Deciphering Your Assignment Tutorial

Academic Writing Resource Guide

Deciphering Your Assignment Tutorial



This video teaches how to interpret assignments so you can get the best grade possible.

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Incorporating Sources for an Essay:

When you are writing, you will need source material to prove your point.  This proof needs to come in the form of academic sources.  Often, an instructor will tell you exactly how many sources you must use within an assignment.  The assignment may also specify the number of quotes, summaries, and paraphrases required to be incorporated in your writing.

No matter whether you integrate source material as a quote, paraphrase, or summary, all usage requires proper citation.

Incorporating Sources for Word Count:

When you are writing an essay for academic purposes, you need to remember that the 'word count' for your essay is only counted from the newly written concepts on the topic.  This means that if you directly quote from a source, you cannot count those words as part of your word count since those aren't your words.  They belong to someone else.  However, if you take source material and write it in your own words—in the form of a paraphrase or summary—you have written unique content that belongs to you.  These sourced concepts, written in your own words, do count towards your overall word count content, but the still require proper citations to show that while you have rewritten them, they were not your original concepts.  Therefore, it is best to limit quotes and work towards creating proper paraphrases and summaries of external source materials if you are trying to meet a specific word count requirement for an assignment.

General Overview of Word-Count:

"Quoted" material belongs to someone else—another author—since it is some else’s direct words.  It is not your writing.  Word count only includes original content derived by you—the author.  Word-count totals are for counting content when the content is your words.

When you transform another author's words by paraphrasing or summarizing, you are creating original writing, in your paper, in your own words, even if it was derived from an outside source.  Therefore, you still need an in-text citation for sourced work: quoted, paraphrased, or summarized.  Yet for the words to count towards your overall word count, external source ideas need to be paraphrased or summarized in your own words.

Therefore, if you use sources, the only way for them to count toward your word count is for you to re-write them as a summary or paraphrase and include the required citation at the end of the sentence, prior to the end-punctuation mark.

Source Integration

·                     Signs of Trouble

·                     Signal Phrases & Parenthetical Citations

·                     Incorporating Sources into your Essay

·                     Proper Source Usage

·                     Quoting Rules

·                     Quoting Materials

·                     Quoting

·                     Summary

·                     Paraphrase

Double Check These Items

·                     Signs of Trouble

·                     Write a Great Title

·                     Word Count Requirements

·                     Organization

·                     Basics for Paragraphs: The Hamburger Method

·                     How to Cite

·                     In Text (Parenthetical) Citations Quick Guide

·                     Audience

·                     Contractions

·                     Questions

·                     Word Choice

·                     Passive Voice

·                     Clichés

·                     Focus

·                     Font Usage

·                     Abstract

·                     Student Writing Guides

·                     Rhetorical Strategies

·                     Ethos

·                     Pathos

·                     Logos

·                     1st, 2nd, 3rd Voice

·                     FACTS / CLAIMS

·                     REASON

·                     EVIDENCE