COM 101 (Dow)

Using Sources

For both of the essays that together make up the Source-Based Writing Project, you are required to support your ideas with ideas from outside sources.  Therefore, one of your objectives for each of these essays is to smoothly integrate source material into your writing.  In order to successfully incorporate source materials into your writing, you must effectively frame, carefully represent, and accurately cite all source materials.

In the following sample passage, the italicized frame both precedes and follows the quoted text from Robert Jones's article.  Also, the citation includes only the page number since the author is mentioned in the attributive phrase.  Please note that the parenthetical reference (or textnote) follows the closing quotation mark and comes before the final period.

—Sample

        Most importantly, while providing an important public service, fire fighters are able to enjoy the thrill of life-and-death situations on a daily basis. More than anything else, it is the adrenaline rush that comes with battling fire, smoke, the odds, or even death that motivates and exhilarates firefighters. For example, in "Backdraft Live," Robert Jones discusses this often dramatized, but rarely examined aspect of fire fighting: "One need only look into a firefighter’s eyes after he emerges from a burning building to understand the significance of ‘the rush.’ His wide-open eyes reveal a sense of urgency and amazement: the urgency of the overall situation and amazement that he has fought powerful demons and won" (57). As Jones suggests, the risk involved in fire fighting is not merely a hazard of the job; it is a powerful driving force.  Clearly, it is a combination of rigorous training and an internal desire to challenge the elements that enables fire fighters to successfully perform their often dangerous work.

A Quick Word About Quoting Indirect Sources

It is always best to quote a source directly; however, that is not always possible.  So, if you need to quote an indirect source, follow this example:

According to Jim Fairfax, "If an author quotes an interview or a speech, a writer  may have no other choice but to use an indirect quotation" (qtd. in Smith 46).