Blending Quotations ________________________________________________________________

I. The Basics A. Always integrate quotations into your text. B. NEVER just “drop” a quotation in your writing! C. Use your own words to introduce a quotation.

II. How To Improve Blending Quotes Use only the most effective part of the quotation. For example: Indirect Quotation: Although some viewers might find Forrest “compellingly innocent” and kind, others believe he has character flaws (Ebert). Remember to use brackets [ ] if you add or change a word. For example: In Star Wars, “[he] lunges backwards as if suspended in mid air” due to the visual graphics which make it appear that he flies (James).

III. Bad Example with Revision A. Bad example: Mr. Radley is an unattractive man. “He was a thin leathery man with colorless eyes, so colorless they did not reflect light” (Lee 32). i. Why? The quote is dropped into the paper as if pretending to stand alone. ii. Do not allow a quote to stand alone! B. Great example: Harper Lee describes Mr. Radley as “a thin leathery man with colorless eyes…[that] did not reflect light” (32).

IV. Using Signal Phrases A. Use signal phrases to blend the quote into the sentence, making it read smoothly Direct Quote: T.S. Eliot, in his “Talent and the Individual,” uses gender-specific language. He argues, for instance, that “no poet, no artist of any art, has his complete meaning alone. [Indeed,] his significance, his appreciation is the appreciation of his relation to the dead poets and artists” (Eliot). Paraphrase: For instance, many consider Yoda the Buddha of the galaxy (Twine).

More Student Examples Original: A suggested revision: Night also represents the fire that killed so many people. “And just as the train stopped, this time we saw flames rising from a chimney into a dark sky” (Wiesel 28). A suggested revision: Wiesel suggests night represents death by fire as he and other passengers witness “flames rising from a chimney into a dark sky” which are no doubt burning people alive (Wiesel 28).

More Student Examples Original: A suggested revision: You start to see this fairly early in the book. “What had happened to me? My father had been struck in front of me, and I had not even blinked” (Wiesel 39). A suggested revision: Elie is disgusted with himself when his father is beaten right “in front of [him], and [he] had not even blinked” (Wiesel 39). He begins to question his own values as his concern for his father appears to decrease.

More Student Examples Original: A suggested revision: Through out the book, most of the killings or horrible events, including Elie, occur during the night. “They must of taken him away before daybreak and taken him to the crematorium” (Wiesel 112). A suggested revision: Throughout the book, many horrible events including the killings occur during the night. Indeed, Wiesel tells of a man “taken…away before daybreak… to the crematorium” (Wiesel 112).