Using Evidence from
Text
HOW TO “BORROW” AN AUTHOR’S WORDS
Intellectual property of Becci Carmack:
Use with permission only.
Review: What does a text reference
include?
Title
◦Quotation marks for short stories
◦Italics (or underlining) for longer works
◦Important words capitalized
Author
◦Correctly capitalized
Using text references with textual
evidence…
In our writing, we often refer to something we have read in
print or online.
If we refer to this writing, we use a text reference (title and
author) to let our readers know what we have read.
◦ In “Two Kinds,” Amy Tan tells about the relationship between a
mother and daughter.
Sometimes we do more that just refer to what we have
read; we borrow evidence from the text we have read.
Which is evidence? Why?
If we were in a court of law, which of the following would be
evidence?
◦ The closing argument to the jury
◦ The murder weapon
◦ DNA samples
◦ The attorney’s explanations and comments
◦ Expert witness testimony
What is considered evidence in writing?
Evidence=exact words from an outside source.
This is similar to calling an expert witness in a trial. Respected
authors can be our “expert witness” to back up ideas and
explanations we have.
These are the passages we use from the novel, story, article, or
book in the EXACT words of the author.
(When writing an essay or paragraph, we choose passages that
support a claim. We call these direct quotations “internal
citations” or “textual evidence” when we use them inside a
paragraph.
Textual evidence in writing=citation
One way to think of evidence is to find a passage from text (a story,
article, etc.) that proves our point.
When we use this in writing with the author’s name, we call it a
citation.
Remember that an internal citation is just a passage taken from the
text, story, or piece of writing. It is written word for word.
Rules for borrowing
Have you ever borrowed something from someone else?
Have you ever let someone else borrow your things?
How should we treat things we borrow?
MLA format
When we talk about borrowing an author’s words, there is an exact
form for doing that.
Anytime you use the author’s words, use this pattern.
◦ Quotation marks. Exact words. Quotation marks. Parenthesis. Author’s last
name. Page number. Parenthesis. Period.
◦ “Exact words of the author” (Last 777).
Example:
“And once they realized how important art was to Homer, they
encouraged it” (Levitt 586).
Was this evidence borrowed correctly?
◦Quotation marks. Exact words. Quotation marks.
Parenthesis. Author’s last name. Page number.
Parenthesis. Period.
◦“Exact words of the author” (Last 777).
Sample:
“I saw her chest was heaving up and down in an angry way.” (Tan
23).
Was this evidence borrowed correctly?
◦Quotation marks. Exact words. Quotation marks.
Parenthesis. Author’s last name. Page number.
Parenthesis. Period.
◦“Exact words of the author” (Last 777).
Sample:
“I saw her chest was heaving up and down in an angry way (Tan 23).”
Was this evidence borrowed correctly?
◦Quotation marks. Exact words. Quotation marks.
Parenthesis. Author’s last name. Page number. Parenthesis.
Period.
◦“Exact words of the author” (Last 777).
Sample:
“I saw her chest was heaving up and down in an angry way” (Tan, 23).
Was this evidence borrowed correctly?
◦Quotation marks. Exact words. Quotation marks.
Parenthesis. Author’s last name. Page number.
Parenthesis. Period.
◦“Exact words of the author” (Last 777).
Sample:
“I saw her chest was heaving up and down in an angry way” (Tan 23).
Was this evidence borrowed correctly?
Quotation marks. Exact words. Quotation marks. Parenthesis.
Author’s last name. Page number. Parenthesis. Period.
“Exact words of the author” (Last 777).
Sample:
“But my mother’s expression was what devastated me: a quiet, blank
look that said she had lost everything” (Tan 22).
STOP HERE!
Next slide Lesson 1/part 2
The last piece
The last part of citing a source correctly is the Work Cited
source citation. This tells readers where you got the
passage you used as an internal citation.
(NO) SURPRISE!!!! There is a correct format for this.
Work Cited format
Work Cited
___________________, _____________. “________________________________________.”
(Author’s Last Name)
(Author’s First Name)
(Selection Title)
Literature: Timeless Voices, Timeless Themes. Upper Saddle River,
NJ: Prentice Hall, 2000.__________. Print.
(Page Numbers: first with print—last with print)
Notice the “hanging” indent!
Work Cited
___________________, _____________. “________________________________________.”
(Author’s Last Name)
(Author’s First Name)
Be sure the title is in quotation
marks and that title and author
are capitalized correctly.
(Selection Title)
◦ Literature: Timeless Voices, Timeless Themes. Upper Saddle River, NJ:
◦ Prentice Hall, 2000.__________. Print.
(Page Numbers)
Page numbers here include the
entire selection. For example,
a selection might read 415-468.
Did I cite my source correctly?
Work Cited
___________________, _____________. “______________________________________.”
(Author’s Last Name)
(Author’s First Name)
WORK CITED
Tan. Amy. “Two Kinds. Literature: Timeless
(Selection Title)
Voices, Timeless Themes. NJ.
Literature: Timeless Voices, Timeless Themes. Upper Saddle River,
NJ: Prentice Hall, 2000.__________. Print.
(Page Numbers)
Prentice Hall. 8-15 . Print.
Did I cite my source correctly?
Work Cited
___________________, _____________. “______________________________________.”
(Author’s Last Name)
(Author’s First Name)
WORK CITED
Singer. “The Cat Who Thought She Was a Dog”
(Selection Title)
Literature: Timeless Voices, Timeless
Literature: Timeless Voices, Timeless Themes. Upper Saddle River,
NJ: Prentice Hall, 2000.__________. Print.
(Page Numbers)
Themes. Upper Saddle River, NJ:
Prentice Hall, 2000. 8-15 .
Part Two
Review and add two new tricks!
What is MLA format?
What if we cite the same source over and over?
What if the author has used quotation marks?
MLA format: review
When we talk about borrowing an author’s words, there is an exact
form for doing that.
Anytime you use the author’s words, use this pattern.
◦ Quotation marks. Exact words. Quotation marks. Parenthesis. Author’s last
name. Page number. Parenthesis. Period.
◦ “Exact words of the author” (Last 777).
Example:
“And once they realized how important art was to Homer, they
encouraged it” (Levitt 586).
MLA format
When we use the SAME SOURCE
multiple times, we only need to
put the page number in the
parentheses after the first time—
unless we change sources (then
we have to start over!)
Example:
“And once they realized how
important art was to Homer, they
encouraged it” (Levitt 586).
“The family was quick to support
him in his work” (589).
“Many people appreciated the art
done in his early years” (Smith 12).
“Homer was a recluse for most of his
later years” (Levitt 589).
Which side is correct? Pink or blue?
“And once they realized how
important art was to Homer, they
encouraged it” (Levitt 586).
“The family was quick to support him in “The family was quick to support
his work” (589).
him in his work” (589).
“Many people appreciated the art done “Many people appreciated the art
in his early years” (Smith 12).
done in his early years” (Smith 12).
“Homer was a recluse for most of his
“He won the prize” (13).
later years” (589).
“Homer was a recluse for most of his
later years” (Levitt 589).
“And once they realized how important
art was to Homer, they encouraged it”
(Levitt 586).
What if there are quotation marks in the
text already?
If the author has used quotation marks…say for a character’s words…we
replace those with single quotation marks.
Our double quotation marks (”) means we are borrowing the author’s
words.
Single quotation marks (‘) are used to replace double ones in the text.
LIKE THIS—
In the text: “You want me to be someone I’m not!” I sobbed.
In our citation: “ ‘You want me to be someone I’m not!’ I sobbed” (Tan
23).
Which side is correct? Green or blue?
The text: “He’s mean!” I told my mom.
“ ‘He’s mean!” I told my
mom’ (Smith 29).
“ ‘He’s mean!’ I told my
mom” (Smith 29).
Part Three
Review and add…
MLA format: review
Anytime you use the author’s words, use this
pattern.
2) When we use the SAME SOURCE
multiple times, we only need to put
the page number in the parentheses
after the first time—unless we change
sources (then we have to start over!)
◦ Quotation marks. Exact words. Quotation marks.
Parenthesis. Author’s last name. Page number.
Parenthesis. Period.
◦ “Exact words of the author” (Last 777).
3) If the author has used quotation
marks…say for a character’s words…we
replace those with single quotation
marks.
1) When we talk about borrowing an author’s
words, there is an exact form for doing that.
Example:
“And once they realized how important art
was to Homer, they encouraged it” (Levitt
586).
Our double quotation marks (”) means
we are borrowing the author’s words.
Single quotation marks (‘) are used to
replace double ones in the text.
What if we do not need the beginning of
the sentence? Do it like thisThe original text=
I saw her chest was heaving up and down in an angry way.
Just put the double quotations marks where you want to begin.
“her chest was heaving up and down in an angry way” (Tan 23).
What if that will be the beginning of my
sentence?
The original text=
I saw her chest was heaving up and down in an angry way.
What if you want the beginning word to start a new sentence? Any
time you make changes in the author’s text, you must use brackets.
Do it like this and use the bracket to show you are changing the
lower case letter to an upper case one.
“[H]er chest was heaving up and down in an angry way” (Tan 23).
What if we only want to use part of the
sentence?
Add an ellipsis to show that something has been changed or
removed from the original text.
An ellipsis is three dots…
If I change something or leave something out in a citation, I add an
ellipsis with brackets.
Like this:
“ ‘Then I wish I wasn’t your daughter […]’ I shouted” (Tan 23).
What if I want to take out some of the
middle of the sentence?
Original: I was sobbing by now, looking at her bitterly. Her chest was
heaving even more and her mouth was open, smiling crazily as if she
were pleased I was crying.
Citation: “I was sobbing […]and her mouth was open, smiling crazily
as if she were pleased I was crying” (Tan 23).
What if I want to take off the end of a
sentence?
Original: I was sobbing by now, looking at her bitterly. Her chest was
heaving even more and her mouth was open, smiling crazily as if she
were pleased I was crying.
Citation: “I was sobbing by now, looking at her bitterly. Her chest
was heaving even more […]” (Tan 23).
Yikes!!! Never change the meaning of the
original text.
“She lifted me up […] as if she were pleased […]” (Tan 23).
Stop and practice with “After Twenty
Years.”
Stop and practice with “After Twenty
Years.”
Hanging Indent