Using Citations Effectively

Argumentative Writing: The Body Using your Evidence

Your body paragraph provides reasons and evidence to support those reasons for your argument.  ____________________(reason): Statement supporting the claim to tell the reader why you believe what you believe about the topic.  _____________: Proof from a credible source (statistics, experts, anecdotes)  ______________: Explains what the evidence proves.  _____________________:Why should your audience care?  _________________:the process for at least 2 pieces of evidence.  ____________your reason in a new way.

Your body paragraph provides reasons and evidence to support those reasons for your argument.  Topic Sentence (reason): Statement supporting the claim to tell the reader why you believe what you believe about the topic.  Evidence: Proof from a credible source (statistics, experts, anecdotes)  Explanation: Explains what the evidence proves.  So what?: Why should your audience care?  Repeat the process for at least 2 pieces of evidence.  Restate your reason in a new way.

Introducing Evidence Always introduce your evidence. Some ways to do this are by using the following tag lines.  According to…  In the article “________________” by first and last name of author,…  In ___, _____ points out …  As _____ said in ____, …  EXAMPLE: In a study conducted by Edutopia, author Gary Finkleman notes that 78% of students believe a school uniform infringes on a student’s basic rights. ALWAYS CITE YOUR SOURCES!

Quoting Sources  If you would like to use word-for-word what an article says, you must directly quote it. There is a specific format for doing this properly. Here is an example of how you might use a direct quote as evidence from one of your sources in your essay: One reason secondary schools should delay their school start times is because a teenager’s circadian rhythm does not allow them to easily wake up in the early morning hours. The cues that would allow a younger child to fall asleep earlier, and therefore wake up earlier, change when a person reaches puberty. In their article “Sleep Patterns,” Neilson and Herzog suggest “this shift means that adolescents have trouble going to sleep early, will stay up, and would get up late if we let them. Plus studies also show this shift makes them excessively sleepy in the morning.” It does not make sense to start secondary schools when teenagers are still half asleep. Secondary schools should begin at a time when adolescent students’ natural biological rhythms allow them to be most alert and ready to learn. These are the authors of the website article from where this direct quote was taken.

Using Direct Quotes  When you want to use the _exact_____________ words in an article you must put ___” __________ marks around the exact words. Punctuation goes _outside____________ the quotation marks and after the citation.  If you do not include the author’s name in the tag, then after the quote you must put the name of the author or the article title in __(parenthesis)_______________. Example: The authors state, “the study reveals that mandatory school uniforms had a positive impact on student engagement and test scores” (Smith and McNally).  If you do include the author’s name in the tag, then you do not have to add it again in parenthesis. Smith and McNally state, “the study reveals that mandatory school uniforms had a positive impact on student engagement and test scores.”

Works Cited  Your works cited page is the last page of your essay.  This lists all of the sources you have used through paraphrasing or direct quotations in your essay.  This list will match the names of the authors and articles you use in either your tag lines when introducing your evidence or in your parenthetical citations for the direct quotes you used.  You can generate this list accurately by using Noodletools. It does it for you!  It is similar to a bibliography. Remember: you must give credit to all of the sources you used, even if you put them in your own words in your essay paraphrasing.