Research Guides: Social Work: Incorporating Sources into your Paper

Once you have found, read, and evaluated sources for your paper, it's time to write!

Learning how to synthesize and summarize evidence is a crucial skill.

First, make sure your sources are well organized. Using tables, you can keep track of all your sources, main citation information, the main findings of each study, and any questions or insights you had while reading. You can also start to think about your literature review idea by idea rather than source by source. Keeping all sources in one place like this can help you better synthesize all their information into your own paper.

Source Matrix
The Source Matrix allows you to deeply read your sources and quickly look across your sources to better synthesize. This can then help you synthesize your sources, especially if you transfer sources onto a thematic synthesis matrix (seen on page 2 of the spreadsheet template).

The JMU Writing Center also has a handout and a video that walk through the process of how to ethically and effectively integrate your sources into your paper.

JMU Writing Center

The JMU Writing Center has excellent resources to support you in the writing process!

Check out their Writing Guides & Handouts or for more individualized help, Schedule an Appointment.

APA Style

If your professor requires your paper to be in APA Style, that doesn't just refer to the citations! The APA Style Manual also has information on how to format your paper, advice for reducing bias in your writing, and the mechanics of style. Check out some of APA's resources to help!