Effective Use of Quotes in Academic Writing, Lecture notes of Grammar and Composition

Download Effective Use of Quotes in Academic Writing and more Lecture notes Grammar and Composition in PDF only on Docsity! 1 INTEGRATING QUOTES Why Use Quotes in Your Essay? The essay you write for class must be your essay. It should be your own ideas and in your own words. However, many essay assignments will ask that you use sources or quotes. So why would you use quotes in an essay that is supposed to be your own work? 1. To prove that your ideas are correct 2. To illustrate your point of view 3. To demonstrate how you arrived at an original idea of your own When to Use Quotes in Your Essay Usually, you will not use any quotes in your essay’s introduction. An introduction should be entirely in your own words. The paragraphs in the body of your essay will begin with your topic sentence (the statement that tells the readers what the rest of the paragraph will be talking about). Again, these will be in your own words. Do not start a paragraph with a quote. After you have given the topic sentence and explained what you will be writing about in your paragraph, you can consider using a quote that proves or illustrates what you claimed in your topic sentence. After the quote, show how it supports your point or idea; this will be in your own words and will demonstrate the connection between your idea and the quote you’ve used. It will explain to the reader why you chose the quote that you did and why it is relevant to your main point; the quote does not make your point for you. Do not end a paragraph with a quote. Quotations can never stand by themselves. They must be introduced and explained. Topic Sentence Quotation Relevance O’Brien’s character in his novel, The Things They Carried, is able to sort through his emotions by writing about what he experienced in Vietnam. The method of story-telling is effective for him, because “by telling stories, you objectify your own experience. You separate it from yourself. You pin down certain truths” (158). His stories thus become a type of therapy for him where O’Brien can discover the lessons he learned without feeling directly involved. 2 adds admits agrees argues asserts believes illustrates implies insists notes observes points out reasons says states suggests thinks writes claims comments compares demonstrates denies emphasizes How to Integrate Quotes in a Sentence Remember, a quote should never appear in a sentence by itself, because then there is no context for the quote. Example: Men are the sole cause of the war. “May God forgive the men who brought about this war” (Rhodes 260). Here, the reader can be confused or the reading can be disturbed because there is no warning that a quote is coming, and there is no context for the quote. Men are described as the sole cause of the war when Christian Rhodes states “May God forgive the men who brought about this war” (Rhodes 260). Here, the reader knows that someone else’s opinion is being used to support your own idea, and it gives a context to the quote. Use Signal Phrases A quote can be smoothly integrated into the sentence by using a signal phrase. A signal phrase can be set up in three ways: 1. Writing a complete sentence followed by a colon and then the quote Example: Demeter is not actively responsible for the plants’ growth, but passively so: “When Demeter felt especially fine, tiny shoots of barley or oats would spring up in the footprints She left” (110). 2. Writing an incomplete sentence, followed by a comma and then the quote Example: The author shows that Demeter is seen as passively responsible for the plants’ growth, saying, “When Demeter felt especially fine, tiny shoots of barley or oats would spring up in the footprints She left” (110). 3. Writing a statement that ends in that or a signal phrase and then the quote Example: Demeter’s passive responsibility in the plants’ growth is clear when the author states that “When Demeter felt especially fine, tiny shoots of barley or oats would spring up in the footprints She left” (110). You can create your own signal phrase by mixing these basic styles with verbs. There are many verbs you can use to help you build your own signal phrase: