Using sources

Kirk G. Rasmussen
Professor Utah Valley State College

Dont let your sources control you.

organize outline synthesize

Quote effectively. Shorten quotations. Quote only when the words are precise, clear or powerful.
Paragraphs tell readers how writers want to be read. WILLIAM BLAKE

Paraphrase effectively.
clarity details emphasis

Summarize effectively.
main points overviews condensation

Understand and avoid plagiarism.

Even more tips

Tom Bruce
University of Edinburgh School of Mechanical Engineering

Apostrophes denote possessive and not the plural form of the noun.

Reading aloud what you have written exactly as you have written it should help to alert you to unnecessary or missing punctuation.

Jennifer Widom
Stanford University

Citations must be complete and consistent. Do not use etc. unless the remaining items are completely obvious. Never say for various reasons; tell the readers the reasons.

Avoid non-referential use of this, that, these, it, and so on. Requiring explicit identification of what this refers to enforces clarity of writing.

Italics are for definitions or quotes, not for emphasis. Your writing should be constructed such that context alone provides sufficient emphasis.

That is defining; which is nondefining.

The algorithms that are easy to implement all run in linear time. The algorithms, which are easy to implement, all run in linear time.

Gabriele Kotsis
Johannes Kepler University of Linz

Use paragraphs to structure your ideas. Each thought should be dedicated to one paragraph. Tables and figures must have captions and must be numbered.

Jim Kurose
Department of Computer Science University of Massachusetts

Write top down. State broad ideas/themes first, then go into detail. Master the basics of organized writing. Avoid one-sentence paragraphs. Dont mix tenses in descriptive writing.

Give yourself time to reflect on, write, review, and refine your work. Give others a chance to review your work and provide feedback.

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