Indirect Sources and Working with

TemplatesSharon Doetsch-Kidder

Indirect Sources

Indirect Source: “If you use a source that was cited in another source …, name the original source in your signal phrase” (Hacker 463)

Your in-text citation and reference list should identify the source you used. The parenthetical reference includes “as cited in” to clarify.

Ex.: The 2009 American Community Survey (ACS) found that a worker with a bachelor’s degree earns about $1.4 million over his/her lifetime, compared with $.8 million for someone with only a high school diploma (as cited in Taylor et al., 2011, p. 91).

Reference list would include the full citation for Taylor et al. ONLY, not a separate citation for the ACS.

Be careful about to whom you attribute opinions and

evidence! Example:

While the Pew Research Center claims that the higher education system is doing a good or excellent job of meeting economic needs, evidence suggests that most bachelor’s programs do not prepare students for 21st century careers.

Is this correct or incorrect?

Distinguish between source

author/publisher and opinions

reported in the text! Correct way:

While a large majority of college presidents (76%) think the higher education system is doing a good or excellent job of meeting economic needs, evidence suggests that most bachelor’s programs do not prepare students for 21st century careers (Taylor et al., 2011, p. 11; [another source about changes in the workforce and graduates’ lack of preparation]).

Wrong way: While the Pew Research Center claims that the higher education system is doing a good or excellent job of meeting economic needs, evidence suggests that most bachelor’s programs do not prepare students for 21st century careers.

Using templates

Most people followed instructions-wrote four sentences about the sources and included page numbers from TSIS (yay!).

Most people did not incorporate feedback on first practice into second practice.

Be specific about who/what you are responding to – in the sentence (or use parenthetical citation if no signal phrase).

Sentences need to make sense (If “people will disagree” – say with what!).

Don’t make stuff up to fit the template (ex., “previous studies” – this needs a citation!).

Use modifiers to tell your reader how

you interpret data AND paraphrase,

don’t plagiarize!

Example: Recent studies like these shed new light on one-in-four Americans (22%) believe that most people today can afford to pay for a college education, which previous studies had not addressed. (p. 95).

Original evidence: “the public survey shows that fewer than one-in-four Americans (22%) believe that most people today can afford to pay for a college education, down from 39% who felt this way a quarter of a century ago.”

Correction: A Pew Research Center study shows that less than one-quarter of Americans (22%) think that college is affordable for most people today, an almost 40% reduction from a 1985 poll (Taylor et al., 2011, p. 5 and 10).

Determine what information will fit

into template correctly. Don’t make

stuff up to fit the template! Original template: Recent studies like these shed new light

on _______, which previous studies had not addressed (Graff and Birkenstein, 2010, p. 95).

Incorrect Example: Recent studies like these shed new light on one-in-four Americans (22%) believe that most people today can afford to pay for a college education, which previous studies had not addressed. (p. 95).

Better Example: Recent studies like the Pew Research Center’s Is College Worth It? shed new light on differences of opinion between presidents of nonprofit and for-profit colleges, which previous studies had not addressed.

Note: you would need to actually know that previous studies have not looked at this. If you do not have that evidence, then you need to modify or avoid this template.

Don’t make stuff up to fit the template!

Original template: Recent studies like these shed new light on _______, which previous studies had not addressed (Graff and Birkenstein, 2010, p. 95).

Example: Recent studies like the Pew Research Center’s Is College Worth It? shed new light on differences of opinion between presidents of nonprofit and for-profit colleges, which previous studies had not addressed.

Note: you would need to actually know that previous studies have not looked at this. If you do not have that evidence, then you need to modify or avoid this template.

Better option: The Pew Research Center’s report Is College Worth It? shows notable differences of opinion between presidents of nonprofit and for-profit colleges.

Good examples Ultimately, what is at stake here is if the Universities taking

education as business, then it is not University anymore.

At first glance, teenagers might say working is better than completing higher education, because they would have easier and faster income. But on closer inspection, The Pew Research claims that If people got a higher education, their benefits and earnings would grow bigger and faster .

Although the topic may seem of concern to only a small group of college and university faculty, it should in fact concern anyone who cares about the future of the marketplace in America.

Although Potts’s argument that students who think of themselves as customers study only when it is convenient may seem trivial, it is in fact crucial in terms of today’s concern over students and their education.

Small Group Practice

1. X’s assertion that ___________ does not fit the facts (use parenthetical citation!).

2. Anyone familiar with _______________ should agree that ______________. (common knowledge?)

3. The evidence shows that ____________ (use parenthetical citation!).

4. According to both X and Y, ________________ (use parenthetical citation!).

5. By focusing on ________________, X overlooks the deeper problem of ____________ (parenthetical citation?).

6. X is mistaken about _____________ because she overlooks ______________ (parenthetical citation?).

7. Yet is it necessarily true that ________________?

8. While it is true that _____________, it does not necessarily follow that ____________(parenthetical citation?).