If you’d like to practice your literary terms for the quiz this week, you can practice words 1-50 here .
Sorry for the breakout page, but this is a bit more complicated than normal. You need to complete two of the following writing assignments, one due on Sunday, March 16 and one due on Sunday, March 23–both at 1:00 p.m.
- Prose Essay #2
- Prose Essay #3
- Two Literary Devices
Each Friday, you’ve also got a literary devices quiz:
- Literary Devices Quiz 5 (Friday, March 14)
- Literary Devices Quiz 6 (Friday, March 21)
And you’re reading The Road:
- For Monday, March 17: pgs. 3-150
- For Friday, March 21: pgs. 151-287
Over Break?
Not one bit of work. (Other than that assignment due Sunday, that is.)
Lauren sent me a link to this interesting story in USA Today that suggests that musicians are identifying their unique selves when they create music:
From Eric Clapton to Miles Davis to Yo-Yo Ma, we’ve long heard that when musicians improvise, they’re engaged in an intensely personal pursuit. A pair of scientists have scanned musicians’ brains and now say that’s true.
More precisely, when musicians improvise, they’re using the same part of the brain that responds to a simple request: Tell me about yourself.
The Wednesday Night Discussion group topic is about womyn and science! Read this week’s article here.
Discussion: 7:30 p.m. Fireside Coffee
Basic Guidelines for the Use of Quotations
- Use quotation marks to support, not make your argument.
- When you incorporate quoted material into your own sentence, the combined product must be sound grammatically.
- Never offer a quotation without offering your analysis/commentary/insight.
- Do not use overlong quotations. Keep them as short as possible, using ellipsis if necessary.
- Do not distort/hide the context of a quotation to make your argument.
- Do quote phrases that are especially unique, powerful, and/or interesting. Paraphrase generic observations and quote powerful words and phrases.
Three Methods for Incorporating Quotations
As Part of the Sentence
Example: “There has to be a process in place that prevents someone from rejoining society if they’re still dangerous,” said Jeffrey Klein, a Democratic member of the New York State Senate who has pushed for civil confinement there.
Example: In announcing a deal with legislative leaders on Thursday, Gov. Eliot Spitzer, a Democrat, suggested that New York’s proposed civil commitment law would “become a national model.”
With an Introduction
Example: Toni Morrison’s character Twyla is self-conscious about her uniform and describes what she is wearing but also uses her description to show how she feels, and she says, “Nothing could have been less sheer than my stockings” (Morrison 215).
With a Colon
Example: “The Juniper Tree” portrays the stepmother as being pure evil: “Then the little boy came in at the door, and the Devil made her say to him kindly: ‘My son, will you have an apple?’ and she looked wickedly at him” (Grimm 17).
Using Signal Phrases
While it is necessary to introduce direct quotations in order to qualify them in relation to the rest of a paper, it is also necessary to introduce these quotations using a varied wording. It becomes monotonous if all the quotations in a paper are introduced with stock phrases: “this critic states” or “another critic says.” A paper is much more interesting and cohesive if the introductory phrases, or “signal phrases,” are varied.
Here are some possible signal phrases:
· According to Jane Doe, “…”
· As Jane Doe goes on to explain, “…”
· Characterized by John Doe, the society is “…”
· As one critic points out, “…”
· John Doe believes that “…”
· Jane Doe claims that “…”
· In the words of John Doe, “…”
Note that there exist fine shades of meaning between phrases such as “contend” and “argue” and large differences between ones such as “claim” and “demonstrate.” Ask yourself questions as to whether the source material is making a claim, asserting a belief, stating a fact, etc. Then choose a verb that is appropriate for the source material’s purpose.
Signal Phrase Words
acknowledges, adds, admits, affirms, agrees, argues, asserts, believes, claims, comments, compares, confirms, contends, declares, demonstrates, denies, disputes, emphasizes, endorses, grants, illustrates, implies, insists, notes, observes, points out, reasons, refutes, rejects, reports, responds, states, suggests, thinks, underlines, writes
Download the PDF of this file here.
Sources
- http://writing2.richmond.edu/writing/wweb/introquo.html
- http://www6.svsu.edu/~rich/resources/quotes.html
