(PowerPoint)

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When using quotes, the quote MUST relate to and support your answer.

(Believe it or not, students will answer the question correctly and then just quote something from the passage that sounds nice, but has nothing to do with the question/ answer.)

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Notes for 2023

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1. Don't quote facts: Mr. Skipper was "born in 1964" (About).

2. Don't quote entire sentences. Mr. Skipper was born in 1964. "He lived in Pearland until he was 18, and his parents still live in his childhood home" (About).

3. Do quote opinions, statistics, and anything that is "particularly elegant, powerful, or memorable (Quoting: When and How to Use Quotations).

4. See #3: I only quoted part of a sentence; I embedded the quote into my own sentence.

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See below from Simon Fraser University.

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When should you quote?

According to Jerry Plotnick (2002, Director of the University College Writing Workshop) using a quotation is appropriate in the following situations:

1. The language of the passage is particularly elegant, powerful, or memorable.

[Don't worry about 2 - 4. If you really want to read them, click the link above.]

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Quoting basics

When you quote, you include the words and ideas of others in your text exactly as they have expressed them. You signal this inclusion by placing quotation marks (“ ”) around the source author’s words and providing an in-text citation after the quotation.

 

For example:

According to Graff and Birkenstein, when you are inserting a quotation in your writing “you need to insert it into what we like to call a ‘quotation sandwich,’ with the statement introducing it serving as the top slice of bread and the explanation following it serving as the bottom slice” (p. 46). This "sandwich" method ensures that your reader can clearly see the source you are referencing and also understands how this quotation supports your overall argument.

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[NOTE: In the new MLA format, paragraph numbers are no longer used for publications without page numbers. If the paragraphs are numbered, you would include (para. 10) to indicate the paragraph (MLA In-Text Citations).]

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Here is an example of a quotation that is successfully “framed” within a text:

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Citing the islands of Fiji as a case in point, Bordo notes that “until television was introduced in 1995, the islands had no reported cases of eating disorders." Three years after programming from the US and English were broadcast, "62 percent of the girls surveyed reported dieting” (149-50). Bordo’s point is that the Western cult of dieting is spreading even to remote places across the globe.

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[Note: The in-text citations refers to the page numbers of the book. The author's name, Bordo, is already mentioned in the text.]

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Works Cited

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Bordo, Susan. "The Globalization of Eating Disorders." One World Community, 

oneworldcommunity.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/globalization-of-eating-disorders-bordo.pdf.

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Graff, Gerald, and Cathy Birkenstein. They Say/I Say. W.W. Norton & Company, 2014.

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"MLA In-Text Citations." Center for Writing and Communication. University of Central Arkansas,

uca.edu/cwc/mla-basics/mla-in-text-citations/.

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"Quoting: When and How to Use Quotations." Library. Simon Fraser University,

www.lib.sfu.ca/about/branches-depts/slc/writing/sources/quoting.

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Embedding Quotes

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Academic writing often calls for quoted material and requires the writer to reference the ideas of others and provide support through the use of quotations from experts. An academic essay should include the student’s own ideas and discussion of the topic, supported by evidence of material written by others.

 

When quotes are used as support in an essay, it is best to create a smooth connection from your idea to the quoted material. The ideas should flow together and be logical. One way to do this is to embed the quote, which places the quote into the context of your own writing

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For example:

If the original text by John Doe reads: “As Sarah walked up the stairs, she came upon John, waiting at her door with her favorite flowers and a sorrowful expression on his face.”

 

The quote can be embedded like this: John exhibits his true feelings for Sarah when she finds him “waiting at her door with her favorite flowers and a sorrowful expression on his face” (Doe 75).

 

This quote would then be followed by more analysis of John’s feelings for Sarah.

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Signal Phrases: Signal phrases introduce the article a quotation is from, the person who said the quotation, or both. They are key for embedding quotations. The signal phrases used in the examples of this handout are written in bold print.  

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For example, according to; discusses; states; argues; claims; proposes; writes; explains; points out; notes; demonstrates; says.

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Built-in Quotations: Built-in quotations are built seamlessly into the sentence usually with a signal phrase/ word and the word "that."

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For example, While studying animal sleeping habits, Jane Smith noted that "dolphins sleep with one eye open."

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In her article about the sun, Jane Smith points out that "only 55% of all Americans know that the sun is a star."

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Sandwiching Quotes

 

It is also a good idea to “sandwich” the quote, which means providing your own analysis and explanation of the quote before and after the quote, like two pieces of bread in a sandwich. In the following example, note how the quote is only a small part of the student’s writing. The majority of the words are the student’s own thoughts and analysis.