I want to write a couple of essays on different subjects which I don't know much about, and the first logical thing that comes to mind is that I should do some research on those specific essay-topics before writing.
Now, my question is, when writing, say, about psychology theories or any other types of scientific theories (which, for the most part, are not common knowledge), should I always cite the sources?
I mean, let's say I don't know anything about psychology theories, and I have to explain at least three of them in my essay. So I go and read different psychology articles, magazines, and books, and then, once I finally have a clear idea about these three theories, I proceed to write my essay, which might roughly look like this:
Introduction.
Body:
Paragraph1: According to the behavioral psychology... Today, behavioral techniques are still widely used in therapeutic settings to help clients learn new skills and behaviors.
Paragraph2: Theories of development provide a... understanding these theories can provide useful insight into individuals and society.
Paragraph3: Learning theories focus on ... This is an interdisciplinary topic of interest that often draws upon information from psychology, education, instructional design, and other areas.
Conclusion.
Nevertheless, the problem with following the simple process I've described above is that all the content written in the body of my composition would not be based on my own ideas or experiences, but on all the information, explanations, and definitions I read while doing my research. And I think there's no point in writing an essay if you don't include your own ideas and only write about other people's discoveries and thoughts. However, what else can you do when you are writing about things that have already been explained by experts on the subject you are dealing with? It feels like reinventing the wheel.
It is this feeling of lack of originality that makes me think that I have to add an in-text citation of the sources whithin parentheses at the end of every body paragraph. I feel as if I had to do that in order to avoid plagiarism. For example:
Paragraph1: According to the behavioral psychology... Today, behavioral techniques are still widely used in therapeutic settings to help clients learn new skills and behaviors. (Williams, 2015)
But then again it wouldn't make sense to write an essay where you have to attach an in-text citation to every paragraph you write lol, plus that there would be not only one source but at least three sources to cite for every paragraph--because when you read extensively on a subject you don't know anything about in order to understand it and be able to compose an essay about it, you are basically summarizing and paraphrasing from different sources--putting together all the information you learned about a specific topic--in your own words of course--to build one strong paragraph. So it is my understanding that, in this case, you also have to add a citation within parentheses acknowledging the sources, right? This is what confuses me.
I might be wrong about how and when to use in-text citations, but I gather that my problem with originality when planning and writing essays, especially scientific ones, stems from the fact that I know I won't be innovating. I will more likely just research the topic and then write about other people's (scientists') ideas, discoveries, and theories.
Maybe I just shouldn't write essays without having original points or ideas about the topic that can be supported with citations of some extra sources. But I don't know, I can't wrap my head around this problem with originality.
So, could you please give me some suggestions on how to go about writing original essays without having to add in-text citations to virtually everything because you feel that everything you know about the topic does not come from you, but from your research/reading of outside sources?
