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Weaving quotes into essays


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Well, this may not be specific enough, but I have an overall suggestion:

 

Don't just look at the quotations and wonder how you will weave them together. You will end up with: a bunch of quotations loosely strung together. This is, of course, basically useless.

 

Instead, pretend you are a prosecuting attorney. YOU are the one making the argument. (This presupposes that you have a good argument you are trying to prove--hence the importance of a good thesis.) Your quotations are your witnesses that help you prove your point. When you get to a place that you need help making your point, you call your "expert witness." Things should flow pretty naturally with this mindset.

 

This change in point of view can really make a difference in the quality of your essay.

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Thank you all for your suggestions. The prosecuting attorney example gives me an excellent image! I'm also going to check into using Windows to to the World. I guess I've seen resources that tell a student to weave in quotes or use parts of quotes to support their position in essays, but nothing seems to give concrete examples with plenty of practice.

 

Thanks again,

 

Dana

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I just wanted to give another :thumbup: for Windows to the World. It gives great examples of how to do this. I also have an old Norton Anthology that had a wonderful example of an essay (from rough draft to final, including how to weave quotes into a sentence). I just mention this because sometimes you never know what is already sitting on your shelves :D.

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