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Writing Persuasively in Academic Writing: Using Sources and Citations

Hillary Wentworth Anne TorkelsonWriting Specialist Writing ConsultantWriting Center Writing Center

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Housekeeping

• Type your questions in the questions box

• Recording: http://writingcenter.waldenu.edu/415.htm

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Agenda

• Writing persuasively using evidence• Why and how we use citations• Effective paraphrasing• Tools and resources

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Persuading with evidence

Persuade:“to move by argument, entreaty, or

expostulation to a belief, position, or course of action” (Merriam-Webster, 2012)

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Persuading with evidenceReaders expect that you:• Are well-versed in your topic• Support your points with evidence from

relevant and credible sources• Use evidence from course readings, journal

articles from the library databases, books, and trusted websites.

• Use logic and reasoning to help convince your reader of something.

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Types of evidence

• Statistics and data• Studies and experimental evidence• Facts supported by research• Expert commentary• Anecdotes• Analogies

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Build on evidence, not opinion

Today, high school curricula are boring, unimaginative, and based on rote memorization.

Revision: Because high school history curricula are based on

rote memorization (Smith, 2011), visual and kinetic learners often do not get the support they need.

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Build on evidence, not opinion

Critical thinking is a vital skill for nurses in the American healthcare system. Knapp (2007) suggested that critical thinking is particularly important for registered nurses because of their increasing responsibilities at the hospital. Nurses today have an unreasonable number of responsibilities that they never had to take on in the past.

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Build on evidence, not opinionRevision:Critical thinking is a vital skill for nurses in the American healthcare system. Knapp (2007) suggested that critical thinking is particularly important for registered nurses because of their increasing responsibilities at the hospital. Nurses today are faced with “complex healthcare delivery systems” (Benner, Sutphen, Leonard, & Day, 2009, p. 20), heavier workloads (Hughes, 2008), and other responsibilities due to nurse shortages (Felblinger, 2008).

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Pair evidence with analysis

• Don’t assume readers know why you’re using a piece of evidence or how it helps support the point you’re making

• Without analysis, readers may not understand how the evidence supports your point, or they may interpret the evidence in a different way than you want them to

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Pair evidence with analysis According to recent data, 88% of patients in the United

States needing to see a specialist are able to do so within a month (Roland, Guthrie, & Thome, 2012).

Therefore, more than 10% of the population needs to wait to receive what might be urgent medical care.

According to recent data, 88% of patients in the United States needing to see a specialist are able to do so within a month (Roland, Guthrie, & Thome, 2012). In other words, in terms of seeing a specialist, the U.S. health care system is meeting the needs of the majority of patients.

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Quoting and Paraphrasing

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Ways to use evidence• Summarizing

– Captures the source’s main idea(s)– Puts source information/ideas into own words– Is significantly shorter than original– Must include a citation

• Paraphrasing – Captures more detail– Puts source information/ideas into own words– Is usually shorter than the original, but longer than a summary– Must include a citation

• Quoting– Captures information from a source, word for word– Must use “ ” – Must include a citation, with a page or paragraph number

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Quoting• A “dropped in” quote:

– “Patients trusted their providers and believed that their healthcare was safe and of high quality” (Hyman & Silver, 2012, p. 417).

• An integrated direct quote:

– Hyman and Silver (2012) observed that “patients trusted their providers and believed that their healthcare was safe and of high quality” (p. 417).

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What is paraphrasing?

• “A restatement of a text, passage, or work giving the meaning in another form” (Merriam-Webster, 2012)

• Putting information and ideas from a source in your own words and own structure

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Why do we paraphrase?

• Helps you work through your own ideas• Shows readers that you understand the source

information• Helps your academic voice come through in

your writing

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Ineffective paraphrasing

• “Thesaurus paraphrasing”– Using your own words but keeping the source’s

sentence construction.

• “Patchwork paraphrasing”– Combining parts of sentences or phrases from

sources into sentences without paraphrasing

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Paraphrasing exampleOriginal:Patients trusted their providers and believed that their healthcare was safe and of high quality, despite considerable empirical evidence to the contrary.

A better paraphrase:Even though research raised safety and quality concerns for patient care, patients still placed trust in their healthcare providers (Hyman & Silver, 2010).

Thesaurus paraphrasing:Patients providers and in the safety and quality of their healthcare, despite much evidence suggesting (Hyman & Silver, 2010).

believed trustedotherwise

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Paraphrasing example

Source #2: In recent years there has been increasing understandingwithin the healthcare industry that various factors—such as theemphasis on production, efficiency and cost controls, organizational andindividual inability to acknowledge fallibility, and professional norms forperfectionism among healthcare providers—combine to create a culturecontradictory to the requirements of patient safety.

Source #1: Patients trusted their providers and believed that their healthcare was safe and of high quality, despite considerable empirical evidence to the contrary.

Patchwork paraphrasing: In recent years there has been increasing understanding within the healthcare industry that various factors combine to create a culture contradictory to the requirements of patient safety, even though patients trust their providers and believe that their healthcare is safe and of high quality (Hyman & Silver, 2010; Nieva & Sorra, 2003).

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Good paraphrasing practices1. Read the original passage until you fully understand the meaning of and intention behind the author's words. (Don’t worry if this takes several times.)

2. Cover or hide the passage, and then write it in your own words.

3. Compare your paraphrase to the original passage.

4. Include a citation.

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Recap and resourceIn academic writing:• Persuade the reader using credible sources as

evidence.• Paraphrase to demonstrate understanding,

maintain academic voice, integrate evidence with the surrounding text, and avoid plagiarism.

• Paraphrasing resource: http://writingcenter.waldenu.edu/295.htm

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Citations

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Why we use citations

• Citations:– Give credit to sources and avoid plagiarism.– Add to your credibility by telling the reader when

you are using sources to support your ideas.– Direct the reader to the reference list and the full

publication information for the source.

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How we cite• In-text – Tomlinson (1991) suggested…

• Parenthetical – Student diversity must be considered in meeting

students’ academic needs (Smith & McTighe, 2006)

Student diversity is one variable that must be considered in meeting the academic needs of students (Smith & McTighe, 2006). According to Tomlinson (1991), differentiated instruction is an approach that effectively engages students through different levels and modalities to address the existing academic diversity.

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How we cite

• Citation frequency: – Cite each and every sentence that includes

paraphrased information or direct quotes.

• Too little citing:Although the public may be unaware, mental health problems are more common than most other diseases, a trend that will only continue. One statistic is that 50% of the adult population will have had a psychiatric disorder by the time they are 55. Mental health counselors should be particularly alert to signs of depression, a disorder projected to rise in incidence (Gintner & Mears, 2009).

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Reference list• Citations’ purpose is to point to your reference

list• Reference lists include publication information

for a source• The reader might want to: – Check your accuracy– Consult a source that you used

• Common examples: http://writingcenter.waldenu.edu/36.htm

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Did you know?

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Questions

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Later: Email the tutors at writingsupport@waldenu.edu