Integrating Quotations

1. Integrating Quotations

2. Basic Rules • Quote selectively. • Choose quotations that elucidate your point effectively and clearly, and narrow them to what is most relevant. • Quote sparingly. • This is especially important when using long quotations. Don’t use them just to fill up space! • As a general rule, your analysis of anything you quote should be approximately double the length of the quote itself.

3. Three Key Questions • No drop-ins: Is the quotation smoothly fused into my own writing, not just dropped into it? • Context: Have I set it up in such a way that the reader understands why I’m using it? • Analysis: Have I made it clear in my own words what the quotation is saying and why it’s important to my point? • You should be able to answer YES to all three!

4. No drop-ins • Never have a quotation stand aloneas its own sentence. This is what is usually referred to as a “floating quote,” “parked quote,” or “orphan quote.” It needs your own writing, even if only your punctuation, to integrate it meaningfully into the paper! • Example: Environmental conservation is a concern for both secular humanists and Christians. “The defense of nature is a universal value” (Wilson 355). Regardless of our differing belief systems, we can all agree that we depend on the health of the environment. Environmental conservation is a concern for both secular humanists and Christians because “[t]he defense of nature is a universal value” (Wilson 355), not one that is relevant to only one belief system.

5. Method #1 Introduce the quotation with a complete sentence and a colon. • Example: In “Apocalypse Now,” Edward O. Wilson lists values we all share in common: “You and I and every other human being strive for the same imperatives of security, freedom of choice, personal dignity, and a cause to believe in that is larger than ourselves” (355).

6. Example: King points out the poor logic of condemning nonviolent protestors on the grounds that they “precipitate violence”: “Isn’t this like condemning a robbed man because his possession of money precipitated the evil act of robbery?” (“Letter”)

7. REMEMBER • Method #1 depends on symmetry. So, if you use a complete sentence to introduce a quotation that is also a complete sentence, you need a colon between them. • Template: Complete sentence: “Complete sentence” (Name 123).

8. Method #2 Use a signal phrase to introduce or explain the quotation, and separate it from the quotation with a comma. • Example: According to Wilson, “You and I and every other human being strive for the same imperatives of security, freedom of choice, personal dignity, and a cause to believe in that is larger than ourselves” (355).

9. Example: Condemning nonviolent protestors on the grounds that their actions “precipitate violence” is illogical. As King points out, “Isn’t this like condemning a robbed man because his possession of money precipitated the evil act of robbery?” (“Letter”)

10. REMEMBER • Use a comma for signal phrases like “According to Wilson,” or when the signal phrase ends with a verb. • acknowledges contends insists • adds declares notes • admits denies observes • agrees describes points out • argues disputes refutes • asserts emphasizes rejects • believes endorses reports • claims grants responds • compares illustrates suggests • confirms implies writes • NOTE: In MLA style, use the present or present perfect tense (argues or has argued) to introduce source material unless you include a date that specifies the time of the original author’s writing. (A Pocket Style Manual, 6th ed., 115)

11. Method #3 This one is similar to #2, but puts “that” in place of a comma. • Example: Wilson argues that “[y]ouand I and every other human being strive for the same imperatives of security, freedom of choice, personal dignity, and a cause to believe in that is larger than ourselves” (355).

12. Example: Epstein argues that “[w]e must wage a principled, intellectual war against the very notion of ‘animal rights’; we must condemn it as logically false and morally repugnant” (“Terror”). • Example: Epstein claims in “The Terror of Animal Rights” that “[w]e must wage a principled, intellectual war against the very notion of ‘animal rights’; we must condemn it as logically false and morally repugnant.”

13. REMEMBER • The word “that” can often be used to replace a comma. • Epstein argues, “___” (“Terror”). • Epstein argues that “___” (“Terror”).

14. Method #4 Take short phrases from quotations and pepper them into your own sentences. • Example Thomas More claims that the citizens of Utopia are “free to do what they like” as long as they use their leisure time “in some congenial activity” (233).

15. Example: Epstein claims that animal-rights activists are transforming rights, which are “a tool of human preservation,” into a tool that hastens their “man-destroying goals” (“Terror”). • Example: Foer argues that “food is not rational,” but instead is primarily emotional: “Food is culture, habit, and identity” (263).

16. REMEMBER • When you weave short phrases into your sentences this way, you do not need to use any special punctuation other than quotation marks. • Choose phrases that are stronger or more vivid than a paraphrase might be. • e. g. “man-destroying goals”

17. TIPS • Use a variety of these methods. Relying on one method over and over again isn’t wrong, but it will make your writing a little stale. • Remember to avoid the “parked quote” problem by using correct punctuation. There are two kinds of punctuation to introduce quotations: the comma and the colon. • Question marks and exclamation points go inside the final quotation mark, and periods go after the parenthetical citation. • Professor Baglioni gets the last word in “Rappaccini’s Daughter” when he cries, “And is this the upshot of your experiment?” (Hawthorne 123) • One of Foer’s central arguments in Eating Animals is that “[w]e need a better way to talk about eating animals” (33).

18. MAKE SUBJECTS & VERBS AGREE • Incorrect: King explains to the clergymen that “over the past few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate” (“Letter”). • Correct: King explains to the clergymen that “over the past few years [he has] been gravely disappointed with the white moderate” (“Letter”).

19. form complete ideas • Incorrect: King defines what constitutes an unjust law: “out of harmony with the moral law” (“Letter”). • Correct: King defines what constitutes an unjust law: “An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law” (“Letter”).

20. USE meaningful phrases Never introduce a quotation by giving the page number where you found it. • NO: On page 331, Hardin says, “There will be almost no overlap.” Save it for the citation! • YES: In describing the likely process of deposits and withdrawals, Hardin warns, “There will be almost no overlap” (331).

21. Do not quote out of context You don’t want to misrepresent someone’s position. • NO: Singer writes that “although we should not cause animals to suffer, there is nothing wrong with killing them” (323). It will probably take more work to give an accurate representation, but it will enhance your credibility. • YES: Singer challenges those who defend killing animals “humanely” for food: “These people are saying, in effect, that although we should not cause animals to suffer, there is nothing wrong with killing them” (323).

22. EDIT when necessary “You can edit quotations.” • You can leave words out, marked by an ellipsis. (“You… edit quotations.”) • You can insert words, enclosed in square brackets. (“You can [sometimes] edit quotations.”) • You can replace words with others, enclosed in square brackets. (“[We] can edit quotations.”)

23. In-text citations • You must provide citations for all quoted and paraphrased text, not only in your Works Cited page, but also throughout the paper! These citations are called parenthetical or in-text citations. • A Pocket Style Manual, section 33a (122-30) • The Purdue OWL, “MLA In-Text Citations: The Basics”

24. Plagiarism • Plagiarism is not limited to copy-and-paste jobs, though this is its most recognizable (and regrettable) form. • If you… • Misquote (Epstein describes animal-rights activists as promoting “man-eating goals.”) • Fail to give credit to someone for his/her words OR ideas (I believe that injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.) • Make stuff up (Studies show that 92% of Thanksgiving turkeys sold last year were free-range.) • Turn in work that is not your own (Does this one really need explanation?) …you are being academically dishonest and are subject to the same penalties as someone who copies and pastes from a source. ANY kind of plagiarism, to ANY degree, is enough to get you in trouble.