WALK, TALK, COOK, EAT: A GUIDE TO USING SOURCES

Lucas Marra

Leonardo

Helder

Yvette

Giovanni

Introduction

Sources, in a broader sense, are “forms of meaning you use to make new meaning”.

Sources of meaning are literally everywhere.

Deciding which and how to use sources will depend on the meaning you want to make.

walking, talking, cooking, and eating as metaphors about using sources.

Walking

To use sources well, you first have to go where they are.

 Searching for sources in the Internet

Use extra words, quotation marks, Minus sign to control and narrow your research

Sources considered most valuable for college writing Google Scholar - www.googlescholar.com  Library’s bibliographic databases

What about books?

Back to real walking again

In college writing - documenting your sources

The metaphor of walking - how to find and document sources

Talking

Find out who´s talking about the issue you are working on.

According to Kenneth Burke: you can think of sources as voices in an ongoing.

conversation about the world;

Looking for information in different sources is like listening to a discussion with a lot of distinct opinions.

Be aware of, which author is reliable and which one you should better not trust: - Who is the author? Is he a reliable expert? - Who are his addressees? - When did he publish his work? - What is his purpose?

Make use of the sources experts use for the issue you are interested in.

Another way of getting information about a certain topic: - Library´s subject guides; - Asking the librarian about databases of the topic you are interested in; - Prefer peer-reviewed journals as the information is more reliable and double

checked by various experts before it gets published;

- Experts talk: - can be very detailed and trustworthy knowledge;

- depending on your needs this kind of literature or the so called “talk between experts” could rather contain too narrow and deep information which might not be appropriate for your addressees.

Cooking

Cooking, like writing, involves a lot of decisions. For instance, you might decide to combine ingredients in a way that keeps the full flavor and character of each ingredient.

The reader will definitely “taste” your original source.

You might use quotation from your sources, as if you were throwing walnuts whole into a salad.

When you cook with sources, you process them in new ways.

The professor offers the students the ingredients and they should follow a recipe in order to succeed in performing a certain task.

You should analyze your assignments to determine what sources to use, what process to follow, and what the final “dish” (paper) should look like.

Eating

Memory is how sources become a part of who you are.

When you eat sources, (think about things, experiment, read, write, talk to others) you yourself change. What you learn stays with you.

Over time, you’ll become more expert at writing with sources, more able to choose and use sources on your own.

Using what you learn will affect you deeply and shape the way you see the world.

When you read your sources, your experience and knowledge about a subject will change and increase.

Through much exposure to a subject, a person’s identity gradually becomes intertwined with it.

Conclusion

you’ll keep on learning and making meaning from sources.

College is about learning how to make meaning.

Learn how to walk, talk, cook and eat.

You won’t ever finish using sources to make meaning.