How do I get sources for writing?
@PhillyDreamer (3039)
United States
October 16, 2012 10:03pm CST
I have been hung up on my writing, because I'm not sure where to go to get sources to put together a good article. To give you an example, the last article I wrote was on how poetry can help heal a broken heart. My article was rejected for an upfront payment, because I used personal experiences to give the advice instead of sources. What is considered a reliable source in this sense? How do I find one, and once I have a source how do I cite the source in my article?
1 person likes this
3 responses
@abhi_bangal (5518)
• Ahmednagar, India
17 Oct 12
I have recently written an article where one can get topics to write on. You can see the article here (just a reference link): http://expertscolumn.com/content/finding-topics-write-read-articles-fellow-writers. See if that helps you.
@abhi_bangal (5518)
• Ahmednagar, India
18 Oct 12
Oh sorry, I didn't know that you didn't need those basic ideas. I think you are speaking about citing sources for EC articles? I know the admin of this site are getting very aware of citing references.
If you are not asking about that, yet there are times when one needs to cite references. As far as I know, I include the references during the article itself. I mean I just read so-and-so news in a newspaper. I don't think there would be some false references on the net. I haven't come across any false references yet. Have you?
@PhillyDreamer (3039)
• United States
18 Oct 12
Its so hard to tell the real information from the fake. I know I should probably take some courses on the matter, but financially I can't afford it. I'd be glad if someone can point me in the right direction.
@jeanneyvonne (5501)
• Philippines
17 Oct 12
Really? I wonder why would you need a source for poetry,which is somewhat borders on fiction and non-fiction. I think anybody knows that when you make a literary work, it's almost impossible to put a source. Even though literary works are almost the same, there is something that sets it apart from the others. Anyway, if you really need a source, try to search for poems with a similar theme. That might do the trick.
@PhillyDreamer (3039)
• United States
17 Oct 12
No, this particular piece was an article about how poetry can help you get over a broken heart. I was asked to find professional sources, I guess to put some scientific fact to my claims. I would have been happy to give some sources, but I'm not sure whats considered a professional source.
@capirani (2840)
• United States
18 Oct 12
Have you ever written a report in school or a term paper? A source would be anything that you might quote meaning put quotation marks around, or even paraphrase into your own words but taken from something someone else says. So, a source can be a book, another author, a website, another article, other people, etc. The list goes on and on and on. Anything you would have put in a Bibliography in those term papers or reports in school would be considered a source. You always, ALWAYS must cite your source as well, giving proper credit to the person or place you acquired the information. In other words, for your article, your sources could be anyone who has stated something in print or to your face that supports your claim. For someone you have interviewed talking to personally or in writing such as email, etc., you need to have their written permission to quote them.
Now what the place you are writing for requires could be specific or not. It just depends on what they want from their writers and what qualifies to them as a source.
I hope this helps.
@capirani (2840)
• United States
18 Oct 12
Also, maybe you could rewrite the article to make it personal about How Poetry Helped Me Get Over a Broken Heart rather than how it helps (in general) to get over a broken heart. But I am not sure that would be acceptable to the company you are writing for. For a personal article, you are the only real source.
@anaknitatay (1335)
• Philippines
19 Oct 12
in writing jobs it's important to know your client and to do research. yes, you have personal experiences regarding your article but are there other sites and articles that are related to yours? sometimes readers need to know that an article came from "experts" to show some credibility. so research your article because I don't now if there are any one sites to get writing sources on every topic.
@matersfish (6306)
• United States
24 Oct 12
Philly: I'm not sure if this is what you mean, but there are definitely ways around quoting blocks of text if you're worried about getting accused of plagiarism.
You just have to use news tricks.
Today in news, the President of the United States stated that his new 21-page plan for America would help create jobs, boost the economy and the middle class, and strengthen the dollar in years to come. Supporters of our 44th President's plan claim that, despite opposition citing inaccuracies of the number crunching and the vague tone of the plan, this approach is just what America needs.
{The President} stated that his new 21-page plan for America would ... create jobs, boost the economy ... and strengthen the dollar in years to come. Supporters of {Obama's} plan claim ... this approach is just what America needs.
A bit all over the place at 4am, but bracket something to shorten it and add ellipsis to omit words.
This allows you to quote an article precisely without having to exactly copy it.
@PhillyDreamer (3039)
• United States
19 Oct 12
One site for sources on every subject. I'd pay a fortune if they made one. LOL. Here's the tricky part, I was writing an article about cold calling, and I wanted to quote an article I read, but the site I was writing for says your article needs to be a certain percentage unique. Is there a way around this?
