Introducing Sources

Here are the keys to introducing sources and writers of sources.1. You need to assume that your reader hasn’t read them.2. You need to assume that your reader hasn’t heard of them. (Unless.

. . . See the slide later)3. You need to assume that your reader wants to know about them.4. You need to assume that your reader doesn’t want to read the

whole article yet.5. You need to set up the information in as brief a way possible that

makes the source make sense to them.

Here’s an example of a problem paragraph.

The fact that female circumcision is unacceptable is not what is being disputed by Katherine Marshall’s, Unkind Cuts, Washington Post article and John Tierney’s New York Times article, A New Debate on Female Circumcision. Katherine Marshall represents a view where the meaning and importance of female circumcision to its native people are not taking into consideration. Marshall states, “FGC has no benefits, it is clearly a violation of child rights.”(Marshall) Here she concludes this fact without including any ideas of the natives who practice female circumcision. In the journal article, Virtuous Cuts: Female Genital Circumcision in an African Ontology, written by Rogaia Mustafa Abusharaf, there is an emphasis on the primitive characteristics of female circumcision when he states “It became a conclusive validation of the view of the primitiveness of Arabs, Muslims and Africans, all in one blow.” Not only is the procedure being condemned but so are the societies that practice it. As the prevalence of this practice is being considered there is no attempt to understand why female circumcision is still widespread. For example in her Huffington Post article, Female Circumcision—90 Percent of Childbearing Women in Egypt, Evelyn Leopold discusses how “Three million girls face FGM/C every year in Africa and worldwide, and up to 140 million women and girls have already undergone the practice.” Here the statistics are stated but there are not any explanations on why the procedure remains pivotal to these native people. Many like to condemn this practice without understanding it. These individuals do not have to know why or how important the procedure may be to practitioners but they still want to have the practice eliminated altogether. In her American Anthropologist journal, Bettina Shell-Duncan establishes her view of about the female circumcision process in her article, From Health to Human Rights: Female Genital Cutting and the Politics of Intervention. She displays how Western civilization views female circumcision when she states “the conceptualization of a “human rights agenda” as Western and not African” (Shell-Duncan) The western view of female circumcision remains based on opinion and ideas of values rather than the justification by the individuals who practice it. These opposing views for female circumcision make it seem like an act of barbarism by uncivilized and uneducated people. But the important issue to keep in mind is that this practice means something very important in these societies. As Marshall argues that female circumcision is wrong without acknowledging its meaning, Tierney discusses that it’s more logical to also understand the practice’s importance to its people.

You probably stopped reading it. Why? Because if you haven’t read these articles, you really don’t know what they’re about, and you’re being bombarded with information. This suggests that the author wrote the paragraph for him or herself, rather than thinking about the audience.

Which is too bad, because this seems like an important topic, and I’d like to know more about it.

Here’s another problem The organic market has gone up and down over the last few years. In most countries the organic sales were dropping until this current year of 2012. In the UK and Britain they began to see a decline in the organic market in the early 2000s. The author Don Johnston reports that “less than 1 percent of the food sold in Britain is organic ” (3). It seems that decline didn’t stop sliding over the next five years. According to the Author Richard Mercola who quoted The Guardian States “Sales of organic products have been falling since the credit crunch first bit in late 2008” (1). However, when the news started to spread, the organic market improved. According to the author Walter Miller the organic market started to rise, in 2013 “the global market for organic food alone now reportedly” exceeds “60 billion annually” (1). This may be the result of news stations reporting about organic food.

In this case, we’re getting a bunch of authors who we’ve never heard of, and we’re not sure what we should be listening to them. We really don’t know anything about them other than the quotes we’re given.

Who is Johnston?Who is Mercola?Who is Miller?

The information that each author is giving is important, but I don’t know why I should care about it.

Introducing Sources

Let’s start by thinking about how we’re going to introduce a source and an author to an audience who might not have heard of that source. Here’s a web-site:

Introducing Sources

How do I tell an audience who this person is?

Here’s what matters:Where its from? (Huffpost Parents)Who its by (Christine Carter)Its title (Want Success . . .)

Introducing Sources

Here’s what not to do:

Christine Carter says “. . . .”

Who? Your reader might not have read this article. So this name doesn’t mean much to them.

Introducing Sources

Here’s what not to do:

In the article “Want Success and Happiness? Be Divergent, Not Perfect,” an article by Christine Carter on Huffpost Parents, she says . . .

You get tired just reading that, right? You don’t need ALL that information.

So . . .• Don’t quote complete titles.

• Give information that is useful to your reader

• Explain who the writer is briefly.

Here’s a few samples:

“In an article about success and happiness on Huffpost Post, Christine Carter . . .”

“Christine Carter, a sociologist and author, writes . . .”

“Christine Carter, a writer for Huffpost Parents, explains . . .

“In an article about success and happiness on Huffpost Post, Christine Carter . . .”“Christine Carter, a sociologist and author, writes . . .”“Christine Carter, a writer for Huffpost Parents, explains . . .

In the article “Want Success and Happiness? Be Divergent, Not Perfect,” an article by Christine Carter a sociologist and happiness expert and PHD on Huffpost Parents, she says .

See the difference? The one on the left gives more information than your reader wants to read.The one on the right is all the information that your reader wants to know.

We need to briefly set up the author. When we’re writing, It’s more important what she says.

So . . .Provide brief context either about what the article is about

In an article about the effects of Google, Nicholas Carr writes

OR

Explain where the article is from

In an article in the Atlantic, Nicholas Carr argues

OR

Explain who the author is.

Nicholas Carr, a technology writer and journalist, suggests

Also don’t do this:

“Tom Ley, a writer for deadspin.com”

Refer to the title of the Website:

“Tom Ley, a writer for Deadspin, . . .”

In an article about Lebron on Deadspin, Tom Ley . . .

One Thing . . . You don’t need to worry about this when it’s an incredibly famous person.

But if it’s someone who is kind of famous, you might want to introduce them

Tony Kornheiser, an ESPN reporter . . .

Tony Kornheiser, the host of Pardon the Interruption

Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a Supreme Court Justice . . .

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg . . .

So the keys to introducing sources

Find out who has written in

Figure out who its from.

“Wesley Morris, a film critic for Grantland . . .”

So a few don’ts

Don’t quote entire titles

Don’t expect your audience knows who a writer is

Don’t overwhelm your audience with information

And a reminder of the dos

Provide brief context either about what the article is about

OR

Explain where the article is from

OR

Explain who the author is.