Foundational Concepts for Transitioning Writers: Using Evidence

Are you returning to school for the first time in a long time? Or maybe you’ve just completed one degree, and you’re seamlessly entering your next program of study. If you’re like many Walden University students who are just starting their first term in their degree program, you probably have many questions about what it means to engage in scholarly academic writing. To help make the transition into scholarly writing as seamless as possible, over the next few weeks we here at the Walden University Writing Center would like to share some of the Foundational Concepts for Transitioning Writers. Enjoy! 

Many Walden University students are either first-time writers in scholarly academic writing or have taken some time away from this type of writing and school and are returning later. To help you through the process of transitioning into academic writing and APA again, entering for the first time, or even just as a helpful reminder, today we’ll discuss evidence, both what we mean by evidence and why we use it in scholarly writing here at Walden and in APA style.

What is Evidence?

When we say evidence, you might think of a crime scene and what investigators collect to solve a crime—that connotation of the term isn’t too far off.  Evidence in that sense is proof and clues that will add up to meaning and create understanding for the investigators, because they are coming to the information second hand. In scholarly writing we use the word “evidence” to mean research which will act as proof or support to build an argument. If finding evidence sounds overwhelming, don’t worry! You will be reading a large amount of articles and works in your discipline for your coursework at Walden—and the great news is this is all evidence! So not only will you be exposed to evidence that you can use for your own papers, but you’ll read these articles and see how they use evidence so that you can mimic these approaches in your own scholarly writing.

To put it simply: Evidence is research you have conducted to support your points and ideas. This might be quotations (direct wording from a source), paraphrases (you rephrasing an idea from a source), or summaries (you summarizing findings or information).

What Are Some Types of Evidence?

I noted a few types of evidence above, but what do these mean, exactly? Essentially you will be conducting research for your scholarly work through your course readings and on your own—don’t worry because in your early classes you will be given prompts with particular topics to look into, which will help you narrow down your research. Once you find an article, book, webpage or other form of information you think is useful, save it! You can use it in your writing for your course in two main ways.

Paraphrase –You read the source information and rephrase it in your own unique sentence structure and then place that in your paragraph, also adding a citation.

Quotation –Repeating the exact wording from the source and putting quotation marks around it and a citation. Note that APA recommends using quotation sparingly and paraphrasing as much as possible.

There are many elements to keep in mind to determine if you are using appropriate evidence. You can review some tips for evaluating evidence and finding evidence on the library’s web pages.

Why do we use Evidence?

Why is using evidence so important in scholarly writing? Why can’t we, for example, simply write our own thoughts and ideas down? The answer is that the social sciences specialize in are built on research and studies—therefore to prove a point or idea, it is important to be able to support where you got this impression because scholarly writing builds on itself creating one large scholarly conversation Also, from a practical standpoint, scholarly writing is based on research to enhance credibility and prevent opinionated or slanted viewpoints. The philosophy behind scholarly writing is that we present the facts as they are, supported by other research, and allow the audience to come away with their own impressions of the information.

Here's an example. Without the need to use evidence, I could write something like this:

All Writing Instructors at Walden drink a lot of orange juice. They drink more orange juice because it gives them energy and makes them more intelligent.

Now, without evidence, I have no way to prove to you, my reader, that this is factual, right? I am just saying information and drawing conclusions about what that information means without any context or support. Evidence provides you, the writer, and your readers with both context and support for your claims.

So what if I did want to make these claims? I would need to research and state some facts about the writing instructors here drinking orange juice, and qualify what I mean by “a lot”. I would also need to survey the instructors and discover why they drink orange juice. Then I would need to research if there are any links to orange juice enhancing intelligence or energy levels. That’s a lot for me to do, right? Evidence is necessary to support our claims, and that’s what makes scholarly writing such a rigorous and credible source of information.

Now that you know what evidence is and why it is the basis of scholarly writing, try incorporating some in your work today! To help you get there, we also recommend some additional resources on incorporating evidence effectively and using a paragraphing plan to assist you in organizing your paragraphs and evidence.

Claire Helakoski is a Writing Instructor  at the Walden Writing Center and holds an MFA in Creative Writing. She has taught writing and Composition as well as acted as a writer and editor in a variety of mediums. She lives in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and enjoys reading, writing creatively, and board games of all kinds.

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