ANNOYING WAYS PEOPLE USE SOURCES

This is one of the annoyances outlined in the Stedman chapter on Annoying Ways People Use Sources'''. '''

'''“Uncle Barry and his Encyclopedia of Useless Information. ” '''When you place too many quotations in a row without fully exploring the meaning of each, so that the reader doesn’t get “to hear the real point of what the author wants to say” or a chance to “form an opinion about the claims.” Stedman compares this over-reliance on quotations to his annoying Uncle Barry, who often goes on tangents when speaking without fully exploring each story. If you have multiple quotations right in a row, not broken up by any sort of analysis or explanation, you are acting like Uncle Barry. To fix: Reevaluate your direct quotes. Do they need to be copied word for word or could they actually be paraphrased? Review the criteria, “When to quote, paraphrase, or summarize.” Change some quotes into paraphrases (but be careful and do not copy the wording and be sure not to plagiarize!) If you still feel the quote needs to be preserved word for word, then you need to add more explanation between the direct quotes. Separate out the source’s words by interspersing your interpretation; give the reader time to absorb the research.

Thank you very much,

Jose