Anglès:

Book review

Evidence:

Support your opinions with specific evidence from the text. Straight quotations are best; accurate paraphrases or clear references to specific events are second best. Construct your sentence so that quotations fit their grammatical structure. The sentence should be grammatically correct with or without the quotation marks, for example:

"For instance, that girl (..) she was pretty good-looking. I mean that's my big trouble. In my mind, I'm probably the biggest sex maniac you ever saw. Sometimes I can think of very crumby stuff I wouldn't mind doing if the opportunity came up."

Holden Caufield, chapter 9, The Catcher in the Rye

You can introduce evidence by means of a paraphrase:

Holden sees himself as a person who is driven by his disordered sexual impulses.

Or a straight quotation:

Holden sees himself as "the biggest sex maniac you ever saw".

As you can see, the straight quotation is far more effective than the paraphrase.

Now, you try:

"I can't sit in a corny place like this cold sober. Can'tcha stick a little rum in it or something?
"I'm very sorry, sir…" he said, and beat it on me. I didn't hold it against him, though. They lose their jobs if they get caught selling to a minor. I am a goddam minor".

Holden Caufield, chapter 10, The Catcher in the Rye

Write a paraphrase and a straight quotation of this passage. Then click the button and check your answer.

1	A paraphrase.


2	A straight quotation.

In LISAM you can find further explanations on how to cite sources and how to paraphrase properly.