Blog Post #8

It is important to document your sources in a research paper. That is what chapter 7 in the Bedford Book of Genres is all about. It has plenty of information that showed me how to paraphrase my sources when trying to include them in my research paper. The chapter is titled “Integrating and Documenting Sources”, which is very convenient since we are currently working on project 2 in class, which is the research paper, and we will be using multiple sources throughout this project. When trying to include a source in your writing, the chapter mentioned to quote the source that has important language, and if not, I can just paraphrase the source. When paraphrasing the source, it is important to include where the information came from in order for your work to not be detected as plagiarism. Paraphrasing is a unique skill that is not simply mastered. Chapter 7 teaches how to be a proficient paraphraser. A tip I learned is to take a piece of the source and read it, walk away, or take notes down of what you read so the information is not word for word when you type it. I really like that method of paraphrasing, so it will be beneficial to me when drafting my research paper.