Travel logs & scrapbooks
Synthesis & writing
The adventure is often in the journey, but you still have a destination or end result in mind. Whether it's to cross North America coast to coast or write a 10-page paper, you end up with a story to tell.
Synthesis is when you take what you have learned and transform it to bring new understanding. Good storytellers include details that enhance their audience's understanding and experience. To ensure accuracy of those details, you cite your experience or sources.
Throughout the research process, you will want to keep track of sources, whether you put all articles in single folder or copy citations into a working document. Many databases will provide citations for you.
Leaving breadcrumbs
You've been told to cite your sources, and this might seem like a tedious task. You need a bibliography, but you also need to give credit within your text, whether you are paraphrasing pages of information into a paragraph or using a direct quote.
Why?
Think of it as telling a fellow traveler or friend where you had the best meal on your trip. You want them to be able to find that cafe and order that delicious dessert, so you need to give them the information to do so.
You can use other papers' citations to find information for your own purposes. Think of it as fellow travelers giving you good directions!
Vajrasattva
Citing Your Sources
Need help citing your sources or managing all that information? Check out these options below.
Purdue's Online Writing Lab is freely available and provides examples of citations and APA writing style. Purdue also includes MLA Style.
Zotero is a free citation manager that can be downloaded or plugged into your browser.
Another bibliography manager. Always double-check generated citations against APA guides, such as Purdue OWL, for accuracy.
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