Integrating Quotes in Your Essays. The Quote Never Stands Alone All quotations should be introduced,...

Integrating Quotes in Your Essays

The Quote Never Stands Alone

• All quotations should be introduced, cited and explained/connected to the claim.

• Never have a quotation standing alone as a complete or an incomplete sentence.

Source: Rambo, Randy. "ENG 1001: Integrating Quotations into Sentences." English Composition 1. Illinois Valley Community College, n.d. Web. 18 Nov. 2012. <http://www2.ivcc.edu/rambo/eng1001/quotes.htm>.

Give the Quote a Reason to Exist

Do

• Write 1-3 sentences after the quote that ties it to the claim you are making.

• Explain what it means! Don’t just drop the quote in and run!

• When you explain a quote, your explanation should connect to your thesis (claim/controlling statement).

Don’t

• Don’t repeat what the quote says.

• Don’t refer to a quote by using phrases such as “this quote shows” or “this quote is included to prove my thesis”

• Don’t simply skip to the next point.

Method #1: Use an introductory or explanatory phrase and separate the phrase from the quotation

with a comma.

1. Start with a short or long explanatory phrase

2. Follow with a comma

3. Add opening quotation marks

4. Capitalize the first letter of the quotation

5. At the end of the quotation, use ending punctuation

6. Place closing quotation marks after the ending punctuation

HINTS:

1. The explanatory phrase is NOT a complete sentence.

2. Your words PLUS the quotation should form a complete sentence.


Examples of Method #1

• Example: Confused by his wife’s negative reaction to the invitation, Mr. Loisel says, “Why, I thought you’d pleased.” Clearly, Mr. Loisel did not fully understand how his wife felt about their limited financial resources.

List of Signal Words (yes, write these in your notes!)

according toadds admits agrees argues asserts claims comments compares confirms

declares denies describes emphasizes implies insists notes observespoints out

reasons rejects reports responds shows states suggests summarizes writes

Method #2: Make the quotation a part of your own sentence.

• Do not use any punctuation between your own words and the direct quotation.– Start with your own introductory phrase (optional:

end your phrase with the word that)– Add opening quotation marks– Do NOT capitalize the first word in the quote– Use the proper sentence ending punctuation and

closing quotation marks

HINT: Your words PLUS the quotation should form a complete sentence.


Examples of Method #2

• Madame Forestier was shocked to learn that her friend “bought a diamond necklace to replace that other one.” This was not the kind of news she had expected to hear.


Adding the connection

• Quotations are examples to support your claim.

• Once the quote is in your writing, your next step is to provide discussion and explanation that connects your quote to your claim/controlling statement.

• Here are some connection phrases:– Here the reader sees

that…– This statement

indicates…– Clearly, then…– From this, the reader

can conclude…– This tells us that – From this we can

understand that

*Ending Punctuation

• Generally speaking, ending punctuation is placed INSIDE the closing quotation mark.

– Example: “It looks like this.”


*Ending Punctuation

• EXCEPT: the question mark.– If the question itself is part of the direct quote,

then place the question mark INSIDE of the closing quotation.

• Example: Arthur asks his mom, “Why are we going to

the doctor’s office?” – If the question is part of the original (not the

quoted material), then the question mark goes outside of the quotation mark.

• Example: What does de Maupassant want the reader to feel when he writes, “

MLA Text Citations

• In MLA format, page citations are included after the closing quotation mark, followed by a period.

• Example: – (ONLY ONE SOURCE REFERENCED)

• As the prisoner is marched to the gallows, Orwell reports, “All the organs of his body were working…all toiling away in solemn foolery” (47).

– (MORE THAN ONE SOURCE) • Romantic poetry is characterized by the “spontaneous

overflow of powerful feelings” (Wordsworth 263).

Integrating Quotes in Your Essays. The Quote Never Stands Alone All quotations should be introduced,...

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