English 1A
Instructor: «GreetingLine»
Make Yourself a Quote Sandwich
When you use quotations in a literary analysis, make a quote sandwich:
Present your analysis in your own words.
Support your analysis with a quote.
Follow up your quote with a comment or
interpretation.
GOOD Example:
Baba’s powerful, charismatic presence both
impresses and intimidates his son.
Analysis (BREAD)
According to Amir, “At parties, when all sixfoot-four of him thundered into the room,
attention shifted to him like sunflowers turning
to the sun” (Hosseini 13).
Quote (MEAT)
Amir yearns to feel that he is special to his
father and not just one of Baba’s many
admirers.
Interpretation or comment (BREAD)
Things to avoid when using quotations
1. Don’t use quotes in place of presenting your analysis! Use quotes to support your analysis.
BAD Example: According to Amir, “Baba was impossible to ignore,” because “when all six-footfour of him thundered into the room, attention shifted to him like sunflowers turning to the sun”
(Hosseini 13).
2. Don’t start with a quote and then explain it. Avoid phrases like “This shows that” or “This quote
means.”
BAD Example: According to Amir, “At parties, when all six-foot-four of him thundered into the
room, attention shifted to him like sunflowers turning to the sun” (Hosseini 13). This quote shows
that he both impressed and intimidated by his father.
3. Do not drop a quotation into your paragraph without warning; use a signal phrase.
BAD Example: Baba’s powerful, charismatic presence both impresses and intimidates his son. “At
parties, when all six-foot-four of him thundered into the room, attention shifted to him like
sunflowers turning to the sun” (Hosseini 13).
4. Do not begin or end a body paragraph with a quote.
English 1A
Instructor: «GreetingLine»
5. Keep quotes as short as possible.
Additional guidelines for integrating and formatting quotes
1. Don’t confuse the author of a literary work with a narrator, speaker, or character.
BAD Example: Khaled Hosseini states, “Fighting kites was a little like going to war” (50).
Revised: Amir states “Fighting kites was a little like going to war” (50).
2. Notice that in all of the examples the parenthetical page citation goes after the closing quotation
mark and before the sentence’s end punctuation.
3. Create a context for your quote; include relevant information, such as the speaker, situation, etc.
BAD Example: Amir toys with Hassan by questioning his honesty, but Hassan replies, “’I’d
sooner eat dirt’” (54).
Revised: Amir toys with Hassan, but when he asks if Hassan would ever lie to him, Hassan
replies, “’I’d sooner eat dirt’” (54).
4. Notice that in the example above the embedded quote (i.e. the quote within the quote: “I’d sooner
eat dirt”) is enclosed in single quotes within the usual double quotation marks.
5. Avoid shifts in tense. Although literary works are often written in the past tense, it is conventional to
write about fictional events in the present tense.
BAD Example: When Amir wins the kite tournament, he “saw Baba on our roof. He was
standing on the edge, pumping both his fists” (66).
Revised: When Amir wins the kite tournament, he sees Baba on the roof, “standing on the
edge, pumping both his fists” (66).
6. Offset long quotes (longer than four lines). Do not put quotation marks around an offset quote. Put
the parenthetical citation after the final punctuation mark. (Tip: To offset a long quote in MS Word
press the Tab button twice and then Command/CTRL + T.)
When Amir arrives in Afghanistan, he feels a deep connection to his homeland. He says:
Suddenly for the first time since we had crossed the border, I felt like I was back. After
all these years, I was home again, standing on the soil of my ancestors. This was the soil
on which my great-grandfather had married his third wife a year before dying in the
cholera epidemic that hit Kabul in 1915…. It was on this soil that my grandfather had
gone on a hunting trip with King Nadir Shah and shot a deer. My mother had died on
this soil. And on this soil, I had fought for my father’s love. (240)
7. Notice that the first word (“Suddenly”) of the quote is capitalized. Whenever you are quoting a
complete sentence, capitalize the first word, even if it is not capitalized in the original (as is the case
here).
English 1A
Instructor: «GreetingLine»
8. Notice that the ellipsis (…) indicates that some text has been omitted from the quote.