Dear Incoming Student,

When it comes to writing an analysis, the handling of your secondary sources is very important. You will need to draw from your secondary sources to support the statements you make in the analysis of your primary source. In order to do this you will need to paraphrase and quote your secondary sources effectively. In order to do this, you must be very careful to avoid improper citation and accidental plagiarism. There are a few guidelines that you should follow in order to do this. First, it is important that you keep track of all of your secondary sources. Cite your sources before you even begin to paraphrase or quote them. This will help immensely with your in-text citations, as it allows you to insert them as you write. This helps to prevent you from paraphrasing or quoting without giving the source you derived your work from credit. Second, when it comes to paraphrasing, never look at your source while you paraphrase. It is important that your words be your own, and the easiest way to make sure you don’t copy the format of the author that you are reading is to the relay the information you derived through memory, using your own voice. Finally, when it comes to quoting, only use it when you cannot make the author’s message any clearer through paraphrasing. You don’t want your paper to be full of long or unnecessary quotes, so only use them when the author’s words are more effective than your own in supporting the argument of your thesis.

Sincerely,

A Pre-Strain English 101 Student