Make sure you have compiled enough sources to support your thesis. Ask your professor whether a specific number of sources are required for your paper. Read through these sources completely and write down any notable quotes to use in your essay.
Use a short segment of a source's sentence to quote. Write in the author's surname and page number in parentheses in both MLA and APA in-text citation. Note that the direct quote is not used in its entirety and is transitioned into smoothly by the author's beginning segment.
An example: Lovecraft characterizes the region with "ethnic homogeneity, a clear class hierarchy, a self-sustaining economy and a clear contrast between it and the developing 'modern' world and beyond," (Janicker 57).
Paraphrase a source, or put the author's meaning from the text into your own words. Cite this as with the identical ending parenthetical as the previous step. Only note the page number within the parenthetic if the author of the source is already named in the sentence.
An example: Rebecca Janicker, Lovecraftian scholar, makes the case in her essay that Lovecraft often develops a contrast between urban-dwellers (i.e., the professor) and the colorful rural locals in order to bring special attention to the peculiar characteristics of the latter group (57).
Summarize a source, or describe in your own words an author's argument. Summarizing differs from paraphrasing in that the entire source and its points would be clarified in the words of the essayist.
An example: Carolyn Edwards argues in her essay that the tales of H.P. Lovecraft share a tradition with American Gothic tales. She states that Lovecraftian stories project fears of unknown lands, change, violence and death, traits common in the American Gothic genre. Also, by depicting the real world of New England as accurately as Lovecraft can produce, Lovecraft then turns to introduce us elements of horrifying fantasy, thus transforming his unsuspecting New England setting into a place where the simple townsfolk's greatest, most repressed fears are realized. Lovecraft uses a forceful and unsubtle horror element in familiar territory such as New England in order to elaborate on fundamental human fears that are specifically and especially felt on American souls (26).