Since you will be quoting from several works, you have to keep track of your sources for your reader. In timed situations, you’ll probably include only the source number or the author’s name in parentheses after the quote or paraphrase, like this:

Modern Americans will recognize the term “service learning,” a phrase made familiar by the two-thirds of public schools that have integrated community service into the educational curriculum (Howe and Strauss).

You need to cite paraphrases as well, not just direct quotes. Anytime you are using someone else’s ideas, you must give them credit.

Another, more elegant, option is to mention the author and title of the work in the sentence introducing or including the quote:

Howe and Strauss indicate that five out of six Millennials “believe their generation has the greatest duty to improve the environment” and would accept additional “civic duties” to bring about needed change.

If you are writing a more formal research paper, you will likely need to follow MLA documentation procedures, including a Works Cited page. Ask your teacher if you are unclear about what is required for an assignment. Guidelines for MLA documentation appear in the back of this book.

As you go through the readings and other texts in the following chapters, you will join conversations on a range of topics, reflecting on and integrating the ideas of others from different times and places into your own thinking and writing. Each chapter includes a Conversation in which you will practice this skill with a series of texts (including visuals) related to the chapter’s theme. You should also be aware of the conversations going on around you all the time. How do people call on sources to reinforce their positions? And how do people enter an ongoing conversation and move it forward?