Teaching Students to Summarize & Quote Teaching Students to Summarize & Quote Based on ideas from: • They Say, I Say (Graff & Birkenstein) • Reading Rhetorically (Bean, Chappell, Gillam) • Teaching Students to Use Quotations (PPT presentation by Kathleen Rowlands)

To launch an effective argument, you need to write the arguments of others into your text by: Summarizing Paraphrasing Direct quotation

SUMMARIZING: Presenting in your own words a condensation of another writer’s main point(s)

GIST Activity - Sentence Shrinking Small groups reduce a text into a twenty word sentence. Then reduce to fifteen, then ten. Optional: groups challenge one another to reduce to smallest number without losing the essence. Share out GIST sentences and post.

When summarizing a text in order to comment on it, Bean, Chappell, & Gillam in Reading Rhetorically offer students two caveats : Summarize only what’s relevant to your particular discussion Guard against distorting the original author’s text to fit your argument.

PARAPHRASING: Restating in your own words all the points of the original passage. A good paraphrase: Retains all the details of the original Helps clarify complex ideas and dense or technical language As long, or longer, than the original text

DIRECT QUOTATIONS Use direct quotations where: Language is particulary vivid, distinctive, memorable or pithy OR The quotation directly supports a key point OR The quoted person is a well-known authority whose words carry weight

General guidelines for direct quotations: Prefer short quotations Instead of whole sentences, choose key phrases to quote within your own writing Include quotes so they fairly & accurately represent their original sources Fully understand the quotes you use, and make clear to your readers how these quotes directly connect to the your text

“SHOW, DON’T TELL” Direct quotations help show readers the point you are making. For example, it is not particularly interesting simply to say, “Feminist author bell hooks believes our society disciplines children inappropriately.” Instead, use words and phrases from the text to SHOW her position.

An Example: According to bell hooks, “In our culture, the private family dwelling is the one institutionalized sphere of power that can easily be autocratic and fascistic” (2). In her view, because society gives parents the right to discipline children as they see fit, many employ physical or emotional punishments that would be viewed as inappropriate in the context of adult relationships.

FRAME EVERY QUOTATION Introduce the quotation. Include the quotation. Comment on the quotation and its significance, making sure the reader understands what you are using the quotation to show.

QUOTATION SANDWICH Introductory statement Quote Explanation

Templates for Introducing Quotations (from They Say, I Say, pg. 43) X states, “____________.” As the prominent philosopher X puts it, “__________.” According to X, “_________.” X himself writes, “ __________.” In her book, _______, X maintains that “__________.” In X’s view, “_____________.” X disagrees when he writes, “________.” X complicates matters further when she writes, “___________.”

When explaining or commenting on quotations, insert the imaginary phrase, “In other words ...”

Templates for Explaining Quotations Basically, X is saying _____________. In other words, X believes __________. In making this comment, X argues that ___________. X is insisting that ____________. X’s point is that _______________. The essence of X’s argument is _____.

The goal: In framing quotes, the writer “creates a kind of hybrid text,” a mix of the original author’s words with those of the new writer.

The “meat” of the sandwich: THE QUOTE Uses vivid, interesting language Represents accurately the original writer’s point Clearly relates to the new writer’s point Cited appropriately

Teach Students to Use Fragments Teach students how to pull the precise language fragments from a text that will help them express their point.

Using Fragments: An Example The author argues that children are “victims of intimate terrorism” with “no collective voice and no rights.” As “the property of parenting adults” they are without “legal recourse” (2).

Teach the Use of Ellipses… Ellipses allows writers to focus tightly on the language from the quoted text that will help them make their point. EXAMPLE: In her story of the party, bell hooks admits that she wanted the others to understand that “being physically hurt or abused…has harmful consequences in our adult life” (2).

Using Brackets Writers use brackets [ ] in quoted material to fit the grammar of the original into a new sentence.

Using Brackets Original “They will cling to the misguided assumption that their parents love them…” With brackets A child “cling[s] to the misguided assumption that [her] parents love [her]” (4).

“They Say”: Putting it All Together Summarize basic argument or points in a text Paraphrase as necessary to clarify dense, detail-important text Identify best representative quote(s) Use quotation strategies (fragments, ellipses, brackets) to shorten quotes Frame quotes with introduction & commentary (“in other words”)

In her essay, Justice: Childhood Love Lessons, writer bell hooks asserts that in childhood we learn our lifelong lessons about what it means to give and receive love. Regardless of the type of family, she argues, “happy or troubled ... functional or dysfunctional, [the family is] the original school of love.” In other words, our operational definition of love is modeled, taught and reinforced in our childhood homes.