FNDN I- Payne
Writing Handout
Quote Integration Quick Reference
Pick quotes carefully. Don’t cite an entire paragraph. Only use quotes that support and reinforce your
argument. If you need to cite multiple parts of a paragraph, either use separate quotes or use ellipses.
BAD example: In Macbeth, Lady Macbeth calls on supernatural powers to assist in Duncan’s
murder, saying “Come you spirits/ That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here,/ And fill me
from the crown to the toe top-full/ Of direst cruelty. Make thick my blood./ Stop up th' access
and passage to remorse,/ That no compunctious visitings of nature/ Shake my fell purpose”
(Shakespeare 1.2.40-47).
GOOD example: In Macbeth, Lady Macbeth calls on supernatural powers to assist in Duncan’s
murder, saying “Come you spirits... Make thick my blood./ Stop up th’ access and passage to
remorse” (Shakespeare 1.2.40-47).
Cite correctly. MLA citation goes as follows: (Author’s last name page number). Always cite, even when
paraphrasing. Plagiarism is bad.
BAD example: “The wand chooses the wizard, Mr. Potter. It's not always clear why. But I think
it is clear that we can expect great things from you” (J.K. Rowling, page 64).
GOOD example: Dumbledore explained that “The mind is not a book, to be opened at will and
examined at leisure. Thoughts are not etched on the inside of skulls, to be perused by an
invader. The mind is a complex and many-layered thing” (Rowling 283).
Give some context. Without context, quotes are meaningless and won’t help your argument. The
sentence(s) preceding the quote should give the reader some context.
BAD example: Orwell reinforces the point by saying “You don’t give a damn what they suffer.
All you care about is yourself” (78).
GOOD example: When Nguyen and her sister begin attending a Catholic school, Bich is happy
that students wear uniforms because she thinks “everyone will fit in the same” (181).
Don’t drop quotes. This goes along with providing context. A quote by itself doesn’t hold up well.
BAD Example: In the latter half of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Hamlet and Horatio stumble upon
the skull of one of Hamlet’s court jesters. “Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio”
(Shakespeare 5.1).
GOOD Example: Hamlet holds the skull of his deceased friend while explaining that he was "a
fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy” (Shakespeare 5.1).