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How to Introduce Evidence in an Essay
Last Updated: May 5, 2024
This article was co-authored by Tristen Bonacci . Tristen Bonacci is an English Teacher with more than 20 years of experience. Tristen has taught in both the United States and overseas. She specializes in teaching in a secondary education environment and sharing wisdom with others, no matter the environment. Tristen holds a BA in English Literature from The University of Colorado and an MEd from The University of Phoenix. This article has been viewed 249,115 times.
When well integrated into your argument, evidence helps prove that you've done your research and thought critically about your topic. But what's the best way to introduce evidence so it feels seamless and has the highest impact? There are actually quite a few effective strategies you can use, and we've rounded up the best ones for you here. Try some of the tips below to introduce evidence in your essay and make a persuasive argument.
Things You Should Know
- "According to..."
- "The text says..."
- "Researchers have learned..."
- "For example..."
- "[Author's name] writes..."
Setting up the Evidence
- You can use 1-2 sentences to set up the evidence, if needed, but usually more concise you are, the better.
- For example, you may make an argument like, “Desire is a complicated, confusing emotion that causes pain to others.”
- Or you may make an assertion like, “The treatment of addiction must consider root cause issues like mental health and poor living conditions.”
- For example, you may write, “The novel explores the theme of adolescent love and desire.”
- Or you may write, “Many studies show that addiction is a mental health issue.”
Putting in the Evidence
- For example, you may use an introductory clause like, “According to Anne Carson…”, "In the following chart...," “The author states…," "The survey shows...." or “The study argues…”
- Place a comma after the introductory clause if you are using a quote. For example, “According to Anne Carson, ‘Desire is no light thing" or "The study notes, 'levels of addiction rise as levels of poverty and homelessness also rise.'"
- A list of introductory clauses can be found here: https://student.unsw.edu.au/introducing-quotations-and-paraphrases .
- For example, you may write, “In the novel, Carson is never shy about how her characters express desire for each other: ‘When they made love/ Geryon liked to touch in slow succession each of the bones of Herakles' back…’”
- Or you may write, "The study charts the rise in addiction levels, concluding: 'There is a higher level of addiction in specific areas of the United States.'"
- For example, you may write, “Carson views events as inevitable, as man moving through time like “a harpoon,” much like the fates of her characters.”
- Or you may write, "The chart indicates the rising levels of addiction in young people, an "epidemic" that shows no sign of slowing down."
- For example, you may write in the first mention, “In Anne Carson’s The Autobiography of Red , the color red signifies desire, love, and monstrosity.” Or you may write, "In the study Addiction Rates conducted by the Harvard Review...".
- After the first mention, you can write, “Carson states…” or “The study explores…”.
- If you are citing the author’s name in-text as part of your citation style, you do not need to note their name in the text. You can just use the quote and then place the citation at the end.
- If you are paraphrasing a source, you may still use quotation marks around any text you are lifting directly from the source.
- For example, you may write, “In the novel, the characters express desire for each other: ‘When they made love/ Geryon liked to touch in slow succession each of the bones of Herakles' back (Carson, 48).”
- Or you may write, "Based on the data in the graph below, the study shows the 'intersection between opioid addiction and income' (Branson, 10)."
- If you are using footnotes or endnotes, make sure you use the appropriate citation for each piece of evidence you place in your essay.
- You may also mention the title of the work or source you are paraphrasing or summarizing and the author's name in the paraphrase or summary.
- For example, you may write a paraphrase like, "As noted in various studies, the correlation between addiction and mental illness is often ignored by medical health professionals (Deder, 10)."
- Or you may write a summary like, " The Autobiography of Red is an exploration of desire and love between strange beings, what critics have called a hybrid work that combines ancient meter with modern language (Zambreno, 15)."
- The only time you should place 2 pieces of evidence together is when you want to directly compare 2 short quotes (each less than 1 line long).
- Your analysis should then include a complete compare and contrast of the 2 quotes to show you have thought critically about them both.
Analyzing the Evidence
- For example, you may write, “In the novel, Carson is never shy about how her characters express desire for each other: ‘When they made love/ Geryon liked to touch in slow succession each of the bones of Herakles' back (Carson, 48). The connection between Geryon and Herakles is intimate and gentle, a love that connects the two characters in a physical and emotional way.”
- Or you may write, "In the study Addiction Rates conducted by the Harvard Review, the data shows a 50% rise in addiction levels in specific areas across the United States. The study illustrates a clear connection between addiction levels and communities where income falls below the poverty line and there is a housing shortage or crisis."
- For example, you may write, “Carson’s treatment of the relationship between Geryon and Herakles can be linked back to her approach to desire as a whole in the novel, which acts as both a catalyst and an impediment for her characters.”
- Or you may write, "The survey conducted by Dr. Paula Bronson, accompanied by a detailed academic dissertation, supports the argument that addiction is not a stand alone issue that can be addressed in isolation."
- For example, you may write, “The value of love between two people is not romanticized, but it is still considered essential, similar to the feeling of belonging, another key theme in the novel.”
- Or you may write, "There is clearly a need to reassess the current thinking around addiction and mental illness so the health and sciences community can better study these pressing issues."
Expert Q&A
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- ↑ Tristen Bonacci. English Teacher. Expert Interview. 21 December 2021.
- ↑ https://writing.wisc.edu/handbook/assignments/quoliterature/
- ↑ https://writingcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/evidence/
- ↑ https://wts.indiana.edu/writing-guides/using-evidence.html
About This Article
Before you introduce evidence into your essay, begin the paragraph with a topic sentence. This sentence should give the reader an overview of the point you’ll be arguing or making with the evidence. When you get to citing the evidence, begin the sentence with a clause like, “The study finds” or “According to Anne Carson.” You can also include a short quotation in the middle of a sentence without introducing it with a clause. Remember to introduce the author’s first and last name when you use the evidence for the first time. Afterwards, you can just mention their last name. Once you’ve presented the evidence, take time to explain in your own words how it backs up the point you’re making. For tips on how to reference your evidence correctly, keep reading! Did this summary help you? Yes No
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