WRITING AND
INCORPORATING QUOTES
EFFECTIVELY
Mini-Lesson
What the sources do for you
Your essays must be your own words with
your own thoughts and your own voice.
However, quoting sources in your essays:
 adds authority to your essays by illustrating
that you are presenting informed opinions
 and/or shows your reader exactly
how you arrived at a particular
thought of your own.
Most of your essay is in your own
words, but you use quotes to:
•
Back up your own thinking
• Illustrate your own thinking
• Prove that you are correct
• Or reveal that an opposing point of view is
completely idiotic!
LET’S BACK UP A BIT:
Rule One: Quote Sparingly
• Keep quotes to one sentence or less.
• If you have something that is longer, break it
up with signal phrases and author tags, so the
reader knows why you are quoting it.
• “Xxx xxx xxxx,” the author
wrote, offering justification for
his actions. “Xxx xxx xxxx,” he
added.
Rule 2:
Directly Quote-Just the Good Stuff
• memorable statements
•especially clear explanations stated by authorities
•controversial arguments in the
speaker’s/writer’s own words
•Only directly quote what is so beautifully
well-stated that changing it would alter it’s
meaning or be tragic!
You can actually follow a very
simple pattern:
• The introduction of your paper generally will not
have a quote in it; it will be entirely your own
words.
• After that, you will start every paragraph
with your own words.
• Never begin a paragraph with a
• quote!
• Do not end a paragraph with a quote.
• Use only one or two fairly short quotes
per paragraph.
For example:
Midway into his famous “I Have a Dream” speech before
100,000 rapt listeners on a scorching hot day on the
Washington Mall, King answered critics, who asked why
he was not satisfied with the civil rights gains at the time,
by detailing a litany of unjust public behavior towards
Negroes, ranging from police brutality to
disenfranchisement at the voting both. In his preacher’s
voice, King sang out, “We will not be satisfied until justice
rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty
stream,” (304). It was this stunning metaphor of running
water and others like it that catapulted King into national
respect and prominence.
How To Integrate Quotes

When you are using brief quotations, you must
integrate them—
 work
them smoothly into your sentences
 show
their relevance to your ideas.
A well-integrated quote is a lot
like a sandwich:
 On top you have a sentence that is your own thought
and summary, introducing or setting the context for the
quote that you intend to use to illustrate a point.
•Then, in the middle, you have the quote
(with author tag/signal phrase) to back up
your thought.
•Then on the bottom you have a
sentence of your own that reflects
back on the quote and explains how it
helps to support your argument.
How do you use quotes an essay?
Think of the parts of the sandwich!
Bread on top
Good stuff
in the middle
Bread on
bottom
Introduce
quote
Quote
Commentary on
quote
Chose a meaningful quote and introduce it
by using a signal phrase
A signal phrase is group of words that signals that a quote will be introduced
 According to Dr. Torres, “____________________” (50).
 Dr. Torres states, “__________________________” (35).
 Dr. Torres complicates matters further when he writes that
“__________” (56).
 The author demonstrates this concept “________” (4).
Notice that the page number goes in parentheses after the
quotation marks and followed by punctuation.
Adapted from:
Graff, Gerald And Cathy Birkenstein. They Say, I Say. New York: Norton and Company. 2006. Print.
Signal Phrases
Choose different signal phrases to add variety
NOT Integrated


Brinker becomes disillusioned with the war,
and Ralph becomes disillusioned with the
glory of being chief. “He found himself
understanding the wearisomness of this life,
where every path was an improvisation and
a considerable part of one’s walking life was
spent watching one’s feet” (76).
This quote is just dropped into the paragraph. There is no
signal phrase before it.
Integrated

In the same way that Brinker becomes
disillusioned with the war, Ralph begins to feel
a sense of disillusionment toward the glory of
being chief. Golding’s narrator begins to allude
to Ralph’s waning enjoyment of being the
leader on the island when he states, “he found
himself understanding the wearisomness of
this life, where every path was an improvisation
and a considerable part of one’s walking life
was spent watching one’s feet” (76).
Methods for Inserting Brief Quotations
into Sentences.

Final Position (quote ends the sentence)
 For
several reasons, “all of them, all except
Phineas, constructed at infinite cost to themselves
these Maginot Lines against an enemy they thought
they saw across the frontier”.

Beginning Position (quote begins the sentence)
wept for the end of innocence, the darkness
of man’s heart, and the fall through the air of the
true, wise friend called Piggy,” declares Golding’s
narrator at the end of his novel.
 “Ralph
Methods for Inserting Brief Quotations

Middle Position (short quote placed in the middle
of sentence)
 In
the same way William Golding’s novel has been
considered a “body of work that speaks to the
tragedy of the human condition” (Allen 84), John
Knowles’ A Separate Peace can be considered a work
of literature that shines a light into the dark recesses
of the human heart.
Interrupted (quote is split by signal
phrase)

“As flies to wanton boys, are we to the gods,”
proclaims King Lear, “– They kill us for their
sport." This proclamation by an old king who
has just realized that everything he once held
dear-- territory and power– has been stripped
from him by his own flesh and blood–
daughters Regan and Goneril– is said to have
inspired the title of William Golding’s Nobel
Prize winning novel, Lord of the Flies.
Citing sources within the text--If the author is introduced at the beginning of the
sentence:
 According
to researcher, Carl Smithton, “95% of all
cats prefer love seats instead of bean bag chairs” (95).
If not:
 Research
has shown that, “95% of all cats prefer love
seats instead of bean bag chairs” (Smithton 95).
 Notice
where author’s name, page numbers and
punctuation are placed in each example.
Punctuation is IMPORTANT

To avoid confusing your readers, punctuate
quotations correctly, and work them smoothly into
your writing.
 Punctuation
shows your readers:
• which words are yours
• which words you have quoted
Direct/Indirect Quotations


Direct quotations involve incorporating another
person's exact words into your own writing. You will
use “quotation marks” to indicate someone else’s
exact words.
Indirect quotations are not exact wordings but
rather paraphrases or summaries of another
person's words. In this case, it is not necessary to use
quotation marks. However, indirect quotations still
require proper citations, and you will be committing
plagiarism if you fail to do so.
Direct/Indirect Quotations



Use direct quotations when the source material uses
language that is particularly striking or notable. Do
not rob such language of its power by altering it.
Use an indirect quotation (or paraphrase) when you
merely need to summarize key incidents or details
of the text.
Use direct quotations when the author you are
quoting has coined a term unique to her or his
research and relevant within your own paper.
Punctuating Brief Quotations

Quoting a Sentence or Sentences:
 Gene
begins to reveal his internal war with
Finny when he says, “What was I doing up here
anyway? Why did I let Finny talk me into
stupid things like this?” (5).
 Notice
how my words (Gene begins to reveal his internal war
with Finny when he says) lead into the quote I have chosen to
use.
Punctuating Brief Quotations

Quoting a Fragment:
 Jack
is not able to kill the piglet during their first
attempt at hunting for food “because of the
enormity of the knife descending and cutting
into the living flesh; because of the unbearable
blood” (31).
 Again,
notice how my words lead into the quote.
Quoting a Quotation



Ron said, “Dad yelled, ‘No way!’”
Golding writes, “Jack seized the conch.
‘Ralph’s right of course. There isn’t a snakething. But if there was a snake we’d hunt it
and kill it.’” (36).
Just like Leper in A Separate Peace, my brother
Shaun said, “‘You always were a savage
underneath.’”
Quotations with Brief Insertions


(Using Brackets)
It is evident that Finny believes in the war before his fall
from the tree because he tells Gene, “I’m wearing this
[his pink shirt] as an emblem. We haven’t got a flag, we
can’t float Old Glory proudly out the window. So I’m
going to wear this, as an emblem” (11).

Use brackets when you are inserting your own words into
a quote in order to make the meaning of the quote more
clear.
Structure for Paragraph





The first sentence should introduce the main idea or argument you
will focus on in the paragraph (topic sentence).
The next few sentences should provide some general information
and/or your ideas leading up to the quote.
Right before the quote, use a signal phrase: The author explains,
shows, states, argues, illustrates…
Chose and insert (integrate) a meaningful quote.
After the quote, provide a few sentences of commentary. This is
where you explain what is significant about this quote or how this
quote supports your own argument.

Ray Bradbury uses repetition to reinforce main
ideas in his writing. For example, in the short story
“All Summer in a Day,” Bradbury attempts to make
the reader understand the magnitude of seven
years worth of rain by writing that the children
“glanced out at the world that was raining now and
raining and raining steadily” (56). This shows that
while Bradbury knows his audience is familiar with
rain, the concept of seven years of constant rain is
so unimaginable that it must be repeated. It also
emphasizes the continuous and monotonous nature
of long and steady rainfalls.