INTEGRATING SOURCES IN WRITTEN ASSIGNMENTS

What I Tell My Students About Incorporating Quoted & Paraphrased Material Into Their Academic Papers

Incorporating Quoted & Paraphrased Material Into An Essay

Outside material may support your ideas and may be a vital component of your paper. If the original material is particularly well written or precise, or if the material is bold or controversial, it makes sense to quote the author word-for-word, so you can examine them in detail. You will place all language not your own in quotation marks: .
Sometimes paraphrasing an authors ideasinstead of using the authors words, youll use your own languagehelps keep the flow of your essay and can be less distracting. You will not be placing the authors ideas in quotation marks, but the technique you learn today will still make it clear to the reader which ideas are yours and which come from your source.

Incorporating Quoted & Paraphrased Material Into An Essay

All quoted and paraphrased material needs to be introduced in some way. It is a mistake to think that quoted material can stand on its own, no matter how incisive it is. It is vital to not only introduce, but also to comment on and analyze the material.

Student Example

Lets look at a student paper example. The thesis for this paper is, The media must be forced to stop programming young women to believe skeletal models are the ideal. In the following slide, the student writer discusses her friend who struggled with an eating disorder:

Student Example
Lynns family became involved in her therapy, too. Phoebe Erens in Family Conflicts Resolutions emphasizes the importance of the family in any treatment plan: Often, the daughter has taken on the role of diverting attention from unacknowledged conflicts within the family (243). In therapy, Lynn and her family gradually learned that her parents unacknowledged conflicts over Lynns choice of art as a major instead of computer science contributed to Lynns stress. Therapy involved acknowledging these internalized conflicts as well as seeing a relationship between her eating disorder and that stress.

Student Example

Lets break this down:

Example with Explanation

Lynns family became involved in her therapy, too. Phoebe Erens [this is the quoted authors name] in Family Conflicts Resolutions [a short work like an article is enclosed in quotation marks, long works like books are italicized] emphasizes the importance of the family in any treatment plan: Often, the daughter has taken on the role of diverting attention from unacknowledged conflicts within the family (243)[page number]. In therapy, Lynn and her family gradually learned that her parents unacknowledged conflicts over Lynns choice of art as a major instead of computer science contributed to Lynns stress. Therapy involved acknowledging these internalized conflicts as well as seeing a relationship between her eating disorder and that stress.

Student Example

In this passage, the student writer uses Lynns experience to lead into the quoted material. The students writer names the author as well as the title of the source. The quote provides an explanation of family dynamics that reflects Lynns situation. Rather than letting the quotation stand by itself, the student writer uses it by discussing the connection between the quoted material and her friends specific experience. In order to understand how the student writer has incorporated quoted material in the essay, lets look at a strategy we call the sandwich.

The Sandwich

Dont just quote and run, which is essentially plopping your quote into your text and letting it stand alone instead, critically examine and use your supporting material. Because effective supporting material is often quoted or paraphrased from outside sources, you need to incorporate them effectively. The sandwich technique will help you write better developed and more convincing papers. Just as bread holds the contents of a sandwich together, a writer needs to use the introduction to the quotation and the discussion about it to hold the quoted material together.

The Sandwich
Introduction

Quotation or paraphrase

Commentary / Analysis

The Introduction

The lead-in or introductionthe top slice of breadappeals to the reader and helps by identifying the author and any necessary background or credentials as well as the title of the source. The introduction should provide enough of a context or an awareness of the topic for the quoted material to make sense and should anticipate and identify any pronouns used within the quotation. The lead-in may also emphasize the focus point that you intend to support with the quoted material. The introduction needs to be informative without duplicating the material in the quotation.

Quote or Paraphrase

The direct quotation or paraphrasethe meat of the sandwichcomes next. Follow the quote or paraphrase with the page number or page range from your source which will be found in your Works Cited page at the endand enclose the page number in parentheses like so: (276).

Commentary/Analysis

The analysis or commentarythat essential bottom slice of breadprovides those necessary lines of clarification, interpretation, analysis, or discussion after the quotation. You need to explain or define the authors terms and especially discuss the significance of the quotation to the work as a whole. Most importantly, your analysis demonstrates the necessity of that quoted material for the point you are making.

Student Example
Lets looks at another example: Zora Neale Hurston was raised in an all black town in Florida called Eatonville. The norms that she practiced were considered normal in her all black setting but they may be strange outside of the town. In How it Feels to be Colored Me, cultural relativity refers to her race and more specifically the color of her skin. Hurston didnt realize that she was black until she was among people who were not black: I feel most colored when I am thrown against a sharp white background (2). This particular essay explains that actual process of Hurston becoming colored. Once Hurston left her all black hometown her worldview changed drastically. She was completely unaware of her race until she left her bubble and interacted with people of a different race.

Introduction

Quotation or paraphrase Commentary / Analysis

FYI

The formatting of your textual examples may vary depending on a number of factors. Look up MLA formatting online for guidelines. Be aware that when quoting or paraphrasing a source for the first time, at minimum, you need the authors first and last name, the title of the work, and the page number (unless its an electronic source like a website). From the second time on, all you will need is the authors last name and page numberunless youre quoting from more than one work by the same author (think multiple works from the same author). In that case, always indicate the title as well as authors last name for clarity.