Framing Source Material I not only use all the brains that I have, but all that I can borrow. —Woodrow Wilson

Framing Sources In writing college and professional papers, you should frame the materials (quotations or paraphrases) that you use from sources It is called “framing” because it consists of putting two pieces of information before, and two after, any source materials that you use. This information creates a “frame.”

<source material (quoted or paraphrased)> Framing Sources Four things are involved in framing: 1. Voice Marker 2. Credibility Marker <source material (quoted or paraphrased)> 3. In-text Citation 4. Metacommentary

Voice Markers - 1 Voice markers indicate that you are including ideas of other people in your paper. They thus distinguish their voices from yours. Graff and Birkenstein give a number of good templates for voice markers, and they also provide a nice list of verbs that can be used in place of “said.”

Voice Markers - 2 Remember that the first time you name a source, use their first and last name. After that, use only their last name. The first time you mention him, use “Stephen Downes.” After that, use “Downes.” (I do NOT want to see “Stephen” unless you want a big hole in your gas tank.)

Examples of Voice Markers According to Twain, “The hoopskirt runs its course and disappears. ” Twain believes that “we merely notice and conform.”

Credibility Markers - 1 As their name suggests, credibility markers provide information about the credibility of the source. This may be biographical information, such as: The famous philosopher William James claims that . . . . Dr. Mark Noe, an English professor at Penn College, has written that . . . .

Credibility Markers - 2 In other cases, you can use the place of publication as a credibility marker: In an article in the National Review online, Rich Lowry claims that . . . . “Dirty Laundry Reloaded into your washing-machine,” a feature story on the Greenpeace International web site, argues that . . . .

Credibility Markers - 3 You may find that if you examine your sources, they will give you information about the author, either before or after the article itself. Remember that you only include the credibility marker in the frame the first time that you use the source.

In-text Citations - 1 An in-text citation is information that is placed in parentheses immediately after the source information. It makes no difference whether the source information is a quotation or a paraphrase.

According to Twain, ____________. (15) In-text Citations - 2 According to Twain, ____________. (15) Note that this in-text citation consists only of a page number because there will be only one work by Twain in the Works Cited list.

In-text Citations - 3 In-text citations have two functions. First, they enable your readers to find the source in your Works Cited list. For this reason, what goes in the parentheses is the minimal amount of information needed to find the source in the Works Cited list, plus the page number of the source material within that source.

In-text Citations - 4 Second, in-text citations also serve as voice markers. They indicate the end of the “voice” of the source, thereby returning responsibility for the ideas to the writer (you).

Metacommentary - 1 The prefix “meta” basically means “more,” so “metacommentary” means more commentary after your own comments or the comments or ideas that you have taken from your sources. Metacommentary comes after the in-text citation. As Graff and Birkenstein nicely explain, metacommentary can do many things. The most important thing that it does, however, is to show that you (the writer) are thinking.

Metacommentary - 2 Metacommentary can, among other things: Explain what you think the source material means. (In some cases you may simply want to paraphrase a quotation to explain what it means.) Explain how it relates to your thesis. Explain why you agree, disagree, or both with the ideas expressed by the source.

Metacommentary - 3 My metacommentary is in yellow. Note that this example assumes that Twain was cited earlier in my text. Twain explains two “chief varieties” of corn-pone opinion. (156) Although Twain calls these “varieties,” they are really two different causes of corn-pone.

Metacommentary - 4 Twain calls one variety “pocketbook . . . which has its origin in self-interest .” (156) A pocketbook is where one keeps one’s money, so this variety denotes not saying anything that would bite the hand that feeds you.

Metacommentary - 5 Twain’s second variety is “the sentimental variety – the one which can't bear to be outside the pale .” (156-7) By this he means to refuse to state one’s own opinions because one does not want to be left out of the group.

VM, CM <source material> (ITC) metacommentary Framing: VM, CM <source material> (ITC) metacommentary