Project 3 Frame a Quote Exercise (Extra Credit)

Step One

Carefully pick a passage from the outside source that you find significant (ideally no more than one or two sentences). Introduce the quote with a signal phrase (that includes the author's name and the title of the article), and reproduce the quote exactly as it is in the original. Put quotation marks around the quote but not the signal phrase you use to introduce it.

Some signal phrases:

explains that       emphasizes that         states that

claims that         suggests that              According to x,

(avoid "Author x says" or "Author x talks about")

Step Two

Next, you will paraphrase (translate into your own words) the quotation you have selected. A paraphrase should be about the same length as the original passage. Start with a lead-in phrase for paraphrasing that lets your reader know you are paraphrasing.

Some lead-in phrases for paraphrasing:

To put it another way,...

In other words,...

What the author means is that...

Author x seems to be suggesting that...

Step Three

Describe why this passage is significant. Again, begin with a lead-in phrase for analyzing that tells your reader you are sharing the importance or value of the quote to your discussion.

Some lead-in phrases for analyzing:

This passage is meaningful because...

This idea is significant to the author's argument because...

This point is critical to consider because...

I agree with the author's point because...

I disagree with the author's point because...

I am of two minds. On the one hand... On the other hand...

[Adapted from They Say/I SayLinks to an external site. by Graff and Birkenstein.]

Here is an example using a passage from the article about friendships among older people:

Step One example

In "Gender and Friendship Norms Among Older Adults," researchers Diane Felmlee and Anna Muraco claim, "Extended social networks and higher levels of social engagement are correlated positively with cognitive functioning, and with a lower rate of cognitive decline..." (3).

Step Two example

In other words, the authors suggest that certain kinds of friendships can help older people stay attentive and perhaps face fewer declines in memory and other reasoning skills. The friendships that have the most positive effects seem to be those that are more participatory.

Step Three example

This passage is meaningful because it offers aging people a way to stay more active and alert in their lives. Friendships can sometimes be difficult to maintain for elderly people who aren't as mobile or who have lost close relationships due to illness or death. The research here may motivate older people to seek communities and even make new friends in the last period of their lives. I could also imagine this research being valuable to those who manage care facilities as it might encourage them to plan more activities to get their residents to mingle and start forging connections. If friendship is as vital as it seems, we should all do more to create and maintain such connections in later life.