Good Evidence… Uses the least amount of a quoted passage you can to support your answer.

Good Evidence… Has to be used in the context that it is given in the book.

Good Evidence… Actually proves the claim that you make Ex. Aunt Polly reveals her conflicted feelings about how to raise Tom Every time I let him off, my conscious does hurt me so, and every time I hit him my old heart most breaks (Twain 74.)

Lead-ins for Direct Quotations The Research Process American Literature

Most Important Rule Never drop a quotation into a sentence or paragraph without a proper lead-in!

3 Types of Lead-Ins Somebody says, Sentence: Blended

Sentence: Lead-in and quotation are complete sentences. Quotation begins with a CAPITAL letter. Use a colon  :

Sentence: Agee insists that English instruction on the college level will not improve until educators become realistic: “Public school teachers need to sit down and evaluate the situation” (12).

Somebody says, Punctuate as dialogue Use synonyms of “to say” – comment, add, declare, remark, respond, state, assert, suggest, etc. Use a complete sentence Use a comma

Somebody says, Example: Jane Agee comments, “Many students who would not have attempted college seven years ago are now coming into state universities through junior colleges” (10).

Blended Quotation is a grammatical part of sentence. Do not use a comma or capital letter unless needed. Do not use ellipses (…) at the beginning or end.

Blended State universities are now providing “special remedial programs” in which students who do not meet the “entrance requirements are admitted on probation” (Agee 13).

Block Quotes Use to set off a large portion of quoted material. You must have ONE block quote in your research paper.

Block Quotation Rules Use when there are more than 4 lines of typed lines of prose, 3 lines of poetry, or 3 lines of verse drama. Indent 10 spaces from the left (2 tabs). Do not add quotation marks unless they appear in the original text. Place the end punctuation BEFORE the parenthetical documentation.

Educators express great concern regarding the academic quality of students who are graduating from America’s high school: Perhaps the first reality that should be examined is the decline of literacy. Are college-bound students less literate today? If one accepts declining SAT scores as valid indicators, the answer seems to be “yes.” In 2000 the average national verbal score one the SAT was 575. In 2005 it was 560. (Smith 127)

Let’s Practice (sentence lead-in According to Douglass’ autobiography, slavery is a humiliating experience. He describes his first valuation in this matter: “We were all ranked together at the valuation. Men and women, old and young, married and single, were ranked with horses, sheep, and swine” (Douglass).

Let’s Practice: Blended Douglass discusses that one of the most humiliating factors of slavery comes from the idea that human beings lose their identity and become seen as mere property. Douglass explains, “there were horses and men, cattle and women, pigs and children, all holding the same rank in the scale of being, and were all subjected to the same narrow examination” (Douglass).

Let’s Practice: Somebody Says Lead-In Douglass argues that the most humiliating aspect of slavery comes from the understanding that he is not valued as anything other than property. He remembers, I was immediately sent for, to be valued with the other property. Here again my feelings rose up in detestation of slavery. I had now a new conception of my degraded condition.