After teaching advanced writing in our program for many years, I've spent a great deal of time on using outside sources, particularly summary, direct quotation, and paraphrase. We all know the challenge it is to help students realize the importance of correctly citing sources in order to avoid plagiarism. Because they often lack the language skills to write about technical topics or anything outside of familiarity, students tend to turn to the Internet for information, ignorantly copying/pasting. Getting a handle on how to correctly punctuate, complete with the author's name, and some kind of transitional introduction (According to Jones, "Bla bla bla.") can be a huge learning curve for some. Then, we push them to apply the same skills, only with the added burden of paraphrasing something in their own words - all the while maintaining the original meaning and making a grammatically sound sentence.
So, most of my instruction is spent on the thing mentioned above. But I've started noticing something. My students had other challenges. I was happy if the quote looked good, or if the paraphrase indeed looked different from the original. Then, while grading, I started to see that often, their quotes and paraphrases lacked significant integration. They seemed plopped in there. Sometimes, students ended a paragraph with a quote, just dropping it off right there.
My interest was now sufficiently piqued, so I began a large-scale review of student samples to see how widespread the problem was. Here are my notes:
1. What is the learning objective, and how do we currently seek to achieve it?
SLO: Students
will be able to correctly quote, paraphrase, and cite outside sources
according to MLA style
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To meet this objective, instructors have generally followed
these steps:
- Taught format and citation (e.g.
how to punctuate a quote, how to introduce a quote using “According to…” or
“Smith says,…”, how to cite page numbers, how to put a sentence in different
words
- Given students practice responding
to a quote (e.g. a famous quote) to practice integrating it into the writing
- Providing students with a reading
passage relating to a particular argument essay topic, from which they can
choose an appropriate quote to use as support for their idea
- For further practice and
implementation, requiring students to find quotes/information from Internet
sources to support their argument and/or give specific detail to a process
description
2. Weaknesses Noted
Students of varying abilities in other areas of writing
(grammar, organization, support, etc.) all seemed to struggle with integrating
the sources appropriately and effectively into their writing.
A. DQ/P often are not integrated with the sentences before
and/or after. Or, the student attempts
to integrate the DQ/P, but there is still a wide gap in ideas (e.g. the DQ and
surrounding sentences are on the same topic, but the DQ is quite a bit more
specific, but the student fails to make a clear enough connection)
B. DQ/P are not clearly explained,
leaving the reader to wonder what the original source truly meant and whether
or not the student understood the meaning
of the source
C. DQ/P does not fit
stylistically/grammatically (e.g. using a quote that includes imperatives)
3. Analysis of
Writing Samples
Passages from student writing samples, including a direct
quote and sentences both before and after the quote, were examined for the
three areas of weaknesses explained above. Generally, one sample per student
(who completed the assignment) in the class was included in the analysis to provide a
holistic picture. Below are some samples to illustrate:
Students who start thinking searching universities to
complete their studies have to start thinking to improve their personality. According
to Taft in his article, “Students who travel overseas learn how to embrace
diversity, rather than fear or oppress it.” So, students studying at
university must also learn how to adapt with people. They must adapt to
different nationalities and different religions. So, that will help them in
their future job…
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Weakness A:
The student is attempting to connect the quote to her
point about developing personalities. But the sentence immediately following
simply gives a general paraphrase. Here, more could be said about the diversity
students will face, rather than simply saying that “they must adapt.”
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Many students want to be a graduate in order to get a good
job, which does not mean that everyone wants to do their program abroad. Taft
says, “One reason that students do not study abroad is that it is a luxury
today – it is not accessible to everyone.” Studying abroad increases cost
of living according to the country chosen. Today, many countries have good
universities, yet those countries’ currencies also have greater value than
many countries. Middle class students who want to study abroad in a good
university cannot afford the amount.
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Weakness A:
The introduction of the quote is quite abrupt and
unexpected. The student does attempt to discuss the relevance of the quote
afterwards, but does so in a round-about way, taking several sentences to get
to the point.
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The first step, advertising, is truly important because
it’s the first meeting point for both companies and applicants. Martin
said, “Put more of the focus on what your company can do for potential
employees, and you’ll attract candidates who better fit your needs.” To
be specific, advertising needs to include a writing about the job description
that precisely says about the information, such as salary, work time…
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Weakness A, B, C:
There is little connection between adverising the position
and the quote (which is about writing job descriptions). The transition “To
be specific” is used incorrectly, as it is actually leading to a more general
topic; again not really connected to focus of the job description. The
student may not have truly understood the quote and how Martin’s suggestion
would actually look like.
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Most employers need to write a job description to describe
what kind of job they have and what kind of people they want. As Martin
said, “Put more of the focus on what your company can do for potential
employees, and you’ll attract candidates who better fit your needs.”
According to Martin’s article, job descriptions are the companies’ faces to
candidates. If the employers do not write the job descriptions carefully,
they will miss the best employees who fit their jobs.
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Weakness A and C:
First, there should be more connection from the first
sentence (general comment on job descriptions) and the DQ, which focuses on
redirecting the focus of the job description. Second, the sentences after the
DQ do not shed much light on the quote, simply repeating the main point. The
DQ also is imperative, which needs some integration to make the grammar fit
more smoothly. (To employers, Martin suggests, “….”)
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4. Discussion
From these samples, it seems that only 2 of 24 included effective integration of a direct quote. For
more familiar topics, such as study abroad, students all seemed to understand
their selected passage, but were not able to adequately connect it to their
ideas. Often students should have made more of a transition from general to
specific, or vice versa. For example, a student above wrote that study abroad
is helpful, after which he/she quoted the article giving a very specific
advantage. The student would have more successfully integrated the quote by
adding an additional sentence or phrase suggesting the advantage that will be
more fully explained in the quote.
With less familiar topics, such as the product life cycle
and employment, some students experienced additional challenges in
understanding the passage and also being able to integrate it grammatically and
stylistically. For instance, in the hiring assignment, the focus is on the
process more than advice, so students need to learn how to introduce an
imperative or quote only part of the passage so that it will fit together
better.
5. Recommendations
Instructional suggestions:
- Show students more examples of not only a
correctly formatted quote or paraphrase, but a set of sentences in which they
are effectively integrated; also show less effective examples (such as the ones
in this document)
- Help students understand the purpose of using
direct quotes or paraphrases/summarized information in various types of
writing. For instance:
o
Statistics or anecdotes to provide evidence for
an argument
o
Providing specific facts and details from a
credible source or person to clearly illustrate how something works or
well-known theories in the background section of a report or a process essay
- More work with bottom-down, intensive reading.
As ELP reading courses focus on many different types of reading skills,
including main ideas, there still needs to be more sentence-level work. This
can be done in the writing class as well. Students need to learn to examine a
passage before putting it in their paragraph by asking questions, such as:
o
In other words, what is the author trying to say
here? (this question should be asked even
if the intention is a direct quote)
o
What does this tell us about ____?
o
Does this sentence have the same idea as my
ideas in my essay?
o
Is this sentence more general or more specific
compared to the point in my paragraph (or the sentence I want to add the quote
after)?
o
So, what? What are the implications? Why is this
important?
o
What are the consequences of this idea?
- Give students direct quotes/paraphrases to
practice integrating, rather than requiring them to spend too much time
searching for sources on their own
