Incorporating quoted material into literary analysis Embedded quotes Incorporating quoted material into literary analysis

Embedded vs Dropped-in An embedded quote flows naturally into your own writing. When reading a well-embedded quote, it should sound like part of your own sentence. A dropped-in quote does not flow with the rest of the sentence. It sounds jarring and disrupts the sentence and paragraph.

Example #1: Which one flows with the author’s writing better? Beneatha is a character who believes in freedom of expression. She said this quote: “People have to express themselves one way or another” (Hansberry 48). Beneatha is a character who believes that “People need to express themselves one way or another” (Hansberry 48). Why?

Example #2 Which one flows with the author’s writing better? Why? Holden gets frustrated and decides to leave. “People are always ruining things for you” (Salinger 88). Holden gets frustrated and decides to leave, claiming that “People are always ruining things” (Salinger 88). Holden gets frustrated and decides to leave. He claims that “People are always ruining things” (Salinger 88).

punctuation Capitalization Leaving words out Adding words in Where to put the period.

capitalization Capitalize the first letter of a direct quote when the quoted material is a complete sentence. Example: Death is revealed as an omniscient narrator when he announces that “We move forward now, to a cold night struggle. We’ll let the book thief catch up later” (Zusak 157). Do not use a capital letter when the quoted material is only a portion of the sentence and doesn’t start at the beginning. Death is revealed as an omniscient narrator when he transitions to Max’s story and tells the reader that he will “…let the book thief catch up later” (Zusak 157).

Omitting words When it is necessary to leave out a few words from the original text, use an ellipses (…) indicating where the words were skipped. Death is revealed as an omniscient narrator when he announces that “We move forward now…We’ll let the book thief catch up later” (Zusak 157).

Changing words Sometimes a word needs to be changed in order for the sentence to be grammatically correct. Max assists Liesel in her daily pushups by “show[ing] her and occasionally lift[ing] her torso to help, but despite her bony appearance, Liesel was strong and could hold her body weight nicely” (Zusak 265). The stress of the war was shown on Hans’ face because “[He] hadn’t shaved for a few days…” (Zusak 265).

Quoting Dialogue If you are quoting dialogue, use single quotes to indicate the quotes within the quote. Example: Liesel treated Ilsa Hermann poorly and shows her fear of death by whispering to Papa, “‘I think I’m going to hell’” (Zusak 265). Deutscher is a bully and screams at Rudy and Tommy saying, “‘Both of you-six laps of the grounds.’ They obeyed, but not fast enough. ‘Schnell!’ His voice chased them” (Zusak 259).

Where to put the period The closing punctuation always goes at the very end of the sentence, i.e. after the parenthetical citation. Beneatha is a character who believes that “people need to express themselves one way or another” (Hansberry 48).

“?” and “!” If it is appropriate to the sentence, keep the original punctuation within the quote, but include the period after the parenthesis. The woman looked around the auditorium and wondered, “…is this it?” (Smith 233). The woman looked around the auditorium and wondered, “…is this it?” (Smith 233), as she walked the perimeter the room.

If a quote is more than four lines… Evaluate whether you could paraphrase or summarize the quote. You would still need to cite this information using a parenthesis which includes the page #. Indent the quote to make a block quote. If you are choosing to do this, please talk with me first so that we can assess whether or not you REALLY need the whole quote.

Cite your sources! Avoid plagiarism! At the end of the sentence, include a parenthetical citation. In most cases, the author’s last name and page number is required (Author’s Last Name 348). In some cases, only a page number is needed (348). Why?

Works Cited page The parenthetical citations coordinate with the works cited page included at the end of your paper. Helpful websites for proper formatting: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/section/2/

Basic format Lastname, Firstname. Title of Book. Place of Publication: Publisher, Year of Publication. Medium of Publication. You will be including a works cited page with your literary analysis paper so keep track of your sources!