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by Suzanne Davis | Apr 4, 2019 | Academic Writing Skills , Writing Essays and Papers | 8 comments
Direct quotations help your academic writing because they support and emphasize specific points in your essay or research paper. They can be eloquent, powerful, and memorable. They are an important tool in any academic writer’s toolbox.
However, the different rules and guidelines for using quotes can be confusing. When do you quote? How much should you rely on quotes and when are you using too many? What is the difference between citing quotations in APA and MLA?
There are some simple tips on how to use direct quotations in your essays and papers. You just need to understand the mistakes some writers have made and see how to do use quotes effectively.
There are 2 common pitfalls students fall into when using quotations in their academic writing:
These are both easy problems to solve. And by the end of this post, you’ll be able to fix them on your own.
Your professors want to know your ideas about the topic of your paper. If you use quotations to state facts that could be paraphrased or summarized, then your professors will think you are “filling up space” in your paper. They will feel you don’t have your own ideas. Or even worse, they will assume you don’t understand your topic and evidence.
You need to be selective with the quotations you use in your academic writing.
So how do you decide when to include a quotation in your paper? There are four questions that will help guide you. If you can answer yes to any of these questions then try including the quotation in your academic paper.
Can you answer yes to any of the questions? If not, try paraphrasing or summarizing the original quotation. See if your paraphrase or summary gives the same valuable information that’s in the original one.
Professors want to read your ideas about what you’ve studied. So, let them read your words, and use other people’s words to emphasize your ideas.
Your quotations must prove or demonstrate something in your paper. Show your reader how the quotation relates to your ideas. You can do this by making The Quotation Veggie Burger (yes, I’m vegetarian).
1) The top roll is the lead-in: Introduce the context of the quotation. This could include the title of the source, the author’s name, and/ or background information.
2) The veggie burger is the quotation : Include the direct quote with the in-text citation.
3) The bottom roll is the interpretation: Explain the importance of the quotation and how it connects to your point.
The quotation is in black print. It begins at the end of the first sentence. The quote has double quotation marks. The in-text citation is in parenthesis and it includes the page number of the quote.
The interpretation is in green. This is where I explain what the quotation shows and how it relates to my paper.
The example above uses the Modern Language Association (MLA) Style citation.
If you write an in-text quotation in MLA Style follow these guidelines:
Long quotations are also called block quotations. A quotation becomes a block quotation if it is more than 4 lines. The format between in-text and block quotations is different, but The Quotation Veggie Burger works for both types. This block quotation from Charlotte’s Web uses The Quotation Veggie Burger.
The blue sentence is the lead-in, and this sets up the quotation. I describe the situation in which Wilbur is looking at the web.
The quotation is in black print. It is indented and there are no quotation marks. There is a reference at the end of the quotation.
The interpretation is in green print. Here, I explained how Wilbur hopes Charlotte’s web will impress the people at the fair so that Mr. Zuckerman decides to let him live.
If you are writing a block quotation in MLA style follow these format guidelines:
What you need to remember about using quotations in academic writing is don’t overdo it with too many and make sure you connect your quotations to the ideas in your paper.
Do these two things and the quotations in your academic essays will impress teachers and professors.
Want to know more about writing a great research paper? Check out my blog post, ” How to Write a Research Paper Professors Will Love” at https://www.academicwritingsuccess.com/how-to-write-a-research-paper/
Write a great research paper with the free guide, How to Write a Research Paper That Will Blow Your Professor’s Mind.
I absolutely love your infographic and how easily it explains how to use quotations. And I love your sense of humor with the veggie burger. That was pretty awesome.
Thank you, Joanne. I used the Quotation Veggie Burger in my classroom, and my students liked it a lot. I hope it’s useful to all of my readers.
Excellent. The use of visuals really help with understanding. I like the Charlotte Web example.
Thank you, Raven. I try to make writing with quotations easy to understand, and my favorite to way to do that is with visual images.
Suzanne I love the infographics. They make the information so easy to understand. I also really liked your video on the writing challenge. This is a great way to get students using the skills they will need in college. The way you laid out the task was great and your students understand that this is something they will encounter in their college writing. Awesome!
Rosemerry, I’m glad you like the infographics. I try to use them a lot with learning about academic writing.
Absolutely correct. And this concept of flooding an essay with relevant or irrelevant quotations is prevalent in every language.
Nilanjana, that’s an important point. Flooding writing with research is very common everywhere.
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Quoting means taking a part of a source word for word as it is .
How many quotes can I use?
The frequency of quotations varies in different genres of writing. For example, in an English literature paper, direct quotations from a novel or play are often used as the basis for a discussion, while in a business proposal, direct quotes are rare, or not accepted at all.
Generally, it is not recommended to use too many quotes, because extensive quoting gives the impression that you don’t understand your source enough to put it in your own words and that you cannot contribute any of your own thoughts. If you aren’t sure whether you should use direct quotations in a specific course or paper, ask your instructor.
Key Takeaways
Use quotes:
Source: (The Writing Center, n.d.)
How to quote properly
Quotes can be at the beginning, in the middle, or at the end of a sentence. However, it is a good practice to introduce quotes with some sort of statement that signals to the reader that information is coming that is not your own, such as in the two examples shown.
Examples in APA Style
Short Quotes always require that you enclose them in quotation marks, so the reader knows that these are the EXACT words you took from your source. Not putting quotation marks around a short quote is considered a form of plagiarism.
One researcher indicates that “the most difficult thing for them was the attitude of their parents” (Crook, 2003, p. 157), while others believe…
Long Quotes are put in a block indented from the remaining text and have no quotation marks.
A family’s assessment has a powerful influence on how capable teenagers believe they are. In her study, Crook (2003) found:
Their expectations became self-fulfilling prophecies; because their families thought they couldn’t do anything, they didn’t think they could either. After all, if the people who knew them best and presumably loved them most thought they were losers, then the family was probably right. (p. 37)
Can I make changes to a quote?
You may drop words from a quotation, but you must indicate that you did so by inserting three spaced dots called an ellipsis . If you change a quote, for example to make it fit your sentence structure, you must use brackets to do so.
In the example below we omitted a part of the quote, and we indicate this by adding three dots. We also added the word “and” which is put in brackets, because it is not part of the original.
In her study, Crook (2003) found that if teenagers felt that “their families thought they couldn’t do anything, they didn’t think they could either . . . [and] the family was probably right” (p. 37).
Test your understanding
Have a look at the original text below on the left, and then the quotes on the right. All three quotes are examples of plagiarism in various degrees. See if you can spot the error before you click the quote to see the answer and the explanation of the quote as it should be.
Source: (Foot & Stoffman, 1996, p. 20)
Academic Integrity Copyright © 2021 by Ulrike Kestler is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.
In any study of a subject, people engage in a “conversation” of sorts, where they read or listen to others’ ideas, consider them with their own viewpoints, and then develop their own stance. It is important in this “conversation” to acknowledge when we use someone else’s words or ideas. If we didn’t come up with it ourselves, we need to tell our readers who did come up with it.
It is important to draw on the work of experts to formulate your own ideas. Quoting and paraphrasing the work of authors engaged in writing about your topic adds expert support to your argument and thesis statement. You are contributing to a scholarly conversation with scholars who are experts on your topic with your writing. This is the difference between a scholarly research paper and any other paper: you must include your own voice in your analysis and ideas alongside scholars or experts.
All your sources must relate to your thesis, or central argument, whether they are in agreement or not. It is a good idea to address all sides of the argument or thesis to make your stance stronger. There are two main ways to incorporate sources into your research paper.
Quoting is when you use the exact words from a source. You will need to put quotation marks around the words that are not your own and cite where they came from. For example:
“It wasn’t really a tune, but from the first note the beast’s eyes began to droop . . . Slowly the dog’s growls ceased – it tottered on its paws and fell to its knees, then it slumped to the ground, fast asleep” (Rowling 275).
Follow these guidelines when opting to cite a passage:
Paraphrasing is when you state the ideas from another source in your own words . Even when you use your own words, if the ideas or facts came from another source, you need to cite where they came from. Quotation marks are not used. For example:
With the simple music of the flute, Harry lulled the dog to sleep (Rowling 275).
Follow these guidelines when opting to paraphrase a passage:
A summary is similar to paraphrasing, but used in cases where you are trying to give an overview of many ideas. As in paraphrasing, quotation marks are not used, but a citation is still necessary. For example:
Through a combination of skill and their invisibility cloak, Harry, Ron, and Hermione slipped through Hogwarts to the dog’s room and down through the trapdoor within (Rowling 271-77).
When integrating a source into your paper, remember to use these three important components:
Ideally, papers will contain a good balance of direct quotations, paraphrasing and your own thoughts. Too much reliance on quotations and paraphrasing can make it seem like you are only using the work of others and have no original thoughts on the topic.
Always properly cite an author’s original idea, whether you have directly quoted or paraphrased it. If you have questions about how to cite properly in your chosen citation style, browse these citation guides . You can also review our guide to understanding plagiarism .
The University of Nevada, Reno Writing Center provides helpful guidance on quoting and paraphrasing and explains how to make sure your paraphrasing does not veer into plagiarism. If you have any questions about quoting or paraphrasing, or need help at any point in the writing process, schedule an appointment with the Writing Center.
Rowling, J.K. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. A.A. Levine Books, 1998.
International Journal of Research (IJR)
IJR Journal is Multidisciplinary, high impact and indexed journal for research publication. IJR is a monthly journal for research publication.
What is quoting? In a nutshell, the term quoting stands for using statements, phrases, or whole passages in the exact wording as in the original source.
Thus, whenever you take information and insert it directly in your text using either single or double quotation marks (depending on the style of referencing you are required to use), it will be considered quoting.
When used wisely, quotes will only contribute to the overall quality of the text – unless you overuse them.
The truth is that students often don’t feel the limits and rely on quotes too much. Yes, the use of a few direct saying will likely have a positive result if inserted logically. Yet, overusing them often has the opposite effect and can bring you a lower grade.
There are two main issues that may arise if you overuse quotes. First of all, an abundance of famous sayings can draw attention away from the actual content of your work, making a reader lose the main idea.
Secondly, relying too much on the exact wording, you risk being left with a plagiarized paper that doesn’t meet the requirements. In both cases, the result can be unpleasant – you will get a low grade or even fail.
When should you insert a quote? Here are some common instances:
These are just a few tips on how to use this technique wisely. In the following part of our article, you will find a comprehensive guide with five ways to avoid using too many quotes in your papers.
Ask for help.
If you lack experience in academic writing and just don’t know how to handle an assignment right, it is never a bad idea to ask for help.
One way to get help is by asking your professor how many citations you can use in the paper.
If you don’t feel like asking your professor, you can opt for the help of a professional writing service. Expert academic writers know everything about how to write a paper to the highest standard, how to cite a poem or a book, and how many citations to include.
If you decided to cope with the task on your own, the pro tip is always assess the quality of the source you are planning to use.
You should only rely on quotes of authoritative experts like famous writers, scientists, specialists in your field of study, etc.
Each time you are going to use a direct saying, ask yourself – is the source reliable enough to cite it?
This simple trick will help you distinguish sources that really matter from secondary ones. It will let you reduce the number of citations added.
Another important question is whether a chosen quote fits well in the context of your paper. Will it contribute to reaching the purpose of the work? Does it support your main idea?
It may sound good and draw attention, but if there is no actual value for the work, then you should avoid using it.
Another helpful trick is to use effective note-taking strategies.
Before you get to writing a paper, you will likely read a whole bunch of sources. You can prevent citation overkill already at this stage by taking notes in your own words.
Here is what you can do:
Doing so will help you evaluate the material, understand it better, and reflect on it in the paper without using direct quotes .
Finally, the last and the most effective way to avoid having too many citations is paraphrasing . Students use this technique quite often to represent valuable information from external sources in their own words. This is a great way to avoid plagiarism.
Here are the key tips for effective paraphrasing:
Following these steps, you will likely create a passage that accurately shares the information and ideas of the original source. However, at the same time, it will show more of your unique style and won’t be considered as plagiarism.
Citations in academic writing can either win or break the deal. A good quote, when it matches the content and has practical value, can make your text look better and score a higher grade.
The tips above should help you avoid citation overkill. Use them to increase the quality of the text and make sure it deserves a high assessment.
Remember, the key concept behind using citations in academic writing is to be selective when adding quotes. It is vital to include only those citations that add impact to work, not draw attention away from it.
VCE Study Tips
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1. You’re using too many
Bet you didn’t think that you could use too many quotes in a text response essay - it seems impossible, right? Wrong. There needs to be space in your essay for ideas to develop and some sentences (other than the introductory and concluding sentences) will have no quotes in them.
Each quote or group of quotes needs to be quantified in its own right so that it adds sustenance to your essay. If you use a quote, you need to pair it with a concept. The point of quotes is to justify that what you’re suggesting about the text is true and correct. If you can use quotes effectively, then you should be able to justify a huge number of abstract viewpoints about any work.
There is no set number that constitutes a correct amount of quote. It’s mostly about the ratio within an essay.
To ensure that you do not use too many quotes, read over your essay to check that your ideas are clear and the quotes substantiate the concepts that you put forward. For every quote you write, ask yourself, does it support my idea and is it relevant to my essay topic? For every small point that you bring up, you can collect quotes and perhaps use three to four short quotes (see point three).
Too many quotes can give you a headache.
2. You’re using too few
On the other hand, there is such thing as using too few quotes. You need enough evidence to support what you’re suggesting about the text, otherwise it seems as though you lack knowledge of the text.
This one is common mistake made among those students who decide that they can get through VCE English without reading the texts.
The solution is easy. Read the text and make mind-maps of themes and ideas along with quotes from the text that suit. In order to do this, you can read each text at least twice - once to soak in the work, and a second time to work out ideas that require that bit more understanding, and to find those relevant quotes that you need for text response.
You don’t want yours to be like the desert of essays.
3. Your quotes are too long
Quotes that are too long tend to become redundant and a waste of time to memorise and write down. The examiner or marker will also lose interest if your quote spans over more than a line or so. A group of smaller quotes might be more effective in supporting your contention. Of course you should rely on your own judgment and expertise. It is your essay, your ideas and therefore you should decide what types of quotes work best and when!
To evidence your understanding and knowledge of the text, collect several short quotes (one to four words long) from different areas of the text. If you choose several different pieces of evidence from the beginning, middle, and end, all from the same character, and/or from differing characters, this will prove that your idea exists throughout the entire work.
You trying to memorise an entire novel worth of quotes:
You memorising shorter, connected quotes:
4. Your quotes are irrelevant
A common mistake is simply peppering quotes that you remember throughout your essay to make it look like you know the text. Instead, you should actually know your text, and always choose quotes that fully support what you are saying in reference to the author’s contention.
The reader won’t know where your essay is going if you throw random quotes in that don’t support your argument:
5. You’re not embedding the quotes
Finally, to effectively use quotes, you should be embedding your quotes correctly to ensure that your essay flows. You should be able to read the essay aloud, with quotes, as you would read a speech.
Lisa wrote up a extremely detailed blog post on How To Embed Quotes Like A Boss . One read of this and you'll never go wrong with quoting again! Check it out !
Now quite sure how to nail your text response essays? Then download our free mini-guide, where we break down the art of writing the perfect text-response essay into three comprehensive steps. Click below to get your own copy today!
We all know that to be successful at English we need to have decent vocabulary. Any essay can risk sounding bland and monotonous if you can only express your ideas using a limited span of words. Mixing up your essay with some interesting words will:
1. improve your expression,
2. capture your marker’s interest, and
3. impress your marker.
However, a word of caution – don’t be too determined to drown your essay with vocabulary, since you – get ready for this – risk your essay resonating utterly verbose and obstructing readability for the adjudicator (or in normal terms, you risk your essay sounding overly wordy which will therefore decrease the ease and flow when reading your essay). Remember that simple is best, but sprinkling with some vocabulary will definitely spice up your essay!
How do you go about obtaining a better vocabulary?
Although it's important to improve your vocabulary, students often get the wrong impression. You're not improving your vocabulary to sound smarter, but to optimise your ability to use the right word to express your ideas clearly. Find out more about this in the blog post - Why big words can make you look dumber .
Dear my past VCE English Student self,
Before embarking on your Year 12 English journey, I believe there are some wise words from your future and possibly wiser self that would benefit you throughout this challenging, yet rewarding year.
1. Keep perspective
Yes, Year 12 is important. Yes English is important. Yes, doing well in SACs is important. But so is breathing, maintaining a balanced lifestyle and spending time with your friends and family. Throughout the year you are going to waste time calculating minor details, worrying over completed SACs and thinking ‘I’m doomed!’
I’m telling you now, remember the big picture. The year really is a marathon (not a sprint), and the exam should not only be seen as the finish line, but also the finals. (Where yes, your SAC marks/past results matter, but it is like the Olympics. If you train hard, like other athletes, you have the opportunity to challenge Usain Bolt and do a personal best!)
2. Have Confidence
Obviously over confidence can manifest into complacency. But because you will be a bundle of nerdy anxiety, you will have done the work. If you have done all in your power to prepare for the SAC/exam - the rest is beyond your control. It is important to know that if a SAC does not go the way you hoped, it is not the end of the world. Don’t let it knock your confidence down and spread to the next area of study. It is important to isolate your disappointments. Back yourself when walking into the SAC/exam by imagining yourself, calmly sitting down and showing off out your knowledge. English rewards thinkers. So even if you are not the best at spelling, grammar and expression - think big (but spelling, grammar and expression all matter too!).
3. Be Curious
This may seem like a tagline to Britney Spear’s perfume marketing campaign, but I believe this will be an important ingredient to your success in the year ahead. Inquisitiveness has the power to seep into all your subjects. Inquisitiveness that compels you to pursue your ideas, gather information and question what and how you are learning. This not only enriches your ideas, but it means you are expanding your mind. Come to class with questions to pick your classmates or teachers brains with - ask them and be ready with an open mind.
4. Persevere
There are going to be many times throughout the year that you will wish you could do anything but finish an essay. You will attempt to procrastinate by watching the Bachelorette, taking Buzzfeed quizzes and spiral yourself into a YouTube hole. However, looking back, it is easy to see that teasing out your convoluted ideas, thoughts and errors, is a very beneficial process - far more than pumping out mindless essays.
You’re going to find the first few essays you write for texts the hardest (and probably the worst)! But it is an important step in the result. Don’t be afraid to be imperfect!
5. Run your own race
At the beginning of the year, you are going to spend time comparing yourself to others and secretly cataloguing their SAC marks in your mind (just a head up: That is not only a waste of time, but incredibly pointless!). Regardless of whether English is your strength or just because it is a requirement - competing against your peers is a waste of energy. Furthermore, when it comes to the exam, you and your cohort should work together. As for you to do well, you all must do well.
1. Dictionary
At the beginning of the year you’re going to read sample essay responses and think ‘Is this English?! What do these words mean?!’ However, if you begin a little note on your computer or phone that you slowly add interesting and diverse words to, then when it comes to writing responses you have a greater pool to draw from. Once you use them a few times, they will become engrained in your mind and pave the way for vocabulary mastery!
2. Study group
Find friends that are at a similar level and that have different teachers to yours - and 2 weeks out from a SAC, get together to make some mind maps and share ideas. It is important that you all contribute equally and all gain from the time you spend! (Advice: Do not do this in the weeks leading up to formal as conversation will likely go off topic.)
Be organized with your notes! Make sure you begin this at the start of the year, and make them easy and clean to understand. Often it is good to make multiple copies as you progress, gradually refining and shedding excess notes for when you arrive at the exam! I also suggest emailing a copy to yourself or regularly backing it up on a hard drive, as you will hear the horror stories of students losing all their notes. Often Unit 4 wraps up quite quickly, and the time between this and exams is often scattered with ‘final day’ activities, valedictories and formal assemblies as you farewell school. Even though you do have time to commit your knowledge, having well formatted notes heading into the exam will put you ahead of the game.
4. The texts
Always read the texts, not just the study guide. Even though these resources are often highly informative, it is important to use them to build your understanding, rather than creating it. Knowing your texts back to front, is also big secret to success! As often most students will know the key passages and plot developments, but if you can tease out obscure and small moments within the text in your essays - this will help your work to stand out.
5. Newspaper
This may seem old fashioned - but I’m not just talking about the physical newspaper! Reading articles online, researching authors, reviews and scholarly reports about your texts are highly valuable. Not only are they great to nab vocabulary from, but they keep your mind rolling and constantly developing your ideas!
There you go ‘past’ Anna! You’re going to have one of the best years of your life - even though you’ll cry, fall asleep on the floor and be perennially triggered by the library - You’re going to stand on the other side and say it was worth it. Year 12 not only is going to break you, but make you.
Enjoy the ride! Future Anna
P.S: Don’t wear those shoes to Year 12 formal - they will kill your feet!
To be honest, my entire Year 12 felt like a longwinded mass of trial and error. One week I ate hot chips for lunch for five days in a row. Once I spent a free double period watching ‘1 HOUR of AMAZING HQ SPACE VIDEO’ (twice over) on one YouTube tab, while ‘2-Hours Epic Music Mix’ played in the background. Crying for no apparent reason became somewhat of a hobby. I would be lying if I said I was some extremely disciplined, studious pupil who wrote my ATAR goal above my desk or slept with it under my pillow. However, despite the constant feelings that I wasn’t doing enough, that I had no self-control in making myself study, and that at any point I could completely burn out and betray my high expectations, I managed to score better than I ever let myself imagine.
I wish I could give you a step-by-step, foolproof guide on how to achieve ‘ATAR goals’, but if I could, I’d probably just use it to get rich. What I can do, is tell you how I coped when the pressure and the ambition and the sheer magnitude of the content you need to know, becomes too much.
1. Expectations are probably not reality
Like many who are facing Year 12, the summer before I started, I was absolutely terrified. Images of long nights glued to my desk filled me with dread, and I looked at the extensive content of my subjects with great fear. With the high ATAR hopes that a lot of you have, I expected a lot from myself, that I didn’t exactly achieve.
Expectation: Exercise Regularly
Reality: Went on two runs throughout the year and got puffed after 500 metres, both times.
Expectation: Watch less TV
Reality: Six seasons of Gossip Girl, three seasons of Orange is the New Black, five seasons of Parks and Recreations, and a billion episodes of the Simpsons.
Expectation: Study constantly: after school and weekends.
Reality: Admittedly, I spent a lot of time studying, but I also spent a lot of time drinking coffee with friends and sleeping until 1pm.
Ultimately I had to learn that extreme self-pressure would not do any good, and setting impossible goals would only lead to guilt and the feeling of failure. Remember that you aren’t going to meet every goal, or be constantly successful, but one promise you should really keep is to be kind to yourself, even when you don’t meet the mark.
2. ‘Heck no Fridays’
Sick of the constant feeling of guilt when I spent long periods of time binge watching Netflix instead of studying for an upcoming English SAC, I decided I needed to create a real, carefree, lengthy break that I could depend on each week. And so I decided that I would no longer study on Saturdays. The name is not imperative, but I’m a sucker for alliteration ;).
It’s a bold move to cut that much time out of your study timetable, but after a week of classes and afternoon spent at the desk, it can be necessary. Having a routine afternoon where I knew I couldn’t study at all meant that I didn’t feel guilty about it, and thus could truly rest.
3. Study outside the box
Two nights before my Literature exam you could find me sitting at my local cafe with my best mate drinking coffee and playing charades. Before Year 12, the idea of doing that would have seemed like I was giving up, like I wasn’t putting in the effort and that I should be studiously writing practice essay upon practice essay.
However, at a certain point, it doesn’t help just repeating your usual study techniques, or repeatedly doing practice exams. One of the best ways to retain information, and better understand concepts, is to learn them in an interesting way. Therefore, playing silly games based off our Literature texts was both enjoyable, and super helpful for the exam.
4. Five minutes… just five minutes.
Throughout the year there’ll almost definitely be days when you come home from school and stare at your desk like you’d rather sit anywhere else in the world. There’ll be moments where you stare at a blank page for twenty minutes having lost all control of the English language. There’ll be free periods when the idea of doing a practice SAC is so repulsive that you reconsider all future goals and ambitions. When you feel like you can’t study, but you’re in a moment where you really, really have to (five SACS in one week), try the five minute trick.
Say you are trying to write a practice English essay, but you are completely blank. Set a timer on your phone for five minutes. In that five minutes, force yourself to write anything. Even if you don’t use grammar, even if you make no sense, even if your sentences aren’t real sentences, just write whatever you can about the topic. Generally, when the five minutes are up, you have either though of enough ideas and have gained enough motivation to keep going, or can at least say you did five minutes.
There’s no be-all, end-all, Year 12 advice, but I think many would agree that the best thing you can do is stay positive, and try and see the funny side of all the screw ups and let downs that are bound to happen, while appreciating yourself for all that you will achieve.
VCE is a two-year journey which involves a high degree of academic and personal growth. Young adults experiencing these two years of life will encounter a number of challenges which, albeit rewarding, are nonetheless a cause of much anxiety and pressure. It is important to recognise that the process is, at the end of the day, a team effort – VCE students are as reliant on their teachers for learning material as they are upon their parents for support, just as they rely upon friends to offer an outlet of distraction and ease. As a parent, your fundamental role during your child’s years of VCE is to help him/her manage their time, stress and aspirations to ultimately reach their goals. The purpose of this article is to provide a tangible, how-to guide to fulfil a healthy parent-student relationship during VCE. The below strategies detail the importance of communication, teamwork and compromise as the three cornerstones necessary to achieve conjunctive family and academic success.
Communication is pivotal during Year 11 and 12. It is important to ensure that all members of your VCE team, whoever this may involve, remain on the same page. Miscommunication is a messy way to disrupt a streamlined VCE journey – continuous and multi-way communication allows you to take positive steps towards your child receiving the most stress-free experience. To adopt this approach within your own family:
It is easy to forget the purpose of VCE given the mayhem of it all. It is crucial to reassure your child that you are present as a support network and that you hold a stake in their journey. Rather than present their results as a source of positivity or negativity, create the perception that a healthy and committed approach to VCE is of the highest importance. If your child knows that your role is centred around their happiness and success, they will be more relaxed and willing to share their journey with you.
VCE is a long, tough effort. It is two years of high expectations and insurmountable workload which culminates in the endgame of a four-digit number. For a student undergoing VCE, it is difficult to remove yourself from this mindset. As a parent, remember to appreciate the small successes and the baby steps towards a more recognisable achievement. Even a little acknowledgement, such as praising consistent grades or offering a “Good work!” can remind your child that they are on the right track and that you are aware – and proud – of this.
VCE is often described as a rollercoaster. This is a metaphor which accurately summarises the highs and lows that are bound to accompany such an important stage of a young person’s life. It may be tricky to understand why your child may come home one day in seemingly ‘meh’ spirits and so forth. Regardless, these actions (or lack thereof) are designed to subtly inform you of their headspace and mindset at a particular time. If you can form a limited understanding of these cues, they will enable you to provide relevant solutions and/or support. For example, if your child is repeatedly answering to you with curt or brief responses, this may indicate that their mind is elsewhere, and they would appreciate the opportunity to study in quiet for some time. On the other hand, if work progress seems to slow down, a distraction and time-out from study may be necessary. Sometimes, just a brief chat about their day will make a significant difference to motivation levels.
Communication should flow freely between the classroom and your home. Remaining aware of how your child is progressing at school will give you the best ability to support them in a relevant and sustainable way, while also drawing attention to areas of improvement or growth and enabling you to respond to these developments appropriately. Parent-Teacher Interviews are a great way to keep in touch. Alternatively, a brief email every so often will inform your child’s teacher that you are committed to their progress and want consistent updates.
At the end of the day, VCE is a team effort! Without a doubt, your child’s work and dedication is the driving force, yet the role of parents, teachers, friends and others provides a crucial support network. It is important to maintain this vision and to acknowledge your place within this team. To implement this strategy yourself:
Basic, genuine attempts to form some understanding of what your child is learning will assure them of your stake within their academic journey. This discussion does not have to be profound – if your child is studying Biology, do not think it is essential for you to gain a strong understanding of the metabolic processes performed by animals, for example. It will never be necessary for you to be an expert at any VCE subject. Rather, simply encouraging your child to share their knowledge with you will contribute to their learning. Carrying on with the example of Biology, you can ask your child to briefly explain the stages of photosynthesis. This technique will result in a number of benefits; your child will be challenged to demonstrate their knowledge and thereby increase their own understanding, and you will find a source of discussion which fosters growth (both academically and emotionally) between yourself and your child.
It is easy for VCE students to attain a tunnel vision and lean towards route learning during the crunch point of their studies. Articulating your intrigue to learn about their studies will boost student engagement and remind your child that subjects can be extended beyond the classroom. Simply asking natural questions and/or clarifying content will demonstrate your stake in their progress and exemplify the team mindset which promotes cohesive growth. Just discussing your child’s English text with them will position him/her to articulate their ideas and, in turn, contribute to the level of analysis they are able to perform when writing an essay.
A tutor performs the unique role of a mentor, friend and teacher who has the exclusive ability to provide one-on-one support. A tutor can further your child’s skills in a focused and familiar environment, sustaining growth throughout the year and tackling gaps in understanding as soon as these concerns arise. Ultimately, a tutor is an invaluable addition to your child’s VCE team! Lisa's Study Guides provides a one-of-a-kind, specialised tutoring service which offers a wealth of curated resources, 24/7 support and lessons with the state’s most high-performing recent graduates. To find out more about what Lisa's Study Guides can do for you, click here .
VCE is a period of significant change and it is important to remain flexible. By acknowledging the importance of focused study time, you can adjust your family’s schedule to meet the requirements of each individual. Encouraging your child to demonstrate two-way communication and positive habits, such as informing you of upcoming commitments, will ensure that compromise can occur in a swift and agreeable fashion. The following advice will contribute to healthy negotiation within your home:
It is inevitable that Year 11 and 12 are going to require intense focus and a dedication, on your child’s part, to his/her studies. Designating specific study blocks is a good way to ensure that you highlight the importance of routine and consistent study. Despite this fact, it can be difficult to come to terms with the reality of such change. During VCE, it is unlikely that your child will have the ability to sustainably divide their time in a way which is familiar to you. This shift may be significant or subtle depending on the consistency of your child’s study habits, their non-scholarly commitments and a range of other factors. Regardless, it is important to remain adaptable and understand that your child’s response to VCE is a natural reaction to the major change involved.
VCE is often unpredictable and assignments can arise out of the blue. Workloads may be relatively easy-going one moment, before three new assessments come up the next school day and suddenly extra work is required. While it is helpful to theoretically organise family time or outings, it may eventuate that these plans are not always compatible with your child’s schedule. Try postponing events where necessary and approach the situation with a neutral attitude – reassuring your child that Thursday is as good as Tuesday to catch the latest Marvel flick will buoy their spirits and link these events to positive emotions.
Settling for an option which disgruntles yourself, your Year 11/12 student or other members of your family is an unsustainable way to manage family expectations during VCE. While it may not be ideal to find a day of the week which is suitable for everyone, or if it looks like cancelling is the easier option, keep in mind the potential repercussions that these decisions may have. Due to its limited nature, time spent as a family is especially precious when a child is undergoing VCE. Reaching mutually agreeable solutions is the best way to meet both family and school needs and will have a significant impact on morale in the long term.
It may be useful to organise your family’s priorities and represent these ideals in an accessible timetable. Doing so will ensure that your needs as a family are met without the potential for certain elements to be overlooked and inform family members in advance of upcoming plans. Organise your standard week by priority and create a tangible, week-to-week routine like illustrated:
VCE is an undoubtedly testing stage for a student and their family – yet, it does not have to be overwhelming. Successful navigation through Year 11 and 12 will occur as the result of a cohesive relationship between a student and his/her support network. As a parent, your role is centred around support. Offering your child the confidence of your time, patience and effort will make a world of difference to their morale and, in turn, results. Simple family adjustments, as listed above, will contribute to the sustained growth between yourself and your child. Implementing these strategies and anchoring your focus on the themes of communication, teamwork and compromise will ensure that your family’s VCE experience occurs smoothly.
Although clarity in expression takes priority, employing sophisticated vocabulary will win you major points with the examiner. Essays with a (healthy) level of adornment tend to demonstrate greater control of language and insight, giving the piece a perceptive and erudite aspect. Nevertheless, trying to employ new vocabulary seamlessly in your essay can be tough- rather than swapping random words in and out of your essay post-mortem, adapting your vocabulary bank to your own writing style can make the process a lot less jarring.
Finding the right bank for you
The conditions of your vocabulary bank should be suited to your specific needs. A focus on a need or theme enables more visible connections within the vocabulary bank. Having those connections will make it easier to 'memorise' new terms. Instead of compiling a dense 20-page glossary, try breaking your vocabulary bank up into smaller, specific sections.
For example, if you're hoping to find new verbs to express the author's intention :
The author argues
The author shows
The author criticises
The author supports
contends, asserts, posits, proffers…
Branch off 'shows' (Neutral tone):
demonstrates, exposes, elucidates, delineates, explicates…
Branch off 'criticises' (Negative tone):
condemns, denigrates, lampoons, parodies…
Branch off 'supports' (Positive tone):
praises, endorses, exalts, lauds…
From storage to use
After clarifying their definitions, try using some of your new words in a sentence or a paragraph, relating to either your texts or language analysis. You can also extend your vocabulary bank by adapting the words to different sentence structures:
The author criticises the superficiality of our consumerist culture.
Substitution
The author condemns the superficiality of our consumerist culture.
In a condemnatory tone, the author delineates the ostentation of our consumerist culture.
The author argues that gender is an arbitrary concept.
The author asserts that gender is an arbitrary concept.
Asserting that gender is an arbitrary concept, the author explicates the categorist nature of human understanding.
Using convoluted expressions can be fun or exasperating! Whilst demonstrating extensive vocabulary may raise your mark, the key is to ensure harmony between your words and your understanding.
Reading your VCE books during your summer holidays might sound a little mundane, especially when you can spend that time with family and friends, but it will be one of the best things you would’ve done for yourself in preparation for your VCE year. Trust me, you’ll thank yourself later. The difference with these holidays compared with others is that you have an incredibly important year of schooling lurking around the corner – one that is stressful for most, if not all students. So, for your own benefit, you should definitely take advantage of this break! Having read your books once before you start the school year gives you a major advantage over students who haven’t. Let’s look at some reasons why:
1. Preparing your mindset.
Once you have read your books, you will have a good idea of what you’re heading into during the school year. When the teacher begins to teach the text in class, you will be clear on the ideas discussed, in comparison to other students who will still be reading their texts. You’ll be able to easily build connections between class discussions and the book, whereas other students will definitely struggle. Often, they will miss a vital piece of information brought up in class simply because they didn’t realise how significant that idea is to a section in the book or even the book as a whole!
2. Exposure to all the possibilities.
Even though you might not start studying a text until mid-way through the year or even in Term 4, having read the books gives you a head start on absorbing all the information around you. Throughout the year, you may come across something that catches your eye on the internet (whether it be from a news source or online blog) that you see has ideas which relate to one of the texts you will be studying in the near future. The best thing is that you’ll be able to bookmark it for a later date to revisit! For example, if one of your texts is Brooklyn , a novel about an Irish woman’s immigration to America, if you come across stories about immigration, or references to Irish versus American culture, then this would be ideal for you to save for later!
3. Lighten the workload in VCE.
You’ve already done half the work if you read your novels in the holidays. Many teachers and VCE examiners recommend at least reading your texts twice before your exam (read more about this here ). This is because the first read is often to grasp ideas and get an overall understanding of the text. The second reading is for analysis, exploring in detail particular ideas, quotes and others. Since VCE is a heavy-workload year, it would definitely be a smart move if you lifted some of that weight during your holidays. Many people think it will be fine to leave the reading task to the last minute – right before they start studying the text in class, but knowing VCE, SACs and assignments will be thrown your way, meaning that you’ll have less time than you had intended to read. So the earlier you get started, the better!
The summer break is definitely a time when you can relax and just enjoy life. It all comes down to simple time-management. Instead of just lazing at the beach, why not spend a little bit of that time also reading a couple of chapters? Or, you could plan to read about 20 minutes a day, at a time that’s most convenient for you! There’s no reason why you can’t read your books and have fun during your holidays. So just open your books and give them a read!
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By Cari Bennette
Academic essays are an unavoidable part of the educational journey. Learning to write well may be one of the greatest skills you gain during your college years. Most students, however, will commit many errors before learning the art of academic essay writing.
While you can't avoid writing essays, you can avoid making some of these common mistakes:
Not having a strong thesis statement, using too many quotes in an essay, making grammar, spelling and pronoun mistakes, not having a good bibliography, using resources that aren't credible, want to improve your essay writing skills.
The point of an essay is to create an argument and defend a thesis. If you're writing about a work of literature, some background to clarify the topic can be helpful. But the majority of your essay should involve your analysis based on credible research. Don't simply restate what happened in the book.
Coming up with a strong thesis statement is essential to writing a good essay. The thesis statement is the hook on which the rest of your essay hangs. It should state an opinion and be as specific as possible. Example weak thesis statement: The Great Gatsby is a great example of American Literature. Example strong thesis statement: The Great Gatsby captures the essence of America's Jazz Age in its decadence, materialism and ultimately, its tragic emptiness.
The essay is supposed to reflect your understanding of the topic and the research you've done to back up your argument. Overuse of quotes either from the work you're analyzing or from the research you've done undermines your authority on the topic. Quotes should be used sparingly and only when they drive home a point with an eloquence you can't match with your own words.
Defined as “the practice of taking someone else's work or ideas and passing them off as one's own,” plagiarism is a serious offense. Colleges and universities have strict policies against plagiarism and use various tools to check your work for plagiarised content. You won't get away with it, and sometimes it can even get you suspended. Professors can recognize if something sounds like a student wrote it or if it came from another source, so don't try to fool them.
There are two kinds of plagiarism:
Your essay should contain your own original thesis, analysis and ideas backed up by credible research from academic authorities.
Worried about plagiarism? ProWritingAid's plagiarism checker checks your work against over a billion web-pages, published works, and academic papers so you can be sure of its originality. Did you know that many of the free plagiarism checkers online sell your writing to other sources? With ProWritingAid, you can be certain that your original work is secure. Paying for this kind of service might feel like a lot, but trust me, it's worth it.
Okay, let's break these down:
You can check for all of these errors using ProWritingAid. The Homonym report will highlight all of the words in your essay that sound the same as others but are spelled differently. This will help you avoid any 'its/it's or 'their/they're/there' mistakes.
The bibliography format for academic essays is usually the MLA style unless your professor specifically requests a different format. For a complete list of how to cite resources in MLA style, check out this site . Don't lose points over your bibliography. The hard part of your essay should be coming up with an original analysis of your topic. The bibliography is formulaic and easy to get right if you give it a little effort. In the age of the Internet, it's easy to type in a keyword and find dozens of articles on it. But that doesn't mean all of those articles are credible. Make sure that the resources you use come from academic experts. For tips on how to find credible academic resources online, check out this site . Avoiding these mistakes will improve your essay writing, so you can achieve higher quality and confidence in your academic writing. And it will make your professors happy, too. Use ProWritingAid!Are your teachers always pulling you up on the same errors? Maybe your sentences are too long and your meaning is getting lost or you're using the same sentence starter over and over again. ProWritingAid helps you catch these issues in your essay before you submit it. Be confident about grammarCheck every email, essay, or story for grammar mistakes. Fix them before you press send. Cari BennetteCari Bennette is an avid blogger and writer. She covers different aspects of writing and blogging in her articles and plans to try her hand in fiction writing. Get started with ProWritingAidIt's A StealBring your story to life for less. Get 25% off yearly plans in our Storyteller's Sale. Grab the discount while it lasts. Drop us a line or let's stay in touch via : Purdue Online Writing Lab Purdue OWL® College of Liberal Arts Paraphrase: Write It in Your Own WordsWelcome to the Purdue OWLThis page is brought to you by the OWL at Purdue University. When printing this page, you must include the entire legal notice. Copyright ©1995-2018 by The Writing Lab & The OWL at Purdue and Purdue University. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, reproduced, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our terms and conditions of fair use. Paraphrasing is one way to use a text in your own writing without directly quoting source material. Anytime you are taking information from a source that is not your own, you need to specify where you got that information. A paraphrase is...
Paraphrasing is a valuable skill because...
6 Steps to Effective Paraphrasing
Some examples to compareNote that the examples in this section use MLA style for in-text citation. The original passage:Students frequently overuse direct quotation in taking notes, and as a result they overuse quotations in the final [research] paper. Probably only about 10% of your final manuscript should appear as directly quoted matter. Therefore, you should strive to limit the amount of exact transcribing of source materials while taking notes. Lester, James D. Writing Research Papers . 2nd ed., 1976, pp. 46-47. A legitimate paraphrase:In research papers, students often quote excessively, failing to keep quoted material down to a desirable level. Since the problem usually originates during note taking, it is essential to minimize the material recorded verbatim (Lester 46-47). An acceptable summary:Students should take just a few notes in direct quotation from sources to help minimize the amount of quoted material in a research paper (Lester 46-47). A plagiarized version:Students often use too many direct quotations when they take notes, resulting in too many of them in the final research paper. In fact, probably only about 10% of the final copy should consist of directly quoted material. So it is important to limit the amount of source material copied while taking notes. A note about plagiarism: This example has been classed as plagiarism, in part, because of its failure to deploy any citation. Plagiarism is a serious offense in the academic world. However, we acknowledge that plagiarism is a difficult term to define; that its definition may be contextually sensitive; and that not all instances of plagiarism are created equal—that is, there are varying “degrees of egregiousness” for different cases of plagiarism. Get the Reddit appThe subreddit for discussion related to college and collegiate life. Lifehack: The more quotes you use for your essay/lab report/paper, the less you have to typeGood quoting and referencing look a lot better than bullshitting in your own words, not only that but you'll let the quotes do the talking, just provide some commentary By continuing, you agree to our User Agreement and acknowledge that you understand the Privacy Policy . Enter the 6-digit code from your authenticator appYou’ve set up two-factor authentication for this account. Enter a 6-digit backup codeCreate your username and password. Reddit is anonymous, so your username is what you’ll go by here. Choose wisely—because once you get a name, you can’t change it. Reset your passwordEnter your email address or username and we’ll send you a link to reset your password Check your inboxAn email with a link to reset your password was sent to the email address associated with your account Choose a Reddit account to continueWatch CBS News These Republicans denounced Trump and endorsed Harris at the DNC. Here's what they said.By Kathryn Watson Updated on: August 23, 2024 / 12:18 AM EDT / CBS News Several prominent Republicans — some of whom worked for former President Donald Trump — took to the stage at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago to endorse Vice President Kamala Harris. Former Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan; Olivia Troye, who was homeland security adviser to Vice President Mike Pence; former Trump White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham and former Rep. Adam Kinzinger have all thrown their support behind the Democratic nominee and suggested Trump lacks the moral character to lead the nation again. They all had one message to their fellow Republicans and independents: Do the right thing and vote for Harris in November. "To my fellow Republicans at home that want to pivot back toward policy, empathy and tone, you know the right thing to do, now let's have the courage to do it in November," said Duncan, summarizing the other Republican speakers' speeches as well as his own. Duncan knows what courage requires. Defending the election results in Georgia after the 2020 presidential election, when Trump narrowly lost in the state, Duncan faced such serious threats from Trump supporters that law enforcement had to protect his home. "In our family, my wife, Brooke, and I are raising three boys and we have a family motto," Duncan said Wednesday night at the DNC. "And it says, 'Doing the right thing will never be the wrong thing.' During 2020, during just the lowest of lows when we had armed officers outside our house protecting us from other Republicans, Donald Trump had targeted us. My son came downstairs and he handed me this coaster that I had given him years before at a father-son retreat for our church. And he said, 'Hey dad, doing the right thing will never be the wrong thing. Stay strong.'" Troye, the former Pence adviser, said she "grew up in the kind of working family that Trump pretends to care about." "Conservative. Catholic. Texan," she said. "July 4th was our most sacred holiday. Those values made me a Republican. And they're the same values that make me proud to support Kamala Harris." Troye described working inside Trump's White House as "terrifying." "But what keeps me up at night is what'll happen if he gets back there," she said. "The guardrails are gone, the few adults in the room the first time resigned or were fired." Grisham, who was criticized for never holding a press briefing during her tenure, resigned on Jan. 6, 2021, as rioters assaulted the Capitol and Trump said nothing to stop them. "I wasn't just a Trump supporter, I was a true believer," Grisham told the DNC crowd. "I was one of his closest advisers. The Trump family became my family. I spent Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's all at Mar-a-Lago. I saw him when the cameras were off. Behind closed doors, Trump mocks his supporters. He calls them basement dwellers." Grisham recalled a hospital visit when Americans were dying at the ICU and she said he was upset the cameras weren't on him. "He has no empathy, no morals, and no fidelity to the truth," she said. "He used to tell me, 'It doesn't matter what you say, Stephanie — say it enough and people will believe you.' But it does matter. What you say matters. And what you don't say matters. On January 6th, I asked Melania if we could at least tweet that while peaceful protest is the right of every American, there's no place for lawlessness or violence. She replied with one word: 'No.'" Grisham said she "couldn't be part of the insanity any longer." "When I was press secretary, I got skewered for never holding a White House briefing," she said. "It's because, unlike my boss, I never wanted to stand at that podium and lie. Now here I am, behind a podium, advocating for a Democrat. And that's because I love my country more than I love my party. Kamala Harris tells the truth. She respects the American people. And she has my vote." Former Republican Anna Navarro, a Nicaraguan-born political commentator and co-host of "The View," also spoke out against Trump on stage at the DNC. She stopped supporting Republicans in 2016, partly over the "Access Hollywood" tape. Navarro blasted Trump for calling Harris a "communist." "Let's be serious," Navarro said. "Donald Trump and his minions call Kamala a communist. I know communism. I fled communism from Nicaragua when I was 8 years old. I don't take it lightly." Kinzinger, a Republican former congressman from Illinois who left office in 2023 and has long been critical of Trump, spoke on the final night of the DNC and said the Republican Party has lost its way. "Donald Trump has suffocated the soul of the Republican Party," Kinzinger said. "His fundamental weakness has coursed through my party like an illness." He said the Republican Party has "switched its allegiance" to "a man whose only purpose is himself." "Donald Trump is a weak man pretending to be strong. A small man pretending to be big. A faithless man pretending to be righteous. A perpetrator who can't stop playing the victim. He puts on quite a show. But there's no real strength there." Kinzinger said he never thought he'd be speaking at a Democratic convention. "But I've learned something about the Democratic Party. And I want to let my fellow Republicans in on the secret. The Democrats are as patriotic as us," he said to loud applause. "They love this country just as much as we do. And they are as eager to defend American values at home and abroad as we conservatives have ever been. I was relieved to discover that."
Kathryn Watson is a politics reporter for CBS News Digital, based in Washington, D.C. More from CBS NewsMore than 200 former Bush, McCain and Romney staffers endorse HarrisJD Vance says Kamala Harris "can go to hell" over Afghanistan withdrawalH.R. McMaster hopes to "inoculate" Trump from people who'd "push his buttons"RFK Jr. wants off the ballot in 10 states. Some battlegrounds are saying noSamantha Putterman, PolitiFact Samantha Putterman, PolitiFact Leave your feedback
Fact-checking warnings from Democrats about Project 2025 and Donald TrumpThis fact check originally appeared on PolitiFact . Project 2025 has a starring role in this week’s Democratic National Convention. And it was front and center on Night 1. WATCH: Hauling large copy of Project 2025, Michigan state Sen. McMorrow speaks at 2024 DNC “This is Project 2025,” Michigan state Sen. Mallory McMorrow, D-Royal Oak, said as she laid a hardbound copy of the 900-page document on the lectern. “Over the next four nights, you are going to hear a lot about what is in this 900-page document. Why? Because this is the Republican blueprint for a second Trump term.” Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, has warned Americans about “Trump’s Project 2025” agenda — even though former President Donald Trump doesn’t claim the conservative presidential transition document. “Donald Trump wants to take our country backward,” Harris said July 23 in Milwaukee. “He and his extreme Project 2025 agenda will weaken the middle class. Like, we know we got to take this seriously, and can you believe they put that thing in writing?” Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Harris’ running mate, has joined in on the talking point. “Don’t believe (Trump) when he’s playing dumb about this Project 2025. He knows exactly what it’ll do,” Walz said Aug. 9 in Glendale, Arizona. Trump’s campaign has worked to build distance from the project, which the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, led with contributions from dozens of conservative groups. Much of the plan calls for extensive executive-branch overhauls and draws on both long-standing conservative principles, such as tax cuts, and more recent culture war issues. It lays out recommendations for disbanding the Commerce and Education departments, eliminating certain climate protections and consolidating more power to the president. Project 2025 offers a sweeping vision for a Republican-led executive branch, and some of its policies mirror Trump’s 2024 agenda, But Harris and her presidential campaign have at times gone too far in describing what the project calls for and how closely the plans overlap with Trump’s campaign. PolitiFact researched Harris’ warnings about how the plan would affect reproductive rights, federal entitlement programs and education, just as we did for President Joe Biden’s Project 2025 rhetoric. Here’s what the project does and doesn’t call for, and how it squares with Trump’s positions. Are Trump and Project 2025 connected?To distance himself from Project 2025 amid the Democratic attacks, Trump wrote on Truth Social that he “knows nothing” about it and has “no idea” who is in charge of it. (CNN identified at least 140 former advisers from the Trump administration who have been involved.) The Heritage Foundation sought contributions from more than 100 conservative organizations for its policy vision for the next Republican presidency, which was published in 2023. Project 2025 is now winding down some of its policy operations, and director Paul Dans, a former Trump administration official, is stepping down, The Washington Post reported July 30. Trump campaign managers Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita denounced the document. WATCH: A look at the Project 2025 plan to reshape government and Trump’s links to its authors However, Project 2025 contributors include a number of high-ranking officials from Trump’s first administration, including former White House adviser Peter Navarro and former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson. A recently released recording of Russell Vought, a Project 2025 author and the former director of Trump’s Office of Management and Budget, showed Vought saying Trump’s “very supportive of what we do.” He said Trump was only distancing himself because Democrats were making a bogeyman out of the document. Project 2025 wouldn’t ban abortion outright, but would curtail accessThe Harris campaign shared a graphic on X that claimed “Trump’s Project 2025 plan for workers” would “go after birth control and ban abortion nationwide.” The plan doesn’t call to ban abortion nationwide, though its recommendations could curtail some contraceptives and limit abortion access. What’s known about Trump’s abortion agenda neither lines up with Harris’ description nor Project 2025’s wish list. Project 2025 says the Department of Health and Human Services Department should “return to being known as the Department of Life by explicitly rejecting the notion that abortion is health care.” It recommends that the Food and Drug Administration reverse its 2000 approval of mifepristone, the first pill taken in a two-drug regimen for a medication abortion. Medication is the most common form of abortion in the U.S. — accounting for around 63 percent in 2023. If mifepristone were to remain approved, Project 2025 recommends new rules, such as cutting its use from 10 weeks into pregnancy to seven. It would have to be provided to patients in person — part of the group’s efforts to limit access to the drug by mail. In June, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a legal challenge to mifepristone’s FDA approval over procedural grounds. WATCH: Trump’s plans for health care and reproductive rights if he returns to White House The manual also calls for the Justice Department to enforce the 1873 Comstock Act on mifepristone, which bans the mailing of “obscene” materials. Abortion access supporters fear that a strict interpretation of the law could go further to ban mailing the materials used in procedural abortions, such as surgical instruments and equipment. The plan proposes withholding federal money from states that don’t report to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention how many abortions take place within their borders. The plan also would prohibit abortion providers, such as Planned Parenthood, from receiving Medicaid funds. It also calls for the Department of Health and Human Services to ensure that the training of medical professionals, including doctors and nurses, omits abortion training. The document says some forms of emergency contraception — particularly Ella, a pill that can be taken within five days of unprotected sex to prevent pregnancy — should be excluded from no-cost coverage. The Affordable Care Act requires most private health insurers to cover recommended preventive services, which involves a range of birth control methods, including emergency contraception. Trump has recently said states should decide abortion regulations and that he wouldn’t block access to contraceptives. Trump said during his June 27 debate with Biden that he wouldn’t ban mifepristone after the Supreme Court “approved” it. But the court rejected the lawsuit based on standing, not the case’s merits. He has not weighed in on the Comstock Act or said whether he supports it being used to block abortion medication, or other kinds of abortions. Project 2025 doesn’t call for cutting Social Security, but proposes some changes to Medicare“When you read (Project 2025),” Harris told a crowd July 23 in Wisconsin, “you will see, Donald Trump intends to cut Social Security and Medicare.” The Project 2025 document does not call for Social Security cuts. None of its 10 references to Social Security addresses plans for cutting the program. Harris also misleads about Trump’s Social Security views. In his earlier campaigns and before he was a politician, Trump said about a half-dozen times that he’s open to major overhauls of Social Security, including cuts and privatization. More recently, in a March 2024 CNBC interview, Trump said of entitlement programs such as Social Security, “There’s a lot you can do in terms of entitlements, in terms of cutting.” However, he quickly walked that statement back, and his CNBC comment stands at odds with essentially everything else Trump has said during the 2024 presidential campaign. Trump’s campaign website says that not “a single penny” should be cut from Social Security. We rated Harris’ claim that Trump intends to cut Social Security Mostly False. Project 2025 does propose changes to Medicare, including making Medicare Advantage, the private insurance offering in Medicare, the “default” enrollment option. Unlike Original Medicare, Medicare Advantage plans have provider networks and can also require prior authorization, meaning that the plan can approve or deny certain services. Original Medicare plans don’t have prior authorization requirements. The manual also calls for repealing health policies enacted under Biden, such as the Inflation Reduction Act. The law enabled Medicare to negotiate with drugmakers for the first time in history, and recently resulted in an agreement with drug companies to lower the prices of 10 expensive prescriptions for Medicare enrollees. Trump, however, has said repeatedly during the 2024 presidential campaign that he will not cut Medicare. Project 2025 would eliminate the Education Department, which Trump supportsThe Harris campaign said Project 2025 would “eliminate the U.S. Department of Education” — and that’s accurate. Project 2025 says federal education policy “should be limited and, ultimately, the federal Department of Education should be eliminated.” The plan scales back the federal government’s role in education policy and devolves the functions that remain to other agencies. Aside from eliminating the department, the project also proposes scrapping the Biden administration’s Title IX revision, which prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. It also would let states opt out of federal education programs and calls for passing a federal parents’ bill of rights similar to ones passed in some Republican-led state legislatures. Republicans, including Trump, have pledged to close the department, which gained its status in 1979 within Democratic President Jimmy Carter’s presidential Cabinet. In one of his Agenda 47 policy videos, Trump promised to close the department and “to send all education work and needs back to the states.” Eliminating the department would have to go through Congress. What Project 2025, Trump would do on overtime payIn the graphic, the Harris campaign says Project 2025 allows “employers to stop paying workers for overtime work.” The plan doesn’t call for banning overtime wages. It recommends changes to some Occupational Safety and Health Administration, or OSHA, regulations and to overtime rules. Some changes, if enacted, could result in some people losing overtime protections, experts told us. The document proposes that the Labor Department maintain an overtime threshold “that does not punish businesses in lower-cost regions (e.g., the southeast United States).” This threshold is the amount of money executive, administrative or professional employees need to make for an employer to exempt them from overtime pay under the Fair Labor Standards Act. In 2019, the Trump’s administration finalized a rule that expanded overtime pay eligibility to most salaried workers earning less than about $35,568, which it said made about 1.3 million more workers eligible for overtime pay. The Trump-era threshold is high enough to cover most line workers in lower-cost regions, Project 2025 said. The Biden administration raised that threshold to $43,888 beginning July 1, and that will rise to $58,656 on Jan. 1, 2025. That would grant overtime eligibility to about 4 million workers, the Labor Department said. It’s unclear how many workers Project 2025’s proposal to return to the Trump-era overtime threshold in some parts of the country would affect, but experts said some would presumably lose the right to overtime wages. Other overtime proposals in Project 2025’s plan include allowing some workers to choose to accumulate paid time off instead of overtime pay, or to work more hours in one week and fewer in the next, rather than receive overtime. Trump’s past with overtime pay is complicated. In 2016, the Obama administration said it would raise the overtime to salaried workers earning less than $47,476 a year, about double the exemption level set in 2004 of $23,660 a year. But when a judge blocked the Obama rule, the Trump administration didn’t challenge the court ruling. Instead it set its own overtime threshold, which raised the amount, but by less than Obama. Support Provided By: Learn more Educate your inboxSubscribe to Here’s the Deal, our politics newsletter for analysis you won’t find anywhere else. Thank you. Please check your inbox to confirm. Read and watch Kamala Harris' full speech at the Democratic National ConventionHarris' speech was one of the shortest convention acceptance speeches ever, clocking in at a little over 37 minutes., by staff • published august 22, 2024 • updated on august 22, 2024 at 11:08 pm. Editor's note: The text of the speech below is as prepared. Her actual delivery may have varied. 📺 24/7 Chicago news stream: Watch NBC 5 free wherever you are Good evening. To my husband, Doug, thank you for being an incredible partner to me and father to Cole and Ella. And happy anniversary. I love you so very much. To Joe Biden — Mr. President. I am forever grateful for your lifetime of leadership and your trust in me. And to Coach Tim Walz, you are going to be an incredible Vice President. Decision 2024Trump team downplays Arlington ‘incident' in an effort to minimize political falloutHarris and Walz to sit down with CNN for first interview since launching campaignAnd to the delegates and everyone who has put your faith in our campaign — your support is humbling. America, the path that led me here in recent weeks, was no doubt… unexpected. Feeling out of the loop? We'll catch you up on the Chicago news you need to know. Sign up for the weekly Chicago Catch-Up newsletter . But I’m no stranger to unlikely journeys. My mother Shyamala Harris had one of her own. I miss her every day. Especially now. And I know she’s looking down tonight. And smiling. My mother was 19 when she crossed the world alone. Traveling from India to California. With an unshakeable dream to be the scientist who would cure breast cancer. When she finished school, she was supposed to return home to a traditional arranged marriage. But, as fate would have it, she met my father, Donald Harris. A student from Jamaica. They fell in love and got married. And that act of self-determination made my sister Maya and me. Growing up, we moved a lot. I will always remember that big Mayflower truck packed with all our belongings. Ready to go. To Illinois. To Wisconsin. And wherever our parents’ jobs took us. My early memories of my parents together are joyful ones. A home filled with laughter and music. Aretha. Coltrane. And Miles. At the park, my mother would tell us to stay close. But my father would just smile, and say, "Run, Kamala. Run. Don’t be afraid. Don’t let anything stop you.” From my earliest years, he taught me to be fearless. But the harmony between my parents did not last. When I was in elementary school, they split up. And it was mostly my mother who raised us. Before she could finally afford to buy a home, she rented a small apartment in the East Bay. In the Bay, you either live in the hills or the flatlands. We, lived in the flats. A beautiful working-class neighborhood of firefighters, nurses and construction workers. All, who tended their lawns with pride. My mother worked long hours. And, like many working parents, she leaned on a trusted circle to help raise us. Mrs. Shelton, who ran the daycare below us and became a second mother. Uncle Sherman. Aunt Mary. Uncle Freddy. And Auntie Chris. None of them, family by blood. And all of them, family by love. Family who taught us how to make gumbo. How to play chess. And sometimes even let us win. Family who loved us. Believed in us. And told us we could be anything. Do anything. They instilled in us the values they personified. Community. Faith. And the importance of treating others as you would want to be treated. With kindness. Respect. And compassion. My mother was a brilliant, five-foot-tall, brown woman with an accent. And, as the eldest child, I saw how the world would sometimes treat her. But she never lost her cool. She was tough. Courageous. A trailblazer in the fight for women’s health. And she taught Maya and me a lesson that Michelle mentioned the other night — she taught us to never complain about injustice. But…do something about it. She also taught us — never do anything half-assed. That’s, a direct quote. I grew up immersed in the ideals of the Civil Rights Movement. My parents had met at a civil rights gathering. And they made sure we learned about civil rights leaders, including lawyers like Thurgood Marshall and Constance Baker Motley. Those who battled in the courtroom to make real the Promise of America. So, at a young age, I decided I wanted to do that work. I wanted to be a lawyer. And when it came time to choose – he type, of law I would pursue – I reflected on a pivotal moment in my life. When I was in high school, I started to notice something about my best friend Wanda. She was sad at school. And there were times she didn’t want to go home. So, one day, I asked if everything was alright and she confided in me that she was being sexually abused by her step-father. And I immediately told her she had to come stay with us. And she did. That is one of the reasons I became a prosecutor. To protect people like Wanda. Because I believe everyone has a right to safety. To dignity. And to justice. As a prosecutor, when I had a case, I charged it not in the name of the victim. But in the name of “The People.” For a simple reason. In our system of justice, a harm against any one of us is a harm against all of us. I would often explain this, to console survivors of crime. To remind them no one should be made to fight alone. We are all in this together. Every day in the courtroom, I stood proudly before a judge and said five words: “Kamala Harris, for the People.” And to be clear, my entire career, I have only had one client. The People. And so, on behalf of The People, on behalf of every American. Regardless of party, race or gender. Or the language your grandmother speaks. On behalf of my mother and everyone who has ever set out on their own unlikely journey. On behalf of Americans like the people I grew up with. People who work hard. Chase their dreams and look out for one another. On behalf of everyone whose story could only be written in the greatest nation on Earth. I accept your nomination for President of the United States of America. With this election, our nation has a precious, fleeting opportunity to move past the bitterness, cynicism and divisive battles of the past. A chance to chart a New Way Forward. Not as members of any one party or faction But as Americans. I know there are people of various political view watching tonight. And I want you to know: I promise to be a President for all Americans. You can always trust me to put country above party and self. To hold sacred America’s fundamental principles. From the rule of law. To free and fair elections. To the peaceful transfer of power. I will be a President who unites us around our highest aspirations. A President who leads and listens. Who is realistic. Practical. And has common sense and always fights for the American people. From the courthouse to the White House, that has been my life’s work. As a young courtroom prosecutor in Oakland, I stood up for women and children against predators who abused them. As Attorney General of California, I took on the Big Banks. Delivered $20 billion for middle-class families who faced foreclosure. And helped pass a homeowner Bill of Rights — one of the first of its kind. I stood up for veterans and students being scammed by big for-profit colleges. For workers who were being cheated out of the wages they were due. For seniors facing elder abuse. I fought against cartels who traffic in guns, drugs, and human beings. Who threaten the security of our border and the safety of our communities. Those fights were not easy. And neither were the elections that put me in those offices. We were underestimated at every turn. But we never gave up. Because the future is always worth fighting for. And that’s the fight we are in right now. A fight for America’s future. Fellow Americans, this election is not only the most important of our lives. It is one of the most important in the life of our nation. In many ways, Donald Trump is an unserious man. But the consequences of putting Donald Trump back in the White House are extremely serious. Consider not only the chaos and calamity when he was in office, but also the gravity of what has happened, since he lost the last election. Donald Trump tried to throw away your votes. When he failed, he sent an armed mob into the U.S. Capitol, where they assaulted law enforcement officers. When politicians in his own party begged him to call off the mob and send help, he did the opposite. He fanned the flames. And now, for an entirely different set of crimes, he was found guilty of fraud by a jury of everyday Americans. And separately, found liable for committing sexual abuse. And consider what he intends to do if we give him power again. Consider his explicit intent to set free the violent extremists who assaulted those law enforcement officers at the Capitol. His explicit intent to jail journalists. Political opponents. Anyone he sees as the enemy. His explicit intent to deploy our active-duty military against our own citizens. Consider the power he will have — especially after the United States Supreme Court just ruled he would be immune from criminal prosecution. Just imagine Donald Trump with no guardrails. How he would use the immense powers of the presidency of the United States. Not to improve your life. Not to strengthen our national security. But to serve the only client he has ever had: Himself. And we know what a second Trump term would look like. It’s all laid out in “Project 2025.” Written by his closest advisors. And its sum total is to pull our country back into the past. But America, we are not going back. We are not going back to when Donald Trump tried to cut Social Security and Medicare. We are not going back to when he tried to get rid of the Affordable Care Act. When insurance companies could deny people with pre-existing conditions. We are not going to let him eliminate the Department of Education that funds our public schools. We are not going to let him end programs like Head Start, that provide preschool and child care. America, we are not going back. We are charting a new way forward. Forward — to a future with a strong and growing middle class. Because we know a strong middle class has alway been critical to America’s success. And building that middle class will be a defining goal of my presidency. This is personal for me. The middle class is where I come from. My mother kept a strict budget. We lived within our means. Yet, we wanted for little. And she expected us to make the most of the opportunities that were available to us. And to be grateful for them. Because opportunity is not available to everyone. That’s why we will create what I call an Opportunity economy. An Opportunity economy where everyone has a chance to compete and a chance to succeed. Whether you live in a rural area, small town, or big city. As President, I will bring together: Labor and workers, small business owners and entrepreneurs and American companies to create jobs. Grow our economy. And lower the cost of everyday needs. Like health care, housing and groceries. We will provide access to capital for small business owners, entrepreneurs and founders. We will end America’s housing shortage and protect Social Security and Medicare. Compare that to Donald Trump. He doesn’t actually fight for the middle class. Instead, he fights for himself and his billionaire friends. He will give them another round of tax breaks that will add $5 trillion to the national debt. All while, he intends to enact what, in effect, is a national sales tax — call it, a Trump tax — that would raise prices on middle-class families by almost $4,000 a year. Well, instead of a Trump tax hike, we will pass a middle class tax cut that will benefit more than 100 million Americans. Friends, I believe America cannot truly be prosperous unless Americans are fully able to make their own decisions about their own lives. Especially on matters of heart and home. But tonight, too many women iin America are not able to make those decisions. Let’s be clear about how we got here: Donald Trump hand-picked members of the United States Supreme Court to take away reproductive freedom. And now he brags about it. His words: Quote – “I did it, and I’m proud to have done it.” End quote. Over the past two years, I have traveled across our country. And women have told me their stories. Husbands and fathers have shared theirs. Stories of women miscarrying in a parking lot, getting sepsis, losing the ability to ever have children again, all because doctors are afraid of going to jail for caring for their patients. Couples just trying to grow their family, cut off in the middle of IVF treatments. Children who have survived sexual assault, potentially forced to carry the pregnancy to term. This is what is happening in our country. Because of Donald Trump. And understand he is not done. As a part of his agenda, he and his allies would limit access to birth control, ban medication abortion and enact a nation-wide abortion ban with or without Congress. And, get this, he plans to create a National anti-abortion coordinator, and force states to report on women’s miscarriages and abortions. Simply put: They are out of their minds. And one must ask: Why exactly is it that they don’t trust women? Well. We trust women. And when Congress passes a bill to restore reproductive freedom, as President of the United States, I will proudly sign it into law. In this election, many other fundamental freedoms are at stake. The freedom to live safe from gun violence — in our schools, communities and places of worship. The freedom to love who you love openly and with pride. The freedom to breathe clean air, drink clean water and live free from the pollution that fuels the climate crisis. And the freedom that unlocks all the others: The freedom to vote. With this election, we finally have the opportunity to pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Act and the Freedom to Vote Act. And let me be clear. After decades in law enforcement, I know the importance of safety and security, especially at our border. Last year, Joe and I brought together Democrats and conservative Republicans to write the strongest border bill in decades. The Border Patrol endorsed it. But Donald Trump believes a border deal would hurt his campaign. So he ordered his allies in Congress to kill the deal. Well, I refuse to play politics with our security. Here is my pledge to you: As President, I will bring back the bipartisan border security bill that he killed. And I will sign it into law. I know we can live up to our proud heritage as a nation of immigrants — and reform our broken immigration system. We can create an earned pathway to citizenship — and secure our border. America, we must also be steadfast in advancing our security and our values abroad. As Vice President, I have confronted threats to our security, negotiated with foreign leaders, strengthened our alliances and engaged with our brave troops overseas. As Commander-in-Chief, I will ensure America always has the strongest, most lethal fighting force in the world. I will fulfill our sacred obligation to care for our troops and their families. And I will always honor, and never disparage, their service and their sacrifice. I will make sure that we lead the world into the future on space and Artificial Intelligence. That America — not China — wins the competition for the 21st century. And that we strengthen — not abdicate — our global leadership. Trump, on the other hand, threatened to abandon NATO. He encouraged Putin to invade our allies. Said Russia could — quote — “do whatever the hell they want.” Five days before Russia attacked Ukraine, I met with President Zelensky to warn him about Russia’s plan to invade. I helped mobilize a global response — over 50 countries — to defend against Putin’s aggression. And as President, I will stand strong with Ukraine and our NATO allies. With respect to the war in Gaza, President Biden and I are working around the clock. Because now is the time to get a hostage deal and ceasefire done. Let me be clear: I will always stand up for Israel’s right to defend itself, and I will always ensure Israel has the ability to defend itself. Because the people of Israel must never again face the horror that the terrorist organization Hamas caused on October 7th. Including unspeakable sexual violence and the massacre of young people at a music festival. At the same time, what has happened in Gaza over the past 10 months is devastating. So many innocent lives lost. Desperate, hungry people fleeing for safety, over and over again. The scale of suffering is heartbreaking. President Biden and I are working to end this war such that Israel is secure, the hostages are released, the suffering in Gaza ends and the Palestinian people can realize their right to dignity, security, freedom and self-determination. And know this: I will never hesitate to take whatever action is necessary to defend our forces and our interests against Iran and Iran-backed terrorists. And I will not cozy up to tyrants and dictators like Kim-Jong-Un, who are rooting for Trump because they know he is easy to manipulate with flattery and favors. They know Trump won’t hold autocrats accountable — because he wants to be an autocrat. As President, I will never waver in defense of America’s security and ideals. Because, in the enduring struggle between democracy and tyranny, I know where I stand — and where the United States of America belongs. Fellow Americans, I love our country with all my heart. Everywhere I go —in everyone I meet — I see a nation ready to move forward. Ready for the next step n the incredible journey that is America. I see an America where we hold fast to the fearless belief that built our nation. That inspired the world. That here, in this country, anything is possible. Nothing is out of reach. An America, where we care for one another, look out for one another, and recognize that we have so much more in common than what separates us. That none of us has to fail for all of us to succeed. And that, in unity, there is strength. Our opponents in this race are out there, every day, denigrating America. Talking about how terrible everything is. Well, my mother had another lesson she used to teach: Never let anyone tell you who you are. You show them who you are. America, let us show each other — and the world — who we are and what we stand for: Freedom, opportunity, compassion, dignity, fairness and endless possibilities. We are the heirs to the greatest democracy in the history of the world. And on behalf of our children and grandchildren and all those who sacrificed so dearly for our freedom and liberty, we must be worthy of this moment. It is now our turn to do what generations before us have done. Guided by optimism and faith, to fight for this country we love. To fight for the ideals we cherish. And to uphold the awesome responsibility that comes with the greatest privilege on Earth. The privilege and pride of being an American. So, let’s get out there and let’s fight for it. Let’s get out there and let’s vote for it. And together, let us write the next great chapter in the most extraordinary story ever told. God bless you. May God bless the United States of America. This article tagged under:Advertisement Supported by What We Know About Kamala Harris’s $5 Trillion Tax Plan So FarThe vice president supports the tax increases proposed by the Biden White House, according to her campaign.
By Andrew Duehren Reporting from Washington In a campaign otherwise light on policy specifics, Vice President Kamala Harris this week quietly rolled out her most detailed, far-ranging proposal yet: nearly $5 trillion in tax increases over a decade. That’s how much more revenue the federal government would raise if it adopted a number of tax increases that President Biden proposed in the spring . Ms. Harris’s campaign said this week that she supported those tax hikes, which were thoroughly laid out in the most recent federal budget plan prepared by the Biden administration. No one making less than $400,000 a year would see their taxes go up under the plan. Instead, Ms. Harris is seeking to significantly raise taxes on the wealthiest Americans and large corporations. Congress has previously rejected many of these tax ideas, even when Democrats controlled both chambers. While tax policy is right now a subplot in a turbulent presidential campaign, it will be a primary policy issue in Washington next year. The next president will have to work with Congress to address the tax cuts Donald J. Trump signed into law in 2017. Many of those tax cuts expire after 2025, meaning millions of Americans will see their taxes go up if lawmakers don’t reach a deal next year. Here’s an overview of what we now know — and still don’t know — about the Democratic nominee’s views on taxes. Higher taxes on corporationsThe most recent White House budget includes several proposals that would raise taxes on large corporations . Chief among them is raising the corporate tax rate to 28 percent from 21 percent, a step that the Treasury Department estimated could bring in $1.3 trillion in revenue over the next 10 years. We are having trouble retrieving the article content. Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings. Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times. Thank you for your patience while we verify access. Already a subscriber? Log in . Want all of The Times? Subscribe . When is Labor Day 2024? What to know about history of holiday and why it's celebratedThe calendar is getting ready to flip from August to September, which will soon mean the return of colorful leaves on trees, football season and bonfires. It also means Labor Day is approaching, meaning the unofficial end of summer. During the three-day Labor Day weekend, many Americans will travel , shop for deals online and in-store and maybe sneak in one final visit to the beach or neighborhood pool. However, the federal holiday is much more than just the summer's last hurrah. Observed each year on the first Monday of September, Labor Day is at heart a celebration of the hard-won achievements of America's labor movement and a recognition of what workers have contributed to the nation's prosperity. Here's what to know about the Labor Day holiday, including when it is in 2024 and how it started. Flying for Labor Day weekend? TSA predicts record-breaking numbers at security When should you leave? The best and worst times for traffic over Labor Day Weekend 2024 When is Labor Day in 2024?In 2024, Labor Day falls on Monday, Sept. 2. Why do we celebrate Labor Day?Rooted in the the labor movement of the 19th century, the holiday originated during a dismal time for America's workers, who faced long hours, low wages and unsafe conditions. As labor unions and activists advocated and fought for better treatment for workers at the height of the Industrial Revolution, the idea arose to establish a day dedicated to celebrating the members of trade and labor unions, according to History.com . Even today, many Americans continue to celebrate Labor Day with parades and parties − festivities outlined in the first proposal for a holiday, according to the U.S. Department of Labor . Since those early celebrations, Labor Day is now also marked with speeches by elected officials and community leaders who emphasize the economic and civic significance of the holiday. How did Labor Day begin?Two workers can make a solid claim to the title of Labor Day's official founder, according to the labor department. Some records show that it was Peter J. McGuire, the co-founder of the American Federation of Labor, who in 1882 first suggested the idea for the holiday. However, recent research supports the contention that machinist Matthew Maguire proposed the holiday in 1882 while serving as secretary of the Central Labor Union in New York. Regardless of which man deserves the credit, Labor Day soon became recognized by labor activists and individual states long before it became a federal holiday. Organized by the Central Labor Union, the first Labor Day holiday was celebrated in 1882 in New York City, according to the labor department. On that day, 10,000 workers took unpaid time off to march from City Hall to Union Square, according to History.com. New York was also the first state to introduce a bill recognizing Labor Day, but Oregon was the first to pass such a law in 1887, according to the labor department. By 1894, 32 states had adopted the holiday. When did Labor Day first become federally recognized?Labor Day became a national holiday in 1894 when President Grover Cleveland signed a law passed by Congress designating the first Monday in September a holiday for workers. But the federal recognition was hard-won, having come after a wave of unrest among workers and labor activists brought the issue of workers' rights into public view. In May that year, employees of the Pullman Palace Car Company in Chicago went on strike to protest wage cuts and the firing of union representatives, according to History.com. A month later, the government dispatched troops to Chicago to break up a boycott of the Pullman railway cars initiated by labor activist Eugene V. Debs, unleashing a wave of fatal riots. Congress quickly passed an act making Labor Day a legal holiday in the District of Columbia and the territories. By June 28, Cleveland signed it into law. Eric Lagatta covers breaking and trending news for USA TODAY. Reach him at [email protected]. Gabe Hauari is a national trending news reporter at USA TODAY. You can follow him on X @GabeHauari or email him at [email protected]. |
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Many teachers I have worked with don't like when students use quotes in essays. In fact, some teachers absolutely hate essay quotes. The teachers I have met tend to hate these sorts of quotes: When you use too many quotes. When you use the wrong citation format. When you don't provide follow-up explanations of quotes.
A Quotation or Quote is a word-for-word extract of someone else's words. There are two types of quotes: direct and indirect. · Direct quote - is when the words of an author are used by someone else. · Indirect quote - is when the ideas of an author are restated, this is also known as paraphrasing.
The full-sentence introduction to a block quotation helps demonstrate your grasp of the source material, and it adds analytical depth to your essay. But the introduction alone is not enough. Long quotations almost invariably need to be followed by extended analysis. Never allow the quotation to do your work for you.
A good quotation should do one or more of the following: Make an opening impact on the reader. Build credibility for your essay. Add humor. Make the essay more interesting. Close the essay with a point to ponder upon. If the quotation does not meet a few of these objectives, then it is of little value.
Citing a quote in APA Style. To cite a direct quote in APA, you must include the author's last name, the year, and a page number, all separated by commas. If the quote appears on a single page, use "p."; if it spans a page range, use "pp.". An APA in-text citation can be parenthetical or narrative.
Within a literary analysis, your purpose is to develop an argument about what the author of the text is doing—how the text "works.". You use quotations to support this argument. This involves selecting, presenting, and discussing material from the text in order to "prove" your point—to make your case—in much the same way a lawyer ...
In social sciences, it varies. If your research is mainly quantitative, you won't include many quotes, but if it's more qualitative, you may need to quote from the data you collected. As a general guideline, quotes should take up no more than 5-10% of your paper. If in doubt, check with your instructor or supervisor how much quoting is ...
Subscribe. Harvard conventions suggest doing this when quoting passages of 40-50 words (approximately four lines). To block quote, the quoted text must begin on a separate line after a colon and be inset from the rest of your essay, somewhat like this: We must realise that bread is made to eat, and that the palate and not the eye must always be ...
Below are four guidelines for setting up and following up quotations. In illustrating these four steps, we'll use as our example, Franklin Roosevelt's famous quotation, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.". 1. Provide context for each quotation. Do not rely on quotations to tell your story for you.
Yet, if too many quotes are provided, the text loses clarity. Like everything else in life, balance is the key. The problem with texts that use extensive direct quotations is that they tend to take attention away from the writer's voice, purpose, thesis. If you offer quotations every few lines, your ideas become subordinate to other people ...
If your research is mainly quantitative, you won't include many quotes, but if it's more qualitative, you may need to quote from the data you collected. As a general guideline, quotes should take up no more than 5-10% of your paper. If in doubt, check with your instructor or supervisor how much quoting is appropriate in your field.
Here are some tips to effectively accomplish this: 1. Provide context and analysis: Introduce the quote by briefly explaining the background or the source; Analyze the quote by breaking it down and examining its key elements; Discuss the implications or interpretations of the quote within the context of your topic. 2.
Too many quotations in a research paper will get you accused of not producing original thought or material (they may also bore a reader who wants to know primarily what YOU have to say on the subject). Indirect Quotations. Indirect quotations are not exact wordings but rather rephrasings or summaries of another person's words. In this case, it ...
There are 2 common pitfalls students fall into when using quotations in their academic writing: They use too many quotations in their essays. They do not show how quotations relate to their essays (I call this leaving a quotation hanging). These are both easy problems to solve. And by the end of this post, you'll be able to fix them on your own.
Short Quotes always require that you enclose them in quotation marks, so the reader knows that these are the EXACT words you took from your source.Not putting quotation marks around a short quote is considered a form of plagiarism. Example: One researcher indicates that "the most difficult thing for them was the attitude of their parents" (Crook, 2003, p. 157), while others believe…
Important guidelines. When integrating a source into your paper, remember to use these three important components: Introductory phrase to the source material: mention the author, date, or any other relevant information when introducing a quote or paraphrase. Source material: a direct quote, paraphrase, or summary with proper citation.
In the following part of our article, you will find a comprehensive guide with five ways to avoid using too many quotes in your papers. 5 Steps to Smart Quoting ... How to Complete an Essay in Just One Night. Readers of IJR. 2,010,611 Readerrs; Call for Papers. Submit Your Research Papers to [email protected] 0030Fri, 30 Aug 2024 00:00:00 +0530.
Too many quotes can give you a headache. 2. You're using too few. On the other hand, there is such thing as using too few quotes. You need enough evidence to support what you're suggesting about the text, otherwise it seems as though you lack knowledge of the text.
Using Too Many Quotes in An Essay. The essay is supposed to reflect your understanding of the topic and the research you've done to back up your argument. Overuse of quotes either from the work you're analyzing or from the research you've done undermines your authority on the topic. Quotes should be used sparingly and only when they drive home ...
Students often use too many direct quotations when they take notes, resulting in too many of them in the final research paper. In fact, probably only about 10% of the final copy should consist of directly quoted material. So it is important to limit the amount of source material copied while taking notes.
The quote should support your idea, not be the idea. Okay that's good advice. Too many makes for very bad writing. To begin, we don't get to hear your voice. It also creates a very disconnected style where it's skipping from one quote to the next, making it difficult to actually have a cohesive argument.
Below are four guidelines for setting up and following up quotations. In illustrating these four steps, we'll use as our example, Franklin Roosevelt's famous quotation, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.". 1. Provide a context for each quotation. Do not rely on quotations to tell your story for you.
Many profs dislike - in my experience, anyway - when you use too many quotes because the point of an essay is often to explain your own opinion, your own thoughts, while using references to support that opinion (showing that it's not something you've just pulled out of your ass). ... piece of literature, etc. The best English teacher I ever had ...
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