Integrating Quotations into Your Essay " Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart.” -- William Wordsworth

When to Use Quotations Use quotations to serve as examples of your main points and observations. Choose only important material that reinforces your point.

When to Use Quotations Select quotations carefully for your research paper: –to illustrate or explain an opinion or idea –to assert a fact –to provide support for a claim you have made

How to Integrate Quotations Use commas to set up quotations. Quotations should end with the author’s name and a page number in brackets. In The Bomb it mentions, “Money was not important to the islanders.There was really no place to spend it” (Taylor 12).

How to Integrate Quotations Setting up quotes with "that” does not need a comma. Notice the punctuation. It is also mentioned that “The only money they ever received was from copra” (Taylor 9).

How to Integrate Quotations If using a complete sentence to lead-in, follow with a colon. Edith Hamilton describes the Greek goddess Hera perfectly: "She was the protector of marriage, and married women were her particular care" (223).

How to Integrate Quotations If the author has already been given credit, you don’t need to put their name in brackets. According to Theodore Taylor, “Nothing is more important to the Bikinians than land” (13).

How to Integrate Quotations Use square brackets [ ] to indicate editorial changes that you make to clarify or improve the quotation. According to Theodore Taylor, “What money [the Bikinians] received went to cloth for dresses and trousers, canvas for sails utensils or tools” (12).

Punctuating Quotations Use an ellipsis [...] to indicate material omitted from the quotation. When Romeo first sees Juliet he says, "O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright... Did my heart love till now?" ( ).

For this essay, keep your quotations short (20 words or less). Stay focused on your thesis statement. All arguments and quotations must support it. Adjust your thesis statement as needed.