Teacher Resources: Things That Work

FORMULA FOR MAKING CONNECTIONS
by Barclay Barrios

Barclay's Super-Secret Formula for Connection (patent pending):

 Connection = Cl+I+Q1+E+T+Q2+Ce

Where:

• Cl = Start by stating your claim, what you are trying to prove.

• I = Then introduce the first quotation.

• Q1 = Give the first quotation.

• E = Explain it in your own words.

• T = Give some sort of transition to the next quotation, providing a clue to connection.

• Q2 = Give the second quote.

• CE = Explain how the second quote connects to the first one in a sentence or two.  This last part is crucial.  You need to explain the connection in order to really prove it.

Barclay's Connection Supplement, or "Nail That Connection!"

This is a useful exercise to make sure that the CE of your connection, the place at the end where you explain the connection between the two quotations, matches up with the quotations you've actually chosen.  I know I've commented on some papers recently that you're making an explanation that doesn't come out of the quotations.  If I've written that on your paper, this is most especially for you.  But this is a great exercise for everyone, since it makes your connections sharper, stronger, and slicker.

1. Select the two quotations you think make a connection.

2. Take a sheet of paper and draw a line down the middle, from top to bottom.

3. Write each quotation on the paper, on either side of the line, so that you can actually see the two pieces of text next to one another.

4. Underline the phrases in each quotation that you think actually connect and then draw a line connecting them.

5. At the bottom of the sheet, write a sentence in which you explain the connection using each of those phrases.

6. Use this sentence to create your CE.

7. Repeat for the next connection.

The idea is that you not only get to see the pieces of text next to each other, which helps you see the connection, but you also refer directly to the quotations as you explain the connection, and to the exact pieces of the quotation that actually connect.  If you can't find phrases that connect in each quote, then perhaps you should choose some better quotes.  If you need to explain the quote for a few sentences before you can make the connection, then there's probably a better quotation you can use.  Go find it.