Compared to other writing assignments an essay assignment that required the use of outside sources would be what?

Answer 1

There are many different types of writing, but an essay that requires outside sources is relatively simple.

Let's assume you already know what an essay is; a written opinion that consists of no fewer than five paragraphs with five sentences in each paragraph. Now, the additional component for the assignment is that it must have outside sources. Outside sources are simply that, sources of information that exist outside of you. These can be interviews, articles from magazines, newspapers, or books, encyclopedias, internet articles, or television or radio broadcasts, or you could write about a published story or poem.

Now "outside sources" presumes more than one, sourcesbeing plural. This being the case, the sources must compliment each other or deal with the same topic. For instance, you might write an essay on loneliness. For this you could look up articles in the Journal of Psychiatry, you could use the Walt Whitman poem "A Noiseless Patient Spider," and you could conduct interviews with people about what they feel when they feel lonely. This gives you three sources. From these three you would pull ideas, and synthesize or build a thesis. You could use quotes from the three sources to support your ideas, but you need to analyze the data and develop your own conclusions.

This is your essay, the finished product. Keep in mind, that material from outside sources should probably not be greater than 25% of your finished paper. The paper really is about what you think, not what someone else thinks.