tips and tricks for incorporating source material

1. Shannon’s Tips and Tricks for Incorporating
Outside Source Material
1. Use signal phrases and attributive tags so your reader knows the
source of your information and what type of source it is.
2. Quote as little of the text as possible. Make sure your argument
dominates the conversation and guides what you bring in from
outside sources.
3. Ease your reader into and out of quotations. Give your reader
some context before and after the quote itself so he/she knows
the context of the original argument and exactly how this quote
fits in with yours.
4. Your voice should be the dominant one in the composition. You
are guiding the conversation and rhetorically manipulating
others’ words to support your argument. Their words should not
guide how you talk about your issue.
5. Never use a quote as a single, stand-alone sentence. It is very hard
to smoothly integrate quotes into your writing voice and the
context of your argument when you separate them into their own
sentence.
6. Every quote should be accompanied by analysis, especially longer
quotes. Your reader should be able to very clearly understand
how this quote develops your argument and why you have
chosen to use it.
7. Rule of threes. For every one quote/sentence/argument brought
in from an outside source, you should be providing three times as
much context/analysis/argument of your own.
8. Every quote should have a purpose. Each quote you use should be
incorporated rhetorically and should build toward the argument
you make in the thesis statement of your essay. Each development
of your argument should loop back to this thesis statement in
some way.