Compare and Contrast Integrating Sources

The Problem:  When a quote is “dropped” into a paper without an introductory signal phrase, it causes problems.  The reader may be surprised or confused  The relevance of the quote may be unclear

Brevity is also important…  It may not always be necessary to use an entire passage to prove your point.  To use only a phrase you must weave the quote into your own sentence.

Summary, Paraphrase, Quotations  In general, it’s a good idea to use a combination of summarizing, paraphrasing, and direct quoting from sources.  An essay that balances these strategies will provide the smoothest integration of sources and the most effective use of information.

You Do the Work  Do not rely on quotations to do the work for you.  You must always follow a quotation or paraphrase with commentary. Never end a paragraph with a quotation.

ICEing Quotes  I=Introduce  Introduce the quote/support  C=Cite  Use direct and indirect evidence from the text  E=Explain  Explain how the evidence supports your point  Explain what the evidence means

Introductory Verbs The verbs you use to introduce quotes, summaries, and paraphrases help weave your source’s words with your own writing. Some useful verbs for introducing sources include: acknowledgesclaims insists suggestsconcurs reveals observesconsiders(dis)agrees arguesproposesremarks concludesexpressesbelieves speculatesdeniescondemns advisesinterpretsstates complains concedespoints out refutesoffersnotes

What works? INEFFECTIVE Rodriguez writes, “My parents, who are no longer my parents in a cultural sense.” He expresses the alienation from his family that has resulted from his assimilation into English-speaking American culture. EFFECTIVE Rodriguez describes his parents as “no longer [his] parents in a cultural sense” to express the alienation from his family that has resulted from his assimilation into English-speaking American culture.

What Works? 2 INEFFECTIVE de Crevecoeur argues that poor Europeans have no real attachment to their homelands. “Can a wretch who wanders about, who works and starves, whose life is a continual scene of sore affliction or pinching penury; can that man call England or any other kingdom his country?” EFFECTIVE de Crevecoeur criticizes the lack of social mobility in Europe using a biting rhetorical question: “Can a wretch who wanders about, who works and starves, whose life is a continual scene of sore affliction or pinching penury; can that man call England or any other kingdom his country?”

AP English Language and Composition: Glass 10 Options for Integrating Quotations: #1 = Incorporate  Incorporate the quotation into your sentence, punctuating it as you would if it were not a quotation. Mukherjee argues in favor of an acculturation model “that differs from both the enforced assimilation of a ‘melting pot’ and the Canadian model of a multicultural ‘mosaic’”(4).

ICE Example  (I) Ralph is elected as chief and immediately starts to set some ground rules and stresses how important it is to get off the island by saying, (C) “We can help them find us … We must make a fire” (38). (E) Ralph, a smart leader, knows that the most important thing is to get rescued from the island, and that a signal fire will help them achieve that goal.

ICE Example 2  (I) He understands no one can tell him right from wrong and so he creates a savage tribe, which almost all of the boys join. (C) Jack is chief and is in total control of the tribe. He hosts terrifying feasts in which they eat pig, that they mercilessly killed, and chants things such as “Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood!” (182), as they reenact the killing of the pig, pretending to kill one another. (E) The fact that no one challenges Jack and his tribe’s horrible ways fuels Jack to do even more to show his power. By the end of the book Jack is at his most evil state when he orders his tribe to kill Ralph without a second thought.

ICE Example #3  (I) At the beginning of the Act I he mistreats a young boy outside his counting house who is singing Christmas carols. (I) After Past takes Scrooge to visit the Young Scrooge as a boy, (C) Scrooge says to Past that he wishes he had “given him something” (656). (E) Scrooge as an older man identifies with how he mistreated the young caroler given how he was mistreated by the schoolmaster and his own father. These realizations are the first time he has opened his hardened heart to the feelings of pain and loneliness beginning the change within him.

ICE Example #4  (I) The story alludes again and again to the sheltering comfort of the garden. (I/C) The man tries to maintain an illusion that nothing serious has happened to him, that in time he will “feel as if he had always been like that” (397). (E) The garden is his refuge against reality.

ICE Example #5  (I) When Niska returns to Moose Factory and for the first times since her childhood, she notices how different she is from the assimilated Aboriginal population: (C) “... it was obvious that an invisible wall, one impossible to breach, lay between me and the homeguard Indians of this white town” (168). (E) Niska’s feelings of alienation from the very people who, only decades ago, were living with her in the bush, highlights the...