Using Quoted Material

Implementing quotations smoothly and effectively into the context of your own sentences will turn an average
essay into an eloquent argument.
Learning Targets:
1. We will master the skill of MLA citation.
2. We will practice integrating quotations into sentences.
What is quoting?
Quoting involves taking a word, phrase, or passage directly from a text (e.g. story, novel, poem, nonfiction essay)
and weaving it grammatically into the writers discussion.
Here's an example:

Use a semicolon to introduce a quote longer than one

sentence & shorter than 4 lines long.

The narrator offers glimpses into the stifling world of Thomas-Builds-the-Fire and perhaps even into the broader reality of
life on the reservation: He was guilty, he knew that. All that was variable on any reservation was how the convicted
would be punished (Alexie 94-5). Truth, hope, identity: the list of casualties grows throughout The Trial of ThomasBuilds-the-Fire and the life stories of Native Americans.
Notice three characteristics from the example above:
1. The passage lifted from the text is enclosed in quotes, and the author and page number are
indicated in parentheses (following MLA style).
2. The passage is introduced in a coherent grammatical style; it reads like a complete,
correct sentence.
3. The quote is interpreted and interwoven, not patched on and left for the reader to decipher.
The writers thinking is evident on the page, so the quote is not just occupying white space.
Why should I quote?
to help make/illustrate/amplify a particularly important point
(i.e. the writers thinking)
to emphasize a passage that is especially well written
to include a particularly authoritative or thought-provoking source
How should I quote?
Quotes should be introduced, discussed, and woven into the text.

Remember the 25/75 rule:

25% quote
+ 75% analysis of the quotes
importance

Insightful, well-supported

Sample Short Quotations (Those Fewer than Four Typed Lines)

Boo Radley displays how innocent he truly is when Scout says, He almost whispered it, in the voice of a
child afraid of the dark (Lee 278).
Place close quotation marks immediately
before the open parenthesis, and place
sentence-end punctuation immediately
after the close parenthesis.

In I Hear America Singing, the poet, Walt Whitman, rhapsodizes an American chorus of diverse voices each
singing what belong to her [or him], and to none else (line 9). Yet, just how well does Whitmans 19th Century
view play in the America of 2012?
If the author or poets
name appears within the
text of a sentence, only
place the page number(or
line number for a poem) in
parentheses.

There is no need to
introduce the quote with
a comma here.

Romeo proves to be a hypocrite when he looks at Juliet and says, Did my heart love till now? Forswear
it, sight!/ For I neer saw true beauty till this night (I.v.57-58).

Use a backslash to indicate a

new line of poetry.

Ac

lines
Scen

Use a comma to
introduce a quote with
the word says or a
synonym for says.

Though Crevecoeur observed a 1780s America gathering individuals of all nations[]melted into a new
race of men, whose labors and posterity will one day cause great changes in the world, what future vision
of America might emerge if he traveled our country today (1)?
Question marks and exclamation points should appear within the quotation marks if
they are a part of the quoted passage but after the parenthetical citation if they are a
part of the student writers text.

A Sample Long Quotation (Anything Four Typed Lines or Longer):

Yet again, an author captures the promise and humanity at the soul of America:

Introduce the quote with a

colon.

He had been born a citizen because his mother had had a dream. She had made the
dream come true -- an acre of river land in Valverde, on the edge of the border. His
mother, like the earth and sun, mattered. The woman with the child on her shoulder
mattered. Every human life in the village mattered. He knew this not only with the mind
but with the heart. (Portillo 722)

Omit the
quotation
marks.

Indent the
entire long
quote 5
spaces.

Place the citation after the

end punctuation.

Adding or Omitting Words In Quotations

If a student writer adds a word or words in a quotation, place brackets around the words to indicate that they are
not part of the original text.
Example: Ishmael Reed acknowledges the long-standing diversity of America by stating that the world has been arriving

[and continues to arrive] at these shores for at least ten thousand years from Europe, Africa, and Asia (3).
Americans today, however, sometimes live within a tension between honoring past immigrants and reviling
present immigrants.
If the student writer omits a word or words from a quotation, indicate the deleted word or words by using ellipsis
marks surrounded by brackets.
Example: In an excerpt from her book Turning to One Another, Margaret Wheatley offers a compelling question and

answer: Whats keeping me from being who I want to be? [] We dont need the same answers, but we all
need to be asking the same questions (3). How might such a question be introduced into the mindset of
contemporary Americans?
Finally,
Make sure that quotes do not stand in isolation. Generally a quotation, by itself, should not comprise a
sentence. For example, avoid the following structure:
Thomas Jefferson was right. We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal (1). The
architect of The Declaration of Independence established a cultural standard with these words.