2. +
AGENDA
Appositives
How and When to cite
Plagiarism
Quoting and Summarizing
Integrating Quotations
Writing the draft
Tips for writing your essay
4. +A Sentence Strategy: Appositives
SMG 177-79
As you draft an essay explaining a concept, you have a lot of
information to present, such as definitions of terms and
credentials of experts. Appositives provide an efficient, clear
way to integrate these kinds of information into your
sentences. An appositive is a noun or pronoun that, along
with modifiers, gives more information about another noun
or pronoun. Here is an example from Ngo’s concept essay
(the appositive is in italics and the noun it refers to is
underlined):
Cannibalism, the act of human beings eating human
flesh(Sagan 2), has a long history and continues to hold
interest and create controversy. (Ngo paragraph 5)
5. +By placing the definition in an appositive phrase right after
the word it defines, this sentence locates the definition
exactly where readers need it.Writers explaining
concepts rely on appositives because they serve many
different purposes needed in concept essays, as the
following examples demonstrate. (Again, the appositive is
in italics and the noun it refers to is underlined.)
Defining a New Term
Some researchers believe hyperthymics may be at
increased risk of depression or hypomania, a mild
variant of mania (Friedman, Paragraph 5).
Cannibalism can be broken down into two main
categories: exocannibalism, the eating of outsiders of
foreigners, and endocannibalism, the eating of members
of one’s own social group (Shipman 70). (Ngo paragraph,
6)
6. +
Each person carries in his or her mind a
unique subliminal guide to the ideal partner, a
“love map.” (Toufexis, paragraph 17)
Introducing a New Term
“Love is a natural high,” observes Anthony Walsh,
author of The Science of Love: Understanding Love and
Its Effects on Mind and Body. (Toufexis, paragraph 10)
Giving Credentials of Experts
7. Identifying People and Things
When I was in high school I read the Robert Browning
Poem ‘My Last Duchess.’ In it, the narrator said he
killed is wife, the duchess, because . . .(Friedman,
Paragraph 2).
Giving Examples or Specifics
Some 2,400 years ago, Hippocrates proposed that a
mixture of four basic humors—blood,phlegm, yellow
bile,and black bile—determined human
temperament…(Friedman, paragraph 6)
8. +
Try it!
Try writing several appositive
phrases.
Defining a term
Introducing a new term
Giving the credentials of experts
Identifying people and things
Giving examples or specifics
Use the examples as models.
10. Avoiding Plagiarism: Writers — students and professionals alike —
occasionally fail to acknowledge sources properly.The word plagiarism, which
derives from the Latin word for “kidnapping, ”refers to the unacknowledged
use of another’s words, ideas, or information. Students sometimes mistakenly
assume that plagiarizing occurs only when another writer’s exact words are
used without acknowledgment. In fact, plagiarism also applies to such diverse
forms of expression as musical compositions and visual images as well as
ideas and statistics.Therefore, keep in mind that you must indicate the source
of any borrowed information or ideas you use in your essay, whether you have
paraphrased, summarized, or quoted directly from the source or have
reproduced it or referred to it in some other way. Remember especially the
need to document electronic sources fully and accurately. Information, ideas,
and images from electronic sources require acknowledgment in even more
detail than those from print sources (and are often easier to detect as
plagiarism if they are not acknowledged). Some people plagiarize simply
because they do not know the conventions for using and acknowledging
sources. Others plagiarize because they keep sloppy notes and thus fail to
distinguish between their own and their sources’ ideas. If you keep careful
notes, you will not make this serious mistake. Another reason some people
plagiarize is that they feel intimidated by the writing task or the deadline. If
you experience this anxiety about your work, speak to me. Do not run the risk
of failing the course or being expelled from school because of plagiarism. If
you are confused about what is and what is not plagiarism, be sure to ask me.
11. Quoting and Summarizing:
Writers use sources by quoting directly and by summarizing.
DecidingWhether to Quote or Summarize
As a general rule, quote only in these situations:
(1) when the wording of the source is particularly memorable or vivid or
expresses a point so well that you cannot improve it.
(2) when the words of reliable and respected authorities would lend
support to your position.
(3) when you wish to cite an author whose opinions challenge or vary
greatly from those of other experts.
(4) when you are going to discuss the source’s choice of words.
• Summarize any long passages whose main points you wish to
record as support for a point you are making.
12. +Integrating Quotations
Depending on its length, a quotation may be incorporated into your text by
being enclosed in quotation marks or set off from your text in a block without
quotation marks. In either case, be sure to integrate the quotation into the
language of your essay.
In-Text Quotations: Incorporate brief quotations (no more than four typed lines
of prose or three lines of poetry) into your text.You may place the quotation
virtually anywhere in your sentence:
At the Beginning:
“To live a life is not to cross a field,” Sutherland writes at the beginning of her
narrative (11).
In the Middle
Woolf begins and ends by speaking of the need of the woman writer to have
“money and a room of her own” (4)--an idea that certainly spoke to Plath’s
condition.
At the End
In The Second Sex, Simone de Beauvoir describes such an experience as one
in which the girl “becomes an object, and she sees herself as object” (378).
13. +Integrating Quotations Divided
byYour Own Words
“Science usually prefers the literal to the nonliteral term,”
Kinneavy writes,“--that is, figures of speech are often out of
place in science” (177).
When you quote poetry within your text, use a slash ( / ) with
spaces before and after to signal the end of each line of verse:
Alluding to St. Augustine’s distinction between the City of
God and the Earthly City, Lowell writes that “much against
my will / I left the City of God where it belongs” (4-5)
16. +
Tips for writing your essay
Begin with a long anecdote to draw the reader into your
essay.
Write a thesis that includes all of the categories you will
discuss.
Use examples and definitions to make your point.
Use appositives to describe nouns and eliminate wordiness.
Introduce and cite your in-text quotations.
Enter your sources on your Works Cited list.
17. +
Homework
Read: HG through chapter 24
Post #30: Post a list of five appositive phrases you have
included in your essay.
Post #31: Draft of your complete concept essay
Study: Vocab (1-24)
Bring: Working draft of Concept essay