Quoting, Rhetorically

1. Quoting, Rhetorically The Choices Involved with Quoting Sources

2. To Avoid: Hanging Quotes • The third biggest tattooing movement occurred at the turn of the century: religious tattooing. “When it comes to modern Christian tattoo, it can most likely be traced back to the times of the counterculture movement of the ‘60s and ‘70s. While sex, drugs, and rock and roll were waging war against Christian culture, devoted Christians emerged who wanted to claim back lost Christian territory. One of the ways that they did this was to reclaim the practice of tattoo for God and Jesus, by getting tattoos that were inspired by Christian and religious symbols and images” (“Tattoo Johnny”). Many Christian preachers and youth group leaders are getting tattoos with Christian themes to combat the satanic images in rock music. Many of the themes include rock-style designs with scripture or crosses that resemble those of the warriors.

3. Questions to Ask Before Quoting • Whenever you quote, attribute the source, and work with it. • What is interesting about the source? • Why is it significant in the context of what you’re talking about? • What would you emphasize?

4. Unintegrated Black Elk often spoke of the importance of the circle to American Indian culture. “You may have noticed that everything an Indian does is in a circle, and that is because the Power of the World always works in circles, and everything tries to be round….The sky is round, and I have heard that the earth is round like a ball, and so are all the stars.” He couldn’t understand why white people lived in square houses. “It is a bad way to live, for there is not power in a square” (citation).

5. Integrated Black Elk believed the “Power of the World always works in circles,” noting the roundness of the sun, the earth, and the stars. He couldn’t understand why white people live in square houses: “It is a bad way to live, for there is not power in a square” (citation).

6. Grafting Quotes Some words for hangover, like ours, refer prosaically to the cause: the Egyptians say they are “still drunk,” the Japanese “two days drunk,” the Chinese “drunk overnight” (citation). • Most integrated beyond paraphrase. Shows best understanding of the work. • Allows you to give a narrowed emphasize to a specific portion of the text.

7. Sandwiching Quotes In fact, even back when leeches were held in contempt by the medical profession, Sawyer had a solid rationale for choosing them as his subject. Biology, as taught in the United states had left him frustrated: “For sex determination, we’d study Drosophilia, for physiology we’d study frogs, for genetics, bacteria I thought there was more to be learned from studying one organism in detail than from parts of many” (citation). His American professors disdained this approach as a throw-back to nineteenth century biology.

8. Sandwiching Cont. • Who said it, and why is he or she relevant? • When did this person say it and in what context? • How does the quote relate to the current discussion in your essay? • After the quote: What do you think is important about what was just said? • How does it address an important idea or question? • What does the person quoted fail to say or to see?

9. Quotes from Interviews • During a phone interview, I asked my acting teacher, Ed Claudio, who studied under Stella Adler, whether or not he agreed with the ideas behind method acting. I could almost see him wrinkle his nose at the other end of the connection. He described method acting as “self-indulgent,” insisting that it encourages “island acting.” Because of emotional recall, acting has become a far more personal art, and the actor began to move away from the script, often hiding the author’s purpose and intentions under his own.”

10. Interviews Cont. • Dave Pierini, a local Sacramento actor, pointed out, “You can be a good actor without using method, but you cannot be a good actor without at least understanding it.” Actors are perhaps some of the greatest scholars of the human psyche because they devote their lives o the study and exploration of it. Aspiring artists are told to “get inside of the character’s head.” They are asked, “How would the character feel? How would the character react?”