She's Using You

One mark of a strong writer is having control over one’s sources. Early in the semester, student often jam too much summary of their sources into their essays. “Why?” I ask. “Because” they often reply, “ I didn’t want to have points taken off for missing something in the reading.” This answer suggests a habit (perhaps developed in high school) of seeing a written exercise that employs sources as a test of reading comprehension. It also is related to the habit of simply drawing “information” and “quotes”* out of a text to “support your argument.”

Strong writers, while certainly having good reading comprehension, are able to signal that comprehension in a few brief sentences of summary.  Such summary provides important context for the real mental exercise: using the source to help think through a problem and extending the source in new ways.  Strong writers use the ideas of their sources to help them develop new ideas. This process is, of course, very different than simply agreeing or disagreeing.

Joseph Harris’ chapter “Forwarding” breaks down some of the ways you might employ a source by ‘forwarding’ into a new situation or context. Likewise, Graff and Birkenstein suggest that you if you are going to agree or disagree you should do so with a difference; they go on to suggest the significance of conceding good points in your sources while still staking out your own ideas and difference from the source.

Your sources, then, should challenge your original thinking, not merely support it. If you can work with a source that doesn’t line up with what you already think, there’s strong likelihood that you are also creating new ideas as you do so. In other words, USE the ideas of others to help you create new knowledge.

* Pedantic footnote: 'quotation' is the noun; 'to quote' is the verb. You put a quotation into your essay.  You quote your source.