The post below was taken from the Introduction session To the Student written in this book. Enjoy!

Information about this book
Spatt, Brenda. Writing from Sources. 7th ed. New York; Bedford/ St. Martin’s, 2007. ISBN – 10: 0-312-43797-8
The good aspects of this book:
- A stronger focus on academic writing throughout the book, with examples of documentation presented throughout and more frequent practice in working with academic sources
- Nine new exercises to provide practice on topics such as selecting quotable material, identifying plagiarism, and documenting sources
- Expanded sections in Chapter 1 on analyzing sources to determine the author’s thesis, method, intention, use of evidence, and possible logical fallacies
- A new section on incorporating visual materials, ranging from charts to pictures to film clips, into the research essay
- A new chapter sequence that makes Writing from Sources easier for you and your students to use
- A new, easier-to-follow layout that includes more headings, lists, and marginal annotations
- A new section on writing introductions and conclusions
- A new model research essay–“Looking at Horror Films”–using MLA documentation and including an opinion survey (Spatt vii)
This book provides explanation about the following steps in academic writing:
- Choosing a topic
- Finding sources and acquiring information
- Determining your main idea
- Presenting your sources
- Organizing your material
- Writing your assignment
- Giving credit to your sources (Spatt xi-xii)
Table of Contents of this book
Part I. Making Sources Your Own
- Reading for Understanding
Part II. Presenting Your Sources to Others
- Summarizing Sources
- Quoting Sources
- Paraphrasing Sources
Part III. Writing from Sources
- The Single-Source Essay
- The Multiple-Source Essay
Part IV. Writing the Research Essay
- Finding Sources
- Evaluating Sources
- Writing the Research Essay
- Acknowledging Sources
- Three Research Essays
- Some Basic Forms for Documentation: MLA, APA, and Endnotes
Appendix A. Writing Essay Examinations
Appendix B. Readings for a Research Essay
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The book can be purchased here: WRITING FROM SOURCES