Stakeholders

A stakeholder is an individual or group that is indirectly affected by the equity issue you are studying. For example, inequities in how steelworkers are treated affect industries that rely on their work, like architects and car manufacturers. This could even be expanded to include anyone who uses products created by steelworkers or is financially invested in similar industries.

How does your equity issue affect other communities?

Allies

An ally is an individual or group with similar goals to those who are affected by the equity issue but are not community members. For example, other trade workers(opens in a new tab) are allies of steelworkers because they face similar challenges, such as workplace safety, pay, and hours, but they each have a unique context.

What other communities face similar equity issues? Who else might benefit from the equity issue being corrected?

Information created by stakeholders and allies can take the form of any of the other source types in the Research Honeycomb. Refer to the other voice type tabs on the left for tips on how to find and evaluate those source types.

To synthesize your sources means to draw information from various places to form a conclusion. In academic writing, this can look like a paragraph or even a single sentence that has multiple citations. The information sources cited all make a similar point or can be used as evidence for the same conclusion.

Think of your writing as showing your work on a math question. Your thesis statement is the answer, but you also need to explain your process. Show how you see your sources connect.

Showing the Connections

Here are some ways to prepare to show the connections between your sources in your writing.

• Keep track of the decisions you make while researching: You may assume a piece of information is available or would support your argument, only to find out it doesn't exist or weakens your argument. Leave notes for yourself about why you made the decisions you did about which sources you looked for and your reasons for keeping certain sources.
• Keep track of what you think while reading: Start writing your autoethnography as you are reading your sources. As you read, make notes about how the information in one source relates to another and how you will use it in your argument.
• Create a concept map: If you like to visualize information, create a concept map! There are many ways to organize your concept map: by subtopics, sources, or individual quotes and paraphrases. You can make a digital concept map, use a single piece of paper, or place individual ideas on sticky notes to move around. Here are some questions to consider when creating your concept map:
  • Is the core concept accurately defined and positioned?
  • How do the ideas fit together?
  • Have I considered all the related information from lectures, texts, and labs?
  • Have I noted all relevant relationships, exceptions, and conditions?
  • Does the map have adequate validity, logic, complexity, and detail?
  • What is the muddiest point and what can be done to clarify it?

Concept map questions from the University of Guelph Library.

MLA

Auto/Steel Partnership Foundation. Leading Through Collaboration: 2024-25 Annual Report, June 2025, a-sp.org/downloads/a-sp-2024-25-annual-report/.

APA

Auto/Steel Partnership Foundation. (2025). Leading Through Collaboration: 2024-25 Annual Report. https://a-sp.org/downloads/a-sp-2024-25-annual-report/