SIP Format
Information
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Why should you rarely quote and mostly paraphrase? First of all, readers expect that if you're the writer, they are going to hear your voice. On a similar note, putting ideas into your own voice gives the writing a sense of coherence, uniformity, or flow. Another benefit is that putting ideas in your own words often means that the ideas become more easily understood since you're interpreting/narrating them for readers.
When you do QUOTE, use short quotes! One of the best ways to write with sources is to use "short quotes." This means that you aim for paraphrasing mostly but intersperse quoted phrases (rather than entire sentences) when needed, to add precision, flavor, and specificity to your writing. And/or, you might benefit from these pieces of punctuation to write more concisely with quoted material:
When you do QUOTE, use short quotes! One of the best ways to write with sources is to use "short quotes." This means that you aim for paraphrasing mostly but intersperse quoted phrases (rather than entire sentences) when needed, to add precision, flavor, and specificity to your writing. And/or, you might benefit from these pieces of punctuation to write more concisely with quoted material:
- ELLIPSES ... allow you to modify the length of a quote (or cut out unnecessary content) so that you can get to the "heart of the matter" and write concisely. Use them at the start of a quote when you are pulling from the middle of someone's sentence. Or, use them in the middle of a quote when you are omitting/condensing content. Be careful not to take quotes out of context, though, or change the meaning of the original! That's dirty politics ;)
- BRACKETS [ ] allow you to modify a word or phrase within a quote to ensure the quoted material aligns with your own voice in the sentence to establish proper grammar/mechanics or provide missing details. For example, you could replace "he/she" within the quote with the person's actual name so that your readers have all of the details they need. The brackets show that you've edited the original.
Remember!
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How much info is "enough"/adequate info?
To fully understand the answer to this question, make sure you review the parts of a PIE paragraph: point, information, and explanation. The truth is that the best answer to the question is dependent upon a variety of factors including audience, purpose, and context for any given writing situation. That said, here are some good guidelines to follow for success in academic writing:
- At the PRE-college level (any prep work for English 101, including high school preparation, ABE/GED, and/or English 98/99), you should learn to provide evidence from outside sources (information) to back up your points. This appears in simple format (PIE format); you will need to include at least one piece of information per paragraph to illustrate each point.
- At the college-level (English 101), you should expand on this learning to provide layers (more than one piece) of information per paragraph. Those layers of information might come from a single source, but the source is broken apart into smaller pieces and explained layer by layer. It looks like PIE, IE, IE, etc. By the end of the quarter, you should be able to do this complex layering in a single paragraph using more than one source to back up a single point.
- At the college-level (English 102), you'll be expected to demonstrate the layering you learned in English 101. Since you're writing argumentatively, breaking single sources into smaller layers and explaining as you go will be commended; layering MULTIPLE sources from varied perspectives will be required. This is because proving a single point well (in an argumentative mode) requires providing multiple pieces of evidence to verify and fact-check, examining several different perspectives/lenses, considering opposing viewpoints, and responding to all of these complex layers with extensive research. Thus, in English 102 you'll need to provide layers (more than one piece) of information from multiple DIVERSE & CREDIBLE sources per paragraph.