Writing and Incorporating Quotes Effectively

Integrating quotes into your sentences…

•makes your argument more credible

•adds to the fluidity of your response

•shows your command of language

•demonstrates a higher level of thinking to your readers

•demonstrates your ability to converse with the text

Quoting Is Important

You should use quotations when…•language is especially vivid or expressive•exact wording is needed for technical accuracy•it is important to let the debaters of an issue explain their positions in their own words•the words of an important authority lend weight to an argument•the language of a source is the topic of your discussion (as in an analysis or interpretation)•direct evidence is necessary to support (and/or color) your response

Quoting Is Important

How To Integrate Quotations

When you are using brief quotations, you must integrate them.

There are various ways to work them smoothly into your sentences. You can introduce them (formally or informally) or blend them.

To avoid confusing your readers, punctuate quotations correctly, and work them smoothly into your writing.

Punctuation shows your readers:•which words are yours•which words you have quoted

Punctuation Is Important

How to Introduce Quoted MaterialsTo introduce quoted material, use a colon, a comma, or no punctuation at all.

Your choice depends upon which is most appropriate in context.

Punctuation Is Important

If a quotation has been formally introduced, a colon is appropriate. A formal introduction is a full independent clause, not just an expression such as he said or she writes.

Morrow views personal ads as an art form: “The personal ad is like a haiku of self-celebration, a brief solo played on one’s own horn.”

Punctuation Is Important

If a quotation is introduced informally, or followed by an expression such as he said or she writes, use a comma.

Canadian writer Stephen Leacock revealed the secret to his success when he said, “I am a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it.”

Notice how my words (Canadian writer Stephen Leacock revealed the secret to his success when he said) lead into the quote I have chosen to use.

Punctuation Is Important

When you blend a quotation into your own sentence, use either a comma or no punctuation, depending on the way the quotation fits into your sentence structure.

The champion could, as he put it, “float like a butterfly and sting like a bee.”

The champion could “float like a butterfly and sting like a bee.”

Again, notice how my words lead into the quote.

Punctuation Is Important

Blending a Quote

Jack is not able to kill the piglet “because of the enormity of the knife descending and cutting into the living flesh” (Golding 31).

Again, notice how my words lead into the quote. Author’s last name and page number are inside the parenthesis.

Punctuation Is Important

Modifying Quotations

You should use brackets when…•you are inserting your own words into a quote in order to make the meaning of the quote clearer

•when you are modifying the capitalization of letters

•when you are modifying words to adjust voice

•when you are modifying words by changing tenses to suit your prose

•when there is an error in the original quote – use [sic]

Modifying Quotations

Time magazine reports that “if there are not enough young to balance deaths, the end of the species [California condor] is inevitable” (Brewster 11).

Use brackets when you are inserting your own words into a quote in order to make the meaning of the quote more clear. In this case, “California condor” does not appear in the original quote.

Use brackets to enclose any words or phrases inserted into an otherwise word-for-word quotation.

Modifying Quotations

Katniss falls and “[t]he impact with the hard-packed earth of the plain” catches her by surprise (Collins 222).

In The Hunger Games, this sentence reads: “The impact with the hard-packed earth of the plain knocks the wind out of me” (222). In order to fit in with our description, we have to write the “T” in lower-case.

If you are trying to blend a sentence which starts with a capital letter, depending on your structure, brackets may be necessary.

Modifying Quotations

“The impact with the hard-packed earth of the plain knocks the wind out of [Katniss]” as she comes crashing down (Collins 222).

In The Hunger Games, this sentence reads: “The impact with the hard-packed earth of the plain knocks the wind out of me” (222). In order to fit in with our third-person description, we have to modify “me” to “her” or “Katniss.”

When you are trying to blend a sentence into your prose and the voice is not consistent with your writing, use brackets to modify.

Modifying Quotations

The next morning “[e]verybody’s appetite [is] delicate” because the previous night’s events are still too real in their minds (Lee 156).

In To Kill a Mockingbird, this sentence reads: “Everybody’s appetite was delicate this morning…” (222). When we write about books, we use the literary present tense. In this case, we need to change the “was” to “is.”

When you are trying to blend a sentence into your prose and the tense is not consistent with your writing, use brackets to modify.

Modifying Quotations

The Latin word [sic] indicates that an error in a quoted sentence appears in the original source.

According to the review, Jason Mraz’s performance was brilliant, “exceding [sic] the expectations of even his most loyal fans.”

“exceding” is spelled incorrectly. The word is “exceeding.” We indicate the error in the article with [sic].

Modifying Quotations

After demonstrating her abilities to the Capitol, Katniss “make[s] it back to [her] floor . . . [and] tears start running down [her] cheeks” (Collins 103).

Use an ellipsis mark, three spaced periods, to indicate that you have deleted material from an otherwise word-for-word quotation.

In The Hunger Games, this sentence reads: “I actually make it back to my floor before the tears start running down my cheeks” (103).

Modifying Quotations

Jones has the following to say on the situation: “On a side note, why do airports have to be so challenging to navigate? . . . Sound-minded individuals become utterly lost” (1).

Young writes, “People are people. . . . We all have the capacity to love” (3).

If your quote begins with a full sentence and you are omitting others in between, keep the previous punctuation mark before the three ellipsis dots.