Using Quotations Effectively Foundation Lesson About this

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Copyright © 2012 Laying the Foundation®, Inc., Dallas, TX. All rights reserved. Visit us online at www.ltftraining.org.

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Using Quotations Effectively Foundation Lesson

About this Lesson Writers of arguments, newspaper reporters, literary critics, and other writers of prose know what

powerful rhetorical tools quotations can be when they are used to prove a point, influence an

attitude, illustrate a concept, or reinforce an idea.

However, inexperienced writers tend to ignore a well-known, essential aspect of the use of

quotations—they must be introduced so that they are linked to their source and to the rest of the

text in the essay so that they are clearly understandable to the reader.

This lesson is a logical follow-up to the “Dialectical Journals” lesson and uses activities linked to

those in the journal lesson.

Passages for LTF®

lessons are selected to challenge students, while lessons and activities make

texts accessible. Guided practice with challenging texts allows students to gain the proficiency

necessary to read independently at or above grade level.

This lesson is included in Module 4: From Journal to Essay.

Objectives

Students will

incorporate quotations into their analytical paragraphs effectively.

make coherent and logical connections between evidence and commentary using

transitions.

use punctuation to embed quotes correctly into their sentences.

Level

Grades Six through Ten

Connection to Common Core Standards for English Language Arts

LTF Foundation Lessons are designed to be used across grade levels and therefore are aligned to

the Common Core Anchor Standards. Teachers should consult their own grade-level-specific

Standards. The activities in this lesson allow teachers to address the following Common Core

Standards:

Explicitly addressed in this lesson

Code Standard Level of

Thinking

Depth of

Knowledge

R.1 Read closely to determine what the text says

explicitly and to make logical inferences from it.

Cite specific textual evidence when writing or

speaking to support conclusions drawn from the

text.

Understand III

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Teacher Overview—Using Quotations Effectively


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R.2 Determine central ideas or themes of a text and

analyze their development; summarize the key

supporting details and ideas.

Analyze III

R.3 Analyze how and why individuals, events, and ideas

develop and interact over the course of a text.

Analyze III

R.4 Interpret words and phrases as they are used in a

text, including determining technical, connotative,

and figurative meanings, and analyze how specific

word choices shape meaning or tone.

Analyze III

R.5 Analyze the structure of texts, including how

specific sentences, paragraphs, and larger portions

of the text (e.g., a section, chapter, scene or stanza)

relate to each other and the whole.

Analyze III

R.10 Read and comprehend complex literary and

informational texts independently and proficiently.

Understand II

L.2 Demonstrate command of the conventions of

standard English capitalization, punctuation, and

spelling when writing.

Understand I

L.5 Demonstrate understanding of word relationships

and nuances in word meanings.

Understand II

W.1 Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of

substantive topics or texts, using valid reasoning and

relevant and sufficient evidence.

Create IV

W.4 Produce clear and coherent writing in which the

development, organization, and style are appropriate

to task, purpose, and audience.

Create III

W.9 Draw evidence from literary or informational texts

to support analysis, reflection, and research.

Analyze III

Implicitly addressed in this lesson

Code Standard Level of

Thinking

Depth of

Knowledge

L.1 Demonstrate command of the conventions of

standard English grammar and usage when writing

or speaking.

Understand I

L.3 Apply knowledge of language to understand how

language functions in different contexts, to make

effective choices for meaning or style, and to

comprehend more fully when reading or listening.

Understand II

W.10 Write routinely over extended time frames (time for

research, reflection, and revision) and shorter time

frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range

of tasks, purposes, and audiences.

Apply III

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LTF Skill Focus

The foundation for LTF English lessons is the Skill Progression Chart that identifies key skills

for each domain, beginning with grade 6 and adding more complex skills at each subsequent

grade level while reinforcing skills introduced at previous grade levels. The Skill Focus for each

individual lesson identifies the skills actually addressed in that lesson.

Levels of Thinking

Remember Understand Apply Analyze Evaluate Create

Close Reading written, spoken, and visual texts

Grammar purposeful use of language for effect

Composition written, spoken, and visual products

Reading Strategies

Inference

Paraphrase

Literary Elements

Diction

Imagery

Theme

Tone

Literary Techniques

Characterization

Symbolism

Mechanics

Punctuation Types (modes)

Expository

analytical

The Process of Composition

Prewriting

Structural Elements

Introduction

thesis

Body

incorporation of quotes

topic sentence

use of commentary

use of evidence

Organization

Transition

Connections to AP* Students will be required to write well-supported analytical essays on both the AP Literature and

AP Language examinations. The ability to smoothly and effectively incorporate quotations and

textual evidence is a key skill in writing analytical papers.

*Advanced Placement and AP are registered trademarks of the College Entrance Examination Board. The College

Board was not involved in the production of this material.

Materials and Resources

copies of Student Activity

Handout: “Graphic Organizer for a Paragraph Using Quotations”

Assessments The following kinds of formative assessments are embedded in this lesson:

graphic organizers

frame statements

Teachers are encouraged to use the Grade Level Assessments and Posttest style analysis

activities, including the following, on the LTF website as additional assessments:

Grade Level Assessments

6th

grade—“The Incredible Journey”

7th

grade—A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court

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8th grade—“The Lamp at Noon”

9th

grade—“A New England Nun”

10th

grade—Dombey and Son

Released Posttests

6th

grade—Inkheart

7th

grade—The Wind in the Willows

8th

grade—The First Betrayal

9th

grade—The Poisonwood Bible

10th

grade—Rebecca

Teaching Suggestions

Teachers are encouraged to “talk through” the examples provided in this lesson to familiarize

students with the process of introducing and commenting on a quotation in an effective manner.

Students should then practice the skill, using the student activities suggested.

When teachers adapt this model lesson to other writing assignments in their curriculum, they

might consider using frame statements to guide student practice, removing the writing tool as

students become more proficient. The “Graphic Organizer for a Paragraph Using Quotations” is

available on LTF’s website under “Additional Resources.”

Answers Answers for this lesson are subjective and will vary. To obtain the maximum benefit of the

lesson, ask students to go beyond the expected responses.

English


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Using Quotations Effectively Foundation Lesson

Writers of literary analysis should learn to incorporate quotations as evidence to support their

assertions. To use quotations effectively, you should consider the following strategies:

Make an assertion (an opinion statement that the author intends to support with

evidence.)

Supply the evidence: Introduce the quotation by naming the speaker/narrator and

explaining briefly the situation/context of the quotation; quote a word, phrase, line or

lines from a text or source (should support the assertion and be included in the same

sentence as its introduction); and document the quotation with the author’s name and

page number inside parentheses. All of this information should be in the same sentence.

Comment on the quotation by writing several sentences explaining how the evidence

supports the assertion.

This process works best after a reader has carefully annotated a text and explored its possible

meanings through writing in a dialectical journal.

Read carefully this passage from “The Scarlet Ibis” by James R. Hurst. Then complete the

activities that follow.

Doodle was my brother and he was going to cling to me forever, no matter what I did, so

I dragged him across the burning cotton field to share with him the only beauty I knew,

Old Woman Swamp. I pulled the go-cart through the sawtooth fern, down into the green

dimness where the palmetto fronds whispered by the stream. I lifted him out and set him

down in the soft rubber grass beside a tall pine. His eyes were round with wonder as he

gazed about him, and his little hands began to stroke the rubber grass. Then he began to

cry.

Here is an example Character Analysis Journal examining Doodle.

Evidence (quotation or detail and context) Inference—Commentary

Quotation: “His eyes were round with wonder

as he gazed about him, and his little hands

began to stroke the rubber grass. Then he

began to cry” (Hurst 191).

Context: Doodle’s brother has taken him to a

beautiful place.

Sensitive, appreciative—Doodle reacts

emotionally to the wonders of nature, moved to

tears of joy at the beauty of simple things. He

is attuned to nature and in awe of its beauty.

Quotation: “My lies were scary, involved, and

usually pointless, but Doodle’s were twice as

crazy. People in his stories all had wings and

flew wherever they wanted to go” (Hurst 193).

Context: To help pass the time, Doodle and his

brother make up stories.

Imaginative, dreamer—Doodle’s fantasies

reveal his vivid imagination as well as his

desire to be able to move freely and easily.

Through his imagination he can escape the

physical handicaps that hold him down in real

life.

Student Activity—Using Quotations Effectively


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The next step is to write an assertion (a statement that you intend to prove through the use of

evidence) that is suggested by the inferences you have made in your dialectical journal.

Example assertion based on the journal above:

Doodle is a sensitive and appreciative young boy who is moved by the beauty of nature.

Now you are ready to put the process to work by writing a body paragraph based on an assertion,

evidence, and commentary.

Graphic Organizer for a Paragraph Using Quotations

(Use this structure to plan an analysis of any text.)

Assertion: Doodle is a sensitive and appreciative young boy who is moved by the beauty of

nature.

Introduction to the quotation, quotation, and documentation: When Doodle’s brother takes

him to a beautiful place in the woods, he looks around, “[h]is eyes. . .round with wonder,” and

the scene before him causes him “to cry” (Hurst 191).

Commentary: Doodle is moved to tears of joy at the beauty of simple things. His emotional

reaction reveals that he is attuned to nature and in awe of its beauty.

Sample Paragraph

Doodle is a sensitive and appreciative young boy who is moved by the beauty of nature.

When Doodle’s brother takes him to a beautiful place in the woods, he looks around, “[h]is

eyes. . .round with wonder,” and the scene before him causes him “to cry” (Hurst 191). Doodle

is moved to tears of joy at the beauty of simple things. His emotional reaction reveals that he is

attuned to nature and in awe of its beauty.



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Activity One: Writing a Character Analysis

Practice: Below, you will find another passage from “The Scarlet Ibis” and a dialectical journal

entry about the character of Doodle. Use the inferences, evidence, and commentary in the

dialectical journal to construct an analytical paragraph, using the skeleton paragraph below the

chart as a model.

My lies were scary, involved, and usually pointless, but Doodle’s were twice as crazy.

People in his stories all had wings and flew wherever they wanted to go. His favorite lie

was about a boy named Peter who had a pet peacock with a ten-foot tail. Peter wore a

golden robe that glittered so brightly that when he walked through the sunflowers they

turned away from the sun to face him. When Peter was ready to go to sleep, the peacock

spread his magnificent tail, enfolding the boy gently like a closing go-to-sleep flower,

burying him in the gloriously iridescent, rustling vortex. Yes, I must admit it. Doodle

could beat me lying.


Quotation: “My lies were scary, involved, and

usually pointless, but Doodle’s were twice as

crazy. People in his stories all had wings and

flew wherever they wanted to go” (Hurst 193).

Context: To help pass the time, Doodle and his

brother make up stories.

Imaginative, dreamer—Doodle’s fantasies

reveal his vivid imagination as well as his

desire to be able to move freely and easily.

Through his imagination he can escape the

physical handicaps that hold him down in real

life.

In James Hurst’s short story “The Scarlet Ibis,” the narrator depicts the character of

Doodle as

(Write your assertion here.)

Doodle and his brother often

, and

(Provide the context here.)

the narrator tells us that, while he made up stories, they were nothing compared to Doodle’s

whose stories were “twice as crazy” and filled with people who “flew wherever they wanted to

go” ( ).

(Write the commentary from the right-hand column of the journal entry that links the evidence to the assertion.)



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Activity Two: Writing an Analysis of Tone or Mood through Diction and Imagery


entry. Use the journal entry to construct a body paragraph analyzing diction and imagery in the

story. Use several of the quotations and the pre-written commentary in the right-hand column to

support the assertion that has been written for you.

It was in the clove of seasons, summer was dead but autumn had not yet been born, that

the ibis lit in the bleeding tree. The flower garden was stained with rotting brown

magnolia petals, and ironweeds grew rank amid the purple phlox. The five o’clocks by

the chimney still marked time, but the oriole nest in the elm was untenanted and rocked

back and forth like an empty cradle. The last graveyard flowers were blooming, and their

smell drifted across the cotton field and through every room of our house, speaking softly

the names of our dead (Hurst 189).


Quotation: “It was in the clove of seasons,

summer was dead but autumn had not yet been

born” (Hurst 189).

Context: In this introductory paragraph, the

narrator describes the setting.

The word “clove” suggests a rift or splitting. It

seems to suggest there was a definite divide

between the seasons—marked by some other

more personal split or loss, possibly a death.

The words “dead” and “born” also support this

idea.

Quotation: “dead,” “rotting,” “graveyard,”

“dead” (Hurst 189)

Context: same as above

The diction reinforces the idea that someone

has died. Even the narrator’s memory of the

setting reflects the impact of the loss.

Quotation: “empty,” “untenanted” (Hurst 189)


Suggests loss: Something is missing.

Quotation: “oriole nest. . .like an empty

cradle” (Hurst 189)


Even the bird nest is empty. Comparing it to a

cradle makes you wonder if a child has died. It

creates a feeling of pain and yearning for what

is missing.

Quotation: “graveyard flowers…their smell

drifted…speaking softly the names of our

dead” (Hurst 189)


Personification of the flowers seems to imply

that nature reminds the narrator (all of us)

about those we’ve lost. A sense of

remembrance and peace underlies the sadness.

Assertion: To create a tone of loss and regret, the author of “The Scarlet Ibis” constructs a

pattern of language related to loss and regret through his word choice and use of imagery. In the

beginning of the story, the narrator

(Provide the context here.)

The narrator describes the time of year as the “clove of seasons” with summer “dead” but

autumn not yet “born.” The time of year is associated with

(Provide commentary.)

The narrator uses words associated with loss, such as

(Provide another quotation here that supports the assertion.)



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These words

(Provide commentary.)

The speaker’s figurative language also suggests loss and regret.

(Write a sentence of your own that includes some quotations from the journal supporting this assertion. Then add commentary.)



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Activity Three: Writing an Analysis of Theme


entry. Use the journal entry to construct a body paragraph exploring a theme of the story. Use the

quotation in the left-hand column and the pre-written commentary in the right-hand column to

support an assertion that seems logical to you, given the commentary in the journal.

It seemed so hopeless from the beginning that it’s a miracle I didn't give up. But all of us

must have something or someone to be proud of, and Doodle had become mine. I did not

know then that pride is a wonderful, terrible thing, a seed that bears two vines, life and death.

Every day that summer we went to the pine beside the stream of Old Woman Swamp, and I

put him on his feet at least a hundred times each afternoon.


Quotation: “But all of us must have something

or someone to be proud of, and Doodle had

become mine. I did not know then that pride is

a wonderful terrible thing, a seed that bears

two vines, life and death” (Hurst 192)

Context: The narrator looks back on the time

when he tried to teach his brother Doodle to

walk.

The narrator confesses his need to make

Doodle “better” in order to give himself

something to be proud of and to receive

recognition for his actions. Because he is

speaking about an event that happened in the

past, he looks back on it with the insight of an

adult who has struggled with the consequences

of his prideful actions. It’s not that pride in and

of itself is bad, but he has realized that too

much pride can lead people to do things that

can have devastating results.

Assertion: The author of “The Scarlet Ibis,” James Hurst, suggests through the actions of his

characters and his use of language the theme that



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Graphic Organizer for a Paragraph Using Quotations

(Use this structure to plan an analysis of any text.)

Assertion:

Introduction to the quotation, quotation, and documentation:

Commentary (explanation, interpretation, analysis) linking the quotation to the assertion:

Documents

Using Quotations Effectively Foundation Lesson About this