English 10R-Wednesday, 10/5/16

Today:  In the computer lab, introductions and start of body paragraph #1.

(We will be in the lab for the rest of this week and next to work on this essay.)

Read and refer to the following:  How to write a successful body paragraph…

“So, I have a quote…but how do I make it work in my essay?”      Follow the T-I-C-E Formula!

1.   (Transition – Insert – Cite – Explain)

 When writing an analysis on a piece of literature, it is important that you pull specific evidence from the text to support your idea(s). This evidence may be presented in the form of a paraphrase or a quote. When you have a quote to insert in your writing, there are four steps you can take to ensure that your quote fits flawlessly into your essay. Together, the steps are called the T-I-C-E Formula.

Pretend you want to use the following quote in your essay that you found in “There Will Come Soft Rains” by Ray Bradbury.  You think this quote shows/supports how the author uses figurative language to develop his theme:

 Quote: “But the gods had gone away, and the ritual of the religion continued senselessly, uselessly.”

Follow the T-I-C-E Steps:

 1. Transition into your quote

You need to transition from one idea to the next in your essay in order to make your writing flow. Therefore, you can’t just plop a selected quote into a paragraph and think that the reader will know how it fits in with your ideas. You need to lead into the quote with a transition. This will get the reader ready to understand how the quote works to support the paragraph’s topic sentence, and overall, the thesis/claim.

So, what is a transition? Well, the transition acts as a link between ideas. It is a sentence or two (or a few words) that explains the purpose of the quote to follow. Including background information (context) on the quote is also helpful to the transition.

The following example includes both background information and a transition.

  

For the quote, you might write a lead-in that looks something like this:

The author uses the term “gods” as a symbol for the people who lived in this house but died in a nuclear explosion.  They acted as gods, trying to control their lives with technology, but they were annihilated. The technology continues to function needlessly. 

The transition is:  

They acted as gods, trying to control their lives with technology, but they were annihilated. The technology continues to function needlessly.

 Including some background information helps the reader to understand the quote even more; therefore, it’s a good idea to include background information before the quote if you can. 

Once you’ve written your transition, be sure to:

2. Insert the quote into the paragraph.

Make sure that you put quotation marks around the quote you are using. If you do not do this, it will be considered plagiarism, which is defined as using someone else’s words as if they are your own. It is illegal.  One you’ve placed the quote into the paragraph, you should then…

3. Cite the quote

To avoid plagiarism, you must give credit to the author whose quote you are using, signifying that you in fact did not write the quote you just inserted in your essay. You do not have to write, “On page 23 in “There Will Come Soft Rains”…”

All you have to do is:

1.      Put parentheses right after the quote - ( )

2.      Write the author and page number-if there is one- where you found the quote inside the parentheses - (Bradbury, 23)

3.      Put a period after the parenthesis to end the sentence and quote - (Bradbury). If both of your stories are by the same author, write the title of the piece instead (“There Will Come Soft Rains”)

   

Now, you have written the lead in, you have put the quote into the paragraph, and you have cited it. Now it is time to write the most important part of the formula…

4. Explain how the quote supports the topic.

Yes, you may think that the transition already does this, but nine times out of ten, the reader needs to be reminded of why the quote is important to the essay. The explanation is the most important part to this formula as it acts as closure to the idea the quote presents.

What to do:

Write a sentence or a few explaining the quote – you already described what was happening when the quote was said (background info) now make sure you explain how the quote supports what you are trying to prove in the paragraph. How does the quote support the topic sentence?

  

 An explanation after the quote is inserted might be:

 “But the gods had gone away, and the ritual of the religion continued senselessly, uselessly” (88). Bradbury clearly indicates that technology cannot always be our saviors; in fact, it can actually be our downfall.

Transition, insert, cite and explain all quotes included in your essay.

When you use a quote in your essay, it should look something like this:

The author uses the term “gods” as a symbol for the people who lived in this house but died in a nuclear explosion.  They acted as gods, trying to control their lives with technology, but they were annihilated. The technology continues to function needlessly.  “But the gods had gone away, and the ritual of the religion continued senselessly, uselessly” (Bradbury, 88). Bradbury clearly indicates that technology cannot always be our saviors; in fact, it can actually be our downfall.