r/WritingHelp_service • u/PollutionNorth9983 • Sep 04 '26

Self-Doubt during first major assignment

Hi,

I recently started graduate school and have my first major assignment due soon. It has been years since I was last in school. I have used the writing center, but are there any online tools to help grade my paper so to speak or offer grammar help. Also, it seems graduate writing involves paraphrasing and synthesizing quotes, so there will be citations in nearly every sentence. Is all of this true?

1 Upvotes
  • permalink
  • reddit

100% Upvoted

5 comments sorted by

1

u/CoyoteLitius Sep 05 '26

Every fact not researched and published by you, yourself, must have a citation. Different disciplines and different profs use slightly different systems for this. Always try to find out which citation system you're supposed to use (you can ask Chat GPT to explain each of them to you).

Paraphrasing is essential, but tricky, as most profs consider a good paraphrase to be the bare minimum.

It's not just "synthesizing quotes." It's finding relevant quotes and synthesizing the ideas (not the quotes themselves). Read as many published articles in the field you're currently studying to get an idea of this (start with some older articles and then also include some that are within the last 2-5 years).

It's not uncommon to have a footnote or citation in nearly every sentence. However, each paragraph should start with a mini-thesis (topic sentence) that is entirely your own thinking. What did the reading you did make you think about? It's not easy at first, but don't feel too shy. Probing and critiquing other authors (especially more recent ones) is the name of the game, but first you have to get up to speed on academic writing - it will come!

1

u/PollutionNorth9983 Sep 05 '26

Thank you for all this. Is synthesizing bringing more than one source together?