How to quote effectively

Saturday, December 9, 2006

The most effective way to use quotations from literature (or other texts) is to work them into your own ideas.  To do this, you rely on summary, paraphrase, and transitions to lead you into the most important supporting phrases.

GUIDELINES TO USE WHEN QUOTING:

(1)   Never begin a sentence with a quotation.  You must use an introductory statement

to give context to the quotation and show its purpose in your essay.

Some examples of introductory statements are given below (they are underlined). 

A. James says, “The death penalty is inefficient and inhumane” (41).

 B. According to Leu, “Our society would be uncivilized without the death penalty” (42).

C. James believes there is no logical reason to use capital punishment:  “The death penalty is inefficient and inhumane” (41). 

D.  Although some critics say the death penalty is unconstitutional, Leu argues that “our society would be uncivilized without the death penalty” (42).

(2) Never quote an incomplete sentence.  When using ellipsis (…), to indicate you’ve removed words, make sure the parts of the quote you are connecting form a complete sentence.

(3) Never leave a quote floating in the middle of a paragraph without an explanation before and/or after the quotation.  Before the quote you want to provide enough background from the text so that the quote makes sense.  After the quote, you need to explain what it means, how it connects to the topic sentence, and why this is important to your topic overall.  In other words, always explain what the quotation is doing in your paper. 

(4) Use a colon (:) when you are using a complete sentence as your introductory statement (see example 1(C) above).  This is a good option when your sentence leads nicely into a full sentence quote from the text.   

Use a comma (,) when you are using an incomplete sentence (phrase) as your introductory statement (examples 1(A) and 1(B) above). 

If you weave the quote into a sentence (example 1(D)), then you do not have to use any punctuation.

ADDITIONAL GUIDELINES

·         Always use present tense when discussing an author’s ideas (notice that the quotes

·         Always cite all quotations with quotation marks; if you use a writer’s exact words.  Failure to do so, constitutes plagiarism.

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Book Review - The Starbucks Experience

Thursday, December 7, 2006

Currently I am reading the book "The Starbucks Experience: 5 Principles for Turning Ordinary into Extraordinary" by Joseph Michelli. This is a very interesting book giving details of five principle followed by the Starbucks staff - starting from the CEO to the Partners (the Baristas).

The Starbucks Experience: 5 Principles for Turning Ordinary into Extraordinary covers day-to-day incidents in Starbucks on how they handle various scenarios that a business could face. The most interest principle I found was "Embrace resistance". Very few corporate in today's world would take a resistance and make it a business opportunity. Examples varying from taking note of community feelings to quick response on complaints / suggestions have been mentioned. Starbucks is a true example of the phrase: "A TRUE entrepreneur is one who sees opportunities where others see problems". Each Partner is trained to owned the company and hence be an Entrepreneur in his / her own right

The five principles of Starbucks (according to Joseph Michelli) are:

1. Make it your own: all people in the organization feel a true sense of ownership and believe that they have a stake in the success of the company.

2. Everything matters: What goes on behind the counter is just as important as what customers see. Cleanliness, atmosphere, a desired product, customer service, are all important and no detail should ever be overlooked.

3. Surprise and delight: Using as an example the success of Crackerjacks as a snack that people enjoyed that also caught them by surprise when first introduced, Starbucks tries to have new and innovative ways to attract new customers and keep committed customers interested so that the business never becomes static.

4. Embrace resistance: Starbucks, unlike many businesses, does not rely on good public relations to be rid of problems and criticisms. Instead, Starbucks tries to engage in discussions with its dissenters to convince where it's necessary and change when change is what is necessary.

5. Leave your mark: Making money may be a goal of any business, but businesses also have a responsibility to contribute to the greater good. Starbucks does this through financial transparency, involvement in the community, a commitment to making sure that its suppliers are justly paid, and delivering a quality product.

Overall The Starbucks Experience: 5 Principles for Turning Ordinary into Extraordinary is a good read for someone who wants to practice a culture of entrepreneurship and service quality in their enterprise

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