6.2: Effectively Integrating Textual Evidence

How Do I Effectively Integrate Textual Evidence?

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Overview

In college writing, it's important to use evidence to support your ideas. Evidence often comes from textbooks, course readings, or professional scholars' work. Learning how to use this evidence responsibly and accurately is a crucial skill.

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General Considerations

There are three main ways to incorporate others' writing into your paper:

1. Quotation: Using the exact words from the source, enclosed in quotation marks.
2. Paraphrase: Rewriting the source's ideas in your own words, similar in length to the original.
3. Summary: Condensing the main idea of the source into a shorter version in your own words.

Here are some useful signal phrases to introduce evidence: argues, asserts, contends, emphasizes, explains, observes, suggests, writes.

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In Practice

Quoting

When using a quotation, integrate it into your writing with a “signal phrase.” For example, from Gordon Allport's essay “Prejudice and the Individual” (page 418):

Original Quote: “Much prejudice is caught rather than directly taught.”

Ways to integrate Allport’s quotation:

1. Allport claims that “prejudice is caught rather than directly taught” (418).
2. “Much prejudice is caught rather than directly taught,” claims Allport (418).
3. “Much prejudice,” Allport claims, “is caught rather than directly taught” (418).

Adapting Quotations:

You can change parts of a quotation to fit your sentence structure. Use square brackets to show your changes.

Original: “It should be added that overgeneralized prejudgments of this sort are prejudices only if they are not reversible when exposed to new knowledge” (417).

Adapted: The young man in my example was not prejudiced, according to Allport’s definition; his opinion was “reversible when [he was] exposed to new knowledge” (417).

Using Ellipses:

Use ellipses (...) to leave out irrelevant parts of a quotation.

Original: “The best opinion today says that if we eliminate discrimination, then—as people become acquainted with one another on equal terms—attitudes are likely to change, perhaps more rapidly than through the continued preaching or teaching of tolerance” (417).

Adapted: “The best opinion today says that if we eliminate discrimination . . . attitudes are likely to change, perhaps more rapidly than through the continued preaching or teaching of tolerance” (417).

Long Quotations:

For longer quotations (typically four or five lines), indent them from the left margin. Follow your citation style guidelines for specifics.

Paraphrasing

To paraphrase, rewrite the source's ideas in your own words and sentence structure. Even though it's in your words, you must give credit to the original author.

Original: “Education combats easy overgeneralizations, and as the educational level rises we find a reduction in stereotyped thinking” (Allport 422).

Weak Paraphrase: Learning fights against stereotypes, and as more people are more educated we notice a decrease in prejudice (422).

Strong Paraphrase: Allport explains that higher education makes it harder to make unfair assumptions about people, which means as more people pursue education, prejudice decreases (422).

Summarizing

When summarizing, condense the main idea of the source into a shorter version in your own words. You can use quotations or paraphrases within your summary if needed.

Original: “While discrimination ultimately rests on prejudice, the two processes are not identical. Discrimination denies people their natural or legal rights because of their membership in some unfavored group. Many people discriminate automatically without being prejudiced; and others, the “gentle people of prejudice,” feel irrational aversion but are careful not to show it in discriminatory behavior. Yet in general, discrimination reinforces prejudices, and prejudices provide rationalizations for discrimination. The two concepts are most distinct when it comes to seeking remedies. The corrections for discrimination are legal, or lie in a direct change of social practices; whereas the remedy for prejudice lies in education and the conversion of attitudes. The best opinion today says that if we eliminate discrimination, then—as people become acquainted with one another on equal terms—attitudes are likely to change, perhaps more rapidly than through the continued preaching or teaching of tolerance.” (Allport 417)

Weak Summary: Discrimination is when people are denied their rights because they belong to some unfavored group, and it is addressed with legal action or a change in social practices. Eliminating discrimination from society would have a drastic effect on social attitudes overall, according to Allport (417).

Strong Summary: Allport explains that discrimination happens when people are denied rights because of prejudice against their group. Discrimination supports prejudice, but if discrimination is made illegal or socially unacceptable, prejudice will decrease too (417).

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How to Choose Which Method to Use

Quotation: Use a quotation if:

• You need the authority of the original writer.
• The original wording is particularly powerful or unique.

Paraphrase: Use a paraphrase if:

• You need to provide specific details, but the exact words aren't important.
• You only need one idea from the source.

Summary: Use a summary if:

• You need to give an overview of the source.
• You want to provide background information.

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Exercises

The sample text in these exercises is Holly Devor’s “Gender Role Behaviors and Attitudes.”

1. Read the paragraph from Devor below, then identify which summary is weak and which is strong.

“Body postures and demeanors which communicate subordinate status and vulnerability to trespass through a message of "no threat" make people appear to be feminine. They demonstrate subordination through a minimizing of spatial use: people appear to be feminine when they keep their arms closer to their bodies, their legs closer together, and their torsos and heads less vertical than do masculine-looking individuals. People also look feminine when they point their toes inward and use their hands in small or childlike gestures.” (486)

A. Devor argues that body language suggests a great deal about gender and power in our society. People who minimize the body space they occupy and whose physical gestures are minimal and unobtrusive appear inferior and feminine (486).

B. Devor says that body postures and demeanors that imply weakness make people look feminine. Minimizing the space one takes up and using infantile gestures also makes one appear feminine (486).

2. Read the sentence from Devor below, then identify which paraphrase is weak and which is strong.

“They demonstrate subordination through a minimizing of spatial use: people appear to be feminine when they keep their arms closer to their bodies, their legs closer together, and their torsos and heads less vertical than do masculine-looking individuals.” (486)

A. Devor explains that people demonstrate a lesser position by using less space, keeping arms close, legs together, and head less upright (486).

B. According to Devor, taking up less space with one’s body—keeping arms and legs close and hunching to reduce height—makes one appear inferior and implies femininity (486).

3. The quotations of Devor below, taken from the paragraph in exercise 1, contain technical errors. Identify and correct them.

A. Devor argues that “[b]ody postures and demeanors which communicate subordinate status and vulnerability make people appear to be feminine” (486).

B. The actress looked particularly feminine because she “point their toes inward and use their hands in small or childlike gestures” (486).

C. Devor claims that “using their hands in small or childlike gestures” makes people look feminine (486).

Answers:

1. A. STRONG
   B. WEAK – This example uses too many exact words and phrases from the original.

2. A. WEAK – This example uses too many exact words and phrases from the source, and its sentence structure is also too close to the original.
   B. STRONG

3. A. Devor argues that “[b]ody postures and demeanors which communicate subordinate status and vulnerability . . . make people appear to be feminine” (486).
   B. The actress looked particularly feminine because she “point[s her] toes inward and use[s her] hands in small or childlike gestures” (486).
   C. Devor claims that “us[ing] their hands in small or childlike gestures” makes people look feminine (486).

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Resources

Allport, Gordon. “Prejudice and the Individual.” In The Borzoi College Reader, 6th ed., edited by Charles Muscatine and Marlene Griffith, 416-22. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1988.

Devor, Holly. “Gender Role Behaviors and Attitudes.” In Signs of Life in the USA: Readings on Popular Culture for Writers, 4th ed., edited by Sonia Maasik and Jack Solomon, 484-89. New York: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2003.