Incorporating textual evidence into your paper can be a challenge. An appropriate quote can demonstrate the validity of your argument and help your paper progress, but quotes can also weigh your paper down if they are overused or unnecessary. This section will provide tips to help you decide when quoting is appropriate and when paraphrasing would be better.
According to Zofia Burr, quotes work best “when the way something is said is relevant.” Professor Burr suggests that “if you plan to comment on a particular word choice or a formal element of a text, using a direction quotation is appropriate.”
On the other hand, if a section of text is relevant to your paper only because its content relates to your topic or to the plot of the work you are examining, it is best to paraphrase the information instead of including it in the form of a quote. This helps your paper to flow more smoothly and prevents it from becoming too bogged down with other people’s words.
Remember, though: whether you quote directly from a text or paraphrase it, you must cite your source.
Original Passage from Text:
He kept Miss McGoun after he had finished dictating. He searched for a topic which would warm
her office impersonality into friendliness.
“Where you going on your vacation?” he purred.
“I think I’ll go up-state to a farm do you want me to have the Siddons lease copied this afternoon?”
Lewis, Sinclair. Babbitt. New York: Bantam Books, 1998, 283-84.
The way Sinclair Lewis describes McGoun’s rejection of Babbitt’s advances is humorous. When Babbitt tries to start a conversation with his secretary about her vacation, Lewis writes that Miss McGoun replies, “I think I’ll go up-state to a farm do you want me to have the Siddons lease copied this afternoon?” (284). The fact that Lewis does insert punctuation between McGoun’s comments about going upstate and her questions about office business demonstrates just how dismissive she is over the oafish Babbitt’s feeble attempts to flirt with her.
Babbitt tends to be unsuccessful in his initial flirtations with women. When Babbitt attempts to start conversations with his secretary, Ms. McGoun, she quickly rebuffs his attempts. Later in the text…
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