I've seen examples where you can setup the value of the model but my question is I have a DB with data I want to pass to my web api.  I know how it gets pulled from a controller.

Controller

var categorypatents = db.CategoryPatents.Include(c => c.Category).Include(c => c.Patent);
return View(categorypatents.ToList());

So inside of my web api how would I accomplish this?  I know how to set the varibles if I'm defining them in my controller.