Integrating Quotes into your
writing
Using Quotes
 Don’t use more evidence than your own
writing
 Your evidence should just support your own
writing
 Use ellipsis marks to omit words and phrases
…
 Use brackets to add words or phrases to
make the meaning of a quote clearer to the
reader [ ]
Introducing your quotes
 Provide the reader with a transition between your
writing and the quote
EX: One writer agrees that grammar is a problem,
arguing that “without it there is no reliable way of
communicating meaning” (Truss 20).
Introducing your quotes
 Make sure that transition is smooth
AWK: “Many people think that grammar and
punctuation are on the way out because “without it
there is no reliable way of communicating meaning”
(Truss 20).
Changing a quote
 Sometimes changing a quote is necessary to
make the quote fit into your own writing
EX: Truss informs readers that “Bill Gates has
personally assured the Spanish Academy that
he will never allow [the upside-down question
mark] to disappear from Microsoft wordprocessing programs” (143).
--the information in brackets replaces “it”
--makes information clearer
When using textual evidence
 Us the author’s last name in the parenthetical citation IF
you are only discussing a single work by that author.
 Example: Narrator Nick Carraway came to see Gatsby’s
pursuit of Daisy as contaminated with “foul dust
[that]floated in the wake of his dreams” (Fitzgerald 21).
 If discussing more than one title by the same author, use
the title instead.
 Narrator Nick Carraway came to see Gatsby’s pursuit of
Daisy as contaminated with “foul dust [that]floated in the
wake of his dreams” (The Great Gatsby 21).
Remember!
 Introduce EACH author on first mention.
 Nationality? Time period? Context?
EXAMPLE: Acclaimed 1920s American novelist F. Scott
Fitzgerald…
 Introduce EACH critic as well.
EXAMPLE: Literary critic Junie B. Jones
Introduce characters, too!
 Cordelia, the banished daughter who seeks solace in
her new husband’s country…
 Regan, the malicious sister who doesn’t even pretend
to mourn her husband’s death….
 You get the idea.
Signal phrases
 These phrases tell the reader that a quote follows
 If the author is neutral…
“The author…”
Comments
Describes
Explains
Illustrates
Notes
Observes
Points out
Records
Relates
Reports
Says
Sees
Thinks
writes
Signal phrases
 The author infers or suggests…
Analyzes
Proposes
Asks
Reveals
Addresses
Shows
Concludes
Finds
Predicts
Speculates
Suggests
Signal phrases
 The author argues…
Claims
Contends
Defends
Disagrees
Holds
Insists
maintains
Signal phrases
 The author agrees…
Admits
Agrees
Concedes
Concurs
grants
Signal phrases
 The author is uneasy or disparaging…
Belittles
Bemoans
Complains
Condemns
Deplores
Deprecates
Derides
Laments
warns
Other tips
 Vary the way you introduce quotes in order not to
bore your reader
 Signal phrases can go before or after the quote
 Practice both to vary the position
Other tips
 Use present-tense when writing about other
works
 Can introduce a quote with the author’s
name and credentials
 Then you don’t need to include author’s
name in parentheses at the end of the
sentence (because you’ve already cited that
person)
Example
• Good: Grammar expert Lynne Truss notes that
“italics should be used sparingly for the purposes of
emphasis” (147).
• NOT: Lynne Truss notes that “italics should be used
sparingly for the purposes of emphasis” (Truss 147).
Examples
 Some good points about the Internet, Truss points
out, are “that it is not controlled by anyone, cannot
be used as an instrument of oppression and is
endlessly inclusive” (190).
Examples
 In Lynne Truss’s opinion, typing messages “doesn’t
even qualify as typing either: it’s just sending” (192).
 The English language is “a language full of
ambiguities” (Truss 201).
Always introduce quotations
before they appear in your
paper.
 No quotation should stand by itself as a separate sentence.
Here are two bad examples without any introductory material.
 Bad Example #1: There are many examples of self-analysis in
Plato's philosophy. "The unexamined life is not worth living"
(Plato 45).
 Bad Example #2: Plato thinks people should analyze their own
lives. "The unexamined life is not worth living" (Plato 45).
 BETTER Example: Plato thinks people should analyze their
own lives: "The unexamined life is not worth living" (Plato 45).