EvidenceEvidenceYour guide to nitpicky awesomeness

Direct Quotes

Paraphrasing

Citations

Signal Phrases

Blocked Quotes

Why We Use Evidence• Best proof that the author’s writing does what you say it does

is to use text evidence to show it, prove it, and teach it.

• Quoting (or paraphrasing) sources broadens the appeal of your position by drawing on logos, ethos, and pathos:

– shows your reader exactly how you arrived at a particular thought of your own.

– provides you with an example to analyze.

– adds authority to your essays by illustrating that you are presenting informed opinions (because experts agree).

– demonstrates fairness by quoting authors who disagree with your opinions.

– discredits the opposing point of view as illogical, impractical, biased, absurd.

Evidence• BALANCE! Quoting too little is worse than quoting too much.

• While evidence is important to support your points, the reader is most interested in your own argument, so make quotes and paraphrases relatively brief.

• Don’t be too stingy though. You have to quote enough source material for the author’s points (techniques, etc.) to come through to support your points and analysis.

• Bottom line: All evidence should work hard to promote Bottom line: All evidence should work hard to promote your point as logical, valid, and agreeable.your point as logical, valid, and agreeable.

MAJOR-POW IMPORTANT!• Think like a lawyer making a case before a judge and jury.

• Each main idea/point/reason that proves your thesis/claim must be supported with evidence and examples that are…

– relevant (pertinent)

– representative (balanced)

– sufficient (enough) evidence.

• You can’t prove a pattern with just one example or piece of evidence.

– If you’re going to call Dr. King a master of metaphor, you better have more than one metaphor from more than one of his speeches or letters to offer up for analysis.

HOW to Direct Quote• Repeats source words exactly.

• Enclosed with quote marks.

• Cite with a signal phrase and reference. – Reference = page number if processed papers

– Reference = paragraph/line numbers if timed single/dual passage

– Reference = source letter if timed synthesis

• Interpret quotes when needed (which is usually) so the reader understands its context. This can be part of your signal phrase.

• Connect quotes back to main ideas/thesis with your words (commentary).

• Include source on Works Cited page (for processed papers, not for timed writings).

Example…Midway into his famous “I have a Dream” speech before 100,000 rapt listeners on a scorching hot day on the Washington Mall, King answered critics, who asked why he was not satisfied with the civil rights gains at the time, by detailing a litany of unjust public behavior toward Negroes, ranging from police brutality to disenfranchisement at the voting both. “We will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream,” he sang out in his preacher’s voice (304). It was this stunning metaphor of running water and others like it that catapulted King into national respect and prominence. [and then paper should go on to discuss other examples of metaphor and their rhetorical value in pushing King’s message to the American people.]

Signal phrase

Quote

Cite Pg(s)

Commentary

Signal Phrase (Sets up the Quote

Opt to Direct Quote WHEN…• The author’s wording is so memorably, powerfully, or

perfectly expressed, that changing it would only weaken it.

• The source is highly technical, legal, or statistical in nature.

• The source is significantly historical.

• The author’s argument / point of view is too controversial to chance that readers will think you said it.

Example……King brought the crowd to a cheering roar like the sound of a great cataract when he asserted that the promise of Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation had not yet been fulfilled. “One hundred years later, the Negro is still anguished in the corners of American Society and finds himself in exile in his own land,” he stated (303). King noted that the purpose of the giant gathering on the Mall was to illustrate the exact conditions across the South that make the Negro feel like exiles.

It just doesn’t sound as good if you paraphrased:

King said that years later, Negroes still don’t feel like they’re truly a part of society.

King’s own words and “voice” do matter.

HOW to Paraphrase• Paraphrasing repeats or summarizes the source but in your

own words.

• A paraphrase may be (doesn’t have to be) just as long as the original source text.

• No quote marks used because you’re not directly copying.

• Still needs some kind of signal phrase of introduction/transition.

• Still needs parenthetical citation at the end.

• Still needs entry on the Works Cited page.

• Always cite your sources!

Opt to Paraphrase WHEN…• Paraphrase when details and key ideas, but not exact words,

are important to your point.

• Paraphrase when what was said is more valuable to your thesis than how it was said.

• NOTE: During AP testing, the reading passages are short because the testers are testing your ability to perform “close” reading and analysis. Therefore, direct evidence (quoting) is the best tool most of the time during tests.

When-To RecapDIRECT QUOTE WHEN…

• The author’s wording is so memorably, powerfully, or perfectly expressed, that changing it would only weaken it.

• The source is highly technical, legal, or statistical in nature.

• The source is significantly historical.

• The author’s argument / point of view is too controversial to chance that readers will think you said it.

PARAPHRASE WHEN…

• Details and key ideas, but not exact words, are important to your point.

• What was said is more valuable to your thesis than how it was said.

Parenthetical (End) Citations…is an MLA way we pay “props” to the author by noting his last name and the source page(s). This citation is called a parenthetical or end citation. Failure to cite is plagiarism.

Place the parenthetical citation at the end of the quote, after the quote mark but before the period.

Formula: (Author’s Last Name+space+page number)

(PBS 3)

(King 33-35)

Example:

Neither Mama nor Maggie are 'modernly' educated persons: "I [Mama] never had an education myself. Sometimes Maggie reads to me. She stumbles along good-naturedly She knows she is not bright" (Walker 290).

Period goes at end.

Parenthetical (End) Citations• A direct quote repeats the words of the source exactly. It can be one

word or a couple of sentences or a whole paragraph.

• It requires

• Signal phrase to introduce and connect to your point

• “Quotation marks”

• Parenthetical citation at the end

• Integrate direct quotes into the language (i.e., grammar and verb tense) of your writing.

Neither Mama nor Maggie are 'modernly' educated persons: “I [Mama] never

had an education myself. Sometimes Maggie reads to me. She stumbles

along good-naturedly She knows she is not bright” (Walker 290).

Period goes at end.

Parenthetical (End) Citations• Keep parenthetical citations brief. Try to incorporate the

author and title into the sentence as a signal phrase so that all that is left is to include a page number at the end.

• Compare this signal phrase example (in blue) to the one on the previous slide.

In the exposition of “Everyday Use,” author Alice Walker sets up the

conflict between Dee and her family by characterizing neither Mama nor

Maggie as “modernly” educated persons: “I [Mama] never had an education

myself. Sometimes Maggie reads to me. She stumbles along good-naturedly

She knows she is not bright” (290).

Period goes at end.

Signal PhrasesSignal Phrases

Signal Phrases• Signal phrases are your own words that introduce

quotations briefly to help the reader make sense of them.

– Author/speaker name(s)

– Title of the work

– Context

– Qualifying verb (more on this in a bit)

• How much info to include in the signal phrase depends on what your reader needs to know to understand a quotation and its connection to your argument.

• Use present tense typically.

• Never leave quoted material standing alone—even if it’s a complete sentence.

Integrate with ColonIf the signal phrase is a complete sentence, use a colon.

• Albert Einstein reminds us all to never waste our life being selfish: “Only a life lived for others is worth living.”

• Beer drinking has been a popular social activity for thousands of years: "Since the Egyptians first fermented grain along the banks of the Nile, beer has been a part of almost every society” (Williams 65).

• Mayor John Smith assessed the city’s recent shift in the geographic location of its inhabitants: “Houston’s population has increased dramatically on the city’s west side in the last five years, and that necessitates new roads, both in the city and in the county” (Source A).

Integrate with CommaIf signal phrase is an incomplete sentence, use a comma.

• In the words of Homer Simpson, “I am so smart! I am so smart! S-M-R-T! I mean, S-M-A-R-T!”

• According to anthropologist Paul Williams, "since the Egyptians first fermented grain along the banks of the Nile, beer has been a part of almost every society" (65).

• Education researcher John H. Doe reports, “Cheating is more widespread today than in the past due to higher family expectations as well as increased societal pressures placed on the modern student—at least that’s the excuse usually given” (23).

Integrate with “That”If you connect the signal phrase to quote with the word “that,” no punctuation is needed.

This “full” integration is often best because you can focus analyzing the quote concisely and efficiently.

•In his book The Birth of Beer, anthropologist Paul Williams writes that, "since the Egyptians first fermented grain along the banks of the Nile, beer has been a part of almost every society" (65).

•An Irish saying reminds us that friends that “gossip with you” may also be friends that gossip about you.

•While discussing the city’s expansion in recent years, Mayor John Smith pointedly directed attention to Houston’s growth “dramatically” on the city’s west side (Source A).

Be Smooth and Groovy• The style of your writing will be better if you incorporate

quoted phrases into your own sentence structure rather than writing a sentence and then quoting a sentence of line:

– Choppy: Richard Cory was very polite. “He was a gentleman from sole to crown.” Also, he was good-looking, even regal-looking: “clean flavored, and imperially slim.”

– Smooth: Richard Cory was polite: “a gentleman from sole to crown.” Like a handsome king he was “clean favored, and imperially slim.”

• Avoid having two quotations in a row. Your own commentary should bridge the two:

– Choppy: Richard Cory had everything going for him. “He was a gentleman from sole to crown.” “And he was rich—yes, richer than a king.”

– Bridged: Richard Cory had everything going for him. Not only was he a “gentleman from sole to crown,” but he was also “richer than a king.”

Do NOT Float QuotesFLOATING

In “The Chrysanthemums,” we are presented with a character who is stifled by her environment. “On every side it sat like a lid on the mountains and made of the great valley a closed pot” (489). In such claustrophobic surroundings it is not surprising that Elisa has few creative and emotional outlets. “Her face was eager and mature and handsome, even her work with scissors was over-eager, over-powerful” (489).

WELL INTEGRATED

In “The Chrysanthemums,” we are presented with a character who is stifled by her “closed-off” environment. Even the sky above “sat like a lid on the mountains and made of the great valley a closed pot” (489). In such claustrophobic surroundings, it is not surprising that Elisa has few creative and emotional outlets. Her only source of fulfillment and passion is her ability to “stick anything in the ground and make it grow” (490).

Signal Phrase VariationIntegrate quotes in ways that create flow and do not confuse the reader. Introduce the quote with a signal phrase…

at the beginning…

Professor Mahmoud Aziz asserts that Hemingway's reputation "is in large part dependent upon the real-world exploits of the author" (23).

or in the middle of the quotation…

"Education without attention to the arts," explains theorist Elliot Eisner, "would be an impoverished enterprise" (1).

or at the end…

"They can run, but they can't hide," warned President Bush during a recent press conference. 

Signal Phrase FormulasAccording to “x” construction

According to W. C. Jordan, there were about 100,000 Jews in France in the middle of the 11th century (202).

According to Rich, we need to be careful about the risk of "presentism," of projecting present meanings on past events (3).

According to the Polish critic Jan Kott, the play is best understood as a "great staircase," an endless procession of falling and rising kings (10).

Author + verb (+ that) construction

Rich warns us that we need to be careful about the risk of "presentism," of projecting present meanings on past events (3).

Patterson reviews the legal limits placed on the murder of slaves (190-93).

The Short Of It• Use the ellipsis (…) mark to eliminate unnecessary detail in

direct quotes.

– Economist John Kenneth Galbraith pointed out that “large corporations cannot afford to compete with one another….In a truly competitive market someone loses” (Key 17).

• The ellipsis acknowledges that the author said more, but you don’t “need” it right now to prove your point.

• Do NOT chop too much out.

– You don’t prove your point because there just isn’t enough example there for the reader to see what you see.

– You distort and pervert the author’s actual message by taking his words out of context. Creates confusion at a minimum and flat-out liar-cheater-propaganda at a maximum.

The Long Of It…• Use [brackets] to show changes/additions made to a direct

quote so it fits your sentence structure.

– Alter verb tense to fit smoothly into your signal phrase

– Replace a pronoun with a noun for clarity

– Change a capital letter to lowercase (or vice versa).

• Do not alter meaning/context! Too many bracket changes can confuse and distort the quote’s accuracy/credibility.

– Elisa becomes more interested when the peddler tells her of a “lady down the road [who] has got…nearly every kind of flower but no chrysanthemums” (492).

– “There is something wrong in the [Three Mile Island] area,” one farmer told the Nuclear Regulatory Commission after the plant accident (Legacy 33).

Signal Verbs & Context• Signal verbs characterize the author’s viewpoint or your

view of the author’s view. Choose verbs with care.

• Slinging around verbs with unwarranted negative or positive connotations perverts context, creating confusion, bias, and liar-cheater-propaganda.

– As Eudora Welty notes, “learning stamps you with its moments. Childhood’s learning,” she continues, “is made up of moments. It isn’t steady. It’s a pulse” (9).

• “Notes” implies that you agree with Welty. If you did not agree, you might have used “asserts” or “contends.”

• The verb “continues” is neutral.

Signal Verbs (cont.)• “Claim” implies that Frost’s opinion is open to disagreement

that other authorities might disagree with it. If you, yourself, support Frost’s observation, you might have used “agree.”

– Some instructors claim that new technology is threatening the English language: “Abbreviations commonly used in chats and texts are creeping into formal essays,” says Debbie Frost, language arts and social studies teacher (“Young Messengers” 2).

• The verb “says” is neutral.

Billy Learns Billy Learns About Beer About Beer and Signal and Signal

PhrasesPhrasesThis case study was sourced from the

University of Central Florida’s Writing Lab.

Draft 1: Floating QuotationBilly is working on an essay. He wants to include a quotation that supports his ideas, and he comes up with this:

Beer drinking has been a popular social activity for thousands of years. “Since the Egyptians first fermented grain along the banks of the Nile, beer has been a part of almost every society.”

Billy makes a claim in the first sentence, and follows with a quotation to support his claim. Sounds good, but there’s a problem: the quote isn't joined to Billy’s claim.

This “floating quote” is disconnected from other sentences, disrupting flow; the passage is chunky and underdeveloped. Readers may get confused when they see the first quotation mark: Is Billy speaking (quoting himself) or someone else? Because the quote isn't cited, the reader has no idea where it comes from, so its credibility is lost.

Draft 2: Add a CitationBilly goes back to work on the quote and comes up with this revision:

Beer drinking has been a popular social activity for thousands of years. "Since the Egyptians first fermented grain along the banks of the Nile, beer has been a part of almost every society" (Williams 65).

This time, Billy has included the citation information (in MLA form) for the quotation. This is an improvement, because it gives the reader the idea that the quote comes from a printed text of some sort. The credibility has increased. However, the quote is still floating in the essay by itself because it has no signal phrase.

Draft 3: Identify the SpeakerBilly hits the drafting board again and comes up with this next version:

Beer drinking has been a popular social activity for thousands of years. According to Paul Williams, "since the Egyptians first fermented grain along the banks of the Nile, beer has been a part of almost every society" (65).

Definite improvement. Billy has used an introductory phrase—“According to Paul Williams”—to incorporate the quote into the flow of his own sentences. Readers will not be confused by whom the quotation is from because Billy has now introduced the person to us.

This is better, but Billy can still do better. After all, do we know who Paul Williams is? Is he a recognized historian? An expert? Or just some dude Billy met in a bar who likes to drink beer? Who is Paul Williams?

Draft 4: Build CredibilityBilly works on the passage again:

Beer drinking has been a popular social activity for thousands of years. Anthropologist Paul Williams writes that "since the Egyptians first fermented grain along the banks of the Nile, beer has been a part of almost every society" (65).

Now we know who Paul Williams is: an anthropologist. This helps the reader by establishing that this quotation comes from someone knowledgeable in the field. The credibility of the source is increased.

But, ding-dang, Billy can still do better. The reader’s final question is still going to be: How in the heck did Billy the Goofy College Kid meet such an important anthropologist? Is Paul Williams his teacher? His neighbor? Did he even really meet him?

Draft 5: PerfectionBilly tinkers some more and comes up with this final draft:

Beer drinking has been a popular social activity for thousands of years. In his book The Birth of Beer, anthropologist Paul Williams writes that "since the Egyptians first fermented grain along the banks of the Nile, beer has been a part of almost every society" (65).

Here Billy has added the title of the book the quote comes from, thus giving the reader even more information about the credibility of this information. The passage flows well and is quite clear. The reader is much more likely to be convinced of Billy's claim now than they would have been in his first draft.

Billy earns an A+!

When to “Block” When to “Block” QuotesQuotes

Support: Blocked Quote• If direct quote is 4+ lines long, and you absolutely need all of

it, then “block” the quote.

• Blocking requires

– Paragraph “blocking”

– Signal phrase to introduce and connect to your point

– Parenthetical citation at the end.

• Block quotes when…

– Author’s words are exceptionally well-stated or historical or legal.

– Especially important to provide interpretation and commentary to explain what the quote means in relation to your thesis.

• The next slide shows you how to block a long quote…

Support: Blocked Quote

Mama and Maggie symbolize the connection between generations

and the heritage that passed between them. Mama and Maggie

continue to live together in their humble home. Mama is a robust

woman who does the needed upkeep of the land,

I am a large, big-boned woman with rough, man-working

hands. In the winter, I wear overalls during the day. I can

kill and clean a hog as mercilessly as a man. I can work

outside all day, One winter I knocked a bull calf straight in

the brain with a sledge hammer and had the meat hung up

to chill before nightfall. (Walker 289)

And Maggie is the daughter who has remained at home.

Signal phrase starts before the block and ends after the block.

Five or more lines gets blocked.

Blocking means you indent ½

inch on the left.

Still use parenthetical

citation.

Examples of Several Types of Evidence with All the Rules

Followed.

All Together Now!

Here are several examples of how to cite quotes (evidence) with speaker and page number. Note that you don’t use a comma or “page” or “p” inside the parenthesis. If your quote is longer than 4 lines, you have to “block it” as shown by the blue highlighting. Note how each quote is introduced and explained--not just dumped on the page. There are many ways to introduce evidence from your sources.

Mama and Maggie symbolize the connection between generations and the heritage that passed between them. Mama and Maggie continue to live together in their humble home. Mama is a robust woman who does the needed upkeep of the land,

I am a large, big-boned woman with rough, man-working hands. In the winter, I wear overalls during the day. I can kill and clean a hog as mercilessly as a man. I can work outside all day, One winter I knocked a bull calf straight in the brain with a sledge hammer and had the meat hung up to chill before nightfall. (Walker 289)

And Maggie is the daughter, "homely and ashamed of the burn scars down her arms and legs," (Walker 288) who helps Mama by making "the yard so clean and wavy" (Walker 288) and washes dishes "in the kitchen over the dishpan" (Walker 293). Neither Mama nor Maggie are 'modernly' educated persons: "I [Mama] never had an education myself. Sometimes Maggie reads to me. She stumbles along good-naturedly She knows she is not bright" (Walker 290). However, by helping Mama, Maggie uses the hand-made items in her life, experiences the life...

Example with Thesis & QuoteThesis:  In order to get along with one another in today's diverse society, we must get to know one another.

Quote: "She thought Mormon was the same as Mennonite, and the only thing she knew about either religion was that Mennonites don't, in her opinion, 'dress normal'" (Schoenberger 108).

Source: Schoenberger, Chana: "Getting to Know About You and Me" Newsweek. (September 20, 1993): 12. Rpt. in Transitions: Writing, Researching, Reflecting. Donna Dunbar-Odom. Southlake, TX: Fountainhead P, 107-110.

The next slide shows you a what it looks like to introduce and integrate this quote in context—so it supports this thesis.

Example with Thesis & QuoteIn "Getting to Know About You and Me," Jewish high school

student Chana Schoenberger reveals the important ways that diversity without knowledge can cause difficulties, which she illustrates via her experiences after leaving her hometown to spend five weeks at the University of Wisconsin at Superior with a National Science Foundation Young Scholars program. There, Schoenberger encountered eight different religions, but she ran into many more different sorts of ignorance and even prejudice. Early on she overheard one young lady ask another if she was Mormon, to which she replied with an emphatic "No, I dress normal!" This retort revealed he speaker's ignorance, but the comment was actually more than just ignorant. The comment, in fact, revealed a deep-seated prejudice against Mormons—a group she clearly does not understand and who, to her, are most certainly not "normal." As Schoenberger explains, this young lady "thought Mormon was the same as Mennonite, and the only thing she knew about either religion was that Mennonites don't, in her opinion, 'dress normal'" (108). Even worse than that misunderstanding, however is the fact that the young lady who asked this girl if she was Morman was herself a Morman, and she was probably hoping to bond with another of her faith. Instead she was insulted by someone who wasn't even aware she insulted her.

The same ignorance plays itself out in a more hateful (and certainly less innocent) way when Schoenberger's biology professor tells his students he wants them to get their money's worth because he “wouldn't want them to get Jewed . . . ” (108).

The article is introduced briefly so the quotes later on will make more sense.

Because the author’s name (Schoenberger) is used in the signal phrase, only the page number (108) needs to be cited at the end of the quote.

More Help

This website: http://nutsandbolts.washcoll.edu/quoting.html goes into

how to deal with “exceptions” to the rule and special circumstances.

Great site!