I not only use all the
brains that I have, but
all that I can borrow.
—Woodrow Wilson
An Introduction to
Framing
ENL 111, Dr. Vavra
Framing Sources
In writing college and professional
papers, you should frame the materials
(quotations or paraphrases) that you
use from sources It is called “framing”
because it consists of putting two
pieces of information before, and two
after, any source materials that you
use. This information creates a
“frame.”
Framing Sources
Four things are involved in framing:
1. Voice Marker
2. Credibility Marker
<source material (quoted or paraphrased)>
3. In-text Citation
4. Metacommentary
Voice Markers - 1
Voice markers indicate that you are
including ideas of other people in your
paper. They thus distinguish their
voices from yours.
Graff and Birkenstein give a number of good
templates for voice markers, and they also provide a
nice list of verbs that can be used in place of “said.”
Voice Markers - 2
Remember that the first time
you name a source, use their first
and last name. After that, use only
their last name. The first time you
mention him, use “Mark Twain.”
After that, use “Twain.” (I do NOT
want to see “Mark” unless you
want a big hole in your gas tank.)
Examples of Voice Markers
According to Golding, “grade-two
thinking could be dangerous.”
Golding believes that “grade-two
thinking could be dangerous.”
Credibility Markers - 1
As their name suggests, credibility
markers provide information about the
credibility of the source. This may be
biographical information, such as:
The famous philosopher William James
claims that . . . .
Dr. Mark Noe, an English professor at
Penn College, has written that . . . .
Credibility Markers - 2
In other cases, you can use the
place of publication as a credibility
marker:
In an article in the National Review online,
Rich Lowry claims that . . . .
“Dirty Laundry Reloaded into your washingmachine,” a feature story on the Greenpeace
International web site, argues that . . . .
Credibility Markers - 3
For MP # 2, you
should find credibility
markers for Twain,
Golding, Plato, and
Perry.
Credibility Markers - 4
Later in the course, you may find
that if you examine your sources, they
will give you information about the
author, either before or after the article
itself.
Remember that you only include the
credibility marker in the frame the first
time that you use the source.
In-text Citations - 1
An in-text citation is
information that is placed in
parentheses immediately after
the source information. It
makes no difference whether
the source information is a
quotation or a paraphrase.
In-text Citations - 2
According to Mark Twain,
nobody thinks. (155)
Note that this in-text citation consists
only of a page number because there will be
only one work by Twain in the Works Cited
list. For MP # 2, I have given you the four
entries you need for your Works Cited list.
Each is by a different author, so for MP #2,
you will need only page numbers.
In-text Citations - 3
In-text citations have two functions.
First, they enable your readers to find
the source in your Works Cited list. For
this reason, what goes in the
parentheses is the minimal amount of
information needed to find the source
in the Works Cited list, plus the page
number of the source material within
that source. We will look at in-text
citations in more detail for later papers.
In-text Citations - 4
Second, in-text citations
also serve as voice markers.
They indicate the end of the
“voice” of the source, thereby
returning responsibility for the
ideas to the writer (you).
Metacommentary - 1
The prefix “meta” basically means “after,”
so “metacommentary” means commentary
after the comments or ideas that you have
taken from your sources.
Metacommentary comes after the in-text
citation. As Graff and Birkenstein nicely
explain, metacommentary can do many
things. The most important thing that it does,
however, is to show that you (the writer) are
thinking.
Metacommentary - 2
Metacommentary can, among other
things:
 Explain what you think the source
material means. (In some cases you
may simply want to paraphrase a
quotation to explain what it means.)
 Explain how it relates to your thesis.
 Explain why you agree, disagree, or
both with the ideas expressed by the
source.
Metacommentary - 3
My metacommentary is in yellow.
Note that this example assumes
that Twain was cited earlier in my
text.
Twain explains two “chief
varieties” of corn-pone opinion.”
(156) Although Twain calls these
“varieties,” they are really two
different causes of corn-pone.
Quiz (You can use your notes.)
1. What are the four things
involved in framing? (20
each)
2. What are the two purposes of
an in-text citation? (10 each)