Integrating Quotes

Prominent Problems

• Drop & Run– The writer places the quote alone as its own sentence.
• Lack of Interpretation– The writer does not explain the quote and expects the reader to make the connection.
• Over Quoting– The writer quotes information that should be summarized or omitted.

Featured Fixes

Hint – Do not overuse the same integration strategy in an essay

Step 1 – Quote Clarity

• Create a signal – Indicate that the quote is coming this could be the author’s name or the title of the work
• Build an assertion – Confirm the relationship between the quote and your text
• Make the connection – Show the reader how the information relates

Step 2 – Quote Placement

• Incorporate into a Sentence – The writer makes the quote flow with the sentence
• Introductory Clause – The writer introduces the quote with a phrase.
• Interrupt a Sentence – The writer places the quote at the beginning and end of the sentence. The writer’s words
• interrupt the quote in the middle.
• Statement Support – The writer makes his or her claim and ends the sentence with a colon; the quote of support follows the colon.

Examples

Step 1

Ross (1993), in her study of poor and working-class mothers in London from 1870-1918 [signal], makes it clear that economic status to a large extent determined the meaning of motherhood [assertion]. Among this population [connection], “To mother was to work for and organize household subsistence” (p. 9).

Illness was rarely a routine matter in the nineteenth century [assertion]. As [connection] Ross observes [signal], “Maternal thinking about children’s health revolved around the possibility of a child’s maiming or death” (p. 166).

Step 2

• Incorporate into a Sentence: Rohan Preston suggests that Bellamy is a skillful director because he “has a way of looking so deeply into the theatergoer’s soul that audience members often call out involuntarily to characters.”
• Introductory Clause: Rohan Preston observes, “Director Lou Bellamy has a way of looking so deeply into the theatergoer’s soul that audience members often call out involuntarily to characters—responding to their queries and whims, offering advice and succor.”
• Interrupt a Sentence: Hertzberg (2002) notes that “treating the Constitution as imperfect is not new,” but because of Dahl’s credentials, his “apostasy merits attention” (p. 85).
• Statement Support: Preston demonstrates that Director Lou Bellamy knows how to get the audience involved: “members often call out involuntarily to characters—responding to their queries and whims, offering advice and succor.”

Works Cited

• “Integrating Quotations from Sources.” The Center for Writing, 2007. University of Minnesota. 31 October 2007 <http://writing.umn.edu/sws/quicktips/documentation/integrating_ quotes.htm>
• “Quoting.” The Quality Writing Center.  University of Arkansas. 31 October 2007 <http://www3.uark.edu/qwct/resources/handouts/04%20Integrating%20Quotations.pdf>
• “Using Literary Quotations.” The Writing Center. 2004. University of Wisconsin-Madison. 21 March 2005 <http://www.wisc.edu/writing/Handbook/ QuoLitIncorporating.html>.