Courses / English language arts / Write with purpose / Let readers trace what you borrowed INVESTIGATION 6 OF 6 Let readers trace what you borrowed Distinguish quotation, paraphrase and original inference, then provide enough source information for a reader to trace each borrowed claim.
Why learn this? Attribution makes your reasoning inspectable and prevents another person’s words or ideas from appearing to be your own.
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1. try 2. predict 3. experiment 4. understand 5. apply 6. continue Quick recap: Quotation preserves exact wording; paraphrase restates an idea with genuinely new wording and structure. Both need attribution when borrowed.
Lesson activities Choose your task depthHigh-school scaffold College extension Choose either at any time. Your drafts stay with you.
1. Try — read before judging Original fictional documents supplied for practice. Their creators and dates are invented. Do not cite them as real research; cite them as the Learn by Doing library teaching packet.
DOCUMENT A: Library service notice, fictional River Library, 7 October, paragraph 2: “The temporary hall contains individual study seats; no bookable group rooms are available.” DOCUMENT B: Interview note by fictional student reporter I. Chen, 8 October, paragraph 1: Sam said, “I wanted to work with three friends. When I saw the individual desks, I decided to try somewhere else.” DRAFT 1: The hall contains individual study places; no reservable group rooms are available. DRAFT 2: Sam disliked the library and said its facilities were useless. DRAFT 3: The service notice distinguishes individual seating from group rooms (Library service notice, paragraph 2). This distinction should appear in the entrance notice. Go directly to the workbench
2. Predict — make a provisional choice Which draft hides borrowing, which misrepresents its source, and which separates a source claim from the writer’s recommendation? 0 / 16,000 characters · length is a storage limit, not a quality score 3. Experiment — test your reading Create source cards for both documents with title, creator, locator, exact excerpt, paraphrase and limitation. Repair Draft 1 using either an accurately marked quotation or a genuinely restructured paraphrase with attribution. Repair Draft 2 without intensifying Sam’s words. Write a short final paragraph that makes your own inference visible. Audit every quotation against the source and every citation against its source card. Your source dossier Keep source wording, your paraphrase and your reasoning in separate fields. Locators are stored as plain text; the site does not fetch or verify them. Label fictional teaching sources as fictional.
Add source card (0/8) Additional source notes 0 / 16,000 characters · length is a storage limit, not a quality score Working draft / artifact 0 / 16,000 characters · length is a storage limit, not a quality score Keep this draft for comparison
Comparison draft Save your first version here before revising. It will remain unchanged while you edit the working draft.
Revision commentary: what changed, why, and what remains uncertain? 0 / 16,000 characters · length is a storage limit, not a quality score 4. Understand — connect choice and effect Draft 1 substitutes “places” for “seats” and “reservable” for “bookable” while retaining the source’s structure. It is too close to function as an independent paraphrase without quotation. Changing a few words does not make a source’s language or idea your own. You can quote the exact original with attribution, or restate the idea in a new structure while still naming the source.
Draft 2 creates a different problem: it intensifies Sam’s account. Looking for group workspace does not mean disliking the whole library. Attribution is not enough if the attributed claim is inaccurate. Check your summary against the source’s qualifications, subject and scope.
A source card separates the source’s exact words from your paraphrase and your inference. Record the creator, title, locator and context before drafting. A locator may be a paragraph number in this packet or a page number in a longer work. For real sources, also keep publication and retrieval details appropriate to the medium and the citation convention your course uses. Do not invent missing information.
Draft 3 marks the source claim and follows it with an identifiable recommendation. That boundary lets a reader challenge the writer’s inference without misattributing it to the library. Audit your own paragraph in the same way: underline borrowed material, match each item to its source card, and label the reasoning you contributed. These practice documents are fictional. They teach source handling but cannot substantiate a real-world claim about libraries.
Attribution Identifying the source of borrowed wording, ideas or information. Patchwriting A paraphrase that keeps too much of a source’s wording or structure while making small substitutions. Worked example — a possible revision, not the only answer Before Sam said the library was useless. After In Chen’s fictional interview note, Sam describes looking for space to work with friends and choosing another location after seeing individual desks (paragraph 1). That account suggests a mismatch with one visitor’s task, not a judgment that the entire library is useless. The revision identifies the intermediary source, limits the claim, and separates paraphrase from the writer’s interpretation. The locator is usable within this supplied packet; a real publication needs its full citation details.
Return to your workbench and reconsider a choice
5. Apply — make something and try a new case Your main artifact Submit a 200-word explanation with one short quotation, one paraphrase, your own inference and two traceable source cards.
Keep your artifact in the working draft above. Suggested lengths help you plan; they do not measure quality.
Unfamiliar passage Fictional interview transcript, “Garden volunteers,” paragraph 3: “I like working here, but Saturday mornings are difficult because I take care of my younger brother.” A draft reports: “The volunteer said working at the garden was difficult.” Repair the paraphrase, preserve the qualification, and provide a locator. Explain how the omitted clause changes the reader’s impression. 0 / 16,000 characters · length is a storage limit, not a quality score Save transfer response 0 saved attempt(s).
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