Week 4

TH REE

"As HE HIMSELF PUTS IT" The Art of Quoting

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A KEY PREMISE of this book is that to launch an effective argument you need to write the arguments of others into your text. One of the best ways to do so is by not only summarizing what "they say," as suggested in Chapter 2, but by quoting their exact words. Quoting someone else's words gives a tremendous amount of credibility to your summary and helps ensure that it is fair and accurate. In a sense, then, quotations function as a kind of proof of evidence, saying to readers: "Look, I'm not just making this up. She makes this claim and here it is in her exact words."

Yet many writers make a host of mistakes when it comes to quoting, not the least of which is the failure to quote enough in the first place, if at all. Some writers quote too little­ perhaps because they don't want to bother going back to the original text and looking up the author's exact words, or because they think they can reconstruct the author's ideas from mem­ ory. At the opposite extreme are writers who so overquote that they end up with texts that are short on commentary of their own-maybe because they lack confidence in their ability to comment on the quotations, or because they don't fully under­

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The An of Quoting

stand what they've quoted and therefore have trouble explain­

ing what the quotations mean. But the main problem with quoting arises when writers

assume that quotations speak for themselves. Because the meaning of a quotation is obvious to them, many writers assume that this meaning will also be obvious to their readers, when often it is not. Writers who make this mistake think that their job is done when they've chosen a quotation and inserted it into their text. They draft an essay, slap in a few quotations,

and whammo, they're done. Such writers fail to see that quoting means more than sim­

ply enclosing what "they say" in quotation marks. In a way, quotations are orphans: words that have been taken from their original contexts and that need to be integrated into their new textual surroundings. This chapter offers two key ways to pro­ duce this sort of integration: (1) by choosing quotations wisely, with an eye to how well they support a particular part of your

text, and (2) by surrounding every major quotation with a frame explaining whose words they are, what the quotation means, and how the quotation relates to your own text. The point we want to emphasize is that quoting what "they say" must always

be connected with what you say.

QUOTE RELEVANT PASSAGES

Before you can select appropriate quotations, you need to have a sense of what you want to do with them-that is, how they

will support your text at the particular point where you insert them. Be careful not to select quotations just for the sake of demonstrating that you've read the author's work; you need to

make sure they support your own argument.

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T H 1< f. E "As HE HIMSELF PUTS IT"

However, finding relevant quotations is not always easy. In fact, sometimes quotations that were initially relevant to your

argument, or to a key point in it, become less so as your text changes during the process of writing and revising. Given the evolving and messy nature of writing, you may sometimes think

that you've found the perfect quotation to support your argu­ ment, only to discover later on, as your text develops, that your

focus has changed and the quotation no longer works. It can be somewhat misleading, then, to speak of finding your thesis and finding relevant quotations as two separate steps, one coming after the other. When you're deeply engaged in the writing and

revising process, there is usually a great deal of back-and-forth between your argument and any quotations you select.

FRAME EVERY QUOTATION

Finding relevant quotations is only part of your job; you also

need to present them in a way that makes their relevance and meaning clear to your readers. Since quotations do not speak for themselves, you need to build a frame around them in which you do that speaking for them.

Quotations that are inserted into a text without such a frame are sometimes called "dangling" quotations for the way they're left dangling without any explanation. One fonner graduate teaching assistant we worked with, Steve Benton, calls these "hit-and-run" quotations, likening them to car accidents in

which the driver speeds away and avoids taking responsibil­ ity for the dent in your fender or the smashed tai llights, as in Figure 4.

On the following page is a typical hit-and-run quotation by a writer responding to an essay by the feminist philoso­

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The An of Quoting

DO~'T 8E AHIT-AND-RUN QUOTER.

If.:

~ ~ ';.~~ ~ \''i\> ~~~-'~:?~~ ~

GG FIC;URE 4

pher Susan Bordo, who laments that media pressures on young women to diet are spreading to previously isolated regions of

the world like the Fiji islands.

Susan Bordo writes about women and dieting. "Fiji is juSt one exam­

ple. Until television was introduced in 1995, the islands had no

reported cases of eating disorders. In 1998, three years after pro­

grams from the United States and Britain began broadcasting there,

62 percent of the girls surveyed reponed dieting."

I think Bordo is right. Another point Bordo makes is that....

Since this writer fails to introduce the quotation adequately or explain why he finds it worth quoting, readers will have a hard

time reconstructing what Bordo argued. Besides neglecting to say who Bordo is or even that the quoted words are hers, the

writer does not explain how her words connect with anything he is saying or even what she says that he thinks is !,O "right." He simply abandons the quotation in his haste to zoom on to another point.

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1 " 11 I "As HE HIMSELF PUTS IT"

To adequately frame a quotation, you need to insert it into

what we like to call a "quotat io n sandwich," with the state­

ment introducing it serving as the top slice o f bread and the

explanation following it serv ing as the bo tto m slice. The intro­

ductory or lead-in claims should explain who is speaking a nd

set up what the quo tation says; the fo llow-up statements sho uld

explain why you conside r the quotation to be important and what you take it to say.

TEMPLATES FOR INTRODUCING QUOTATIONS

• X states, "not all s terOid s. s.h91,Jld Q~ b~ nnecj frQm .spQrts."

• As the prominent philosopher X puts it, U

• According to X, U

• X himself writes, "

• I n her book, , X maintains that"

• Writing in the Journal Commentary, X complains that "

• In X's view, "

• X ag rees when she writes, "

• X disagrees when he writes, "

• X complicates matters further when -s he writes, "

TEMPLATES FOR EXPLAINING QUOTATIONS

The o ne piece o f advice about quo ting that o ur students say

they find most helpful is to get in the habit of follOWing every

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The Art of Quoting

majo r quotation by explaining what it means, USing a template

like one of the ones below.

• BaSically, X is wa rning that. the proposed solution wi ll on ly make

th~. J?rQblem worse.

• In other word s, X believes

• In making this comment , X urges us to

• X is co rrobora ting the age-old adage th at

• X's point is that ____.

• The essence of X's argument is th at

When offering such explanatio ns, it is impo rtant to use lan­

guage that accurately reflects the sp irit of the quoted passage.

It is quite serviceable to write "Bordo states" o r "asserts" in

introducing the quotation about Fiji. But given the fact See pp. 39-40

tha t Bordo is clearly a larmed by the ex te nsio n of the for a list of

media's reach to Fij i, it is far more accura te to use lan- action verb~ "B did I " for summanz· guage t 1a t I reflects her a Iarm: o r 0 is a anne t 1at . h

" . d ' b db" " I '" mg w ato r [s [stur e y or comp all1s. others say.

Consider, for example, how the ea rlier passage o n

Bordo might be revised using some o f these moves.

The feminist philosopher Susan Bordo deplores Western media's

obsession with female thinness and dieting. Her basic complaint is

that increasing numbers of women across the globe are being led

[0 see themsel ves as fat and in need of a diet. Ci ting the islands of

Fiji as a case in point, Bordo notes that "until television was intro­

duced in 1995, the islands had no reported cases of eat ing disor­

ders. In 1998, three years after programs from the United States

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-H ' "As HE HIMSELF PUTS IT"

and Britain began broadcasting there, 62 percent of the girls sur­

veyed reported dieting" (149-50). Bordo's poim is that the West­

ern cult of dieting is spreading even to remote places across the

globe. Ultimately, Bordo complains, the culture of dieting will find

you, regardless of where you live.

Bordo's observations ring true to me because, now that I think

about it, most women I know, regardless of where they are from,

are seriously unhappy with their weight. . ..

This framing of the quotation not only better integrates Bordo's words into the writer's text, but also serves to demonstrate the writer's interpretation of what Bordo is saying. While "the fem­ inist philosopher" and "Bordo notes" provide information that readers need to know, the sentences that follow the quotation build a bridge between Bordo's words and those of the writer.

The reference to 62 percent of Fijian girls dieting is no longer an inert statistic (as it was in the flawed passage presented earlier) but a quantitative example of how "the Western cult of dieting is spreading ... across the globe." Just as impor­ tant, these sentences explain what Bordo is saying in the writer's own words-and thereby make clear that the quota­ tion is being used purposefully to set up the writer's own argu­

ment and has not been stuck in just for padding the essay or the works-cited list.

BLEND THE AUTHOR'S WORDS

.WITH YOUR OWN

The above framing material also works well because it accu­ rately represents Bordo's words while giving those words the writer's own spin. Notice how the passage refers several times

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The Art of Quoting

to the key concept of dieting, and how it echoes Bordo's ref­ erences to "television" and to U.S. and British "broadcasting" by referring to "culture," which is further specified as "West­ ern." Instead of simply repeating Bordo word for word, the follow-up sentences echo just enough of her language while still moving the discussion in the writer's own direction. In effect, the framing creates a kind of hybrid mix of Bordo's words and

those of the writer.

CAN You OVERANALYZE A QUOTATION?

But is it possible to overexplain a quotation? And how do you know when you've explained a quotation thoroughly enough? After all, not all quotations require the same amount of explanatory framing, and there are no hard-and-fast rules for knowing how much explanation any quotation needs. As a gen­ eral rule, the most explanatory framing is needed for quotations that may be hard for readers to process: quotations that are long and complex, that are filled with details or jargon, or that con­

tain hidden complexities. And yet, though the particular situation usually dictates when

and how much to explain a quotation, we will still offer one piece of advice: when in doubt, go for it. It is better to risk being overly explicit about what you take a quotation to mean than to leave the quotation dangling and your readers in doubt. Indeed, we encourage you to provide such explanatory framing even when writing to an audience that you know to be familiar with the author being quoted and able to interpret your quotations on their own. Even in such cases, readers need to see how you interpret the quotation, since words--especially those of controversial fig­ ures--can be interpreted in various ways and used to support dif­

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1-1 f? r "As HE HIMSELF PUTS IT"

ferent, sometimes opposing, agendas. Your readers need to see

what you make of the material you've quoted, if only to be sure that your reading of the material and theirs is on the same page.

How NOT TO INTRODUCE QUOTATIONS

We want to conclude this chapter by surveying some ways not to introduce quotations. Although some writers do so, you

should not introduce quotations by saying something like "Orwell asserts an idea that" or "A quote by Shakespeare says." Introductory phrases like these are both redundant and mis­ leading. In the first example, you could write either "Orwell

asserts that" or "Orwell's assertion is that," rather than redun­

dantly combining the two. The second example misleads read­ ers, since it is the writer who is doing the quoting, not Shakespeare (as "a quote by Shakespeare" implies).

The templates in this book will help you avoid such mis­ takes. Once you have mastered templates like "as X puts it," or "in X's own words," you probably won't even have to think

about them-and will be free to focus on the challenging ideas that templates help you frame.

Exercises

1. Find a published piece of writing that quotes something that "they say." How has the writer integrated the quotation into his or her own text? How has he or she introduced the quo­ tation, and what, if anything, has the writer said to explain

it and tie it to his or her own text? Based on what you've read in this chapter, are there any changes you would suggest?

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The Art of Quoting

2. Look at something you have written for one of your classes. Have you quoted any sources] If so, how have you integrated

the quotation into your own text? How have you introduced it? Explained what it means? Indicated how it relates to your text? If you haven't done all these things, revise your text

to do so, perhaps using the Templates for Introducing Quo­ tations (p. 46) and Explaining Quotations (pp. 46-47) . If you've not written anything with quotations, try revising some academic text you've written to do so.

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1 Vii r . "HER POINT Is"

had equated "patriotism with shopping. Maxing out you r credit

cards at the mall wasn't se lf indulgence, it was a way to get

back at Osama bin Laden." S loan's summary leaves no doubt

where he stands-he considers Bush's proposal ridiculous, or at least too simple.

USE SIGNAL VERBS THAT FIT THE ACTION

In introducing summaries, try to avoid bland formulas like "she

says," or "they believe." Though language like this is sometimes

serviceable enough, it often fa ils to reflect accurately what's been sa id . In some cases, "he says" may even drain the passion Out of

the ideas you're summarizing.

We suspect that the habit of ignoring the action in what we

summarize stems from the mistaken belief we mentioned ear­

lier that writing is about playing it safe and not making waves,

a matter of piling up truths and bits of knowledge rather than

a dynamic process of doing things to and with other people. People who wouldn't hesitate to say "X totally misrepresented," "attacked," or "loved" something when chatting with friends

will in their writing often opt for far tamer and even less accu­ rate phrases like "X sa id ."

But the authors you summarize at the college leve l se ldom simply "say" or "discuss" things; they "urge," "emphas ize," and

"complain about" them. David Zinczenko, for example ,

doesn't just say that fast-food companies con tribute to obesity; he complairu or protests that they do; he challenges, chastises, and indicts those companies. The Declaration of Independence doesn't just talk about the treatment of the colonies by the British; it prOtests agairut it. To do justice to the authors you

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The An of Summarizing

cite, we recommend that when summarizing---or when intro­

ducing a quotation- you use vivid and precise signal verbs as often as possible. Though "he says" or "she be lieves" wi ll some­

times be the most appropriate language for the occasion, your

text will often be more accurate and lively if you tailo r your

verbs to sllit the precise actions you're describing.

TEMPLATES FOR INTRODUCING

SUMMARIES AND QUOTATIONS

• She advocates a radi,ca l revisi.on of th,e juvenile j!)stice system.

• They celebrate the fact that

• , he admits.

VERBS FOR INTRODUCING

SUMMARIES AND QUOTATIONS

VERBS FOR MAKING A CLAIM

argue insist

assert observe

believe remind us

claim report

emphasize suggest

VERBS FOR EXPRESSING AGREEMENT

acknowledge endorse

admire extol

agree praise

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r v,,' 0 "HER POINT Is"

VERBS FOR EXPRESSING AGREEMENT

celebrate the fact that reaffirm corroborate support do not deny verify

VERBS FOR QUESTIONING OR DISAGREEING

complain qualify complicate question contend refute contradict reject deny renounce

deplore the tendency to repudiate

VERBS FOR MAKING RECOM M EN DATIONS

advocate implore call for plead demand recommend encourage urge exhort warn

Exercises

1. To get a feel for Peter Elbow's "believing game," write a sum­ mary of some belief that you strongly disagree with. Then write a summary of the position that you actually hold on

this topic. Give both summaries to a classmate or two, and

see if they can tell which position you endorse. If you've suc­ ceeded, they won't be able to tell.

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The Art of Summarizing

2. Write two different summaries of David Zinczenko's "Don't

Blame the Eater" (pp. 195- 97). Write the first one for an essay arguing that, contrary to what Zinczenko claims, there

are inexpensive and convenient alternatives to fast-food

restaurants , Write the second for an essay that questions

whether being overweight is a genuine medical problem

rather than a problem of cultural stereotypes. Compare your

two summaries: though they are about the same article, they

should look very different.

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