Writing: Integrating Quotations
Okay, you must, MUST, M.U.S.T. have quotations in your writing. These are the Lego pieces with which you build your arguments. And, as with Legos, we can all use the same building blocks and yet create different structures (metaphor for: ideas) ...in each essay.
So, what is required for integrating quotations smoothly? Don't drop them in, like they are islands of words floating in a sea of your own words. That's much too random. Try this:
Quotation Sandwich:
a. introduction (includes speaker, context, and a lead-in) Looks like:
So in the final scene, when the BBW faces LRRH, he says to her,
b. block of quote (please include ALL the words that you need the reader to see. Use ellipses for unimportant parts of the quote, but not to just imply important-stuff-that-you-were-too-lazy-to-write-out!) Looks like:
"All the better to hear you with, my dear.....All the better to see you with,
my dear....All the better to EAT you with, my dear!"
c. your analysis (you'll find the analysis verbs super helpful in setting up your sentence for analysis, not translation) Looks like: The build-up here, as he focuses closer and closer to his teeth and mouth
(which are the literal and symbolic dangerous elements) creates suspense
in these lines, and the story arrives at its climactic moment.
Are you analyzing or translating?
I read a lot of what I call "translations" of lines (mostly for Shakespeare stuff, but it happens with regular, everyday English too). Translation is like the middle step between you identifying and presenting the quotation, and then your analysis of that quotation. If you are drafting, translation is okay, but it's a thinking step, a stepping stool, a scaffold so take it out of your final drafts.
Translation looks like: a rewording of what a character said.
Often, you've structured your sentence by literally writing: What the Big Bad Wolf is saying is that he's intending to eat her. (italics mine) Gack!
Then you follow with a sentence like: This proves his evil character and villainous intentions. Yay! That follow-up sentence was actual analysis of BBW's character.
You don't need the intermediate step in your final essay, so edit that out!
Okay, you must, MUST, M.U.S.T. have quotations in your writing. These are the Lego pieces with which you build your arguments. And, as with Legos, we can all use the same building blocks and yet create different structures (metaphor for: ideas) ...in each essay.
So, what is required for integrating quotations smoothly? Don't drop them in, like they are islands of words floating in a sea of your own words. That's much too random. Try this:
Quotation Sandwich:
a. introduction (includes speaker, context, and a lead-in) Looks like:
So in the final scene, when the BBW faces LRRH, he says to her,
b. block of quote (please include ALL the words that you need the reader to see. Use ellipses for unimportant parts of the quote, but not to just imply important-stuff-that-you-were-too-lazy-to-write-out!) Looks like:
"All the better to hear you with, my dear.....All the better to see you with,
my dear....All the better to EAT you with, my dear!"
c. your analysis (you'll find the analysis verbs super helpful in setting up your sentence for analysis, not translation) Looks like: The build-up here, as he focuses closer and closer to his teeth and mouth
(which are the literal and symbolic dangerous elements) creates suspense
in these lines, and the story arrives at its climactic moment.
Are you analyzing or translating?
I read a lot of what I call "translations" of lines (mostly for Shakespeare stuff, but it happens with regular, everyday English too). Translation is like the middle step between you identifying and presenting the quotation, and then your analysis of that quotation. If you are drafting, translation is okay, but it's a thinking step, a stepping stool, a scaffold so take it out of your final drafts.
Translation looks like: a rewording of what a character said.
Often, you've structured your sentence by literally writing: What the Big Bad Wolf is saying is that he's intending to eat her. (italics mine) Gack!
Then you follow with a sentence like: This proves his evil character and villainous intentions. Yay! That follow-up sentence was actual analysis of BBW's character.
You don't need the intermediate step in your final essay, so edit that out!