NOTES ON QUOTE WEAVING: THE ESSENTIAL RULES
1. Pick a detail from the text that will support your thesis—your argument.
2. What are your two choices when using a detail from a text? You must decide which parts
of a DETAIL are worthy of a __________________ and which parts you can
________________________.
Some evidence is not worthy of a direct quote
 Don’t put a basic _________ or object from a story in quotes, unless it’s very unique or distinct.
The following bolded words below are not worthy of quoting:
 The narrator invites strangers to hold up “poster boards” as part of a “flash mob” designed to win back
his “ex-girlfriend Deborah” (Monks 17).
 Reserve direct quotes for words or phrases where the _______________________ can’t be beat!
3. ____________ the direct quote DETAILS into ____________________ (ELABORATION)
 Think of quote weaving as providing a couch made up of your words that the details can comfortably
sit on.
Words that are underlined are paraphrased details, which provide ELABORATION
(context) for the reader. They make up the couch that the direct quote DETAILS (in
bold) can sit in.
Since they choose to live without television, Sedaris believes the Tomkeys
are “forced to talk during dinner” and even refers to their lives as “puny”
because of their lack of exposure to media and popular culture (13).
 Most of the time, the goal should be to create a sentence where the majority of the writing is yours.
4. When weaving a direct quote DETAIL, use the author’s _______________________.
We cannot __________ the writer’s ____________________.
5. ______________! Don’t ______________!
Dumping:
 The narrator has clearly spent a great deal of time designing an elaborate plan to win his former
girlfriend back. “However, I’m sure Deborah being Deborah will break my heart yet again” (Monks
18). [Notice, this quote doesn’t have a couch to be cushioned in.]
Weaving:
 Though the narrator has clearly spent a great deal of time designing an elaborate plan to win his
former girlfriend back, he feels certain that “Deborah will break [his] heart yet again” (Monks 18).
A sentence with a direct quote DETAIL woven into it should be a SINGLE sentence—not a run-on.
 To make sure your quote is woven well, take the “_____________” Test.
Years ago, student Turney Maurer was struggling with this skill and came in for tutoring. He made the
following observation: “So, when you read a sentence out loud that has a quote woven in it, it should just
sound like a regular sentence—like you wouldn’t even know the quote was there.”
THE TURNEY TEST (The goal is to have a single sentence that contains a direct quote DETAIL from the text.)
A. Get rid of the ______________________
B. Remove all ___________________ except the one at the end of the sentence.
 Example: From the start, something seems strange about the instructions Harriet is given when she
babysits for the Winters She would not have to change a diaper, they said In fact, she would not have to
do anything at all” (Weber 7).
RUN-ON/more than one sentence
 Here’s a fixed version. Even without the quotation marks, it’s a complete sentence that could stand on
its own.
When Harriet shows up to babysit, strangely, the Winters instruct her that she will not “have to change
a diaper” or “do anything at all” (Weber 7).
Turney Test Passed! It’s one complete sentence, even without the quotation marks.
When Harriet shows up to babysit, strangely, the Winters instruct her that she will not have to change
a diaper or do anything at all.
6. Couch your direct quote DETAIL with ____________________________ (context) to
help your reader.
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Who is saying, thinking, or doing this?
What has just happened?
Why is the character saying or thinking this?
Where is this occurring?
Where is this detail in the text? (the beginning, middle, or end of the text?)
 Example of weaving a direct quote detail from “Three Soldiers” without ELABORATION:
The narrator feels that he “should be there, helping them decide” (Rogers 3).
 Improved quote weave with paraphrased ELABORATION (context) for the reader:
(Notice that there is a set-up sentence of elaboration that leads into the sentence with the
quote weave. Sometimes one sentence is not enough for the elaboration we need to provide
for our reader.)
1
In the story’s final section, the narrator is home from his tour of duty and having Christmas dinner
with his family. 2While they talk, he remains quiet, thinking about his fellow soldiers and feeling like
he “should be there, helping them decide” what to do as they struggle with the difficult decisions
of war (Rogers 3).