The Three Forms of Textual Evidence

The three forms of textual evidence are summary, paraphrase, and direct quote and when we use any one of them, we need to cite our source and accredit the author.

Multiple Choice:

In academic writing, we use paraphrase and summary more than direct quote, to keep our writing in the same voice throughout our paper; this makes our work easier for our audience to read, and builds our credibility by showing our understanding of another person’s work.

Summarizing

When we summarize a source, we express an author’s (or character’s) ideas in our own words, which is a brief, accurate, and objective representation of the original text. We can summarize any amount of text and when we do, our summary is always shorter than the original piece of writing.

Summarize when you want to:

• Condense a text, chapter, or long passage into a paragraph or a sentence.
• State an author’s or a character’s main ideas concisely and briefly in your own words.
• Give your audience an understanding of an author’s or a character’s ideas/words/argument before addressing it or sharing your argument.

Paraphrasing

When we paraphrase, we convey an author’s ideas in our own words, but unlike summary paraphrases are the same length as the original text.

Paraphrase when you want to:

• Share the author’s or character’s ideas, yet the exact language is not necessary.
• State the author’s or character’s ideas in your words to build your credibility by showing your understanding of the source and/or make the source more readable for your audience.
• Explain or pull out necessary information from a complicated source.
• Reorder the author’s or character’s ideas to suit your argument while properly representing them.

Direct Quoting

When we directly quote an author (or character), we restate some of the author’s or character’s exact words and enclose them in quotation marks, which shows our audience that these are the author’s or character’s words and ideas, not ours.

Directly quote when you want to:

• Analyze specific, expressive, or vivid language
• Express the author’s or character’s precise words in a sentence, because paraphrasing or summarizing would change the meaning
• Build your credibility by using the exact words of an authority
• Let the author or character share her/his/their position
• Express technical accuracy

The Art of the Direct Quote

When you directly quote an author’s words, do so sparingly. Choose only the word or words you need, so you can integrate these words from the direct quote into your sentences, which makes your writing flow and is easier to read.

How to Incorporate Textual Evidence into an Essay

When we paraphrase, summarize, or directly quote an author’s work in our paper, we introduce the author or character in a signal phrase.

A signal phrase introduces the source, the author of or the character in the source, provides context for the source, the author and/or the character.

When you revise your paper, please look over the signal phrases and choose a verb that is appropriate for the way you are using the source. Are you providing background, explaining a concept, supporting a claim, lending authority, or refuting a belief? Write a signal phrase that communicates the specific relationship between the source’s idea and another idea (whether it is yours or another author or character). By doing so, you energize your writing, engage with the art of rhetoric, and show that you understand the author’s or character’s point of view.

MLA style calls for verbs in the present tense or present perfect tense (“argues” or “has argued”) to introduce source material unless you include a date that specifies the time of the original author’s writing or are citing literature which you may keep in the original verb tense if it makes sense with your sentence.

Using Signal Phrases in MLA Papers

To engage your audience and use language to express your ideas, try to vary the manner in which you introduce textual evidence and the signal words, so they are expressive of what the author or character shares. For example:

• Michael Pollan, who has written extensively about Americans’ unhealthy eating habits, argues that . . .
• As health policy experts Mello and his colleagues point out, …
• Howard Zinn, Boston University professor, historian and activist notes,  . . .
• Victorian consulting detective Sherlock Holmes acknowledges that his argument . . .
• In response to critics, Connor offers a persuasive counterargument when he writes, …

A short list of verbs to use in signal phrases

The Textual Evidence Sandwich

Since you typically use textual evidence in your body paragraphs that follow the TEA structure, it makes sense to have a little sandwich with your TEA. A little refreshment, if you will, as you continue to take your audience with you along your travels. When you work with textual evidence, you may find that it is evidence or analysis despite where it lives in your paragraph or paper. You also may use textual evidence in your introduction and conclusion, but always serve the textual evidence as a sandwich to your intended audience.

To do so, you lay down your first piece of bread and introduce the textual evidence with a signal phrase, then, cite the good stuff—cucumbers and cream cheese or cheddar and chutney—which is the textual evidence (summary, paraphrase, direct quote) that makes this sentence or two. Next, follow it up with the bread, which is your analysis and this is the most important part of the sandwich, for without the final piece of bread, the sandwich falls apart.