Including Quotations
In Your Essay
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What is a quote?
Why use a quote?
Types of writing to use quotes
Always ICE it
Introducing quotes
Citing quotes
Explaining quotes
• The word
is short for
•A
is a group of words from a
text used and repeated by someone
other than the original author
• It is important to include quotations in
these forms of writings:
– Informational Essays and Compositions
– Argument Essays and Compositions
– Persuasive Essays and Compositions
– Literary Response and Analysis Essays
– Research Papers
• Properly including quotations in your writing
helps support your ideas and improve the
quality of your writing.
– You gain credibility as a trusted source
– You provide sufficient and relevant evidence to
support and explain your ideas and claims
– You protect yourself from plagiarism accusations
– You demonstrate the ability to include outside
sources
Include quotes
when…
• You are providing
examples and
evidence
Do not include
quotes when…
• You are writing your
thesis statement
• You are writing your
topic sentences
• A quotation should
stand alone.
• You should
begin a sentence with
a quote.
• You should
explain your quote
after you properly cite it.
Remember the acronym ICE to help you
properly and effectively include quotes in
your writing.
ntroduce
ite
xplain
CE
• There are
different ways to properly
and effectively introduce quotations into
your writing:
–with a complete sentence
–with an explanatory phrase
–with only short quotes in your sentence
–with part of the quote paraphrased
• To demonstrate how to introduce a
quote, we will use an excerpt from
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s I Have a
Dream speech.
• Delivered by Martin Luther King Jr.
• August 28, 1963
• Lincoln Memorial, Washington D.C.
I have a dream that one day my four
little children will one day live in a
nation where they will not be judged
by the color of their skin but by the
content of their character.
1. Introduce your quote with a complete
sentence
• If you introduce your quote with a complete
sentence that describes the quotation or
provides information about it, you must
punctuate it with a colon before inserting the
quote.
• EXAMPLE
In his I Have a Dream speech, Dr. Martin Luther
King Jr. had a dream: “I have a dream that one
day my four little children will one day live in a
nation where they will not be judged by the
color of their skin but by the content of their
character.”
2. Introduce your quote with an explanatory
phrase
• Begin your sentence with a phrase that
introduces the quote, and then punctuate
with a comma before including the quote.
• EXAMPLE
• In his famous I Have a Dream speech, Dr.
Martin Luther King Jr. said, “I have a dream
that one day my four little children will one
day live in a nation where they will not be
judged by the color of their skin but by the
content of their character.”
3. Include only short quotes in your sentence
• When including short quotations in your own
writing, you should stick to just two to four
word phrases.
• Place quotation marks around the author’s
original words and punctuate the sentence as
you normally would.
• EXAMPLE
• Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. dreamed of a day
when his children would only be judged by the
“content of their character.”
4. Introduce your quote by paraphrasing it
• Begin your sentence by paraphrasing the
quote, and then finish the sentence with the
quote.
• EXAMPLE
• Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. dreamed of a day
when his four children would “not be judged
by the color of their skin but by the content of
their character.”
More Examples for Introducing Quotes
According to (include source here), “put quote here”
(in-text citation).
According to (include source here), (put paraphrased,
researched information here) (in-text citation).
For example, the traffic light “put quote here” (in-text
citation).
For instance, (put paraphrased, researched information
here) (in-text citation).
CE
• Depending on your teacher, professor, or
subject area, you will either cite your
quotations using MLA or APA format.
= Modern Language Association
= American Psychological Association
• MLA format is more common in high school
settings.
• Most liberal arts and humanities classes follow
MLA format.
• APA format is more common in undergraduate
and post baccalaureate classes.
• APA format is usually used in the science
fields.
• When you cite in MLA format, you
will need to include different kinds
of citations in your paper.
• In-text citation (a.k.a. parenthetical
citation)
• Works Cited Page
• An in-text citation is a reference to the
original author or speaker embedded in
the text of the paper. In-text citations
quickly alert the audience to the original
source and make it easy for the audience
to find the citation in the Works Cited
Page.
• A Works Cited Page is a separate page or
set of pages at the end of a document
containing an alphabetical listing of all of
the sources used within the paper.
• Each citation included in the page is
formatted according to MLA or APA
standards.
Follow this simple equation to cite your
Open and close the
quote in MLA format.
quote with
quotation marks.
Introduce your quote “quote” (citation).
Always introduce
your quote. Never
start a sentence
with a quote.
Set the citation
apart with
parenthesis.
The
period
goes after
the
citation
Introduce your quote “quote” (citation).
This citation will be the first entry
from the Works Cited Page.
If you include the Author’s last name in the
quote introduction, you only need to include the
page number. If not, you include the author’s
last name and the page number.
Entire Web site
Author’s or Editor’s last name, first
name [if given]. Title of Web site.
Name of sponsoring institution or
organization [if given]. Last
update or original publication
date. Web. Date accessed.
Article from a Web site
Author’s or Editor’s last name, first name
[if given]. “Title of Article.” Title of Web
site. Date of last update or original
publication date. Web. Date accessed.
Online Database Article
Author’s or Editor’s last name, first name
[if given]. “Article Title.” Database
Title. Copyright date [edition]. Online
Publisher or sponsoring institution. Web.
Date accessed.
Encyclopedia
Author’s last name, first name. [if
available] “Article Title.” Title of
Encyclopedia. Year Published. Print.
Book with an Editor
Editor’s last name, first name, ed. Title of
Book. City of publication: Publisher,
Date published. Print.
Book with one Author
Last name, first name. Title of Book. City of
publication: Publisher, Date published.
Print.
• An in-text citation is a citation in the text of
your writing to let your readers immediately
know where you got your source
*Your parenthetical citation will be the first part
of the entry from the Works Cited page
*The period goes outside of the parenthesis.
In-text (parenthetical) Citation
Columbia University Professor Jeffrey Johnson spent seventeen years
recording the viewing habits of children in 707 families in Upstate New
York and found that the ones “who watched one to three hours of television
each day . . . were 60% more likely to be involved in assaults and fights as
those who watched less TV” (“Research on the Effects of Media
Violence”).
Works Cited Entry
Works Cited
“Research on the Effects of Media Violence.” Media Awareness Network.
2005. Web. 12 Mar. 2005
In-text Citation
The ideal context for identity
formation is “a supportive and
respectful family” (Levine 169).
Works Cited Entry
Works Cited
Levine, Madeleine, Ph.D. See No Evil: A Guide to Protecting Our Children
from Media Violence. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1998. Print.
CE
• After your introduce and cite the quote,
you still need to explain the quote.
• There are many ways to explain quotes:
• Provide analysis that connects the quote
to your main idea and topic sentence
• Explain why it is important and relevant
• Make sure the quote supports your topic
sentence/main idea/thesis
Here are some sentence starters to help
you explain your quote.
• This proves that…
• This illustrates…
• This shows that…
• This highlights the difference between…
• Your introduction and the quote must be
grammatically consistent.
CORRECT EXAMPLE
In his speech, Dr. King said, “it would be fatal for
the nation to overlook the urgency of this
moment.”
The introduction and the quote are
grammatically consistent in this sentence.
• You can change a word in a quote to make it
grammatically consistent with your
introduction if you place [ ] around the new
word.
• A quote must be less than four lines long.
Otherwise you will need a block quote.
• The quote must support your thesis or topic
sentence. Otherwise it isn’t relevant.
(Topic Sentence) The invention of the traffic light by
Garrett Morgan made automotive transportation safer.
quote and citation
introduction
Before the traffic light’s invention, “it was not
uncommon for bicycles, animal-powered carts and
motor vehicles to share the same thoroughfares
with pedestrians. Accidents frequently occurred
between the vehicles” (Federal Highway
Administration). After the invention and
implementation of the traffic light, the number of
collisions was reduced and thus created a safer
environment for automobile travel.
explanation