ENG II Integrating Sources Notes
How do I combine quotation marks with other punctuation marks?
It can be confusing when you start combining quotation marks with other punctuation marks. You should consult a style manual for complicated situations, but the following two rules apply to most cases:
1. Be sure that you don't fundamentally change the meaning of the quotation by omitting material.
Take a look at the following example: - "The Writing Center is located on the UNC campus and serves the entire UNC community." -"The Writing Center . . . serves the entire UNC community." The reader's understanding of the Writing Center's mission to serve the UNC community is not affected by omitting the information about its location.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
-Use quotation marks to enclose direct quotes and titles of short works. -Use single quotation marks to enclose a quote within a quote. -Do not use any quotation marks for indirect quotations.
4. MLA Citation
After quoting (or summarizing or paraphrasing) information from a source, include a proper in-text citation. (You will also need to include a complete Works Cited at the end of your paper.)
How do I indicate quotations within quotations?
If you are quoting a passage that contains a quotation, then you use single quotation marks for the internal quotation. Quite rarely, you quote a passage that has a quotation within a quotation. In that rare instance, you would use double quotation marks for the second internal quotation. Here's an example of a quotation within a quotation: -In "The Emperor's New Clothes," Hans Christian Andersen wrote, "'But the Emperor has nothing on at all!' cried a little child." Remember to consult your style guide to determine how to properly cite a quote within a quote.
Writing at Work
In many businesses, the difference between exact wording and a paraphrase is extremely important. For legal purposes, or for the purposes of doing a job correctly, it can be important to know exactly what the client, customer, or supervisor said. Sometimes, important details can be lost when instructions are paraphrased. Use quotes to indicate exact words where needed, and let your coworkers know the source of the quotation (client, customer, peer, etc.).
4. Spicing up your prose.
In order to lend variety to your prose, you may wish to quote a source with particularly vivid language. All quotations, however, must closely relate to your topic and arguments. Do not insert a quotation solely for its literary merits. One example of a quotation that adds flair: -Calvin Coolidge's tendency to fall asleep became legendary. As H. L. Mencken commented in the American Mercury in 1933, "Nero fiddled, but Coolidge only snored."
How do I set up and follow up a quotation?
Once you've carefully selected the quotations that you want to use, your next job is to weave those quotations into your text. The words that precede and follow a quotation are just as important as the quotation itself. You can think of each quote as the filling in a sandwich: it may be tasty on its own, but it's messy to eat without some bread on either side of it. Your words can serve as the "bread" that helps readers digest each quote easily. Below are four guidelines for setting up and following up quotations. In illustrating these four steps, we'll use as our example, Franklin Roosevelt's famous quotation, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."
1. Introduce the quote by using a proper signal phrase.
Signal phrases let readers know the source of your information and help create a context for the quote. Without proper signal phrases, quotes are not effectively integrated into your paper. Example signal phrases: -He states, "...". -In her book, "X", she maintains that, "..." -Smith asserts, "..." -According to Jones, "..." -The authors argue, "..."
3. Your Analysis of the Quote
The analysis includes your interpretation and explanation of the quote. It includes a discussion of why the quote is significant and/or important and how it fits into your research or essay.
Example of plagiarized and ineffective quotation:
There are a few agricultural farms surrounding Marine City. Additionally, a Detroit Edison plant and Canadian factories across the St. Clair River are within the vicinity of Marine City. There may very well be a common link that binds them to the disease. Having access to electricity and other manufactured products that make our lives easier and convenient is wonderful; however, "There ain't no such thing as a free lunch," meaning there's always a trade off. Be it intentional or not, a consequence results in the decisions people make. Here, the author includes a quotation but does not include a proper signal phrase to introduce the quotation and does not include an in-text citation. Without a signal phrase and without citation, the information is not only plagiarized, but is also ineffective. Readers don't know the source of the information or why it's included in the paper.
Organizing your paper
There are many different ways to organize a comparison/contrast essay. Here are two: Subject-by-subject Point-by-point
2. The Quote
This is the excerpt (exact wording) used from your source. Remember, exact wording from a source must be enclosed in quotation marks. (Without quotation marks, the information is plagiarized.)
Using Sources Blending Source Material with Your Own Work
When working with sources, many students worry they are simply regurgitating ideas that others formulated. That is why it is important for you to develop your own assertions, organize your findings so that your own ideas are still the thrust of the paper, and take care not to rely too much on any one source, or your paper's content might be controlled too heavily by that source. In practical terms, some ways to develop and back up your assertions include: Blend sources with your assertions. Organize your sources before and as you write so that they blend, even within paragraphs. Your paper—both globally and at the paragraph level—should reveal relationships among your sources, and should also reveal the relationships between your own ideas and those of your sources. Write an original introduction and conclusion. As much as is practical, make the paper's introduction and conclusion your own ideas or your own synthesis of the ideas inherent in your research. Use sources minimally in your introduction and conclusion. Open and close paragraphs with originality. In general, use the openings and closing of your paragraphs to reveal your work—"enclose" your sources among your assertions. At a minimum, create your own topic sentences and wrap-up sentences for paragraphs. Use transparent rhetorical strategies. When appropriate, outwardly practice such rhetorical strategies as analysis, synthesis, comparison, contrast, summary, description, definition, hierarchical structure, evaluation, hypothesis, generalization, classification, and even narration. Prove to your reader that you are thinking as you write. Also, you must clarify where your own ideas end and the cited information begins. Part of your job is to help your reader draw the line between these two things, often by the way you create context for the cited information. A phrase such as "A 1979 study revealed that . . ." is an obvious announcement of citation to come. Another recommended technique is the insertion of the author's name into the text to announce the beginning of your cited information. You may worry that you are not allowed to give the actual names of sources you have studied in the paper's text, but just the opposite is true. In fact, the more respectable a source you cite, the more impressed your reader is likely to be with your material while reading. If you note that the source is the NASA Science website or an article by Stephen Jay Gould or a recent edition of The Wall Street Journal right in your text, you offer your readers immediate context without their having to guess or flip to the references page to look up the source. What follows is an excerpt from a political science paper that clearly and admirably draws the line between writer and cited information: The above political upheaval illuminates the reasons behind the growing Iranian hatred of foreign interference; as a result of this hatred, three enduring geopolitical patterns have evolved in Iran, as noted by John Limbert. First . . . Note how the writer begins by redefining her previous paragraph's topic (political upheaval), then connects this to Iran's hatred of foreign interference, then suggests a causal relationship and ties her ideas into John Limbert's analysis—thereby announcing that a synthesis of Limbert's work is coming. This writer's work also becomes more credible and meaningful because, right in the text, she announces the name of a person who is a recognized authority in the field. Even in this short excerpt, it is obvious that this writer is using proper citation and backing up her own assertions with confidence and style.
How much should I quote?
As few words as possible. Remember, your paper should primarily contain your own words, so quote only the most pithy and memorable parts of sources. Here are three guidelines for selecting quoted material judiciously.
1. Provide a context for each quotation.
Do not rely on quotations to tell your story for you. It is your responsibility to provide your reader with a context for the quotation. The context should set the basic scene for when, possibly where, and under what circumstances the quotation was spoken or written. So, in providing a context for our above example, you might write: -When Franklin Roosevelt gave his inaugural speech on March 4, 1933, he addressed a nation weakened and demoralized by economic depression.
Quotation marks (" ") set off a group of words from the rest of the text.
Use quotation marks to indicate direct quotations of another person's words or to indicate a title. Quotation marks always appear in pairs.
INTEGRATING PARAPHRASES
Paraphrases are used to highlight and restate information and synthesize ideas. Effective paraphrasing means that you'll restate the information in your own words, using your own language and sentence structure to convey ideas. When paraphrasing, DO NOT simply change a few words of the original source. Changing a few words is still plagiarism (even if you include proper citation).
2. Including supplemental information that your reader needs in order to understand the quotation.
For example, if you were quoting someone's nickname, you might want to let your reader know the full name of that person in brackets. -"The principal of the school told Billy [William Smith] that his contract would be terminated." Similarly, if a quotation referenced an event with which the reader might be unfamiliar, you could identify that event in brackets. "We completely revised our political strategies after the strike [of 1934]."
Example of properly cited MLA 8 and effectively written quotation:
There are a few agricultural farms surrounding Marine City. Additionally, a Detroit Edison plant and Canadian factories across the St. Clair River are within the vicinity of Marine City. There may very well be a common link that binds them to the disease. Having access to electricity and other manufactured products that make our lives easier and convenient is wonderful; however, as Mankiw states, "There ain't no such thing as a free lunch," (4) meaning there's always a trade off. Be it intentional or not, a consequence results in the decisions people make. Here, the author of this paragraph includes the signal phrase "Mankiw states" to introduce the quotation and includes a proper in-text citation. (The author's name, in this case, is not needed in the in-text citation because it is included in the signal phrase.)
Comparing and Contrasting What this handout is about
This handout will help you first to determine whether a particular assignment is asking for comparison/contrast and then to generate a list of similarities and differences, decide which similarities and differences to focus on, and organize your paper so that it will be clear and effective. It will also explain how you can (and why you should) develop a thesis that goes beyond "Thing A and Thing B are similar in many ways but different in others."
3. Analyzing how others use language.
This scenario is probably most common in literature and linguistics courses, but you might also find yourself writing about the use of language in history and social science classes. If the use of language is your primary topic, then you will obviously need to quote users of that language. Examples of topics that might require the frequent use of quotations include: -Southern colloquial expressions in William Faulkner's Light in August -Ms. and the creation of a language of female empowerment -A comparison of three British poets and their use of rhyme
Cue words and other tips
To help your reader keep track of where you are in the comparison/contrast, you'll want to be sure that your transitions and topic sentences are especially strong. Your thesis should already have given the reader an idea of the points you'll be making and the organization you'll be using, but you can help her/him out with some extra cues. The following words may be helpful to you in signaling your intentions: -like, similar to, also, unlike, similarly, in the same way, likewise, again, compared to, in contrast, in like manner, contrasted with, on the contrary, however, although, yet, even though, still, but, nevertheless, conversely, at the same time, regardless, despite, while, on the one hand ... on the other hand. For example, you might have a topic sentence like one of these: -Compared to Pepper's, Amante is quiet. -Like Amante, Pepper's offers fresh garlic as a topping. -Despite their different locations (downtown Chapel Hill and downtown Carrboro), Pepper's and Amante are both fairly easy to get to.
4. Do not overuse brackets!
For example, it is not necessary to bracket capitalization changes that you make at the beginning of sentences. For example, suppose you were going to use part of this quotation: -"We never looked back, but the memory of our army days remained with us the rest of our lives." If you wanted to begin a sentence with an excerpt from the middle of this quotation, there would be no need to bracket your capitalization changes. -"The memory of our army days remained with us the rest of our lives," commented Joe Brown, a World War II veteran. Not -"[T]he memory of our army days remained with us the rest of our lives," commented Joe Brown, a World War II veteran.
Using comparison/contrast for all kinds of writing projects
Sometimes you may want to use comparison/contrast techniques in your own pre-writing work to get ideas that you can later use for an argument, even if comparison/contrast isn't an official requirement for the paper you're writing. For example, if you wanted to argue that Frye's account of oppression is better than both de Beauvoir's and Bartky's, comparing and contrasting the main arguments of those three authors might help you construct your evaluation—even though the topic may not have asked for comparison/contrast and the lists of similarities and differences you generate may not appear anywhere in the final draft of your paper.
2) Place all other punctuation marks (colons, semicolons, exclamation marks, question marks) outside the quotation marks, except when they were part of the original quotation.
Take a look at the following examples: -The student wrote that the U. S. Civil War "finally ended around 1900"! -The coach yelled, "Run!" In the first example, the author placed the exclamation point outside the quotation mark because she added it herself to emphasize the absurdity of the student's comment. The student's original comment had not included an exclamation mark. In the second example, the exclamation mark remains within the quotation mark because it is indicating the excited tone in which the coach yelled the command. Thus, the exclamation mark is considered to be part of the original quotation.
When do I use those three dots ( . . . )?
Whenever you want to leave out material from within a quotation, you need to use an ellipsis, which is a series of three periods, each of which should be preceded and followed by a space. So, an ellipsis in this sentence would look like . . . this. There are a few rules to follow when using ellipses:
Quotations within Quotations
Use single quotation marks (' ') to show a quotation within in a quotation. Theresa said, "I wanted to take my dog to the festival, but the man at the gate said, 'No dogs allowed.'" "When you say, 'I can't help it,' what exactly does that mean?" "The instructions say, 'Tighten the screws one at a time.'"
Direct Quotations
A direct quotation is an exact account of what someone said or wrote. To include a direct quotation in your writing, enclose the words in quotation marks. An indirect quotation is a restatement of what someone said or wrote. An indirect quotation does not use the person's exact words. You do not need to use quotation marks for indirect quotations. Direct quotation: Carly said, "I'm not ever going back there again." Indirect quotation: Carly said that she would never go back there.
Subject-by-subject
Begin by saying everything you have to say about the first subject you are discussing, then move on and make all the points you want to make about the second subject (and after that, the third, and so on, if you're comparing/contrasting more than two things). If the paper is short, you might be able to fit all of your points about each item into a single paragraph, but it's more likely that you'd have several paragraphs per item. Using our pizza place comparison/contrast as an example, after the introduction, you might have a paragraph about the ingredients available at Pepper's, a paragraph about its location, and a paragraph about its ambience. Then you'd have three similar paragraphs about Amante, followed by your conclusion. The danger of this subject-by-subject organization is that your paper will simply be a list of points: a certain number of points (in my example, three) about one subject, then a certain number of points about another. This is usually not what college instructors are looking for in a paper—generally they want you to compare or contrast two or more things very directly, rather than just listing the traits the things have and leaving it up to the reader to reflect on how those traits are similar or different and why those similarities or differences matter. Thus, if you use the subject-by-subject form, you will probably want to have a very strong, analytical thesis and at least one body paragraph that ties all of your different points together. A subject-by-subject structure can be a logical choice if you are writing what is sometimes called a "lens" comparison, in which you use one subject or item (which isn't really your main topic) to better understand another item (which is). For example, you might be asked to compare a poem you've already covered thoroughly in class with one you are reading on your own. It might make sense to give a brief summary of your main ideas about the first poem (this would be your first subject, the "lens"), and then spend most of your paper discussing how those points are similar to or different from your ideas about the second.
3. Use punctuation marks in combination with ellipses when removing material from the end of sentences or clauses.
For example, if you take material from the end of a sentence, keep the period in as usual. -"The boys ran to school, forgetting their lunches and books. Even though they were out of breath, they made it on time." -"The boys ran to school. . . . Even though they were out of breath, they made it on time." Likewise, if you excerpt material at the end of clause that ends in a comma, retain the comma. -"The red car came to a screeching halt that was heard by nearby pedestrians, but no one was hurt." -"The red car came to a screeching halt . . . , but no one was hurt."
2. Do not use ellipses at the beginning or ending of quotations, unless it's important for the reader to know that the quotation was truncated.
For example, using the above example, you would NOT need an ellipsis in either of these situations: -"The Writing Center is located on the UNC campus ..." -The Writing Center " . . . serves the entire UNC community."
2. Excerpt those fragments carefully!
Quoting the words of others carries a big responsibility. Misquoting misrepresents the ideas of others. Here's a classic example of a misquote: -John Adams has often been quoted as having said: "This would be the best of all possible worlds if there were no religion in it." John Adams did, in fact, write the above words. But if you see those words in context, the meaning changes entirely. Here's the rest of the quotation: Twenty times, in the course of my late reading, have I been on the point of breaking out, 'this would be the best of all possible worlds, if there were no religion in it!!!!' But in this exclamation, I should have been as fanatical as Bryant or Cleverly. Without religion, this world would be something not fit to be mentioned in public company—I mean hell. As you can see from this example, context matters! This example is from Paul F. Boller, Jr. and John George, They Never Said It: A Book of Fake Quotes, Misquotes, and Misleading Attributions (Oxford University Press, 1989).
Point-by-point
Rather than addressing things one subject at a time, you may wish to talk about one point of comparison at a time. There are two main ways this might play out, depending on how much you have to say about each of the things you are comparing. If you have just a little, you might, in a single paragraph, discuss how a certain point of comparison/contrast relates to all the items you are discussing. For example, I might describe, in one paragraph, what the prices are like at both Pepper's and Amante; in the next paragraph, I might compare the ingredients available; in a third, I might contrast the atmospheres of the two restaurants. If I had a bit more to say about the items I was comparing/contrasting, I might devote a whole paragraph to how each point relates to each item. For example, I might have a whole paragraph about the clientele at Pepper's, followed by a whole paragraph about the clientele at Amante; then I would move on and do two more paragraphs discussing my next point of comparison/contrast—like the ingredients available at each restaurant. There are no hard and fast rules about organizing a comparison/contrast paper, of course. Just be sure that your reader can easily tell what's going on! Be aware, too, of the placement of your different points. If you are writing a comparison/contrast in service of an argument, keep in mind that the last point you make is the one you are leaving your reader with. For example, if I am trying to argue that Amante is better than Pepper's, I should end with a contrast that leaves Amante sounding good, rather than with a point of comparison that I have to admit makes Pepper's look better. If you've decided that the differences between the items you're comparing/contrasting are most important, you'll want to end with the differences—and vice versa, if the similarities seem most important to you.
1) Keep periods and commas within quotation marks.
So, for example: -According to Professor Jones, Lincoln "feared the spread of slavery," but many of his aides advised him to "watch and wait." In the above example, both the comma and period were enclosed in the quotation marks. The main exception to this rule involves the use of internal citations, which always precede the last period of the sentence. For example: -According to Professor Jones, Lincoln "feared the spread of slavery," but many of his aides advised him to "watch and wait" (Jones 143). Note, however, that the period remains inside the quotation marks when your citation style involved superscript footnotes or endnotes. For example: -According to Professor Jones, Lincoln "feared the spread of slavery," but many of his aides advised him to "watch and wait."2
1. Excerpt fragments.
Sometimes, you should quote short fragments, rather than whole sentences. Suppose you interviewed Jane Doe about her reaction to John F. Kennedy's assassination. She commented: "I couldn't believe it. It was just unreal and so sad. It was just unbelievable. I had never experienced such denial. I don't know why I felt so strongly. Perhaps it was because JFK was more to me than a president. He represented the hopes of young people everywhere." You could quote all of Jane's comments, but her first three sentences are fairly redundant. You might instead want to quote Jane when she arrives at the ultimate reason for her strong emotions: Jane Doe grappled with grief and disbelief. She had viewed JFK, not just as a national figurehead, but as someone who "represented the hopes of young people everywhere."
1. Changing verb tense or pronouns in order to be consistent with the rest of the sentence.
Suppose you were quoting a woman who, when asked about her experiences immigrating to the United States, commented "nobody understood me." You might write: -Esther Hansen felt that when she came to the United States "nobody understood [her]." In the above example, you've changed "me" to "her" in order to keep the entire passage in third person. However, you could avoid the need for this change by simply rephrasing: -"Nobody understood me," recalled Danish immigrant Esther Hansen.
2. Attribute each quotation to its source.
Tell your reader who is speaking. Here is a good test: try reading your text aloud. Could your reader determine without looking at your paper where your quotations begin? If not, you need to attribute the quote more noticeably. Avoid getting into the "he/she said" attribution rut! There are many other ways to attribute quotes besides this construction. Here are a few alternative verbs, usually followed by "that": Different reporting verbs are preferred by different disciplines, so pay special attention to these in your disciplinary reading. If you're unfamiliar with the meanings of any of these words or others you find in your reading, consult a dictionary before using them.
Discussion: Practice Paraphrasing
Academic writing also involves heavy use of paraphrasing sources. Paraphrasing is actually much more common than quoting, particularly in APA-style writing. Paraphrasing has several advantages: *it lets you keep a consistent tone and voice throughout the essay *it demonstrates your mastery of the concepts coming from outside sources *it lets you be flexible in wording and vocabulary to best meet the needs of your readers Paraphrasing seems simple on the surface: it's just putting another author's ideas into your own original words. In practice, though, this is one of the most challenging aspects of writing academic work.
Example #2 of a properly cited quotation
Sobel also mentions how Sam Walton, founder of Wal-Mart, has touched millions of lives in a positive way. He states, "his innovations in distribution warehouse centers and inventory control allowed Wal-Mart to grow, in less than thirty years, from a single store in Arkansas to the nation's largest retail chain. Shoppers benefit from the low prices and convenient locations that Walton's Wal-Marts provide" (Sobel 8). Notice the author of this paragraph includes the signal phrase, "He states the following". The author also includes a proper citation at the end of the quotation.
Is it ever okay to insert my own words or change words in a quotation?
Sometimes it is necessary for clarity and flow to alter a word or words within a quotation. You should make such changes rarely. In order to alert your reader to the changes you've made, you should always bracket the altered words. Here are a few examples of situations when you might need brackets.
1. Discussing specific arguments or ideas.
Sometimes, in order to have a clear, accurate discussion of the ideas of others, you need to quote those ideas word for word. Suppose you want to challenge the following statement made by John Doe, a well-known historian: "At the beginning of World War Two, almost all Americans assumed the war would end quickly." If it is especially important that you formulate a counterargument to this claim, then you might wish to quote the part of the statement that you find questionable and establish a dialogue between yourself and John Doe: Historian John Doe has argued that in 1941 "almost all Americans assumed the war would end quickly" (Doe 223). Yet during the first six months of U.S. involvement, the wives and mothers of soldiers often noted in their diaries their fear that the war would drag on for years.
Titles
Use quotation marks around titles of short works of writing, such as essays, songs, poems, short stories, and chapters in books. Usually, titles of longer works, such as books, magazines, albums, newspapers, and novels, are italicized. "Annabelle Lee" is one of my favorite romantic poems. The New York Times has been in publication since 1851.
When should I quote?
Use quotations at strategically selected moments. You have probably been told by teachers to provide as much evidence as possible in support of your thesis. But packing your paper with quotations will not necessarily strengthen your argument. The majority of your paper should still be your original ideas in your own words (after all, it's your paper). And quotations are only one type of evidence: well-balanced papers may also make use of paraphrases, data, and statistics. The types of evidence you use will depend in part on the conventions of the discipline or audience for which you are writing. For example, papers analyzing literature may rely heavily on direct quotations of the text, while papers in the social sciences may have more paraphrasing, data, and statistics than quotations.
Quotations What this handout is about
Used effectively, quotations can provide important pieces of evidence and lend fresh voices and perspectives to your narrative. Used ineffectively, however, quotations clutter your text and interrupt the flow of your argument. This handout will help you decide when and how to quote like a pro.
4. Provide a citation for the quotation.
All quotations, just like all paraphrases, require a formal citation. For more details about particular citation formats, see the UNC Library's citation tutorial. In general, you should remember one rule of thumb: Place the parenthetical reference or footnote/endnote number after—not within—the closed quotation mark. -Roosevelt declared, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself" (Roosevelt, Public Papers 11). -Roosevelt declared, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."1
When to Quote
Direct quotes should be used sparingly, but when they are used, they can be a powerful rhetorical tool. As a rule, avoid using long quotes when possible, especially those longer than three lines. When quotes are employed, they should be used to -Provide indisputable evidence of an incredible claim. Directly quoting a source can show the audience exactly what the source says so there is not suspicion of misinterpretation on the author's part. -Communicate an idea that is stated in a particularly striking or unique way. A passage should be quoted if the source explains an idea in the best way possible or in a way that cannot be reworded. Additionally, quoting should be used when the original passage is particularly moving or striking. -Serve as a passage for analysis. If an author is going to analyze the quote or passage, the exact words should be included in the essay either before or following the author's analysis. -Provide direct evidence for or proof of an author's own claim. An author can use a direct quote as evidence for a claim he or she makes. The direct quote should follow the author's claim and a colon, which indicates that the following passage is evidence of the statement that precedes it. -Support or clarify information you've already reported from a source. Similar to the above principle, an author can use a direct quote as further evidence or to emphasize a claim found in the source. This strategy should be used when an idea from a source is particularly important to an author's own work. -Provide a definition of a new or unfamiliar term or phrase. When using a term that is used or coined by the source's author or that is unfamiliar to most people, use direct quotes to show the exact meaning of the phrase or word according to the original source.
3. Indicating the use of nonstandard grammar or spelling.
In rare situations, you may quote from a text that has nonstandard grammar, spelling, or word choice. In such cases, you may want to insert [sic], which means "thus" or "so" in Latin. Using [sic] alerts your reader to the fact that this nonstandard language is not the result of a typo on your part. Always italicize "sic" and enclose it in brackets. There is no need to put a period at the end. Here's an example of when you might use [sic]: - Twelve-year-old Betsy Smith wrote in her diary, "Father is afraid that he will be guilty of beach [sic] of contract." Here [sic] indicates that the original author wrote "beach of contract," not breach of contract, which is the accepted terminology.
Introduction
In your career as a student, you'll encounter many different kinds of writing assignments, each with its own requirements. One of the most common is the comparison/contrast essay, in which you focus on the ways in which certain things or ideas—usually two of them—are similar to (this is the comparison) and/or different from (this is the contrast) one another. By assigning such essays, your instructors are encouraging you to make connections between texts or ideas, engage in critical thinking, and go beyond mere description or summary to generate interesting analysis: when you reflect on similarities and differences, you gain a deeper understanding of the items you are comparing, their relationship to each other, and what is most important about them.
Discovering similarities and differences
Making a Venn diagram or a chart can help you quickly and efficiently compare and contrast two or more things or ideas. To make a Venn diagram, simply draw some overlapping circles, one circle for each item you're considering. In the central area where they overlap, list the traits the two items have in common. Assign each one of the areas that doesn't overlap; in those areas, you can list the traits that make the things different. Here's a very simple example, using two pizza places: To make a chart, figure out what criteria you want to focus on in comparing the items. Along the left side of the page, list each of the criteria. Across the top, list the names of the items. You should then have a box per item for each criterion; you can fill the boxes in and then survey what you've discovered. Here's an example, this time using three pizza places: As you generate points of comparison, consider the purpose and content of the assignment and the focus of the class. What do you think the professor wants you to learn by doing this comparison/contrast? How does it fit with what you have been studying so far and with the other assignments in the course? Are there any clues about what to focus on in the assignment itself? Here are some general questions about different types of things you might have to compare. These are by no means complete or definitive lists; they're just here to give you some ideas—you can generate your own questions for these and other types of comparison. You may want to begin by using the questions reporters traditionally ask: Who? What? Where? When? Why? How? If you're talking about objects, you might also consider general properties like size, shape, color, sound, weight, taste, texture, smell, number, duration, and location.
Writing at Work
Most word processing software is designed to catch errors in grammar, spelling, and punctuation. While this can be a useful tool, it is better to be well acquainted with the rules of punctuation than to leave the thinking to the computer. Properly punctuated writing will convey your meaning clearly. Consider the subtle shifts in meaning in the following sentences: -The client said he thought our manuscript was garbage. -The client said, "He thought our manuscript was garbage." The first sentence reads as an indirect quote in which the client does not like the manuscript. But did he actually use the word "garbage"? (This would be alarming!) Or has the speaker paraphrased (and exaggerated) the client's words? The second sentence reads as a direct quote from the client. But who is "he" in this sentence? Is it a third party? Word processing software would not catch this because the sentences are not grammatically incorrect. However, the meanings of the sentences are not the same. Understanding punctuation will help you write what you mean, and in this case, could save a lot of confusion around the office!
3. Explain the significance of the quotation.
Once you've inserted your quotation, along with its context and attribution, don't stop! Your reader still needs your assessment of why the quotation holds significance for your paper. Using our Roosevelt example, if you were writing a paper on the first one-hundred days of FDR's administration, you might follow the quotation by linking it to that topic: With that message of hope and confidence, the new president set the stage for his next one-hundred days in office and helped restore the faith of the American people in their government.
Examples of incorrect and correct paraphrasing
Original text from source: "Survey results indicate that most teens experience anxiety without their cellphones by their side." This quote appears on page 6 of an article written by Smith. Incorrect paraphrase: -Results demonstrate that most teens feel anxiety without their cellphones close by (Smith 6). Even though the above information is properly cited through in-text citation, it is still plagiarized because it only changes a few words of the original source. Correct paraphrase: Numerous studies, including a recent poll of high school students in Maine, suggest that teens feel worried or uneasy without their cellphones (Smith 6). This paraphrase restates information in one's own wording and sentence structure and correctly cites the paraphrase through in-text citation. (A corresponding Works Cited must also be included for proper MLA citation.)
INTEGRATING QUOTES Four Required Components for Integrating Quotes in MLA
When quoting the exact words of a source, you must include the information in quotation marks, integrate the information into your own writing, and provide proper citation. (Proper citation in MLA format includes in-text citations and a Works Cited.) Proper integration of quotes requires four key components.
When to Quote & When to Paraphrase
Academic writing requires authors to connect information from outside sources to their own ideas in order to establish credibility and produce an effective argument. Sometimes, the rules surrounding source integration and plagiarism may seem confusing, so many new writers err on the side of caution by using the simplest form of integration: direct quotation. However, using direct quotes is not always the best way to use a source. Paraphrasing or summarizing a text is sometimes a more effective means of supporting a writer's argument than directly quoting. Taking into consideration the purpose of their own writing and the purpose of utilizing the outside source, authors should seek to vary the ways in which they work sources into their own writing. Paraphrasing and quoting are two of the three ways an author can integrate sources. The two methods are closely related, and therefore, can sometimes be confused with one another. Quoting borrows the exact wording used in a source and is indicated by placing quotes around the borrowed material. Paraphrasing, on the other hand, borrows an idea found in a shorter passage but communicates this idea using different words and word order. While it is acceptable to loosely follow a similar structure, paraphrasing requires more than simply changing a few of the original words to synonyms. Both paraphrasing and directly quoting have their merit, but they should be used at different times for different purposes. An author chooses to use one of these strategies depending on why the source is being used and what information the source provides.
When to Paraphrase
Paraphrasing provides an author the opportunity to tailor the passage for the purpose of his or her own essay, which cannot always be done when using a direct quote. Paraphrasing should be used to -Further explain or simplify a passage that may be difficult to understand. It could be that the topic, such as the process of extracting stem cells, is particularly difficult to follow, or that the author has used language that further complicates the topic. In such situations, paraphrasing allows an author to clarify or simplify a passage so the audience can better understand the idea. -Establish the credibility of the author. In connection to the above point, paraphrasing a complicated passage can help the author establish trust with his or her audience. If an author directly quotes a difficult passage without analysis or further explanation, it may appear that he or she does not understand the idea. Paraphrasing not only clarifies the idea in the passage but also illustrates that the writer, since he or she can articulate this difficult message to the reader, is knowledgeable about the topic and should be trusted. -Maintain the flow of the writing. Each author has a unique voice, and using direct quotes can interrupt this voice. Too many quotes can make an essay sound choppy and difficult to follow. Paraphrasing can help communicate an important idea in a passage or source without interrupting the flow of the essay. -Eliminate less relevant information. Since paraphrasing is written using the author's own words, he or she can be more selective in what information from a passage should be included or omitted. While an author should not manipulate a passage unnecessarily, paraphrasing allows an author to leave out unrelated details that would have been part of a direct quote. -Communicate relevant statistics and numerical data. A lot of times, sources offer statistical information about a topic that an author may find necessary to developing his or her own argument. For example, statistics about the percentage of mothers who work more than one job may be useful to explaining how the economy has affected children rearing practices. Directly quoting statistics such as this should be avoided.
Punctuating Direct Quotations
Quotation marks show readers another person's exact words. Often, you will want to identify who is speaking. You can do this at the beginning, middle, or end of the quote. Notice the use of commas and capitalized words. Beginning: Madison said, "Let's stop at the farmers market to buy some fresh vegetables for dinner." Middle: "Let's stop at the farmers market," Madison said, "to buy some fresh vegetables for dinner." End: "Let's stop at the farmers market to buy some fresh vegetables for dinner," Madison said. Speaker not identified: "Let's stop at the farmers market to buy some fresh vegetables for dinner." Always capitalize the first letter of a quote even if it is not the beginning of the sentence. When using identifying words in the middle of the quote, the beginning of the second part of the quote does not need to be capitalized. Use commas between identifying words and quotes. Quotation marks must be placed after commas and periods. Place quotation marks after question marks and exclamation points only if the question or exclamation is part of the quoted text. Question is part of quoted text: The new employee asked, "When is lunch?" Question is not part of quoted text: Did you hear her say you were "the next Picasso"? Exclamation is part of quoted text: My supervisor beamed, "Thanks for all of your hard work!" Exclamation is not part of quoted text: He said I "single-handedly saved the company thousands of dollars"!
QUOTES VS. PARAPHRASES
When writing a research paper, it's tempting to include large numbers of quotations to demonstrate that you're using sources to support your paper. Avoid this temptation. Quotations should be used sparingly in your writing. Use quotations when you can't state the information better yourself or when you wish to highlight key phrases or wording. Over-use of quotations results in a paper of copied and pasted text. It essentially means that you're using another person's writing to develop your paper. Quotations should stand out. They should draw attention to key points. Thus you should use quotations to highlight and support your own writing. They should not make up the bulk of your paper. *********This means that when integrating evidence into your paper, you should paraphrase more than you should quote. When paraphrasing, you're rephrasing information into your own words and using your own writing style to convey the information. Paraphrases restate ideas, synthesize information, and add credibility to your writing. REMEMBER: Both quotations and paraphrases require in-text citation and a Works Cited.
Using Sources Creatively
When writing papers that require the use of outside source material, it is often tempting to cite only direct quotations from your sources. If, however, this is the only method of citation you choose, your paper will become nothing more than a series of quotations linked together by a few connecting words. Your paper will seem to be a collection of others' thoughts and will contain little thinking on your part. To avoid falling into this trap, follow a few simple pointers: *Avoid using long quotations merely as space-fillers. While this is an attractive option when faced with a ten-page paper, the overuse of long quotations gives the reader the impression you cannot think for yourself. *Don't use only direct quotations. Try using paraphrases in addition to your direct quotations. To the reader, the effective use of paraphrases indicates that you took the time to think about the meaning behind the quote's words. (For further assistance see our materials on "Using Paraphrases.") *When introducing direct quotations, try to use a variety of verbs in your signal phrases. Don't always rely on stock verbs such as "states" or "says." Think for a little while about the purpose of your quotation and then choose a context-appropriate verb. Also, when using direct quotations try qualifying them in a novel or interesting manner. Depending on the system of documentation you're using, the signal phrases don't always have to introduce the quotation. For example, instead of saying: "None of them knew the color of the sky" is the opening line of Stephen Crane's short story, "The Open Boat" (339). This implies the idea that "all sense of certainty" in the lives of these men is gone (Wolford 18). Try saying: "None of them knew the color of the sky," the opening line of Stephen Crane's, "The Open Boat," implies that "all sense of certainty" in the lives of these men is gone (Crane 339; Wolford 18). The combination of these two sentences into one is something different. It shows thought on the writer's part in how to combine direct quotations in an interesting manner.
Deciding what to focus on
By now you have probably generated a huge list of similarities and differences—congratulations! Next you must decide which of them are interesting, important, and relevant enough to be included in your paper. Ask yourself these questions: -What's relevant to the assignment? -What's relevant to the course? -What's interesting and informative? -What matters to the argument you are going to make? -What's basic or central (and needs to be mentioned even if obvious)? -Overall, what's more important—the similarities or the differences? Suppose that you are writing a paper comparing two novels. For most literature classes, the fact that they both use Caslon type (a kind of typeface, like the fonts you may use in your writing) is not going to be relevant, nor is the fact that one of them has a few illustrations and the other has none; literature classes are more likely to focus on subjects like characterization, plot, setting, the writer's style and intentions, language, central themes, and so forth. However, if you were writing a paper for a class on typesetting or on how illustrations are used to enhance novels, the typeface and presence or absence of illustrations might be absolutely critical to include in your final paper. Sometimes a particular point of comparison or contrast might be relevant but not terribly revealing or interesting. For example, if you are writing a paper about Wordsworth's "Tintern Abbey" and Coleridge's "Frost at Midnight," pointing out that they both have nature as a central theme is relevant (comparisons of poetry often talk about themes) but not terribly interesting; your class has probably already had many discussions about the Romantic poets' fondness for nature. Talking about the different ways nature is depicted or the different aspects of nature that are emphasized might be more interesting and show a more sophisticated understanding of the poems.
Recognizing comparison/contrast in assignments
Some assignments use words—like compare, contrast, similarities, and differences—that make it easy for you to see that they are asking you to compare and/or contrast. Here are a few hypothetical examples: -Compare and contrast Frye's and Bartky's accounts of oppression. -Compare WWI to WWII, identifying similarities in the causes, development, and outcomes of the wars. -Contrast Wordsworth and Coleridge; what are the major differences in their poetry? Notice that some topics ask only for comparison, others only for contrast, and others for both. But it's not always so easy to tell whether an assignment is asking you to include comparison/contrast. And in some cases, comparison/contrast is only part of the essay—you begin by comparing and/or contrasting two or more things and then use what you've learned to construct an argument or evaluation. Consider these examples, noticing the language that is used to ask for the comparison/contrast and whether the comparison/contrast is only one part of a larger assignment: -Choose a particular idea or theme, such as romantic love, death, or nature, and consider how it is treated in two Romantic poems. -How do the different authors we have studied so far define and describe oppression? -Compare Frye's and Bartky's accounts of oppression. What does each imply about women's collusion in their own oppression? Which is more accurate? -In the texts we've studied, soldiers who served in different wars offer differing accounts of their experiences and feelings both during and after the fighting. What commonalities are there in these accounts? What factors do you think are responsible for their differences?
Your thesis
The thesis of your comparison/contrast paper is very important: it can help you create a focused argument and give your reader a road map so she/he doesn't get lost in the sea of points you are about to make. As in any paper, you will want to replace vague reports of your general topic (for example, "This paper will compare and contrast two pizza places," or "Pepper's and Amante are similar in some ways and different in others," or "Pepper's and Amante are similar in many ways, but they have one major difference") with something more detailed and specific. For example, you might say, "Pepper's and Amante have similar prices and ingredients, but their atmospheres and willingness to deliver set them apart." Be careful, though—although this thesis is fairly specific and does propose a simple argument (that atmosphere and delivery make the two pizza places different), your instructor will often be looking for a bit more analysis. In this case, the obvious question is "So what? Why should anyone care that Pepper's and Amante are different in this way?" One might also wonder why the writer chose those two particular pizza places to compare—why not Papa John's, Dominos, or Pizza Hut? Again, thinking about the context the class provides may help you answer such questions and make a stronger argument. Here's a revision of the thesis mentioned earlier: Pepper's and Amante both offer a greater variety of ingredients than other Chapel Hill/Carrboro pizza places (and than any of the national chains), but the funky, lively atmosphere at Pepper's makes it a better place to give visiting friends and family a taste of local culture.
3. Use block quotations sparingly.
There may be times when you need to quote long passages. However, you should use block quotations only when you fear that omitting any words will destroy the integrity of the passage. If that passage exceeds four lines (some sources say five), then set it off as a block quotation. Here are a few general tips for setting off your block quotation—to be sure you are handling block quotes correctly in papers for different academic disciplines, check the index of the citation style guide you are using: 1. Set up a block quotation with your own words followed by a colon. 2. Indent. You normally indent 4-5 spaces for the start of a paragraph. When setting up a block quotation, indent the entire paragraph once from the left-hand margin. 3. Single space or double space within the block quotation, depending on the style guidelines of your discipline (MLA, CSE, APA, Chicago, etc.). 4. Do not use quotation marks at the beginning or end of the block quote—the indentation is what indicates that it's a quote. 5. Place parenthetical citation according to your style guide (usually after the period following the last sentence of the quote). 6. Follow up a block quotation with your own words. So, using the above example from John Adams, here's how you might include a block quotation: After reading several doctrinally rigid tracts, John Adams recalled the zealous ranting of his former teacher, Joseph Cleverly, and minister, Lemuel Bryant. He expressed his ambivalence toward religion in an 1817 letter to Thomas Jefferson: Twenty times, in the course of my late reading, have I been on the point of breaking out, 'this would be the best of all possible worlds, if there were no religion in it!!!!' But in this exclamation, I should have been as fanatical as Bryant or Cleverly. Without religion, this world would be something not fit to be mentioned in public company—I mean hell. Adams clearly appreciated religion, even if he often questioned its promotion.
2. Giving added emphasis to a particularly authoritative source on your topic.
There will be times when you want to highlight the words of a particularly important and authoritative source on your topic. For example, suppose you were writing an essay about the differences between the lives of male and female slaves in the U.S. South. One of your most provocative sources is a narrative written by a former slave, Harriet Jacobs. It would then be appropriate to quote some of Jacobs's words: Harriet Jacobs, a former slave from North Carolina, published an autobiographical slave narrative in 1861. She exposed the hardships of both male and female slaves but ultimately concluded that "slavery is terrible for men; but it is far more terrible for women." In this particular example, Jacobs is providing a crucial first-hand perspective on slavery. Thus, her words deserve more exposure than a paraphrase could provide. Jacobs is quoted in Harriet A. Jacobs, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, ed. Jean Fagan Yellin (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1987).
