to miss: Media is embedded in
children's lives and dominating hours of their days, while
reading is trailing behind. The next trick is to tease out what I
call the Three C's: the content, context and the individual child.
What kinds of media -- what TV shows, which online games?
Who's with them as they read and play, and how is that
experience integrated into what they are learning or interested
in? And what ages and dispositions of children are drawn to
what kinds of media for what reasons? Until we can answer
these questions, we will continue to be in the dark about the
impact of media and its complicated connection to literacy
among the next generation.”
Guernsey, Lisa. "Screen Time, Young Kids, and Literacy: New
Data Begs Questions." The Huffington Post, 25 Dec. 2011,
www.huffingtonpost.com/lisa-guernsey/kids-media-
consumption_b_1029945.html. Accessed 28 May 2017.
Summary Example
In her Huffington Post article, “Screen Time, Young Kids and
Literacy: New Data Begs Questions”, Lisa Guernsey, director of
the Early Education Initiative at the New America Foundation,
claims the evidence is clear on one point: children today spend
far more time on screens than they do reading. In other words,

3. we are raising a generation of people who will be computer and
touchscreen literate. Will that be enough? After all, most tech
devices today offer “read to you” applications. What is really
lost if we are reading less than we have ever before?
Paraphrase Example
The trend in increased media time and decreased reading time is
clear, but many questions remain about the effects of this trend.
Lisa Guernsey, director of the Early Education initiative at the
New America Foundation, suggests that exploring details about
the study, like specific media used and links between a child’s
media exposure and non-media activities will reveal much more
about the way media effects literacy. We should also examine
how media time is supervised or co-experienced, and how
individual differences among children such as age or media
preference impact literacy (Guernsey). Given Guernsey’s
suggested questions at the end of her article, I am rethinking my
role in refereeing media exposure and reading time in my own
household with three young children. I decided to try to answer
some of her questions for my own kindergartner’s media use.
Quotation Example
While the trend in increased media time and decreased reading
time is clear, many questions remain about the effects of this
trend, as Lisa Guernsey warns in her Huffington Post article,
“Screen Time, Young Kids and Literacy: New Data Begs
Questions”: “What kinds of media -- what TV shows, which
online games? Who's with them as they read and play, and how
is that experience integrated into what they are learning or
interested in? And what ages and dispositions of children are
drawn to what kinds of media for what reasons?” These
questions force me to consider the answers in my own life as a
parent of young children, and I am rethinking how I use our I-
pad, the number of times each week all three of my kids are in
front of the tv while I make dinner, and when reading competes
with media in my household.

4. Integration Practice
Quote a section out of one of the sources you located for your
own writing project. With the metaphor of planting a tree in
mind, create an introduction before the quote and a comment
after the quote:
Create an accurate works cited entry for this source:
Using one of your other sources, summarize a section you find
interesting. Plant a tree using an introduction and comment:
Create an accurate works cited entry for this source:
Finally, plant a tree by paraphrasing a third source:
Create an accurate works cited entry for this source:
Reflection

5. How did your introduction or signal phrases differ as you
moved from summary to paraphrase to quotation?
When are you more likely to use each of these integration
strategies? Why?
Summary
Paraphrase
Quotation
How can you tell where the research ends, and where your
comment begins in each of the examples you crafted above?
Describe your process for summarizing, and your process for
paraphrasing information from a source. How do you ensure
that you’re not plagiarizing?