descriptive essay

Assignment 6: Writing a Paper Using Sources

Some kinds of college essays, such as those based on personal experience, narratives, and descriptions, don’t require you to cite specific sources in the body of your text. However, especially when an essay’s claim or thesis requires substantiated evidence, as in an argument essay, citing sources is an absolute necessity.

Primary and Secondary Sources

Primary sources include:

· Historical documents, including formal documents, letters, diaries, and autobiographies

· Original research reports generally derived from experimental and/or statistical studies and analysis

· Literary works, including fiction, classic essays, and poems

· Eyewitness reports, including those based on the author’s direct experience

Secondary sources are derived from primary sources and include:

· Critical and/or analytical reviews of literary works

· Most textbooks

· Reviews that examine several different academic research reports

· Editorial opinion pieces

The purposes for using primary and secondary sources in academic writing include:

· Providing the reader with additional information while, hopefully, supporting your thesis sentence as well as your paragraphs’ supporting statements

· Supporting your statements of opinion with credible evidence

· Offering specific examples to illustrate your key points

· Allowing the reader to access source information for further study and contemplation

· Sharpening general statements with specifics based on facts, examples, illustrations, and evidence

· Demonstrating to your reader (and your instructor) that you’ve done your homework

Locating Relevant Sources

As may seem obvious to you at this point, you’ll begin by selecting a topic that strikes you as interesting. Quite often the topic will be interesting to you because it’s in your comfort zone. For example, if you’re a golf enthusiast, a topic related to that activity will appeal to you. So, for example, an essay on the history of that sport will very likely send you in search of articles or essays written about the first golf course—which, by the way, was St. Andrews, located in Scotland. Or, if you’re fascinated by stock-car racing, you might find it interesting to write an essay on the history of NASCAR. In both the former and latter cases, you might want to cite quotes, statistics, and facts related to either sport.

On the other hand, let’s say your instructor wants you to write a brief biographical essay about a famous American author, like Nathaniel Hawthorne, Jack London, Mark Twain, or William Faulkner—authors whose works you’ve been reading in a course on American literature. Even if you chose to take this course because it interested you, you may find yourself pushed out of your comfort zone. But that’s OK. Learning means opening your mind to new ideas and fresh perspectives. So, what to do? Try this: Choose a topic (an author, in this case) that challenges you to think about unfamiliar ideas. In short, search for topics that you would like to learn more about. Accept the challenge and dial up your curiosity meter.

Narrowing Your Topic As You Locate Sources

The basic principles for choosing and narrowing down a topic are fairly straightforward and hardly mysterious.

· Whenever you can, choose a topic that interests you.

· Choose a topic you can manage in a relatively short essay of, say, around 1,500 to 2,500 words (two to three pages). This principle includes topics that are way above your current knowledge, such as the development of an anti-cancer drug or the likely effects of DNA mutations due to exposure to mercury.

· Steer clear of topics that already get lots of attention. For a college student, that may include raves, binge drinking, and compulsive dieting.

· Steer clear of current or breaking news, if only because sources will be limited and the outcomes of events, scandals, candidate debates, and so on, are unknown.

Exploring Different Perspectives

Sorting out the perspectives on a topic can be an immensely helpful way to narrow down your topic and explore alternative working theses. So, during prewriting, make it a point to pry open as many perspectives as you can. Here’s an example.

TOPIC: JAZZ

PERSPECTIVE	QUESTIONS
Psychological	What personality factors attract people to jazz? How and why are particular musicians attracted to jazz? What psychological effects does jazz have on performers? What psychological effects does jazz have on audiences? How has jazz been associated with psychotropic substances, such as marijuana?
Historical	What is the history of jazz? How did jazz become popular? How did jazz influence R&B, rock-and-roll, and kinds of music?
Sociological	What effect has jazz had on American popular culture? How and why is jazz associated with ethnic and racial minorities? How has jazz influenced cultures beyond the United States? How did social class and racial discrimination influence the development of jazz?
Technical	What kinds of musical instruments were dominant in early jazz? What modifications to musical instruments have resulted from adaptations to jazz?

There are some classic academic works that explore the way the jazz subculture became associated with marijuana and other mood-altering substances, including methamphetamines. However, you’ll probably have a hard time finding good sources on other psychological perspectives on jazz.

On the other hand, it should be obvious that quite a large number of this set of perspectives might provide an essay topic. “What effect has jazz had on American popular culture?” and   “What is the history of jazz?” are examples. Further, some of these questions could provide or suggest subtopics for a working thesis.

Evaluating Sources

The basic process for evaluating sources is pretty straightforward.

Relevance

Make sure your sources are relevant to your topic. In that context, especially if your topic is related to recent events, make sure your source isn’t dated.

Reliability

· Is the source reputable? A website sponsored by a university, a government agency, or a well-known foundation is more likely to be reliable than “Jabberwocky.com” or popular blogs—but not always. Some blog spots offer substantial documentation as they opine on an issue.

· Is an author an expert in his or her field?

· Does the author fairly evaluate both sides of an issue?

· Does the author have sound and relevant credentials?

Otherwise, reviewing them as you need to, use the skills and techniques of active reading, found in Lesson 1.