Adapted from presentation by Worth Weller

Edited by R.R. Barstack and Jennifer Glass

Your essays must be your own words with your own thoughts and your own voice. However, quoting sources in your essays:

What the sources do for you

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.

In fact, academic essays are usually comprised of three components: • your own thoughts about something you

have read or an issue you are studying

• quotes from your textbook, reading, or

assignment

• quotes from outside sources

Most of your essay is in your own words, but you use quotes to:

• Support your own thinking

• Illustrate your own thinking

• Prove that you are correct

• Or reveal that an opposing point of view is flawed

You can actually follow a very simple pattern:

The introduction 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.

You can actually follow a very simple pattern:

And finally, you can conclude each paragraph with a reflection of your own showing how the quote works to support your point.

For the second or third sentence of a paragraph, you will use a well-integrated quote to illustrate or prove the topic sentence of that paragraph.

A couple of rules of thumb:

Do not start a paragraph with a quote.

Do not end a paragraph with a quote.

Use only one or two fairly short quotes per paragraph.

Some examples of signal phrases with author speech tags

According to Jane Doe, "..."

As Jane Doe emphasizes, "..."

Characterized by John Doe, the society is "..."

John Doe believes that "..."

Jane Doe claims that "..."

Jane Doe implies that "..."

List of Speech Verbs

acknowledges, adds, admits, affirms, agrees, argues, asserts, believes, claims, comments, compares, confirms, contends, declares, demonstrates, denies, disputes, emphasizes

endorses, grants, illustrates, implies, insists, notes, observes, points out, reasons, refutes, rejects, reports, responds, states, suggests, thinks, underlines, writes

A well-integrated quote is a lot like a sandwich (or a P.I.E.):

On top = a sentence that is your own thought setting the

context for the quote that you intend to use to illustrate a

point. Context can be the lead-in to a quote.

•Filling = the quote (with author tag/signal

phrase) to back up your thought.

•Bottom = a sentence of your own that

reflects back on the quote.

Paragraph 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. “We will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream,” he sang out in his preacher’s voice (304). It was this stunning metaphor of running water and others like it that catapulted King into national respect and prominence.

Context? What’s that?

• Providing context when introducing a quote

means including information about

when/where we are in the plot or

development of the story, epic, novel, play

etc.

Example: As the soldiers in the city of war

fight with one another, “Hate [is] there

with Confusion among them, and Death

the/destructive” (18.535-6).

Context, Continued

• Providing context does NOT mean including

the line numbers in your sentence! The

reader should be able to follow your analysis

WITHOUT having the text in front of him or

her.

No-No Example: In Book 18, Lines 18.535-

6, Homer writes, “Hate [is] there with

Confusion among them, and Death

the/destructive” (18.535-6).

Let’s back up a bit:

Rule One: Quote Sparingly

• Keep quotes to one sentence or less or prose, or no more than two-three lines of poetry.• 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 Two: Quote Just the Good Stuff

•examples of powerful diction or imagery

•especially clear explanations stated by authorities

•controversial arguments in the speaker’s/writer’s own words

If You Absolutely MUST Use a Longer Quote

• Use a BLOCK QUOTE format for more than

two lines from a poem or more than three

from a work of prose.

• Begin quote as a new line of text.

• Indent 1/2” from left margin.

• No quotation marks

• Parenthetical citation goes outside final

punctuation within quote.

Block Quote ExampleIn his poem “The Problem," Ralph Waldo

Emerson explores the inner philosophical

struggle of a religious yet unorthodox man:

I like a church;I like a cowl;

I love a prophet of the soul;

And on my heart monastic aisles

Fall like sweet strains, or pensive

smiles: Yet not for all his faith can see

Would I that cowlëd churchman be. (1-

7)

Quoting from a Poem

• When you quote lines from a poem, indicate

a line break with a slash /

• Example: Homer describes that in the city of

peace there are “marriages…and

festivals./They [are] leading the brides along

the city from their maiden chambers” (18.

491-2) to a joyous celebration.

Notice the In-Text Citation Format for the Iliad!

• Example: Homer describes that in the city of

peace there are “marriages…and

festivals./They [are] leading the brides along

the city from their maiden chambers” (18.

491-2) to a joyous celebration.

(Book#.Line #’s)

• If you do NOT mention Homer’s name in

your sentence : (Homer Book#.Line#’s)

And for Auden?

• Because “The Shield of Achilles” is a shorter

poem with no books or chapters within it,

simply cite the line number(s).

• Example: The wartime setting depicted on

Auden’s shield is “[a] plain without a feature,

bare and brown” (9).

• If you do NOT mention Auden’s name in

your sentence : (Auden Line #’s)

Did you notice the … and [ ] in the examples?

• Use ellipses (…) to indicate that you have left

out words within a line/sentence.

• However, you do not need to use ellipses at

the beginnings or ends of quotes.

• Use brackets [ ] to indicate that you have

made a slight change to the original quote.

More on Using Brackets

• What kinds of small changes might you need

to make to an original quote?

* verb tense—We use present tense to

write about events and characters in

literature

* pronouns—We may want to change

“I” to “he,” for example, when quoting a

character.

* capitalization/use of lower case

Summary

• Keep your quotes short.

• Just quote the good stuff.

• Lead into and/or or out of all quotes.

No floating quotes allowed!

• Do not start paragraphs with quotes.

• Do not end paragraphs with quotes.

Let’s Practice Before We Begin Editing Your Paragraphs

• Correct the following sentences so that the

quotes are better integrated and properly

cited.

1) In line 15 of the poem, Auden portrays the

soldiers an robotic. “Without expression,

waiting for a sign.”

2) In line 615 of Book 18 of the Iliad, Homer

writes: “She like a hawk came sweeping

down” to collect the glorious shield.