Textual Evidence

Providing Textual Evidence  Textual evidence  makes your ideas and opinions more believable  adds validity to your writing or speaking  supports your statement  MUST be CITED - credit given to the original source  Avoid over-quoting, which can make your own ideas seem inferior or unimportant  There are three kinds of textual evidence:

TE #1: Direct Quotes  A quote is the exact verbatim, word-for-word text from a source  These words appear in quotation marks  Quote only words when how it is said is as important as what is said  Always include an attribution phrase * (later)  You must cite the original source  EX: “I shall call him Squishy and he shall be mine and he shall be my Squishy,” states the lovable Ellen DeGeneres as Dory in the film, Finding Nemo.

TE #2: Partial Quotes  Partial quotes are useful when the original is too long, not very interesting, or just plain confusing  You can quote just a phrase and then paraphrase the rest. To do this, only include verbatim words or phrases inside the quotation marks while the paraphrase is not  You must cite the original source  EX : In his novel, Styles at LCC, author Harry Skaulp states that spiked hair is a “part of our cultural heritage, not merely a symbol of rebellion,” adding that he thinks nose piercing should be mandatory (255).

Punctuating Quotations  The author’s exact words go inside the quotation marks  The author’s exact punctuation should be included with the words inside the quotation marks  If there are mistakes or specific, unusual diction choices in your quote that you want to acknowledge as the original author’s choices and not yours, you can add the word “sic” in brackets [sic]  If the quote or the use of a partial quote seems ambiguous or unclear you may add words for clarity by including them in [brackets] as well

Integrating Quotations  A quote should never stand alone as its own sentence.  Never just drop quotes into your paper. In your own words, always introduce it to your audience  There are three main ways to integrate quotations:

A. Embedding Quotes  A. Embed the quotation within your sentence, punctuating it just as you would if it was not a quotation  EX: Mrs. Barry teaches the use of quotation marks because quotes “add interest to writing and provide the best type of evidence to support an opinion or argument.”

B. Attribution  B. Introduce the quotation by using an attributive tag phrase like he writes, she claims, they stated, she said, etc. and follow it with a comma  An attribution is a phrase that introduces the quote in the writing  The attribution is a warning or heads-up that there is important textual evidence coming

B. Attribution ctd.  The attribution phrase appears outside the quotation marks  If your attributive tag includes the title of the source, remember whole work titles are Italicized and part-work titles are in “Quotations”  EX: To describe her job Mrs. Villilo, in her novel, Teacher and Queen, explained, “I never get bored, because no two days are ever the same” (32).

C. Full Sentence:  C. Introduce a full-sentence quotation by writing your own full sentence introduction followed by a colon to introduce the quotation (which MUST itself also be a full sentence)  EX: Richard Wright does explain his reasons for writing: “I was striving for a level of expression that matched those of the novels I read.”

TE: #3 Paraphrases  A paraphrase is when textual evidence is presented with different words and different sentence structures than the original  If the information from a source is not used verbatim or word-for-word, it is not placed in quotation marks  Paraphrases are used to:  Express a fact or statement  Clarify a quote that is too long, confusing, or dull  Condense the ideas of several direct quotes

TE #3: Paraphrases ctd.  Never change the meaning of a quote when you paraphrase!  You must cite the original source  EX:  DQ: “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it,” said Matthew Broderick as Ferris Bueller in the famous 1986 film.  P: Ferris Bueller, played by Matthew Broderick, gave great advice about not missing out on all that life has to offer.

Citing Textual Evidence to Avoid Plagiarism  Whenever you are using evidence in any form ( direct or paraphrase ) you MUST cite it to avoid plagiarism.  You MUST give credit to the source or it is plagiarized.  All plagiarized work receives a score of ZERO.

Standard Parenthetical Citation  Author’s last name - Farquhar  Page number – Farquhar 37  In parentheses - (Farquhar 37)  Before end punctuation mark – (Farquhar 37).  Despite what many people may think, the Founding Fathers did not all get along. As one author stated, “Busy as they were building a new nation, the Founding Fathers always managed to squeeze in enough time to tear each other apart”(Farquhar 37).

Using Textual Evidence Effectively  Never just drop a quote into your writing without an explanation  Explain what the quote means or what it is describing  Explain the context of the original writing if necessary  Explain how it connects to your claim