1. The Building Blocks for Literary Response
CONCRETE DETAILS:
The Building Blocks for Literary Response

2. What are Concrete Details?

3. Concrete Details are:
Paraphrased or quoted sentences from the work of literature
Specific details for which a page number can be cited
The “facts” of the story

4. Concrete details are NOT:
The opinion or interpretation of the essay writer
General ideas obtained from the whole work of literature.

5. Two Types of Concrete Details (CD)
Paraphrase
Quotations

6. Paraphrase Say something from the story in your own words.
Example: After Jem destroyed Mrs. Dubose’s flowers, Atticus made him go talk with her (Lee 138).
A paraphrased detail must be specific enough that you can point to it on a particular page. Page numbers must be cited for all concrete details, including paraphrases.

7. Quotations
giving acknowledgement of someone else's thoughts or words exactly as they were written.

8. If you omit material in order to be concise, mark the omission with three periods (called an ellipsis) with a space between each. You do not need to use these at the beginning and end of your quotations. It is understood that you are taking passages from a longer work.
Original: “Curley was white and shrunken by now, and his struggling had become weak. He stood crying, his fist lost in Lennie’s paw” (Steinbeck 63).
With ellipsis: As Lennie continued to crush Curley’s fist, Curley turned “white and shrunken…his fist lost in Lennie’s paw” (Steinbeck 63).

9. Always incorporate quoted phrases into your own sentence structure.

10. How to Incorporate Quotations
Well-written quotation concrete details have three parts:
Transition – For example, for instance, in addition, moreover, furthermore
Lead-in – Name the character and describe the situation. Choose one of the following words to start the lead-in: when, after, since, while, before, although.
Quotation – include MLA parenthetical citation
Example:
In addition, when Priscilla meets the Kobra in the hall, she “hits him
with her hand…and makes him let go of Melvin” (4).
For example, although George noticed that the violent scenes of Africa had replaced his children’s happier fantasies at least one month ago, “being busy, he had paid it no attention” (Bradbury 5).
Furthermore, when Gene accuses Finny of trying to ruin his grades, Finny explains that he simply did not “think Gene needed to study” (Knowles 50).

11. Finally, as Atticus left the courthouse, Reverend Sykes urges Scout to join the African Americans in the balcony in paying respect to Atticus “Miss Jean Louise, stand up. Your father’s passin’” (Lee 283).

12. How to do an MLA Parenthetical Citation
It is necessary to cite quoted and paraphrased material taken from an author’s work to avoid plagiarism. MLA parenthetical citation includes the author’s last name and the page number inside parentheses. For example, (Steinbeck 63). The citation should appear between the last word of the sentence and the period. If the citation appears directly after quoted material, it should be placed after the quotation marks. Do NOT use commas in citations. If the author’s last name is used in the sentence, it does not need to be repeated in the citation. Look carefully at the citations included in the concrete details above for examples.