Integrating Sources
- use quotations as support,
not in key places like thesis
or topic sentences
- mention details about the
source where appropriate
- vary use of direct
quotation and paraphrase
- choose quotations
carefully, quote accurately,
and integrate smoothly
- authors “write”;
characters/narrators “say”
as you read, always be on the
lookout for useful quotations
highlight
annotate
Primary source quotation integrated into essay.
By the same token, Borges believes that a person’s life is at the
transition
complete mercy of the person who is living it. As Dr. Yu Tsun speaks to
Albert, the duo discuss the notion of parallel dimensions in time, where a
single decision can take on multiple consequences. Albert reasons that “all
verb: “reasons”
possible outcomes occur; each one is the point of departure for other
forkings” (578). As a person who is anti-fatalist, Albert demonstrates how
characters in Tsun’s ancestor’s book can choose different paths leading to
very different lives. In this way, Albert is essentially commenting on how a
person’s life is essentially composed of decisions resembling forking paths
that bring one unique results. According to Albert, “Time forks perpetually
toward innumerable futures” (579). The passage of time leads the
characters in the novel or people in life towards different paths that define
them as a person and mark their lives. Tragedy can affect a person, but if
one takes a different path, one can always find a vastly different situation
on the basis of one decision. Thus, Borges feels that life is a series of
decisions as opposed to a series of points, and that life is at the hands of
not a higher being and destiny, but in the hands of the human being.
“thus” concludes
argument
Primary source quotation integrated into essay.
Upon hearing his daughter’s first attempt at telling “a simple story […] the kind de
Mauppasant wrote, or Chekov,” the father becomes obviously disappointed as the eight
sentence, choppy tale she recites is void of descriptive elements he feels are necessary
to any good story (471). For the father, a narrative stripped of these adjectives makes it
unworthy of the title of “story.” To prove his point, he launches into a series of questions
designed to enhance his daughter’s otherwise drab tale. The father asks, “Her looks for
instance […] Her hair? […] What were her parents like, her stock? […] What about the
boy’s father. Why didn’t you mention him? Who was he? Or was the boy born out of
wedlock?” (472). It is firstly important to note how the father urges his daughter to
emulate the Russian writers he so loves. That they are all male writers of psychological
realism is of no consequence, pointing towards the more conservative taste of the father.
It is also interesting to note how the father’s requirements of a good story can be viewed.
His questions pertain to appearance, family background/ethnicity, and marital status,
hinting to the father’s conservative, traditional views of women in society. These
descriptors indicate that, for the father, a conventional approach to basic ingredients in a
story qualifies it as good literature.
quote as
part of
sentence
Primary source quotation integrated into essay.
In addition to being very linear, the story also has a tragic ending. At the
very end of the story Rainsford and Zaroff have one final conflict. At this
very clear paragraph
topic sentence; note
transition
point, Rainsford has already defeated Zaroff and has beaten him in his sick
game, yet Rainsford still pushes the game on further. Both characters
square off and Zaroff says, “one of us is to furnish a repast for the hounds.
The other will sleep in this very excellent bed” (Connell 492). It was
appropriate verbs: says
Rainsford who had decided that “he had never slept in a better bed” (Connell
492). What this statement reveals is that a shift has occurred in Rainsford.
Rainsford is no longer an innocent man caught in the dilemma of whether to
commentary follow
directly from quotation
participate in Zaroff’s sick game or to face the general’s henchman, Ivan,
who will tear him apart. Rainsford is now a murderer who extended the
game and may very well become the new master of the island. This tragic
transformation of Rainsford into a killer fits very well with the father’s belief
that stories should end in tragedy.
notice
movement
from topic to
specific detail
and back to
topic
paragraph concludes on
same topic; and link to
general essay thesis
Joyce Carol Oates’ story, “Where Are
You Going, Where Have You Been?,”
was written as fiction; however, it was
actually inspired by a headline in the
news. In his essay, “Oates as Writer,”
Tom Quirk states, “Oates’s character
[...] was derived from the exploits,
widely publicized by Time, Life, and
Newsweek magazines during the
winter of 1965-66, of a real killer from
Tucson, Arizona” (227). The character
to which Quirk refers becomes more
and more relevant as the story
progresses.
Secondary source quotation integrated into essay.
name primary author
and text
transition with
“however” to show
logical relationship
introduce quote with
info about secondary
source and author
quote is short and to
the point (notice part
omitted)
MLA citation correct
quote is “surrounded”
by the student’s own
commentary
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown” tells the
tale of a young Puritan man, Goodman Brown. The Puritan religion
heavily influenced the story. As Michael E. McCabe writes,
“Hawthorne sets ‘Young Goodman Brown’ into a context of Puritan
rigidity and self-doubt to allow his contemporary readers to see the
consequences of such a system of belief” (43). The story begins as
Goodman Brown leaves his wife, Faith, to begin his journey into a
forest. It seems that even before leaving, he realizes that his
adventure into the forest will involve evil, suggesting very early the
Puritan self-doubt that McCabe identifies:
“Poor little Faith!” thought he, for his heart smote him. “What a
wretch am I, to leave her on such an errand! She talks of
dreams too. Methought, as she spoke, there was trouble in her
face, as if a dream had warned her what work is to be done tonight.” (164)
secondary sources
supports the
argument (it doesn’t
make it)
plot details
accompanied by
analysis
secondary source
referred to as the
argument develops
In the forest he is confronted by a man older than
himself. Although Brown was mildly surprised by the
stranger’s presence, we are told that he (the stranger) was
not wholly unexpected. As the two men walk through the
forest, it becomes apparent that the person Goodman
Brown walks with is an evil figure, and perhaps more
importantly, the townspeople have some form of alliance
with him. For example, in the scene where they confront
the woman who taught Brown his “catechism,” she admits
to worshipping the stranger, and even mentions a sort of
initiation, like a baptism. With this knowledge, Brown
attempts to reject the traveler. Unfortunately, as they walk
he becomes more and more doubtful and he sees more
familiar faces in the dark forest. Joan D. Winslow
summarizes this encounter in her essay, “Brown and
Temptation,” when she writes, “During their conversation
Brown’s reluctance to proceed onward is gradually
overcome by the stranger’s assertions and demonstrations
that those people Brown has always believed virtuous are
journeying toward the meeting in the forest” (238).
parenthetical remark
keeps the pronouns
clear
“more importantly” as
a rhythmic but also
rhetorical device
“for example” as
transition
source as support
“summarizes”;
“this encounter”
functions as transition
(a linking strategy)
Quotations integrated into essay
Borges uses the opening frame in "The Garden of Forking Paths" to draw a distinction
between Hart's quantitative style of history and Yu Tsun's experiential account of the war. Yu
Tsun's final statement in the story is, "He [detective Richard Madden] does not know (no one
can know) my innumerable contrition and weariness" (580). Instead of attempting to recount
the war in quantitative terms through dates, numbers and death tolls, Yu Tsun captures the
human side, the savage side, through his subjective and emotional confession. Borges uses
the following selected passage of Hart's history in "The Garden of Forking Paths" as the
opening frame of the story:
One page 22 of Liddell Hart's History of World War I you will read that an attack
against the Serre-Montauban line by thirteen British divisions (supported by 1,400
artillery pieces), planned for the 24th of July, 1916, had to be postponed until the
morning of the 29th. The torrential rains, Captain Liddell Hart comments, caused
this delay, an insignificant one, to be sure. (573)
Hart's description of the event is vastly different than Yu Tsun's. Robert Chibka, in his essay,
"The Library of Forking Paths," comments that, "Liddell Hart's delay is 'insignificant' not to a
soldier trapped in a flooded trench but to the scholar whose magisterial view cannot afford to
accommodate the emotional bewilderment that comes to Yu Tsun" (141). Borges uses Hart's
passage because it represents the simplistic lens through which we view history. In reality,
history happened many different ways to many different people. History can never be
completely recreated because, as Yu Tsun states, "Everything that happens to a man
happens precisely, precisely now" (573). Borges, through contrasting these two perspectives
on history, shows that to limit oneself to a single idea of how history occurred is not prudent.
clear topic
[ ] clarify
supporting
evidence
Signal Verbs/Phrases
(do not always use “writes that” or “says that”)
Be careful in literature essays that the signal verb makes sense;
for example, “Wordsworth observes that “Five long years have
past” in his poem “Tintern Abbey” (line 1), makes more sense than
“Wordsworth argues that “Five long years have past” in his poem
“Tintern Abbey” (line 1).”
according to
argues
suggests
observes
asserts
claims
states
comments
contends
concludes
emphasizes
replies
agrees
concurs
responds
offers
disagrees
remarks
endorses
reasons
adds
admits
confirms
illustrates
acknowledges
rejects
agrees
implies
reports
insists
notes
believes
points out