Signs of Trouble:
Letting Sources Lead (Instead of Follow) in Your Writing
Letting Sources Lead (Instead of Follow) in Your Writing
Have you understood the writing assignment and written an ORIGINAL piece of writing with a new 'take' on the topic and your own argument leading the charge?
Even if you think that you have, you will want to review your essay--after the first draft--to make sure that YOU are leading the writing and not your sources. Write an Original Essay.
ORIGINAL CONTENT
One of the challenges of good scholarship is to take what has already been done, said, or argued, and incorporate it into your work in an original way.
To some students, this task may seem unnecessarily redundant: a student writing a paper on the benefits of stem cell research may ask, “If the positive aspects of this research have already been argued, why do I need to do it again?” The answer is that:
One of the challenges of good scholarship is to take what has already been done, said, or argued, and incorporate it into your work in an original way.
To some students, this task may seem unnecessarily redundant: a student writing a paper on the benefits of stem cell research may ask, “If the positive aspects of this research have already been argued, why do I need to do it again?” The answer is that:
- by doing research on your subject, you become more familiar with existing scholarly work, which in turn can provide models for your own writing
- your way of presenting the information and arguing it will be different from that of others and is therefore valuable; and
- as more recent information on your subject becomes available, you have the opportunity to bring this new information into your report or argument, adding new dimensions to the discussion.
LOGICAL CONTENT
The CONTENT of your essay needs to move logically from one idea to the next so that the reader can...
The CONTENT of your essay needs to move logically from one idea to the next so that the reader can...
- understand your argument,
- take note of the defense of your argument through an outside source or two, and
- and believe your analysis of this support.
ORGANIZED CONTENT
In any argument essay, you will need to provide the reader with several body-paragraphs of supporting points that support the claim you have made in your thesis.
- Topic sentence introducing the focus of the paragraph’s main topic and sub-point of the thesis in a clear way (Sentence Starters for Argument Essay Paragraphs) Eliminate all 1st and 2nd person pronoun usage throughout the essay
- An explanation as to why this sub-point is important to your argument (Using Ethos, Logos, and Pathos)
- Specific example(s), facts(s), etc. that support the argument point for this paragraph: you only use the source content to defend and develop your argument point—do not use source material to make your argument. You need to make your argument logically, and then the source material is used to lend credibility to what you were arguing. YOU lead the writing. Do not let the sources lead the writing. (Signs of Trouble--Letting Sources Lead Instead of Follow Your Writing) Use properly cited quotes, paraphrases, or summaries. Try to use paraphrased source content instead of quotes.
- Remember to use transitions to move from one logical point to the next throughout the body-paragraph: lead your readers, do not jump over logical transitions. (Source Sandwich: Introduce, Quote, Evaluate)
- Your explanation and analysis of example(s) provided above that defended your argument
- Summative sentence to wrap up the point of the body-paragraph—it needs to reflect back to the topic sentence of the body-paragraph. Remember to provide transitions for your reader when possible in the last sentence—to your next point—but the main purpose of the final sentence is to wrap-up the body-paragraph.
Sometimes the goals of academic writing may seem contradictory.
On the one hand, we ask you to:
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But also to:
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Find what is written on a topic and report it, demonstrating you have done your research.
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Write about the topic in an original way.
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Bring in opinions of experts and authorities.
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Do more than simply report them; comment on these opinions, add to them, agree or disagree with them.
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Notice articulate phrasing and learn from it, especially if you are trying to enhance your capability in English.
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Use your own words to paraphrase accurately or quote directly when you incorporate this into a paper.
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Academic writing is a challenge. It demands that you build on work done by others but create something original from it. By acknowledging where you have used the ideas, work, or words of others, you maintain your academic integrity and uphold the standards of the University and of the discipline in which you work.
Adapted from: Overview and Contradictions. Purdue University OWL Online Writing Lab. Retrieved July 2017 from <http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/589/01/>.
Writing Original Work. MIT. Retrieved 2 Feb 2018 <https://integrity.mit.edu/handbook/writing-original-work>.
Reviewing Essays for Structure
—of embedded sources
A common structural flaw in college essays is the "walk-through" (also labeled "summary" or "description").
Walk-through essays follow the structure of their sources rather than establishing their own [structure to drive the writing].
Such essays generally have a descriptive thesis rather than an argumentative one.
Be wary of paragraph openers that lead off with "time" words ("first," "next," "after," "then") or "listing" words ("also," "another," "in addition"). Although they don't always signal trouble, these paragraph openers often indicate that an essay's thesis and structure need work: they suggest that the essay simply reproduces the chronology of the source text (in the case of time words: first this happens, then that, and afterwards another thing . . . ) or simply lists example after example ("In addition, the use of color indicates another way that the painting differentiates between good and evil").
Copyright 2000, by Elizabeth Abrams.
Posted by the Writing Center at Harvard University in Essay Structure.
Content available at: https://writingcenter.fas.harvard.edu/pages/essay-structure and
sponsored by the President and Fellows of Harvard College.
Structured BODY-PARAGRAPHS (Arguments)
Structured BODY-PARAGRAPHS (Counter-Argument)
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