Building an argument: adding sources
time to complete: 10-15 minutes
Now, let’s turn into using sources for your argument. Obviously, initial reading you might have done for your lectures and seminars has most likely helped you to brainstorm for ideas and create a draft outline. However, you will need to go back to your reading list or find further sources once you know what information you are looking for – it’s actually much easier and more time-efficient this way.
Find sources for each paragraph
The first thing to do would be to look for keywords for each of your paragraphs. In the applied linguistics outline we saw earlier, the student decided to write her first paragraph on how culture affects backchannels.
Screenshot taken using StarPlus (the UoS library catalogue)
Read abstracts
Of course, you don’t need to read whole articles at this stage. Just read abstracts in order to find journal articles that focus on the idea you want to explore in each paragraph. Below is an example of an abstract.
Screenshots taken using StarPlus (the UoS library catalogue)
Incorporate sources into outline
It is also very important to include information in your outline that helps you remember these relevant sources you identify. Perhaps, you can include an in-text citation (author year) and a link to the source; this way you can go back to it later.
Paragraph 1
Topic: Backchannels e.g. ‘mm hmm’, ‘wow!’, ‘oh no!’, etc. → show involvement (Goodwin 1986)
Include in paragraph:
- Miscommunication between non-native speakers from different cultures (Barraja-Rohan 2011) see https://search-proquest-com.sheffield.idm.oclc.org/docview/894849949?pq-origsite=primo
- Different backchannels in different cultures Japanese – Kogure, 2007 see https://www-sciencedirect-com.sheffield.idm.oclc.org/science/article/pii/S0378216607000513?via%3Dihub
- Spanish (own learning experience)
Link to thesis:
Teachers need to teach backchannels and students need to practise.
Outline adapted from Whitehead (2016)
NOTE: How many sources do you need per paragraph? It’s not a precise science, but most paragraphs should have between two and four sources. At this stage of the planning process, just find two per paragraph; you can more later as you read and/or write.
Expand your outline
When your outline has two to three links to relevant sources per paragraph, start finding more specific information from your sources.
If you think their whole argument is relevant, read it carefully and try to summarise the author’s main idea into one or two sentences. Or, if you find a really interesting phrase or sentence, include it as a quote in your outline. In either case, make sure you have included a correct in-text citation that matches the referencing style required by your department.
Paragraph 1
Topic: Backchannels e.g. ‘mm hmm’, ‘wow!’, ‘oh no!’, etc. → show involvement (Goodwin 1986)
Include in paragraph:
- Miscommunication between non-native speakers from different cultures (Barraja-Rohan 2011) see https://search-proquest-com.sheffield.idm.oclc.org/docview/894849949?pq-origsite=primo
Barraja-Rohan (2011) cites miscommunication between a Vietnamese migrant in conversation with his Australian neighbour where he had failed to include any response tokens in his speech so it was assumed he hadn’t understood.
“assessments have an important affiliative role in conversation” (Barraja-Rohan, 2011: 490)
- Different backchannels in different cultures Japanese – Kogure, 2007 see https://www-sciencedirect-com.sheffield.idm.oclc.org/science/article/pii/S0378216607000513?via%3Dihub
- Spanish (own learning experience)
Link to thesis:
Teachers need to teach backchannels and students need to practise.
Outline adapted from Whitehead (2016)
Final word
To sum up, building an argument is not just a matter of understanding the essay question and answering it. There is much more involved in this process: thinking, organising, reading, rearranging, etc. After all, it’s called ‘building’ an argument, and that requires careful planning. Keep in mind that your thesis statement and outline might change as you find out more about your topic.