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How to Write Source Writing Samples

Often when writing an academic paper, students will need to quote someone or reference another work to support their argument. Teachers sometimes provide examples of how to write sources, and ask students to submit samples of source writing so they can learn to properly reference sources in a paper. These sources form the Works Sited or References of a paper, depending on the style in which the student is writing; these styles include Modern Language Association (MLA), American Psychological Association (APA) and Chicago Manual of Style (CMS).

Instructions

    • 1

      Determine what style you will be using to write the paper; the format differs for each one. In MLA, the source sheet is titled Works Cited, whereas in APA, it is titled References.

    • 2

      Gather the information you need to write the source of the information you have quoted or paraphrased within the paper. Although the styles of source writing are different, you will always need to know the author of the source, the title from the book, essay, or journal from which the source came, the date of the publication, the publisher, page numbers and the date you first accessed the information to be used in your paper.

    • 3

      Set up your source writing sample according to the style you are using. For example, if you are using MLA style and you have quoted from Lewis Carroll's book "Alice in Wonderland," your source would be written as follows:

      Carroll, Lewis. "Alice in Wonderland." The city of publication: Name of Publisher, Date of Publication. Page numbers referenced.

    • 4

      Submit your source writing sample to your teacher or professor; he or she will let you know if you have formatted your sources correctly based on the writing style you are using.

    • 5

      Practice source writing until you have mastered the format in the style of writing you will be using most. In college, if you are majoring in English, you will use MLA. If you are majoring in psychology or a social science, you most likely will use APA. History majors use CMS.

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