Annoying Ways People Use Sources

Kyle D. Stedman

Volume 2

Chapter Description

The word annoying in the title of this chapter draws attention to the rhetorical nature of a writer’s choices when citing sources, emphasizing that readers may feel emotions like annoyance (or worse) when authors fail to cite in the ways expected by the audience. This chapter humorously describes poor decisions that academic writers can make when incorporating outside sources into their texts. You can help your students avoid “annoying” rhetorical behaviors with this chapter, a brief primer on citation conventions for the Modern Language Association style. Students will enjoy reading about each “annoyance,” illustrated through positive and negative examples designed to show both the most common ways that writers make these mistakes and practical ways to fix them.

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