TEXTUAL EVIDENCE

HOW TO INTERPRET TEXTUAL EVIDENCES

Presented by Karla Lopera

So, what exactly is

TEXTUAL EVIDENCE?

Simply put-- textual evidences are all sorts of info gathered from fragments provided in a text to support a specific opinion, allegation or viewpoint. It can be any part of the text, as it is evidence gathered from it.

Then...

HOW CAN WE CITE EVIDENCES IN TEXT?

USE PHRASES LIKE...

On page __, x stated....

According to the author.....

In __ it is stated that....

FOR EXAMPLE...

Let's read the following fragment:

"There were four sides to this table; these two each took a side, one left, one right. They were both young men of eighteen or nineteen years of age. The one on the left side was taller, his brows deep and handsome, and his eyes carried a sort of unbridled wildness. The one on the right was extremely fair, elegant and poised; the only thing was, his expression was a bit overly-distant and cold, making him look as if he was extremely displeased. Actually, neither of them looked pleasant."

Now let's answer with proper citation etiquette:

ANALYSIS

Based on the text, we can infer that the two characters taking a seat at the protagonist's table know him despite he himself expressing confusion at their presence. this not only can be inferred from the historical context of the book, since we are in ancient China, it would be strange for these two characters to sit at a random stranger's table with such disdain as stated by the protagonist in "Actually, neither of them looked pleasant" which implies that the two figures knew him, and held a grudge against him.

The previous fragment is an exerpt from Tian Guan Ci Fu, by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu, chapter 3, page 38.

Let's ask the following question: "what suggests the characters have possibly met before?"

Textual evidence must always have arguments and sources behind them as well as proper evidence.proper citing includes quotation marks and parentheses detailing the page number.

Thank you!