13d Summarizing

13dSummarizing

Summaries, too, need to be carefully integrated into your text, with the source identified. Benjy Mercer-Golden integrated this summary into his researched argument (9l):

David Blood and Al Gore of Generation Investment Management, an investment firm focused on “sustainable investing for the long term” (“About Us”), wrote a groundbreaking white paper that outlined the perverse incentives company managers face. For public companies, the default practice is to issue earnings guidances—announcements of projected future earnings—every quarter. Gore and Blood argue that this practice encourages executives to manage for the short term instead of adding long-term value to their company and the earth.

Note that the writer introduces his sources (Gore and Blood), establishes the sources’ expertise by identifying their connection to the field, and uses the signal verb argue to characterize the summary as making a case, not simply offering information.

Whenever you include summaries, paraphrases, or quotations in your own writing, it is crucially important that you identify the sources of the material; even unintentional failure to cite material that you drew from other sources constitutes plagiarism. Be especially careful with paraphrases and summaries, where there are no quotation marks to remind you that the material is not your own. For more information on acknowledging sources and avoiding plagiarism, see Chapter 14.