Summer Reading Novels: Essay
Workshop
Thesis Statements / Integrating Quotes
THESIS STATEMENTS

Answer the prompt in your thesis statements!

WHY did the author include these themes in the novels?

SAMPLE: In Slaughterhouse-Five, Vonnegut purposely makes
the protagonist a weak man named Billy Pilgrim to show the
true effects of war.

SAMPLE: In The Things They Carried, O’Brien shows that not
all soldiers were courageous because many of them struggled
with dealing with the fear of shame.
THESIS STATEMENTS

Make sure you have:

YOUR SUBJECT: What are you writing about?

YOUR ARGUMENT: What are you trying to SAY about your
subject?

WHY: Why is this argument important? What was the greater
purpose?
INTEGRATING QUOTES

REMEMBER, you do NOT have to use the entire quote!

A well-integrated quotation will seamlessly be included in
your sentence. When read aloud, I should not be able to
hear where the quote begins/ends.

Mix up the various ways you integrate quotes to show
sophistication.

AVOID “For example”
Integrating Quotes

“ ‘He scares me’, she whispered to her husband about
Billy Pilgrim” (Vonnegut 184).

Others also saw Billy as insane. This was clearly seen when Lily
whispered, “ ‘He scares me’… to her husband” (Vonnegut 184).
Integrating Quotes

“He didn’t look like a soldier at all. He looked like a filthy
flamingo,” (Vonnegut 33).

Vonnegut highlights the fact that Billy Pilgrim did not belong in
the war when he says, “He didn’t look like a soldier at all”
(Vonnegut 33).

Billy Pilgrim was completely out of place in the war and
“looked like a filthy flamingo” (Vonnegut 33).
Integrating Quotes

“So they were trying to re-invent themselves and their
universe. Science fiction was a big help,” (Vonnegut 101).

In order to numb himself towards death, Billy Pilgrim had to
try and “re-invent [himself] and [his] universe. Science fiction
was a big help” (Vonnegut 101).
Integrating Quotes

“When Billy saw the condition of his means of
transportation, he burst into tears. He hadn’t cried about
anything else in the war,” (Vonnegut 197).

The numbness that Billy felt towards death is shown when “he
burst into tears” about the horses in war but “hadn’t cried
about anything else in the war” (Vonnegut 197).
Integrating Quotes

“Every so often, for no apparent reason, Billy Pilgrim
would find himself weeping,” (Vonnegut 61).
OUTLINE IDEAS

In Slaughterhouse-Five, Vonnegut purposely makes the
protagonist a weak man named Billy Pilgrim to show the true
effects of war.