smg10e_ch10

Provide support for your argument.

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Look back on the ideas that you have generated so far, and ask yourself these questions:

How can I present my ideas as reasons supporting my central claim, the essay’s thesis? For example, Isabella Wright shaped the ideas she generated moving from general ideas to specific details (pp. 492–93) into reasons supporting her thesis about the value of breaking with social conventions.
Have I remembered to include my own analysis in the support instead of just retelling the story through quotation, paraphrase, or summary? (If you are unsure, work through the activities in the Ways In box that follows.)

Ways In

HOW CAN I INTEGRATE EVIDENCE FROM THE STORY?

As noted earlier, to provide support for a short story analysis, writers may quote, paraphrase, or summarize parts of the story. However, this evidence should be offered in the service of a thoughtful examination of the story and go beyond a simple repetition of description, dialogue, and so on. To effectively integrate material from a story, try these strategies:

Use short quotations frequently to support your analysis. Brief quotations are not in themselves superior to sentence-length and longer quotations, but they allow you to stay focused on your own argument and analysis while bringing in key information or vivid details from the story. Look at these examples from the student essays in this chapter:

To the contrary, from the beginning, he—and, through him, readers—sees the little girl as “unusually attractive” and “strong,” with “magnificent blonde hair.” This description of her seems almost angelic (par. 4). (Wright, par. 5)

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Later, the mother reassures the child that the doctor is a “nice man” and “won’t hurt you,” though she can base those assertions only on what little she knows of him: his occupation (par. 15). (Lee, par. 2)
Comment directly on what you have quoted, paraphrased, or summarized so that readers will understand the relevance of this material to your analysis. These comments should connect the quotation, paraphrase, or summary to the idea you are trying to support. One good strategy is to refer to quotations or paraphrases with this, these, or they statements, which are italicized in the following examples:

After quoting the doctor’s violent thoughts about the girl, Lee comments, “Although these statements are arguably exaggerated or hyperbolic, they, like the metaphors of war, imply a tendency to do harm that goes directly against the narrator’s duty as a doctor” (Lee, par. 4).

After summarizing the doctor’s struggle with the girl, Wright notes, “This conflict might be interpreted as a process of reverse socialization or reverse civilization, a transformation that, surprisingly, the story presents as a potentially positive change” (Wright, par. 5).

Another good strategy is to repeat key nouns from quotations, paraphrases, or summaries in your analysis. These nouns are italicized in the following examples:

After quoting part of the story that refers to the doctor smiling in his “best professional manner,” Lee explains that, in using the “phrase ‘professional manner,’” the narrator admits his actions are not sincere but a calculated “professional performance.” (Lee, par. 3).

After quoting and paraphrasing information about the parents’ politeness to the doctor, Wright observes, “In a story where politeness is made to seem absurd, the doctor’s tactless words and his inappropriate use of force actually have the potential to be improvements on his character” (Wright, par. 6).