Quote What?: Using
Quotations Effectively
UWC Writing Workshop
Fall 2013
Do you recognize any of these?
What do they mean to you? What
significance do they hold?
Integrating Quotations
 What do you know about integrating quotations?
 What aspect of integrating quotations do you struggle with
the most? What do you hope to take away from today’s
workshop?
What is a quotation?
 Something that is quoted; a passage quoted from a
book, speech, etc.; i.e. a speech full of quotations from
Lincoln’s letters
 Provides important information/pieces of evidence and
lends fresh voices and perspectives to your work
When should I quote?
 Discussing specific arguments or ideas: in order to have a
clear, accurate discussion of the ideas of others, you need to
quote those ideas word-for-word
 Giving added emphasis to a particular authoritative
source on your topic: there will be times when you want to
highlight the words of a particularly important and
authoritative source on your topic
 Analyzing how others use language: you might find
yourself writing about the use of language in history and
social science classes. If the use of language is your primary
topic, then you will obviously need to quote users of that
language.
When should I quote? (cont’d)
 Spicing up your prose: in order to lend variety to your
prose, you may wish to quote a source with particularly vivid
language
How do I set up and follow up a
quotation?
 Provide a context for each quotation: do not rely on
quotations to tell your story for you; it is your responsibility to
provide your reader with a context for the quotation
 Attribute each quotation to its source: tell your reader who
is speaking; make it clear where your ideas/thoughts end and
the quotation begins
 Use various verbs that help lead into the quote (usually followed
by “that”):
 add, remark, exclaim, announce, reply, state, note, think
How do I set up and follow up a
quotation? (cont’d)
 Explain the significance of the quotation: once you’ve
inserted your quotation, along with its context and attribution,
don’t stop! Your reader still needs your assessment of why
the quotation holds significance for your paper!
 Provide a citation for the quotation: all quotations, just like
all paraphrases, require a formal citation. For MLA, the style
you use in your ENGL classes, in-text citations start on pg.
289 in A Writer’s Resource!
Integrating Quotations: The Basics
 First…let’s define “integration!”
 What do you think this terms means?
 An integration is… an act or instance of combining into an
integral whole.
Patterns for Integrating Quotations
 A signal phrase/introduction phrase/orientation plus the
quotation, and a connection to your argument
 Example: In this poem it is creation, not a hypothetical creator,
that is supremely awesome. The speaker asks, “What immortal
hand or eye/Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?” (lines 43-44).
(signal phrase before the quote)
 Example: Gatsby is not to be regarded as a personal failure.
“Gatsby turned out alright at the end” (176), according to Nick.
(signal phrase after the quote)
Patterns for Integrating Quotations
(cont’d)
 An assertion of your own and a colon, plus the quotation
(used for complete sentence quotations)
 Example: Vivian hates the knights for scorning her, and she
dreams of achieving glory by destroying Merlin’s: “I have made
his glory mine” (390).
 Example: Fitzgerald gives Nick a muted tribute to the hero:
“Gatsby turned out all right in the end” (176).
Patterns for Integrating Quotations
(cont’d)
 An assertion of your own with quoted material worked in
(for just a few quoted words)
 Example: For Nick, who remarks that Gatsby “turned out all
right” (176), the hero deserves respect but perhaps does not
inspire great admiration.
 Example: Satan’s motion is many things; he “rides” through the
air (63), “rattles” (65), and later explodes, “wanders and hovers”
like a fire (293).
Also Consider…
What If…
 I want to omit part of a quotation?
Sometimes you want to omit part of a quotation:
If you want to leave out part of a quotation, and the omission doesn’t seriously alter the
quotation’s meaning, you can use ellipses (…).
FULL QUOTATION: In the Contra Costa Times, Randy Myers writes, “The outrageous ‘Greek’
works better than ‘Funny People’ at least in part because Apatow, who tends to make films
that meander too much, hands over writing and directing to a protégé.”
WITH WORDS OMITTED, MEANING UNCHANGED: In the Contra Costa Times, Randy Myers
writes, “The outrageous ‘Greek’ works better than ‘Funny People’ . . . because Apatow, who
tends to make films that meander too much, hands over writing and directing to a protégé.”
What If…
 I need to change a quotation ever so slightly to make it fit my
sentence structure?
Sometimes you need to change a quotation ever so slightly to make it fit your
sentence structure:
If you include a quotation in a sentence, it must fit grammatically. Try to do that without
changing the quotation, but if you must you can change words (usually pronouns) to make
grammatical sense.
ORIGINAL: Alvarez realizes that everyone there speaks English. People of New York
“must be smarter, I thought.
Maids, waiters, taxi drivers, doormen, bums on the street, all spoke this difficult language”
(26-27).
BETTER: Alvarez realizes that everyone there speaks English. People of New York “must
be smarter, [she] thought.
Maids, waiters, taxi drivers, doormen, bums on the street, all spoke this difficult language”
(26-27).
What If…
 I want to use a quotation, and it is a bit long?
Sometimes a quotation is long:
For quotations longer than 4 lines of your paper, quotations look different. You start a
new line, indent it one inch (or 10 spaces), and do not use quotation marks around it. A
parenthetical citation (like in MLA) follows the period.
The New York times explained the situation in French cinema in a recent article:
The French press, eager for a follow-up to Marion Cotillard’s Oscar in 2008
for her portrayal of Edith Piaf, is already gushing. In a recent interview by
telephone, Michel Hazanavicius, the 44-year-old director, conceded that the
project had been a risk, but not for him. The biggest gambler, he said, was
the producer Thomas Langmann, who not only backed the film, but also
concurred with the idea that it had to be shot in Hollywood and nowhere
else. (13)
 Also, remember that STYLE MATTERS!!!
Make sense? Let’s put this all
together!
 http://www.screencast.com/users/WVUWritingCent
er/folders/Jing/media/ec57e7ac-44aa-4cbe-8a04245ad1edfb1c
 Courtesy of West Virginia University Writing
Center
Quotes to take with you…
 Either write something worth reading or do something worth
writing.
~Benjamin Franklin
 Reading maketh a full man; conference a ready man; and
writing an exact man.
~Francis Bacon
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