Need help with your paper? Experts from the against camp suggest that when you begin an essay with a quote, you miss on the opportunity to present your own take on the subject matter. Motivations of volunteer overseas and what have we learned — The experience of Taiwanese students. In all styles, you also need to list all the sources you cited at the end of your paper, how to quote in an essay. Cover Letter. Sudden illness. Nonetheless, he loves her not for her surname, but indeed despite it: he still sees the sweetness in her.
Understand the Structure of a Quote in an Essay
A quote can be an effective and powerful literary tool in an essay, but it needs to be done well. To use quotes in an essay, you need to make sure your quotes are short, backed up with explanations, and used rarely. The best essays use a maximum of 2 quotes for every words. In fact, four word quotes are usually best. Long quotes in essays are red flags for teachers. Too many students provide quotes that take up half of a paragraph. This will lose you marks — big time. If you follow my perfect paragraph formulayou know that most paragraphs should be about six sentences long, which comes out to about six or seven typed lines on paper. How to quote in an essay leaves plenty of space for discussion in your own words. Children who grow up in poverty often end up being poor as adults.
Therefore poverty in childhood needs to be addressed by the government. Personally, I like to use a 4 word quote in my essays. Four word quotes are long enough to constitute an actual quote, but short enough that I have to think about how I will fit that quote around my own writing. This forces me to write quotations that both show:. Essay quotes that start sentences or end paragraphs make you appear passive. If you use a quotation in an essay to start a sentence or end a paragraph, your teacher automatically thinks that your quote is replacing analysis, rather than supporting it. You should instead start the sentence that contains the quote with your own writing.
This makes it appear that you have an active voice. These examples are poor examples of how to quote in an essay quotes:. Avoid Quotes that Start Sentences The theorist Louis Malaguzzi was the founder of the Reggio Emilia Approach to Education. Play is better than learning through repetition of drills or reading. Play is good for all children. Avoid Quotes that End Paragraphs Before Judith Butler gender was seen as being a binary linked to sex. Men were masculine and women were feminine. Butler came up with this new idea that gender is just something society has made up over time.
Both these quotes are from essays that were shared with me by colleagues. My colleagues marked these students down for these quotes because the quotes:. Instead, the quotes were doing the talking for the students. There are some easy strategies to use in order to make it appear that you are actively discussing and analysing quotes. Example 1: Start Quote Sentences with an Active Voice The theorist Louis Malaguzzi was the founder of the Reggio Emilia Approach to Education. According to Malaguzzip. Play is important for children to develop, how to quote in an essay.
Here, the sentence with the quote was amended so that the student has an active voice. They start the sentence with: How to quote in an essay to Malaguzzi, …. Similarly, in the second example we can also insert an active voice by ensuring that our quote sentence does not start with a quote:. How to Start Sentences containing Quotes using an Active Voice. Earlier on, I stated that one key reason to use quotes in essays is so that you can analyse them. Quotes should be there to be analysed, how to quote in an essay, not to do the analysis. Example: A Quote that is Too Long Children who grow up in poverty often end up being poor as adults. This student has included the facts, figures, citations and key details in the quote.
Essentially, this student has been lazy. They failed to paraphrase. Instead, this student could have selected the most striking phrase from the quote and kept it. Then, the rest should be paraphrased. Example: Paraphrasing Long Quotes Children who grow up in poverty often end up being poor as adults. In their analysis, Mistry et al. For Mistry et al, how to quote in an essay. Provide a brief quote in your essay, and then how to quote in an essay you understand it with surrounding explanation and analysis. Nearly every referencing format requires you to include a page number in your citation. This includes the three most common referencing formats: Harvard, APA and MLA.
All of them require you to provide page numbers with quotes. Including a page number in your quotation makes a huge difference when a marker is trying to determine how high your grade should be. These little editing points can mean the difference between placing first in the class and third. For some reason students love to use italics for quotes. This is wrong in absolutely every major referencing format, how to quote in an essay, yet it happens all the time. It looks sloppy, and teachers notice. A nice, clean, well-formatted essay should not contain these minor but not insignificant errors. If you want to be a top student, you need to pay attention to the minor details. The student has quoted Durkheim quoting Rousseau.
This quote has become a complete mess and hard to read. One main reason to use quotes in essays is to emphasize a famous statement by a top thinker in your field. Another reason to use quotes in essays is when you want to analyse a statement by a specific author. This author might not be famous, but they might have said something that requires unpacking and analyzing. You can provide a quote, then unpack it by explaining your interpretation of it in following sentences. This author might not be famous, but they might have said something that requires unpacking and analysing. Quotes usually need an explanation and example. You can unpack the quote by asking:. You want to always follow-up quotes by top thinkers or specific authors with how to quote in an essay and analysis.
In fact, some teachers absolutely hate essay quotes. The teachers I have met tend to hate these sorts of quotes:, how to quote in an essay. Be a minimalist when it comes to using quotes. Rules for using quotes in essays: Avoid Long Quotes. Quotes should be less than 1 sentence long. Match Quotes with Explanations and Examples. Use Max. Use page numbers when Citing Quotes. Avoid quotes inside quotes, how to quote in an essay. Contents show. How to use Quotes in an Essay. When Should I use Quotes in Essays? What Bad Quotes Look Like. Summing Up. Avoid Quotes that are Too Long Children who grow up in poverty often end up being poor as adults. Open toolbar. Accessibility Tools Increase Text Decrease Text Grayscale High Contrast Negative Contrast Light Background Links Underline Readable Font Reset.
positive thinking essays
Example 1: Start Quote Sentences with an Active Voice The theorist Louis Malaguzzi was the founder of the Reggio Emilia Approach to Education. According to Malaguzzi , p. Play is important for children to develop. Here, the sentence with the quote was amended so that the student has an active voice. They start the sentence with: According to Malaguzzi, …. Similarly, in the second example we can also insert an active voice by ensuring that our quote sentence does not start with a quote:. How to Start Sentences containing Quotes using an Active Voice. Earlier on, I stated that one key reason to use quotes in essays is so that you can analyse them.
Quotes should be there to be analysed, not to do the analysis. Example: A Quote that is Too Long Children who grow up in poverty often end up being poor as adults. This student has included the facts, figures, citations and key details in the quote. Essentially, this student has been lazy. They failed to paraphrase. Instead, this student could have selected the most striking phrase from the quote and kept it. Then, the rest should be paraphrased. Example: Paraphrasing Long Quotes Children who grow up in poverty often end up being poor as adults. In their analysis, Mistry et al. For Mistry et al. Provide a brief quote in your essay, and then show you understand it with surrounding explanation and analysis. Nearly every referencing format requires you to include a page number in your citation.
This includes the three most common referencing formats: Harvard, APA and MLA. All of them require you to provide page numbers with quotes. Including a page number in your quotation makes a huge difference when a marker is trying to determine how high your grade should be. These little editing points can mean the difference between placing first in the class and third. For some reason students love to use italics for quotes. This is wrong in absolutely every major referencing format, yet it happens all the time. It looks sloppy, and teachers notice. A nice, clean, well-formatted essay should not contain these minor but not insignificant errors. Do not forget to include the entry into your reference list.
In the event that you are using indirect quotes, you need only to list the secondary source on your reference list. For example, under MLA Modern Language Association citation style, you will cite the full name of the writer and also the page number every time you include a quote in your essay. If you were instead using APA style, you would also have to include the year that the quote was written — in the body of the essay — and again in the corresponding reference page. Citing shorter quotes: Adhering to MLA style guidelines, a short quote is defined as anything that is smaller in length four typed lines. If the quote you are incorporating into your work meets that requirement, you will a.
use double quotation marks to enclose the quote, b. include the page number. It is acceptable to input the name of the author either before the quote, or in parentheses at the conclusion of the quote. The page number will be written at the end, there is no need to use anything to signify that it is a page number. You can also use your introduction to introduce the author in place of using their name in parentheses at the end. Another option is to introduce the quote, input your citation, and then add commentary. Citing long quotes: Following the MLA standard, a long quote is any quotation that is longer than four typed lines in length.
When including these in your writing, you will be required to enter the quote in a free standing block of text — without quotation marks. It is acceptable to introduce the quote with a short line of text and a colon, indent the first line of the quote used and use double spacing. The quote will end with the proper punctuation, and be followed by the surname of the author and the page number in parentheses. In the event that you need to cite multiple paragraphs, you will need to utilize block quotes. These is true even if each part of the paragraph has fewer than four typed lines. Remember to indent the first line of every paragraph and to use ellipses at the end of a paragraph when you need to transition to the next.
Adding or removing words : If you need to add to or alter a quote in order to suit the context of your essay, or when you need to remove words that may not be relevant to your argument, there are a few steps that you should follow:. However, you should try to include as much information as possible, such as the name of the writer, the year the writing was written, or the name of the source the quote was taken from. Example of long quote: Ms Dean shows poor character in how she dehumanizes Heathcliffe:. They entirely refused to have it in bed with them, or even in their room, and I had no more sense, so, I put it on the landing of the stairs, hoping it would be gone on the morrow.
By chance, or else attracted by hearing his voice, it crept to Mr. Inquiries were made as to how it got there; I was obliged to confess, and in recompense for my cowardice and inhumanity was sent out of the house. For example, you could write "According to researchers," and then insert the quote. If a quote is longer than 4 typed lines, set it off from the rest of the paragraph, and don't put quotes around it. After the quote, include an in-text citation so readers know where it's from. The right way to cite the quote will depend on whether you're using MLA, APA, or Chicago Style formatting.
For more tips from our English co-author, like how to omit words from a quote, scroll down! Did this summary help you? Yes No. Log in Social login does not work in incognito and private browsers. Please log in with your username or email to continue. wikiHow Account. No account yet? Create an account. Community Dashboard Write an Article Request a New Article More Ideas Edit this Article. Courses New Tech Help Pro New Expert Videos About wikiHow Pro Upgrade Sign In. Home Random Browse Articles Courses New About wikiHow Easy Ways to Help Approve Questions Fix Spelling Quiz App More Things to Try We use cookies to make wikiHow great. By using our site, you agree to our cookie policy. Cookie Settings. wikiHow is where trusted research and expert knowledge come together.
Learn why people trust wikiHow. Categories Education and Communications College University and Postgraduate Academic Writing Essays How to Put a Quote in an Essay. Download Article Explore this Article parts. Sample Quotes. Tips and Warnings. Related Articles. Article Summary. Co-authored by Christopher Taylor, PhD and Danielle Blinka, MA, MPA Last Updated: October 23, References. Sample Quotes Sample Short Quotes. Sample Modified Quotes. Sample Block Quotes. Part 1. Incorporate short direct quotes into a sentence. A short quote is anything that is shorter than 4 typed lines.
When you use a short quote, include it directly in your paragraph, along with your own words. To help the reader understand the quote and why you're using it, write a full sentence that includes the quote, rather than just lifting a sentence from another work and putting it into your paper. Instead, you could incorporate it into a sentence like this: "The imagery in the story mirrors what's happening in Lia's love life, as 'The brown leaves symbolize the death of their relationship, while the green buds suggest new opportunities will soon unfold. Use a lead-in to introduce the quote. The lead in provides some context to the quote. It lets the reader know that you're presenting evidence or support, as well as where that support comes from.
In many cases, you'll use the author's name, but this isn't always necessary. Here are some examples of how to introduce a short quote: [2] X Research source "Critic Alex Li says, 'The frequent references to the color blue are used to suggest that the family is struggling to cope with the loss of their matriarch. Put quotation marks around the direct quote. Use quotation marks anytime you include someone else's words in your own paper. This lets the reader know that you have borrowed from another writer. As long as you use quotation marks and cite the source where you got the material, you can use someone else's ideas without plagiarizing. If you're in doubt, it's best to be cautious and use quotes.
Provide commentary after a quote to explain how it supports your ideas. After the quote, write sentences explaining what the quote means, why it supports your topic sentence, and how it supports your argument overall. Paraphrase the quote if you can restate the author's ideas in your own words. Part 2. Introduce a long direct quote, then set it off in a block. That's why you don't need to use quotation marks. However, you will include your citation at the bottom. Write an introductory lead-in to tell the reader what the quote is about. For a block quote, your lead in will be an entire sentence that explains what the reader should understand after reading the block quote. At the end of this sentence, put a colon. Then, put your block quote. This is how you would lead into a block quote: [7] X Research source "In The Things They Carried , the items carried by soldiers in the Vietnam war are used to both characterize them and burden the readers with the weight they are carrying: The things they carried were largely determined by necessity.
Among the necessities or near-necessities were P can openers, pocket knives, heat tabs, wristwatches, dog tags, mosquito repellent, chewing gum, candy cigarettes, salt tablets, packets of Kool-Aid, lighters, matches, sewing kits, Military Payment Certificates, C rations, and two or three canteens of water. Indent the block quote by. Press the tab key to move the lines over. Make sure your entire quote is indented so that your reader will recognize that it's set off from the rest of the text. Use an ellipsis to omit a word or words from a direct quote. Sometimes you want to shorten a quote to help your reader better understand why it supports your argument. To cut out a word or words, you just need to put an ellipsis in place of the words.
Put brackets around words you need to add to a quote for clarification. Sometimes you need to add a word or words to a quote in order for your reader to understand it.
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