Writing Zones 12.5

By Liz Mathews with Hannah Ashley

At a recent Writing Zones 12.5 staff meeting, our mentors discussed students’ difficulty with introducing quotations.  It turns out that using other peoples’ voices—whether through quotation, citation or paraphrase—is an absolutely essential skill in academic writing (see Joe Harris, ReWriting; Graff and Berkenstein, They Say/I Say; or Ashley, “The Art of Queering Voices” in JBW).  Even more importantly than choosing “the right quote” is integrating the other voices within, or through, or alongside, the author’s intent.  The art is in the remix, as the 2010 Conference on College Composition and Communication tells us, and collaboration is the proverbial DJ.

For many students, the core issue of quotation arises from not recognizing purpose – why they are using a quotation in their paper.  A WZ 12.5 mentor will ask exactly that question, sometimes resulting in baffled looks or possibly, “Well, I like it” or “It fits.”  A powerful higher order concern emerges – students developing purposeful writing.  As its definition directs, purposeful means “intentional” and “determined” (American Heritage Dictionary, 2009): choice, conscious choice.

Purposeful writing incorporates analysis using a student’s interpretive choices and in so doing expresses the student’s voice.  The work of WZ 12.5 to help develop student writers’ purposeful writing therefore engages students’ analytical and interpretive skills.   Even further, the art of remixing a quotation, citation or paraphrase into one’s own work is an act of identification: not just WHAT am I saying, and WHAT are they saying, but HOW am I saying it and WHO am I being when I do?  These questions begin to be answered collaborating with a WZ 12.5 mentor in session.

In a student/mentor session, a mentor might first inform the student of two components of quotation introduction:

·        A signal that a quotation is coming—generally the author’s name and/or a reference to the work

·        An assertion that indicates the relationship of the quote to your [the student’s] text

University of Wisconsin Writing Center. http://writing.wisc.edu/Handbook/QPA_quoting.html

The assertion is an occasion for the student to discover purpose through her analysis and interpretation.  In a session, the student might analyze the text with a mentor using any myriad of Writing Zones techniques, including questioning, student paraphrasing, and creative solutions:

Context:  At the beginning of King Lear, the King makes his three daughters express their love for him in order to determine their dowries.  His first two daughters exaggerate their love in order to gain riches, but his daughter Cordelia refuses to participate by saying “Nothing.”

Prompt:  King Lear’s quotation “Nothing can come of nothing” (I.i.79)

Using the above techniques and more, the student may determine the line means:  

Nothing will be given to Lear’s daughter if she doesn’t change her speech; and

The line is ironic – the whole play happens after “nothing” is said!; and

King Lear doesn’t appreciate that true love is above language.

Suddenly the quotation has multiple, new meanings (and words) from which the student will select to relate her own text.  A student’s selection and crafting of the assertion – that phrase she creates to relate the quotation to her text – expresses purpose (WHAT do I mean to say?) and authorship (WHO am I, in this text?).  The assertion is now an intentional use of quotation using the student’s determined voice:

King Lear fails to understand Cordelia’s expression of love when he responds “Nothing can come of nothing.”

Here the assertion becomes a moment of developing one's belief and expressing that through the student’s own voice.  She is an author and an authority, interacting with another voice, determining her purpose, realizing another’s meaning, and remixing to her own context.   

An introduced quotation, a paragraph, a completed assignment – is a student’s newly released remix, a product of the student’s choice, collaborative effort with the text and mentor, and, finally, authorship.   These same skills are essential to promoting college access.  The college environment layers voice, source, and intention from students, professors, departments, and material.  College also demands that students interact by contributing their own voices.  A student can use her model of introducing a quotation – analyzing its context, creating her own intention out of her collaboration with the other’s voice, and drawing on her determined voice to remix.

Campus remixes are more elaborate – there can be more layers of voice and intention.  There are also more opportunities for collaboration.  A student’s experience with WZ 12.5 models for her how to make her own tracks in college, how to embrace collaborative effort, and, eventually, how to remix her own thoughts and text in the important act of revision.