Integrating Quotes When you write about a story or an article, the best way to make sure you are being specific is to quote examples from the text to support your ideas.

Rules to follow when quoting A Text: Quotes need to support your argument or opinion. Quotes should be blended into your sentences instead of standing alone. Quotes need parenthetical citations.

#1: Supporting your argument Including a quote does not automatically mean you are supporting your argument. The quote you choose must provide some sort of evidence that what you are saying is true. If the topic sentence in the paragraph makes a claim, the quote you include should support that claim.

For Example: If this is your topic sentence: In Saki’s “The Interlopers,” Ulrich and Georg make choices that lead directly to their deaths. This would be an appropriate quote to include later in the paragraph: One of the biggest mistakes the two men make is when they work together and raise “their voices in a prolonged hunting call” (309) because it alerts wolves to their presence, leading to their deaths. It gives a specific example of a choice they make that ends badly.

Evaluate: Using the same topic sentence: In Saki’s “The Interlopers,” Ulrich and Georg make choices that lead directly to their deaths. Which of these quotes would be inappropriate as support? “The forest lands of Gradwitz were of wide extent and well stocked with game” (Saki 304). “He strayed away by himself” (305). “And before the moment of hesitation had given way to action a deed of Nature’s own violence overwhelmed them both” (305).

Answer: #1 “The forest lands of Gradwitz were of wide extent and well stocked with game” (Saki 304). This doesn’t have anything to do with the topic sentence. It doesn’t show a choice being made nor does it show a negative result of a choice.

Do the other two options do that? “He strayed away by himself” (305). “And before the moment of hesitation had given way to action a deed of Nature’s own violence overwhelmed them both” (305). Yes. They both show choices being made (going off alone and hesitating) and #3 shows a result of that choice (Nature’s violence).

Evaluating our own Take a look at your claim and the quote you pulled from your article. Does it really help support your claim? After you’ve done that, share it with a neighbor and see if they agree.

#2: Blending the quote: It’s important to remember that what we want to hear is your voice. We want your opinions. The quotes are there to add support, and they should be blended into your words. We should not feel that you have stopped speaking to make room for someone else.

For example: We should never see something like this: Ulrich and Georg alert the wolves to their presence. “The two raised their voices in a prolonged hunting call” (309). Quotes should never stand alone. It’s jarring and confusing to readers to suddenly have another person start talking in the middle of your paragraph.

Instead… It should look something like this: Ulrich and Georg alert the wolves to their presence when they work together and raise “their voices in a prolonged hunting call” (309). It runs from your words smoothly into the quote rather than stopping and starting again between voices.

Practice: Blend these together: Ulrich makes the first friendly gesture. “Could you reach this flask if I threw it to you?” asked Ulrich suddenly; “there is good wine in it, and one may as well be as comfortable as one can. Let us drink, even if tonight one of us dies” (307).

Possibilities: Ulrich makes the first friendly gesture when he offers to throw George his wine flask, saying, “Let us drink, even if tonight one of us dies” (307). Ulrich makes the first friendly gesture by offering Georg a flask with “good wine in it” because “one may as well be as comfortable as one can” (307). Note: As these examples illustrate, blending quotes into your words may take a little paraphrasing (putting a few things into your own words).

Practice Look at your claim and support. Are they blended together? If not, take a minute to do so.

#3: Parenthetical Citations Whenever you use a quote (or paraphrase for that matter), you need to include a parenthetical citation. That simply means that you need to show where the quote came from by giving the author and page number in parentheses after the quote.

For example: Please Note: Ulrich and Georg alert the wolves to their presence when they work together and raise “their voices in a prolonged hunting call” (Saki 309). Please Note: There is no punctuation inside the parentheses. You do not include the word “page” or the abbreviation “pg.”

Rules for special cases: Referencing Only One Source: If you are only discussing one piece of writing, you don’t have to keep telling us the author’s name, you can just give page numbers after the first citation. For example: Your first parenthetical citation might look like this (Rylant 283) because you are discussing “Checkouts,” a short story by Cynthia Rylant, and you are quoting or paraphrasing something that happens on page 283. Your next parenthetical citation could list only the page number because the reader understands that you are still talking about the same piece of writing. In that case it might simply look like this: (284) because the detail you are quoting appears on the next page of the story.

Rules for special cases: No Author: If you are citing an article that does not list an author, the parenthetical citation should show the first word that appears on the Works Cited entry. Simply put, that means the first word of the article name. As usual, this would be followed by a page number if available. For example: If this were your Work Cited entry… "Scarlet Ibis." Busch Gardens Animals. Sea World, 3 Oct. 2011. Web. 4 Oct. 2011. This would be your parenthetical citation: (“Scarlet” 1)

Rules for special cases: No Page Numbers If you are citing an online article, page numbers may not be available.  In that case, you are allowed to leave page numbers out. For example, if you were citing information from an article on a website such as this one: Gardner, Amanda. “Healthy Diet May Reduce Risk of Birth Defects.” CNN.com – Breaking News, U.S., World, Weather, Entertainment & Video News. CNN, 3 Oct. 2011. Web. 04 Oct. 2011. …your parenthetical citation might simply look like this (Gardner).

Punctuating Citations Quotation marks appear before the parenthetical citation. “She loved him at exactly that moment” (Rylant 283). Periods are held until after the parentheses. “Then one day the bag boy dropped her jar of mayonnaise and that is how she fell in love” (Rylant 283). Question marks and exclamation marks appear inside the quotes, before the parentheses, and a period is added after the citation. “He’s all there!” (Hurst 555).

Works Cited Gardner, Amanda. "Healthy Diet May Reduce Risk of Birth Defects." CNN.com - Breaking News, U.S., World, Weather, Entertainment & Video News. CNN. 3 Oct. 2011. Web. 04 Oct. 2011. Hurst, James. “The Scarlet Ibis.” Prentice Hall Literature: Timeless Voices, Timeless Themes. Ed. Kate Kinsella. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall. 2002. 554-564. Print. Rylant, Cynthia. “Checkouts.” Prentice Hall Literature: Timeless Voices, Timeless Themes. Ed. Kate Kinsella. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall. 2002. 282-285. Print. Saki. “The Interlopers.” Prentice Hall Literature: Timeless Voices, Timeless Themes. Ed. Kate Kinsella. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall. 2002. 304-310. Print. "Scarlet Ibis." Busch Gardens Animals. Sea World, 3 Oct. 2011. Web. 4 Oct. 2011.