Using Researched Evidence in Argument

A reader should be able to connect borrowed information with its source. Identify the source where you introduce its finding, then provide any further citation details your assignment requires.

Consider a fictional footbridge report. If it records repairs completed last spring, name that report when describing the repairs. Use a verb that fits the information, such as 'records'. Saying it 'proves the bridge is safe today' would add a conclusion that the repair record alone does not establish.

Keep the source details needed to find the original. A sentence naming a report may still need a date, page reference or other citation information under the required style.

Attribution makes the information traceable. You must also check its accuracy, relevance and limits.

Use a short direct quotation when its exact wording contributes to your point. Identify the source, mark the copied words with quotation marks, and fit them into a complete sentence.

Imagine a fictional review that calls a performance 'carefully paced'. You could write: The review describes the performance as 'carefully paced' before discussing its changes of speed. The borrowed phrase has a grammatical place in your sentence.

Check more than the copied words. Read the surrounding passage to see whether the reviewer later qualifies that praise. A quotation can be exact yet give an incomplete impression when its context is hidden.

If exact wording is unnecessary, consider an accurate paraphrase. Changing the wording does not remove the need to credit the source.

Whether a source is primary or secondary depends partly on the question you are investigating. A diary can provide primary material about what its writer recorded. A later history discussing the diary can provide secondary interpretation of those events.

Neither category guarantees accuracy. The diary writer may have misunderstood an event or seen only part of it. The historian may compare several records, but that interpretation also needs checking.

A history book could itself become primary material if your question concerns how its author understood the past. The source's role changes with your question.

When using any source, ask what its material can support. Identify the source, examine its evidence and keep its statements distinct from the conclusions you draw.

In this fictional example, a community centre's attendance records show regular use of evening sessions. A staffing plan shows that adding another evening would require extra paid hours.

These findings answer different questions. The attendance records concern use during the recorded period. The staffing plan concerns a cost of expansion. Neither settles the whole decision alone.

A paragraph assessing expansion may need both findings. Identify each source, explain its contribution and consider the constraint alongside the possible benefit. Leaving out staffing merely because it weakens the proposal would give readers an incomplete account.

There is no fixed one-piece evidence limit. Choose enough relevant support for the point, explain the relationships and state a conclusion that fits the findings.

Punctuation before a quotation depends on the surrounding grammar. In this fictional example, a reporting phrase introduces a full sentence: The notice states, 'The room closes at noon.' A comma separates the reporting phrase from the quotation.

A quoted fragment can instead be part of your own grammar: The notice gives the closing time as 'noon'. Do not insert a comma just because the quoted word follows. A complete sentence can also introduce a quotation with a colon.

These examples concern short quotations. Follow the citation style and English punctuation conventions required by your assignment.

After checking punctuation, compare the quotation with its source. Correct grammar does not excuse changing the meaning, dropping a qualification or leaving the source unidentified.