The Source Sandwich Tutorial
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Understanding How to Use a Source Sandwich
YOU are the writer of your paper. YOU must lead the sources through the argument in your paper. Do not let the sources lead your writing. Make certain that you establish your own thoughts, argument, and logic, and you use the sources to strengthen those ideas.
Do not assume that outside sources know more than you—they are simply more respected due to their scholarly achievements and published credibility. Your ideas are worthwhile, but you need to find creative ways to use sources to argue those ideas—your ideas. The credibility of the scholarly sources is what will lend strength to your writing, not the other way around.
Steps of the Source Sandwich
Step 1: Introduce the source. This is ALL in your own words and voice. You do not introduce the source by using the source. Introduce the source by writing about it in your own words. You may want to do things like
· Name the author and give his or her credentials
· Describe the experiment, study, or survey
· Briefly summarize the main points of the article or book
Step 2: Give the quotation, paraphrase, summary, or fact. This is in a combination of your own words and the source content. You can create step 2 most professionally and academic by paraphrasing or summarizing the source. No matter whether you use lead-in, integration terms to express the source and then add part of it in as a quote, or if you fully integrate the source content as a paraphrase or summary, you must remember that any sentence that contains information from an outside source must also have an in-text citation embedded prior to the end punctuation of the sentence.
· Use ellipsis (…) to show where you have removed words
· Use square brackets ([ ]) to show words that you have changed
Step 3: Explain how the quote is relevant to your paper. This is ALL in your own words and voice. You do not simply create step 2 and then move on to another source point. You need to analyze, assess, and synthesize the importance of this outside, scholarly content. After all, you are using it to lend strength to your argument. Tell the readers how this works in your paper to prove your point.
· Instead of assuming that your reader will understand how the quote relates to the main ideas of your paper, make it very clear in your explanation
· Write a few sentences explaining how the source is evidence that supports your ideas, or how the source is on the other side of the argument.
Often, it is easiest to begin with Step 2—the sentence that has the source content integrated into it. If this seems like it will work for you, then, to ‘make the source sandwich,’ you need to write out (or type up) your sentence with the embedded/integrated source content. See the steps above for what goes into creating the ‘meat’ sentence.
Then, once you have your source content in a sentence with a proper lead-in and source integration, you would work on creating the buns to encapsulate that meat.
Create the top bun/bread…
Look at that ‘meat’ sentence and create another sentence—without any source materials in it—to introduce the topic of the ‘meat’ sentence. (The top bun should only be one sentence long.) This is your top piece of bread/bun.
Create the bottom bun/bread…
Then, read your ‘meat’ sentence again. This time create a sentence—without any source materials in it—to explain and analyze the topic expressed in the ‘meat’ sentence. You can have a very thick bottom bun if you have a lot to say about the source content. (The bottom bun does not only need to be one sentence long.)
The main point for the bottom bun is to
explain what the source was saying,
analyze its content and importance, and
evaluate why it is important to your overall point of the body-paragraph (topic sentence)—which ultimately makes it important to your overall point of the essay (THESIS statement).
This section (a sentence or two) is your bottom piece of bread/bun.
In a body-paragraph, you can have multiple source sandwiches. However, the primary concepts to keep in mind are:
MEAT: You must integrate the source content into a sentence of your own,
TOP BUN: You must create a sentence to introduce the topic/source content of the meat sandwich, and
BOTTOM BUN: You must wrap-up the source sandwich with one (or more) sentences that explain, analyze, and evaluate the source material while expressing its importance to your overall point for the body-paragraph.
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Examples:
· GETTING THERE—NEEDS WORK: Here is a section of a body-paragraph that introduces and quotes a source well, but there is no explanation of how that quote relates to the paper. The paragraph simply continues on addressing different aspects of the overall topic.
According to the article “What do we mean by ‘sex’ and ‘gender’?" by the World Health Organization, gender roles are defined as, “A set of social and behavioral norms that are generally considered appropriate for either a man or a woman in a social or interpersonal relationship” (Eisend).Traditionally, men are the ones putting the bread on the table. Women stay home to clean and take care of the children. But this is a new century with new ideas and new technology. These so called “gender roles” are hardly existent now and yet are still focused on so closely today when they shouldn’t be.
· MORE ON TRACK—ACCEPTABLE SANDWICH: Here is a better example that introduces the source, quotes it, and then explains how it is relevant.
[introduces the topic] An ideal option is for the U.S. to work jointly with the U.N. on anti-terrorist drone attacks. [introduces the argument to lead to the source] The U.S. could enjoy many benefits from a relationship with the U.N. for drones. [introduces the source] In article 43 of the U.N. charter, it states one of the primary obligations of the U.N. is to [quotes the source] “maintain or restore international peace and security” (Barrett). [explains how the source is relevant to the overall topic/argument] This article indicates that the U.N. should have an interest in the war on terrorism.
Please keep in mind that the source sandwich method does not constitute the whole paragraph. The body-paragraph consists to additional parts, yet when a source is going to be used, it needs to be set up—within the body-paragraph—in the proper sandwich format.
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