A Closer Look

Do you know how to combine information in a meaningful way?

When you take information from several different sources and put it all together, you are integrating information. Take a look at the integrated information from one student's paper below. The underlined parts show information taken from two different sources.

There are lots of different kinds of arthropods in the world. According to the article "aPods Rule!," there are almost two million species of arthropods! Some of these are species people eat, like crabs and shrimp. But arthropods also cause problems by eating people's food. According to the USDA Web site, insects damage grain and stored food products every year. Scientists are looking at ways to use "good bugs" to help stop these annoying arthropods.

Now look at another part of this article that includes integrated sources. Note the underlined sentences and where they came from.

It's true, as "aPods Rule!" says, that arthropods can hurt people by biting or stinging. Arthropods can even make people sick from their bites! But not all arthropods are this dangerous. "The Truth About Tarantulas" explains that tarantulas are actually not poisonous, and their sting is not even as bad as a bee's.

When a writer uses information from other sources, he or she must explain where the information came from. In these examples, the writer always mentions the article where each fact was found. See if you can answer each of the questions below. When you think you know the answer, click the question to see if you're right.

For the first example, where did the author find the number of arthropods in the world?	in the article "aPods Rule!"
In the second example, where did the author find the information about the dangers of tarantulas?	in the article "The Truth About Tarantulas"
What key words are used in these examples to show that the information came from another source?	The first example uses the phrase according to. The second excerpt uses the words says and explains.