This document provides an agenda and notes for an English writing class. It covers topics like introductions, conclusions, integrating quotations, citing sources, and punctuation. For introductions, it recommends strategies like using a scenario, statistics, analogy, or previewing negative consequences. For conclusions, it suggests summarizing solutions, ending with a scenario, or making a call to action. The document provides examples and rules for integrating quotations in sentences and as block quotations. It also covers citing summarized sources and punctuating within quotations. The homework assigned is to post an introduction and conclusion, finish a draft using MLA format with works cited, and study vocabulary words.

1. EWRT 1A: Class 39

2. AGENDA
• Introductions
• Conclusions
• Integrating Quotations

3. Introductions are
Important

4. Writing the Opening
Sentences
• To engage your readers‟ interest from the start, consider the following opening
strategies:
• a scenario (like O‟Malley)
• statistics (like Kornbluh)
• a historical analogy
• a research study
• a comparison to other places where the solution has been tried successfully
• a preview of the negative consequences if the problem goes unsolved
• criticism of an alternative solution

5. Endings are
Important too!

6. THE ENDING
• End by summarizing your solution and its
advantages, as O‟Malley does.
• End with a scenario suggesting the
consequences of a failure to solve the
problem.
• End with an inspiring call to action.
• Remind readers of something special about
the problem or solution at the end, as
Kornbluh does when she urges that an
award be given to the companies that lead
the way.

7. Integrating Quotations
Using your library research

8. Using Sources
Statistics can be helpful in establishing that the problem exists and
is serious. For example, Patrick O’Malley cites research to
support his assertion that students prefer frequent exams to
fewer high-stakes exams: “A Harvard study notes students‟
„strong preference for frequent evaluation in a course‟ ” (par. 4).
But his argument would have been stronger and possibly more
convincing if he had cited statistics to support the study‟s
conclusion. All of the other writers in this chapter cite statistics in
their proposals. Let us look at some of the ways Karen Kornbluh
uses statistics to define the problem:
Today fully 70 percent of families with children are headed by two
working parents or by an unmarried working parent. The “traditional
family” of the breadwinner and homemaker has been replaced by the
“juggler family,” in which no one is home fulltime. (par. 1)

9. Kornbluh also compares different time periods to show that the
problem has worsened over the last thirty years. Here are
several examples from paragraph 7. Note that Kornbluh presents
statistics in three different ways: percentages, numbers, and
proportion:
Between 1970 and 2000, the percentage of mothers
in the workforce rose from 38 to 67 percent
(Smolensky and Gootman). Moreover, the number of
hours worked by dual-income families has increased
dramatically. Couples with children worked a full 60
hours a week in 1979. By 2000 they were working 70
hours a week (Bernstein and Kornbluh). And more
parents than ever are working long hours. In 2000,
nearly 1 out of every 8 couples with children was
putting in 100 hours a week or more on the job,
compared to only 1 out of 12 families in 1970 (Jacobs
and Gerson).

10. For statistics to be persuasive, they must be from sources that
readers consider reliable. Researchers‟ trustworthiness, in turn,
depends on their credentials as experts in the field they are
investigating and also on the degree to which they are disinterested,
or free from bias.
Kornbluh provides a Works Cited list of sources that readers can
follow up on to check whether the sources are indeed reliable. The
fact that some of her sources are books published by major
publishers (Harvard University Press and Basic Books, for example)
helps establish their credibility. Other sources she cites are research
institutes (such as New America Foundation, Economic Policy
Institute, and Families and Work Institute) that readers can easily
check out. Another factor that adds to the appearance of reliability is
that Kornbluh cites statistics from a range of sources instead of
relying on only one or two. Moreover, the statistics are current and
clearly relevant to her argument.

11. Ask Yourself:
• Are my sources reliable?
• Do they support my
assertions with facts,
statistics, or credible
opinions?
• Do I need more support?
• Where will I find it?

12. In-Text
Citations

13. In-Text Quotations
• At the Beginning
“Kitten season is overwhelming, crowded, and very hectic. I can be examining one cat
and there will be 10 or more waiting for me with more coming in one after the other on
the other side of the exam room door. It's never-ending and it affects the cats. They pick
up on the stress we feel," says Christa Raymond, a lead veterinary technician in the
Animal Humane Society (“Cats in Crisis”).
• In the Middle
In any given shelter, they are supposed to hold “strays up to only 5 days” according to
animal shelter specialist Stephanie Watson (6).
• At the End
According to Green Eco Services, “75% of Americans admit to littering within the past
five years.”
• Divided by Your Own Words
“We are always telling people about spay/neuter,” says Kit Belcher, the executive
director of Beltrami Humane Society, and “[t]he responsibility starts the day the animal
is born, but many don’t accept the responsibility” (“Spaying/Neutering” 14).

14. Write four sentences that integrate your textual evidence
into your essay: Put one quotation at the beginning, one in
the middle, one at the end, and one broken by your own
words.
• Remembering just a few simple rules can help you use the correct
punctuation as you introduce quotations.
o Rule 1: Complete sentence: "quotation." (If you use a complete sentence to
introduce a quotation, use a colon (:) just before the quotation.)
o Rule 2: Someone says, "quotation." (If the word just before the quotation is
a verb indicating someone uttering the quoted words, use a comma.
Examples include the words "says," "said," "states," "asks," and "yells."
o Rule 3: Ending with that “quotation.” (There is no punctuation if the word
"that" comes just before the quotation, as in "the narrator says that.”)
o And remember that a semicolon (;) never is used to introduce
quotations.

15. Block Quotations
• In the MLA style, use the block form for prose quotations of more
than four typed lines. Indent the quotation an inch (ten character
spaces) from the left margin, as shown in the following example.
Double space, just as you do in your paper.
US Surgeon General Regina Benjamin has, in essence, supported this position:
Americans will be more likely to change their behavior if they have a
meaningful reward--something more than just reaching a certain weight or
dress size. The real reward is invigorating, energizing, joyous health. It is
a level of health that allows people to embrace each day and live their
lives to the fullest without disease or disability.

16. Practice integrating one long quotation
(four or more lines) into your essay.
• Indent the quotation an inch (ten character spaces) from
the left margin, as shown in the following example.
Double space, just as you do in your paper.
Remember these rules:
• Rule 1: Complete sentence: "quotation." (If you use a complete sentence
to introduce a quotation, use a colon (:) just before the quotation.)
• Rule 2: Someone says, "quotation." (If the word just before the quotation
is a verb indicating someone uttering the quoted words, use a comma.
Examples include the words "says," "said," "states," "asks," and "yells."
• Rule 3: Ending with that “quotation.” (There is no punctuation if the word
"that" comes just before the quotation, as in "the narrator says that.")

17. Citing Summarized Material
• Currently, the law states that the speed limit in a residential
area is 25 miles per hour unless posted otherwise (California
Driver Handbook).
• According to the Environmental Protection Agency, it takes six
earths to support an average meat-eating American compared
to three earths for the average vegetarian.
• Since Generation X, major food corporations have peddled
addicting junk food to children from their birth. This has
helped to create the worst obesity epidemic in human history
(Fox).
• Despite euthanasia being the very last method to make room in
the shelter, 70 percent of the 3 to 4 million pets euthanized
nationwide are cats (“Pet Statistics”).

18. Integrate information from
your sources into your essay
using summarized material.
• Summarizing involves putting an idea into your own
words. Summaries are significantly shorter than an
original text. It is a good idea to summarize material
when you want to briefly discuss the main idea(s) of a
longer piece. Summarizing allows you to discuss
central points without reproducing multiple quotation
from a single source. Remember, it is necessary to
attribute summarized ideas to the original source;
that is, you must cite even summarized material.

19. Punctuating within Quotations
Although punctuation within a quotation should reproduce the original, some
adaptations may be necessary. Use single quotation marks for quotations
within the quotation:
Original from David Guterson‟s Family Matters (pages 16 – 17)
• E. D. Hirsch also recognizes the connection between family and learning,
suggesting in his discussion of family background and academic
achievement “that the significant part of our children‟s education has been
going on outside rather than inside the schools.”
Quoted Version
• Guterson claims that E. D. Hirsch “also recognizes the connection between
family and learning, suggesting in his discussion of family background and
academic achievement „that the significant part of our children‟s education
has been going on outside rather than inside the schools‟ ” (16-17).

20. Punctuation
• If the quotation ends with a question mark or an
exclamation point, retain the original punctuation:
• “Did you think I loved you?” Edith later asks Dombey
(566).
• If a quotation ending with a question mark or an
exclamation point concludes your sentence, retain the
question mark or exclamation point, and put the
parenthetical reference and sentence period outside the
quotation marks:
• Edith later asks Dombey, “Did you think I loved
you?” (566).

21. Homework
• Post #45: Your introduction and
conclusion
• Finish your draft of Essay #4
• Study the rest of the vocabulary words
• Bring one clean, hard copy to class.
• It should be in MLA format
• It should include a works cited page