Since quotations from the text should be a chief feature of your essay writing for me, and since this will count in my evaluation of your papers, I provide an example of the important technique of showing not telling. The best writers carefully and selectively quote from the texts they are talking about, so readers can decide for themselves whether they agree with the writer's arguments and so writers can better make their points. You should quote from the text to bring (or adduce) evidence, to illustrate your point with textual examples. But you also need to lead up to the quotation(s) and analyze the quotation, since you must argue out, persuade, and convince your reader that you have properly interpreted the text you are quoting. It is not enough simply to make an assertion and then quote from the text. You must make every effort to arrive at a meeting of the minds with your reader, who may have an entirely different idea of what your chosen textual quotation says.
Because I have been urging you to SHOW NOT TELL in your papers, let me bring forward an example from one of your first essays (an excellent essay, by the way):
Chaucer describes the Friar as a man unequaled in the art of flirting and manipulation. In the General Prologue Chaucer says, on line 252, "He was the beste beggere in his hous . . ." and on line 263 he says, "Somwhat he lisped(1) for his wontownesse / To make his Englissh sweete upon his tongue." The Friar used his language to twist a situation in order to attain the things he wanted, such as money or women. This is certainly not how a churchman should excel.(2) To emphasize this ability(3) Chaucer also tells the reader that the Friar has married many young girls. The reason he marries these girls to other men is that, presumably, they were his mistresses and he has gotten them pregnant. Not only does the Friar violate the innocence of their youth but he also pushes his problems and mistakes on the shoulders of other men. Chaucer says, "He hadde maad ful many a mariage / Of yonge wommen at his owene cost." As if this were not enough, he is also guilty of selling indulgences to rich people. The money he acquired from this activity went to his own pockets. These offenses are much more severe than anything the Monk does.
Comments:
(1) This paragraph should be about "flirting and manipulation," as promised by the topic sentence; but it strays from this topic into other issues.
(2) The author inserts two quotations in the second sentence, but the first quotation has nothing to do with flirtation. If it has something to do with manipulation--and perhaps it could be argued it does--then the author needs to make this clear. For reasons of parallelism, it would be better to insert the quotation from line 263 first (since this perhaps has something to do with flirting) and the quotation from line 252 second (since this perhaps has something to do with manipulation).
(3) The author should bring forward additional evidence to back up the claim of flirtation and manipulation. The evidence seems skimpy and unconvincing.
(4) The author needs to argue out the point made in the sentence with "presumably." Why "presumably"? Who is doing the presuming here? What does the text say?(4)
So now let's try to rewrite the paragraph with an eye to making a better case using virtually the same topic sentence as the original paragraph and using similar textual evidence. Something like this:
Chaucer describes the Friar as unequaled in the art of manipulation and flirting. He is not just a beggar, he is "the beste beggere in his hous" (252). He is a social climber, who becomes intimate not with the lowly and humble folk of a town ("poraille" seems to be Huberd's own term for them, repeated by the narrator [247]), but with "frankeleyns" (216), "worthy (i.e. wealthy) wommen" (217), "riche" people and food merchants (248), innkeepers and barmaids (241)--in other words, with people who can materially advance his condition (shelter him and feed him). He gets to know their problems and foibles through confession, and then he milks them for money, for "He was an esy man to yeve penaunce / Ther as he wiste to have a good pitaunce" (223-24); and "over al ther as profit sholde arise / Curteis he was and lowely of servyse" (249-50). His manipulation shades into flirtation--the two "arts" are closely connected in the Friar's personality--when he cons a widow out of a farthing through his preaching abilities: "So plesaunt was his 'In principio'" (254). He carries knives and pins with him everywhere, giving them not just to parishioners but specifically, as Chaucer notes, to "faire wyves" (234). He sings and plays the fiddle (236)--he is an entertaining friar!--and he even has a flirtatious little lisp when he talks, "To make his Englissh sweete upon his tonge" (265); and when he sings--he prefers ballads ("yeddynges" [238])--his eyes twinkle in an engaging manner (see 267). He can seem innocent enough, even puppy-like (257), but his friskiness and raging draw him in unsavory directions. Although he spends considerable energy relieving people of money, he becomes suspiciously generous when it comes to providing marriages for "yonge wommen" (213). The narrator does not say why he is so magnanimous to the them, but we can observe that he spends most of his time in taverns, amusing young women and fair wives. In the portrait of the Friar we can see how dangerous are pleasant speaking and diverting singing--not to mention a handsome white neck (238)--when these are combined with the powers of confession and indulgence for sins. Chaucer the narrator praises Friar Huberd, or seems to, for his warm personality, but he provides considerable details that show how Huberd puts his charms into the inappropriate services of manipulation and flirtation. The Monk, also charming and a great talker, is not nearly so dangerous as this intriguing Friar.
This is by no means a perfect paragraph, but it does develop the specific topic (manipulation/flirtation) throughout and it does provide plenty of evidence about specifically how Chaucer presents these qualities. And the important thing to notice is that the statements about the quotations actually explain the quotations. The quotes aren't just dropped into the paragraph willy-nilly. Nor should they be.
1. An error for "lipsed." Be sure to proofread the Middle English carefully.
2. I have revised the writer's original sentence to express what I think the writer intended.