Quotes

ASSIGNMENT

Create a “quotes” page that will list all of the possible information you could use from your sources. The plan is that the information in this page is quotable, worthy of paraphrase, or able to reference in some way in the final paper. You must include all of the source information (in MLA, APA, or CMS format) after each block of information. You may organize your page in any of the following three ways:

Organization of quotes 1—using the working bib, add the copied information under each citation. Follow every chunk of information with an in-text citation, as well.

 

Organization of quotes 2—create an unorganized list of copied information from your sources. Follow every chunk of information with an in-text citation.

 

Organization of quotes 3—create section headings to organize the information, and then include the appropriate information within each section. Follow every chunk of information with an in-text citation. Example sections could be: Definitions, Topic History, Proponents of My Argument, Opponents of My Argument, etc.

When copying the information into your document, be sure that you are copying it exactly as it appears in the original. Be careful not to retype information incorrectly (typos, skipping lines, skipping words, etc), otherwise you will have incorrect information from which to quote, paraphrase, or reference. Use quotation marks around the information so you remember that you have copied the information exactly. Be sure to also have the correct in-text citation after every quotable bit, otherwise your page is nigh useless when it comes time to type your essay.

The purpose of this activity is to help you minimize a giant stack of sources to just a small collection from each source of the information that you might want to actually use in your essay. While you can look back at your sources any time, it is often helpful to have a single document that contains things you might want to quote, paraphrase, reference. This minimizes stress and workload when you’re trying to write your final essay. Try this activity, and if you like it, you might want to use it for all of your research endeavors in the future. If you hate it, at least you tried it.

Here is a brief example, using MLA format, of what your document might look like if you chose option #3:

History

“In 1911, there were 50 Himalayan kittens adopted in the United States” (Smith 32).

“Himalayan cat breeding has become a hobby of many cat lovers. Very often, the Himalayan’s are bred with other pure breeds for a unique and equally treasurable mix” (Williams and Thompson 405).

QUOTES INFORMATION

In your essay, you will use your research to refer, discuss, analyze, and argue with or against. Remember, the point of the essay is to join the conversation on the topic, which means you must in some fashion acknowledge the conversation. Any reference to another source must be accompanied by a Works Cited page. If you want to look at it this way, these references are part of your “ethos,” or let’s even call them your references at the end of your resume if you want. They prove that everything you’re saying isn’t b.s.

When it comes to acknowledging others in the field, depending on your field of study, you’ll reference the sources using a particular citation style that emphasizes what’s most important in that field.

The sciences use what is called APA (American Psychological Association) because science values the date of publication, so all references using APA will emphasize the date of publication.

The journalists and publishers use CMS (Chicago Manual of Style) to emphasize notes and remarks directly on the same page as the original text.

There are other lesser known source styles that radiologists and other fields will use, such as AMA.

In the humanities, we use MLA (Modern Language Association) because we value most the researcher and source.

All of these styles achieve the same goal: give credit to the author with in-text citations for quotes and paraphrases and a works cited page/annotated bibliography for complete source information. The styles differ only in how the sources are listed and what information is listed.

No matter if you’re quoting, paraphrasing, or using an idea, you must cite your source. A common mistake is that if it’s not quoted, it doesn’t have to be cited. WRONG. If you use anything from another source, you must cite that both in the text and in the works cited page. Make sure the in-text citations and the works cited page match exactly. There cannot be works in the works cited page that are not cited with parenthetical citations in the text, and there cannot be parenthetical citations in the text that are not listed in the works cited page.

QUOTING

A quote is something you do, not something you find in a text, meaning, you’re not looking for “quotes” in a text. Don’t think you’re scanning a text for sentences in quotation marks. What you’re looking for is something, anything, the source has said that sounds impressive and helpful for your essay. You’re looking for sentences or statements that support you, argue against you, summarize your point, or just sound very witty. If you find something like that, and it happens to be worded so perfectly that you want to use it exactly how it appears, then mark the sentence(s). In your essay, you’ll copy the words as “quotes” by putting the sentences in quotation marks to show the words are not your own but instead from the original source.

Rule of thumb: quoting makes you look like a good researcher. It’s more impressive to use quotes than to steal words. Give the original credit for the words by placing the quotation marks and citing in the text. If the original source has already quoted something, you’ll use single quote marks around what the original quoted: “Kirkpatrick mentioned in his text that the ‘language is always evolving’” (Payne 23).

Length: Avoid quoting anything over 10 lines long. 10 lines is waaay to long for a quote. If you’re quoting that much, then you can very likely cut out most of the words in the quote or paraphrase instead of directly quoting. When quoting anything, be sure to look up such things as Block Quotes, and Ellipses for editing sentences and words in the quotes. You want to quote appropriately. For a taste of what the MLA handbook has to offer, what do you do if your quote is over 4 lines or 42 words? Better check the handbook!

Sample 1:

“Thus, though the firepower of contemporary militaries appears to be going off the scale, in some respects smart weapons are less cruel than what they supplant” (Easterbrook 19).

Sample 2:

Michael Kelly writes, “You couldn’t turn around without seeing something taken out” (21). Another writer noted that President Bush remarked “These weapons are miraculous, but we can’t lead people to believe that we’ve hit every target” (Barnes 16).

PARAPHRASING

Paraphrasing is similar to quoting in that you have found a useful sentence or two to use in your essay. The difference is that the idea is too long to quote, you’ve already used too many quotes, or the wording isn’t very good. Paraphrasing is far more common than quoting since a writer is better able to keep the flow of an essay and incorporate more sources by summarizing what a source says rather than directly quoting. Quoting breaks the flow of an essay, no matter how you look it, because it is the words of someone else, not yours.

To paraphrase, simply rephrase the original to your own words. The error in paraphrasing is when not enough is changed from the original. Many times, writers will believe they’re paraphrasing when they’re actually plagiarizing because they’ve only changed a word or two of the original.

Sample:

Original Source: Critical care nurses function in a hierarchy of roles.

Incorrect Paraphrasing: Critical care nurses have a hierarchy of roles (Chase 156).

Better Paraphrasing: Chase describes how nurses in a critical care unit function in a hierarchy that places designated experts at the top and the least senior staff nurses at the bottom (156).

Quality Paraphrasing: In her study of the roles of nurses in a critical care unit, Chase also found a hierarchy that distinguished the roles of experts and others (156).

USING AN IDEA

During your research, you’ll need to gather background information or even read multiple sources on the same topic. When you start writing the essay, you’ll find yourself using that background information or wanting to include some piece mentioned by several authors. It’s doubtful you’ll quote any of it since it’s not that important to the essay, and it’s even doubtful you’ll paraphrase it. But, you just might want to in some fashion incorporate the idea expressed in the original source(s). Well, if this idea isn’t something that you came up with off the top of your head or isn’t “common” knowledge to the Average Joe, then you still must cite it. Just let us know where you read the information through an in-text citation. There is no need for quote marks. Just cite the idea. If the idea came from several sources, then cite them all! If the idea came from a single page, then give the single page, but if it came from multiple pages (say an entire chapter), then give a page range. Give the reader enough to go by in case s/he wanted to read the idea from the original source.

Sample 1:

The critics’ reactions to Orwell’s writing style in 1984 is wrong. Most critics charge that the novel’s style is dry and lifeless, attributing this either to Orwell’s career as a journalist or to the novel’s dreary topic (Keis 229-31).

Sample 2:

Indeed, the few critical remarks about Orwell’s use of language have generally been negative (Keis 229-31; Walker 43-50; James and Parker 20; Wilkinson 541).

For this assignment:

Writing an essay is stressful and even intimidating. Completing your research before you write the paper will help ease the stress and even the time you spend writing the essay, as you will have found plenty of ideas and helpful information about the topic to guide your essay, and you won’t have to stop mid-page to spend another day doing research (which means by the time you get back to the essay, you’ve probably lost the motivation). The “quotes” segment is where you prepare everything for the writing of the paper so you don’t stop the essay-writing flow once it’s started.

For this section, you’ll peruse the sources from your Annotated Bibliography to see what’s helpful, what’s not, and what else might be out there to add. As you work through the sources, mark the information. Don’t highlight every paragraph. Don’t underline everything. Just mark what will be the most useful for your essay. What you mark is what you’ll have sitting on your desk as you type your essay so you can refer to as you type. If you’ve highlighted pages and pages of text, you’ll get stuck in re-reading what you’ve already read. So be stingy with your markings.

Compile everything in whatever way works for you. Some researchers prefer to keep their original sources handy during the writing of the essay in case they want to look back at the source for context or additional information. If this interests you, then mark directly on the source by highlighting and underlining or making notes.

Other researchers can’t stand the stack of books and articles—such a mess! They prefer a tidy multi-page document that lists only the information they plan to use. If this is you, copy/paste or type the possible quotes and the important information you might want to use for your essay, then you’ll have everything in one document, and you can trash the originals.

If you’re a really organized person, you might even want to copy/paste or type the quotes and information directly into your annotated bibliography so that everything is together.

Either way, be sure to note on all photo copies and all copied/pasted quotes and tid bits the MLA-required information for each source. Otherwise, you’ll be in the middle of typing your essay and want to use that fabulous quote you found, but, you won’t remember what book, author, or page number it came from—which means you cannot use it, no matter how good it is.