Quote Blending Practice



Quoting Practice

Quotes are useful in writing because they serve to validate your point. Choose your quotes carefully, however; the best quotes are the ones that if you tried to paraphrase them, they would lose some of their power.

When using quotes, it is important to incorporate, or “blend” them seamlessly into your own words within a sentence. Do NOT put quotes alone in a sentence. Instead, introduce them in a way that they are part of your own sentence. Include a signal phrase either at the front, in the middle, or at the end of the quote.

PRACTICE: Blend each of the following quotes seamlessly into a sentence that you create. You may NOT begin the quote with, “Ford said, ‘…..’”. Be more creative than that!

Example: “I will love the light for it shows me the way. Yet I will endure the darkness because it shows me the stars.” Og Mandino

Blended: Even though times may be difficult, it is important to be positive and “love the light for it shows me the way [while] endur[ing] the darkness because it shows me the stars” (Mandino).

Notice that brackets [ ] were used to show that words were added or changed. You would do this when the quote as written does not flow well with your sentence. Use brackets if needed to change or add words and make the sentence flow. Use the ellipsis (…) if you need to omit words in the middle of the quote

Also notice that I did not use the entire quote. I began the quote mid-sentence of the original. This is also perfectly OK to do. As long as you maintain the integrity of the quote (convey the same meaning), you can use whatever part(s) you would like to fit your purpose.

1. “If you think you can do a thing or think you can’t do a thing, you’re right.” Henry Ford

Summarizing Practice

Summaries are helpful when referencing source material that is in depth. When summarizing, take only the main points from the text and translate them into your own words. Make sure the language is your own; otherwise, you run the risk of plagiarizing.

When asked to summarize, you must first make sure that you’re able to distinguish the main ideas from smaller supporting details. Then, after you’ve re-worded the main ideas, you’ll need to incorporate them into your own sentence just as you would a quotation: introduce, cite and explain.

PRACTICE: Summarize each of the passages below and include the 1-sentence summary into an original sentence including a source intro and an in-text citation.

Example: Original Text: “One of the fastest growing ethnic minority groups in the United States is in search of a name. Or so it appears, given the multiple terms used for its designation. Historically, such an amalgamation of people was referred to as Spanish speaking, a current misnomer, given that a significant segment of this population is English dominant. Hispanics, Latinos, Hispanos, Latins, Central Americans, or South Americans—to name a few—are some of the general terms used to designate this diverse ethnic collage. Many individuals prefer to politically affirm their ethnic identity by using terms such as Chicanos, Xicanos, Ricans, or Boricuas, whereas others affirm their national origins by using terms such as Mexicans or Mexican Americans, Cubans or Cuban Americans, Colombians, Dominicans, Peruvians, Salvadorans, or Venezuelans, among many others.”—Lillian Comas-Diaz “Hispanics, Latinos, or Americanos: The Evolution of Identity” pg 6

Summary: The Hispanic population, according to Comas-Diaz, is diverse and, thus, is known by many different names; these terms may reflect country of origin or ethnicity (6).

Notice that I left out the smaller details of the passage, including all of the distinct terms Comas Diaz mentions.

1. “More than half of American teenagers have created a blog, posted an artistic or written creation online, helped build a website, created an online profile, or uploaded photos and videos to a website. They think of the internet as a place where they can express their passions, play out their identities, and gather up the raw material they use for their creations.”--Lee Rainie “Digital Natives Invade the Workplace” pg. 228

Paraphrasing Practice

A paraphrase of a source re-peats the information from the source in about the same number of words. When you paraphrase, it is not enough to name the source; you must restate the source’s meaning using your own language. You commit plagiarism if you half-copy the author’s sentences—either by mixing the author’s phrases with your own without using quotation marks or by plugging your synonyms into the author’s sentence structure.

PRACTICE: Paraphrase the original text below.

Example: “In earlier times, surveillance was limited to the information that a supervisor could observe and record firsthand and to primitive counting devices. In the computer age surveillance can be instantaneous, unblinking, cheap, and maybe most importantly, easy.”--Carl Botan and Mihaela Vorvoreanu, “What Do Employees Think About Electronic Surveillance at Work?” pg. 126

Plagiarized Source: Scholars Carl Botan and Mihaela Vorvoreanu argue that in earlier times monitoring of employees was restricted to the information that a supervisor could observe and record firsthand. In the modern era, monitoring can be instantaneous, inexpensive, and, most importantly, easy (126).

Acceptable Paraphrase: Scholars Carl Botan and Mihaela Vorvoreanu claim that the nature of workplace surveillance has changed over time. Before the arrival of computers, managers could collect only small amounts of information about their employees based on what they saw or heard. However, because computers are now standard workplace technology, employers can monitor employees efficiently (126).

Notice that the plagiarized paraphrase takes strings of words from the original text and uses them without quotation marks, while the acceptable paraphrase is in entirely new language.

1. “There had always been censorship, but for a long time it remained desultory, at the pleasure of generals and heads of state. The first organized ban on press photography at the front came during the First World War; both the German and French high commands allowed only a few selected military photographers near the fighting. (Censorship of the press by the British General Staff was less inflexible). And it took another fifty years, and the relaxation of censorship with the first televised war coverage, to understand what impact shocking photographs could have on the domestic public. During the Vietnam era, war photography became, normatively, a criticism of war. This was bound to have consequences: Mainstream media are not in the business of making people feel queasy about the struggles for which they are being mobilized, much less of disseminating propaganda against waging war.”--Susan Sontag Regarding the Pain of Others pg. 62

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