When answering a question, a quotation will help support your answer with direct evidence. The key to success is choosing a quote that is relevant—a line/sentence/part of the text that actually supports your answer. In order to do this:  1) Reread your answer. Ask yourself, “How can I prove this?”  2) Choose a quotation that illustrates your answer directly.  3) You should easily be able to explain how your ENTIRE quote directly proves your answer.

You must also shorten your quote appropriately. Just because you found a supportive quotation does not mean you need the entire paragraph/page/etc. In order to do this:  1) Underline/circle/identify the key words/phrases that prove your answer DIRECTLY  2) Get rid of any part of the quotation that does not help in doing this or is irrelevant in understanding your answer.

 Embedding quotations into your writing is easy. Embedding quotations into your writing fluently is going to take more work. There are two steps to embedding a quote once you have one. 1) Introducing the quotation.  Do NOT say “For example,” “To explain my point,” “An example that proves this is,” or simply plop the quote into the paragraph without any intro. Think of the introduction as a way to fill your reader in on what they are about to read.  Do insert quote fluently. Example: Antigone defends her reasoning for burying Polyneices by admitting “if I had left my brother/ Lying in death unburied, I should have suffered”(2.53).

2) Explaining the quotation afterwards.  DO NOT say “This quote means…” Instead, explain your thoughts/ interpretations/translations of the quote into your own words.  Explain how and why it proves your claim/answer.  Apply it to a larger theme.  Pick apart each word. This explanation is the part that can be expanded on the most, depending on how detailed you want to get. It will make up the larger part of each body paragraph.

 Citing quotations will often depend on the type of text you are pulling from (novel, article, play, poem, etc.) For the sake of Antigone, we will focus on plays. You must always give credit to where you have pulled your quote. Here are some options on how to cite your quotes…

If quotations are less than three lines you can embed them into your writing—use the “/” symbol to signify a line break (keep all capitalization and punctuation the same). Ex. “No, from the very beginning/ There have been those who have whispered together,/Stiff-necked anarchists, putting their heads together,/ Scheming against me in alleys” ( ).

 If you quote more than three lines of text, set off quote on new line, indent about one inch from left- hand margin, and don’t use quotation marks: No, from the very beginning There have been those who have whispered together, Stiff-necked anarchists, putting their heads together, Scheming against me in alleys ( ).

You must cite all quotations—for Antigone, this means Scene and line #’s.  “Must you doddering wrecks/ Go out of your heads entirely?” ( ). ***Note that the punctuation (? Or !) remains, but there is still a period after the parenthesis.  Ex. “We are old men: let the young ones carry it out” (1.59). ***Note that the punctuation is left out—the period comes after the parenthesis.

Full citation within Partly cited within, parenthetical at the end. In Exodus, line 10-11, the Messenger asks, “Who can say/ That a man is still alive when his life’s joy fails?” In Exodus, the Messenger asks, “Who can say/ That a man is still alive when his life’s joy fails?”(10-11).

Good luck