The Colby College Farnham Writers Center * 207.859.5290 * www.colby.edu/writers.center/ INCORPORATING QUOTATIONS When quotations are used in writing, they cannot simply be stuck into a paragraph or sentence. Quotations must be integrated into a paper each time they are used. This handout addresses when and how to integrate direct quotations into your paragraphs. APPROPRIATE CONTEXTS FOR USING QUOTATIONS There are a few guidelines for using quotations but generally writers should follow their instincts. Use a quotation if: 1.the wording or style is particularly convincing or strong 2.the speaker/author of the quotation is an expert in his/her field. 3.it is difficult to rephrase/summarize the quotation without plagiarizing. In her handbook Keys for Writers, Ann Raimes advises asking four questions when quoting: oWhich point of mine does the quotation illustrate? oWhy am I considering quoting this particular passage? oWhy should this particular passage be quoted rather than paraphrased? oWhat do I need to tell my readers about the author of the quotation? INTEGRATION When incorporating a quotation into a text, the next step is making room for the quotation. Every quotation should have a sentence introducing it and a sentence either summarizing or transitioning back into the body of the essay. Ex: First Draft: Rewriting an essay is just as important as writing a first draft. “Im not a very good writer, but Im an excellent rewriter” (Michener). Every work can be improved by rewriting. Revised: Rewriting an essay is just as important as writing a first draft. Many well-known writers cite this method as the key to their success. James Michener, for example, declares “Im not a very good writer, but Im an excellent rewriter.” Such quotations indicate that even the strongest writers can improve their work through rewriting. In the first example, the quotation seems as though it was added as an afterthought, sometimes referred to as a dropped quotation. In the second example, the appropriate “frame” has been created before and after the quotation so that it can be read as part of a line of thought. The phrase “Many well-known writers cite this method,” and “Such quotations indicate” lead into and follow up on the quotation itself. The Colby College Farnham Writers Center * 207.859.5290 * www.colby.edu/writers.center/ The St. Martins Handbook provides the following list of verbs to aid writers in the integration of quotations. These verbs can be particularly helpful when formulating the introductory sentence for a quotation (e.g. the use of “declares” in the above example). Acknowledges BelievesCriticizesEmphasizesOffersReveals AdvisesChargesDeclaresExpressesOpposesSays AgreesClaimsDescribes InterpretsRemarksStates AllowsConcludes Disagrees ListsRepliesSuggests AnswersConcursDiscusses ObjectsReportsThinks AssertsConfirmsDisputesObservesResponds Writes (Lunsford 384-5) As a writer, try to vary your use of introductory clauses to set up summaries or direct quotations: According to Murray.Murray explains that As Murray states, Murray makes it clear that In the words of composition scholar Donald Murray, * * * This handout was compiled from the following sources. All of these resources (and many more) are available in the Farnham Writers Center: Harris, Muriel. Prentice Hall Reference Guide to Grammar and Usage. 2nd ed. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1994. 208-214. Aaron, Jane E. The Little, Brown Compact Handbook. 4th ed. Addison-Wesley Educational Inc., 2001. 339-342. Lunsford, Andrea A. The St. Martins Handbook. 5th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2003. 380- 388. Raimes, Ann. Keys for Writers. 4th ed. NY: Houghton-Mifflin, 2005. Simon, Linda. “Quotations.“ Cambridge: The Harvard Writing Center, 1986.