Writing with Evidence

Why it Matters

“I believe that X will be the most effective idea to accomplish Y.”

“Oh yeah? Prove it.”

“Uhhhhhhh, I just know it.”

*Ignores*

Why it Matters

• Ideas matter when they have proof

• Essays and papers matter when they have proof

• College professors want/need/demand/beg for more proof

BUT, WHAT’S “PROOF?”

Proof = Specific, Effective Evidence (SEE)

• Evidence information/words coming from the text

• Effective information clearly connected to the point being made

• Specific precise, to-the-point

Make the reader SEE your point

Types of Evidence

1. Quotes words taken directly from the text and placed “in quotation marks.”

2. Paraphrases ideas and basic words taken from the text and put into the writer’s own words

3. Examples specific instances taken from the text and explained entirely using the writer’s own words

Quotes

• Use quotes when the words in the text are perfect, untouchable, unbeatable, and only those words can clearly communicate your point.

• Quotes are useful for dialogue and very special narration.

• Useless quote: “Of course I’m happy. What does she think? I’m not?” better as a paraphrase

• Useful quote: “Look…we gotta go. Someone else just jumped off the cap of a pillbox…So long.”• This quote perfectly captures multiple ideas and emotions that a

paraphrase cannot

• Quotes should come with citations (Author, Text, page #)

Paraphrases

• Paraphrasing should be used to • Condense material into fewer

words

• Make text less complex

• Match the feel and flow of your essay

• Summarize long passages and large ideas

• Should be cited if an essay uses multiple texts

Paraphrases

Quote“Many a morning hath he there been seen,/

With tears augmenting the fresh morning’s dew,/ Adding to clouds more clouds with his deep sighs:/ But all so soon as the all-cheering sun/ Should in the farthest east begin to draw/ The shady curtains from Aurora’s bed,/ Away from light steals home my heavy son,/ And private in his chamber pens himself,/ Shuts up his windows, locks fair daylight out,/ And makes himself an artificial night…” (, Shakespeare, Romeo & Juliet, page 6).

ParaphraseRomeo is moping around the house sighing and crying, or he’s locked in his room writing with the lights off ( Shakespeare, Romeo & Juliet, page 6).

Examples

• Examples are used to pull specific ideas or events out of the text, but the specific words don’t matter at all• Useful for events that cover many

pages

• Useful for important symbolic actions

• The source should be referred to in the essay only if multiple texts are being used for the response

• Instead of quoting pages of dialogue or paraphrasing the many topics and ideas in Guy and Clarisse’s first meeting, give an example.

• For example: Guy and Clarisse meet for the first time as he’s returning home from a fire. She challenges the idea that he’s happy.

O.K., so that’s evidence. What about “effective” and “specific?”

• Effective• Evidence that clearly makes its

point

• A question on characterizing someone should have evidence that clearly shows who someone is

• Good: Montag smiling while burning down a house.

• Bad: Montag taking the subway and walking home.

• Specific• Information that is precise and

to-the-point.

• Good: The narrator of Two Kinds tells her mother she wishes she had died like her mother’s other children during a huge argument.

• Bad: The narrator of Two Kinds has a huge fight with her mother.

SEE this examplePeter Williamson, the pilot and protagonist from Beware of the Dog, is a resourceful,

clever, and resilient person. Williamson is wounded in an aerial dog fight with Nazi pilots. He bails out of his plane and passes out before landing. He loses his leg as a result of his wounds. Williamson ends up landing, unknown to him, in German-occupied France. The Nazis try to fool him into believing he is in Brighton, England. He shows his resourcefulness by using his knowledge of airplane engine noises to figure out that something is wrong with his situation. Williamson hears German JU-88 bomber engines, and he knows they would never be above Brighton. He also uses his knowledge of Brighton to figure out he cannot be there because the water is hard, but the water was extremely soft when he went to school in Brighton. Williamson draws on his background knowledge to figure out that his situation is wrong. This also shows Williamson’s cleverness because he has to figure out the fact that he’s being deceived. Williamson demonstrates his resilience when he finds proof of the Nazi deception. After believing something to be wrong, Williamson knows he needs to see the outside world despite his missing leg. He pulls himself across the hospital floor, despite great pain, to pull himself up to a window. He sees a sign in French. Williamson then known he has been deceived and he’s in France. He decides to give only his name, rank, and serial number no matter what. This life-endangering decision illustrates Williamson’s resilience further, since he’s strong enough to take this risk. Beware of the Dog’s protagonist, Peter Williamson, shows that he is a capable, intelligent, and strong person.

ParaphraseExample

Explanation