QUOTATIONS OF EXTERNAL SOURCES IN THE BEST ESSAYS OF FUVEST (1999-2013)

Abstract

This article presents findings of the analysis of 722 essays that were highly evaluated by the Fundação Universitária para o Vestibular (Fuvest) of the University of São Paulo in the 1999-2013’s entrance examinations concerning quotations from sources that did not belong to the composition exams. The objectives of the analysis were the following: to determine the rate of texts containing quotations from external sources, to identify the most quoted external authors, to describe the variations of the number of external authors quoted within the essays. As a result, quotations from external sources were observed in texts of all examinations and an increase in their use was found: in the 1999’s examination 13.7% of the texts had external quotations; in the 2013’s examination this number leapt to 92.6%. Furthermore, it was observed that the changes related to the quoted authors and the whole corpus show the preference of the applicants for foreign thinkers. Also, texts without external authors as well as texts with many of these authors were observed in all examinations, an increase in the average of external authors quoted by essay was noted, and a change in the mode from 0 to 1 external author quoted by essay was found.

Keywords

• University entrance examination essay
• Quotation.
• Intertextuality