Using sources
imagine that you're at your family dinner table, with all of your family members around you. everyone is casually eating and talking amongst themselves when your father turns to you and asks how your day was. before you can open your mouth to answer the question, other family members start to answer the question based on what they have seen or heard about you for the day. initially this is frustrating, but you decide to listen to everyone's perceptions of how your day went. everybody has a little bit of information that they toss into the conversation. some of their ideas are solid and factual, and some of them are fictional and completely off-base. by filtering through other's observations and ideas, your family has created a fairly complete picture of your day.

research works much the same way. based on the information that you locate and how you assemble the information together, you can either provide a clear or very fuzzy picture for your readers. your objective is to have the best information and to compile it in a way that sheds additional light on your subject, not darkness.

in this lesson, you'll become more familiar with how to use sources effectively in research writing.

objectives

synthesize information from multiple sources.
explain what a synthesis of two authors writing is