Read the following excerpt from kurt vonnegut's short story "harrison bergeron": the year was 2081, and everybody was finally equal. they weren't only equal before god and the law. they were equal every which way. nobody was smarter than anybody else. nobody was better looking than anybody else. nobody was stronger or quicker than anybody else. all this equality was due to the 211th, 212th, and 213th amendments to the constitution, and to the unceasing vigilance of agents of the united states handicapper general. some things about living still weren't quite right, though. april, for instance, still drove people crazy by not being springtime. and it was in that clammy month that the h-g men took george and hazel bergeron's fourteen-year-old son, harrison, away. it was tragic, all right, but george and hazel couldn't think about it very hard. hazel had a perfectly average intelligence, which meant she couldn't think about anything except in short bursts. and george, while his intelligence was way above normal, had a little mental handicap radio in his ear. he was required by law to wear it at all times. it was tuned to a government transmitter. every twenty seconds or so, the transmitter would send out some sharp noise to keep people like george from taking unfair advantage of their brains. identify vonnegut's message in "harrison bergeron," and explain how he uses irony and a dystopian setting to convey that message. make sure to cite specific examples from the excerpt to support your response.

the answer is:

magna carta

what: when quoting a source, use the author’s words verbatim, or word-for-word. this means you shouldn’t change any grammar, punctuation, spelling, etc. put quotations around the words to tell your reader where the quote begins and where it ends.

you also need to acknowledge the author. for example, if using mla format for your research paper, you should have in-text citations with the author’s name and page number listed at the end of each quote.

when: use quotations to provide concrete examples to support your claims. using direct quotations is a great way to build your credibility on the subject. it’s also a good idea to quote your source when the author states things in a powerful way. if you think he or she said it best, then use the exact words to share the ideas.

example: in the short story “a jury of her peers”, mrs. hale compares mrs. wright to her caged bird, saying “she—come to think of it, she was kind of like a bird herself. real sweet and pretty, but kind of timid and—fluttery. how—she—did—change” (glaspell).

paraphrasing

what: paraphrasing differs from quoting because you restate the passage in your own words. since you don’t use the author’s words, you don’t need to use quotation marks. however, you still need to acknowledge the author for his or her ideas.

when paraphrasing a text, you should communicate the full meaning of the text; don’t change the meaning. it can be a condensed version of the text, or it could end up being longer than the source it’s paraphrasing.

when: you use paraphrasing when you take notes, or explain a chart or diagram to someone. paraphrasing highlight the important parts of a larger text. it also allows you to simplify the ideas for your readers.

example:

original: “it was no ordinary thing that called her away–it was probably further from ordinary than anything that had ever happened in dickson county. but what her eye took in was that her kitchen was in no shape for leaving: her bread all ready for mixing, half the flour sifted and half unsifted” (glaspell).

paraphrase: as mrs. hales walks around mrs. wright’s home, she notices that the kitchen is in disarray as if she was in the middle of baking bread (glaspell).