Take notes, if you have to. If this is your personal text book and not a borrowed one, consider highlighting the text or writing in the margins.
If you are working digitally, avoid using “copy” and “paste. " You don’t have to write it down word-for-word. Just write the gist of the passage.
Specific style-guides change often. If you are using a style-guide text book, make sure that it is the more recent version. Another option is to use a website.
Argue against another author’s specific idea Continue another author’s specific idea Prove your own point with the help of another author Add eloquence or power with a very meaningful quote
In his book End of Humanism, Richard Schechner states, “I prefer to work from primary sources: what I’ve done, what I’ve seen” (15). As Dixon and Foster explain in their book Experimental Cinema, “filmmakers assumed that the audience for their films was to be an intimate group of knowledgeable cineastes” (225).
In general, your quote should not exceed 3-4 lines of text. If it does (and it is truly necessary), you will need to use block quote formatting. At the end of the quote, include any relevant data that you have not already stated, such as the name of the author, the page number, and/or the date of publication. [11] X Research source
If there is no specific author, then use the editor instead, or whatever your specific style-guide requires.
When you encounter a word you don’t know, look it up! Browse a dictionary or thesaurus for fun. Talk to others. The spoken word is a great source of new and exciting vocabulary.
A good resource is Strunk and White’s Elements of Style. Another great resources is Stephen King’s On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft.
Theme: A common thread or idea that is appears throughout a literary work. Symbolism: An object, character, or color that is used to represent an important idea or concept. Dramatic Irony: Irony that occurs when the meaning of the situation is understood by the audience but not by the characters.
