Optimizing the Impact of Quotations in Academic Essays

Abstract

Introduction to Sources: Framing Quotations Complete & Upload to Blackboard by Friday 4/1 Features of Effective Quotations: Relevance: The quotations you choose should relate to your argument. They can provide support to help you prove a point, or they could serve as an “opposing viewpoint” to which you are responding. Framing: Be sure to introduce the quotations that you include to provide your reader with context. Where is this quotation coming from? What does it mean in the context of the author’s work? Explanation: Follow the quotation with an explanation of its meaning. How does this relate to your argument? Why did you quote it? What does it mean, in your own words? “Quotation Sandwich” Introduce Quotation Quotation Explain Quotation I. Introducing Quotations X states, “__________.” As the prominent philosopher X puts it, “__________.” According to X, “__________.” X herself writes, “__________.” In her book, __________, X maintains that “__________.” Writing in the journal __________, X complains that “__________.” In X’s view, “__________.” X dis/agrees when she writes, “__________.” X complicates matters further when he writes, “__________.” II. Explaining Quotations Basically, X is saying __________. In other words, X believes __________. In making this comment, X urges us to __________. X is corroborating the age-old adage that __________. X’s point is that __________. The essence of X’s argument is that __________. EXERCISE Below is a selection of quotations from the article “The Mission of the University” by Robert Solomon & Jon Solomon. For each quotation, construct a “quotation sandwich”: Use a variation of a template from section I to introduce the quotation. Include the quotation (or an excerpt) After the quotation, use a variation of a template from section II & explain the meaning of the quotation. You do not have to use all the quotation. You can excerpt the part of it that is most important and exclude the rest. Be sure to use a different template/variation for each. Example According to Robert and Jon Solomon, both parents and students think of college as “a training center, whose primary if not sole aim is to prepare students for a career.” Their point is that most people ignore the educational mission of universities and think only about how much money they can make. From “The Mission of the University” by Robert & Jon Solomon “For most American high school students, acceptance into one or another university is the definitive event of their adult social lives and careers, a place to establish lifelong friendships, enter society, find business associates, and form political alliances.” P. 19 Robert and Jon Solomon states “For most American high school students, acceptance into one or another university is the definitive event of their adult social lives and careers, a place to establish lifelong friendships, enter society, find business associates, and form political alliances.” Basically what Robert and Jon Solomon are saying is that most high school student fails to understand the educational purpose of universities and instead view them as a pathway to their free social world where they will establish and mould their social being to the fullest. _________________________________________________________________________________________ “The university has become, in the minds of many, a training center, whose primary if not sole aim is to prepare students for a career.” P. 19 In Robert and Jon Solomon view, “The University has become, in the minds of many, a training center, whose primary if not sole aim is to prepare students for a career.” In other words, Robert and Jon Solomon believes that the society ignores the core mission of the universities “to train and shape talents” and concentrate on how graduates will make money after school. __________________________________________________________________________________________ “Much of the budget and resources as well as the energy of university administrators and many professors is increasingly structured around research and devoted to the pursuit of prestigious research grants, which are said to help finance the operation and growth of the university.” P. 20 According to Robert and Jon Solomon, “much of the budget and resources as well as the energy of university administrators and many professors is increasingly structured around research and devoted to the pursuit of prestigious research grants, which are said to help finance the operation and growth of the university.” Basically, Robert and Jon Solomon are saying that Universities dedicate most of their...