Inserting Quotes into Essays

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Inserting Quotes into Essays

• Using Quotes Effectively

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The 5 Basic Steps

• Know your point of view
• Identify your quote
• Introduce your quote
• Cite your quote
• Discuss your quote

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Using Quotes Step One

• Introduce your quotations. A quotation should
  never suddenly appear out of nowhere. Some kind
  of information about the quotation is needed.
• A. Suggested Techniques Name the author, give
  his credentials, name the source, give a summary.

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• For example a. But John Jones disagrees with
  this point, saying, "Such a product would not
  sell."
• b. In an article in Time Fred Jackson writes that
  frogs vary in the degree of shyness they exhibit
  "The poisonous dart frogs seem to be especially
  weary."

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Introducing Quotes

• Use some variety in introducing quotations. One
  way of doing this is by varying the verbs you
  choose to use directly before the quote
• A. Pick the quotation verb which seems in each
  case to fit your purpose most exactly. For
  example
• In this essay Green tells us, "Hope increases
  courage."

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Introducing Quotes

• Note The particular verb you choose helps orient
  your reader toward your opinion of the statement
  (connotation).
• Example The boy is lazy.
• The girl was fat.
• "Jones says" is neutral
• "Jones informs us" is positive
• "Jones alleges" is somewhat negative.

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Other ways to Introduce a Quote

• says
• writes
• observes
• notes
• remarks
• adds
• declares
• informs us
• alleges

• claims
• states
• comments
• thinks
• affirms
• asserts
• explains
• argues
• suggests

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Using Quotes Step Two

• 2. Citing Quotes in the Text
• After you have introduced your quote, its time
  to give the author credit.
• You are being perverse. (Sophocles 19)

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Getting to the Point What do YOU Think?

• 3. Discuss your quotations. Do not quote someone
  and then leave the words hanging as if they were
  self explanatory.
• Explain
• What does the quote mean?
• How does it help establish the point you are
  making? How does it fit in with your thesis and
  with the ideas you are presenting?
• What is your interpretation or opinion of it?

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Getting to the Point What do YOU Think?

• Remember Quotations are like examples!
• They support or illustrate your own points. They
  are not substitutes for your ideas and they do
  not stand by themselves!

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Commenting on a Quote

• It is often useful to apply some interpretive
  phrasing after a quotation, to show the reader
  that the you are explaining the quotation and
  that it supports your argument
• Thus
• This statement illustrates
• Clearly, then,
• It can be concluded from this that

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Any Questions?