Making Quotes Work for YOU

Why Use Quotes? Your essay must be your own ideas and analysis. Why use quotes when it is your own work?

Here’s why. 1. Prove your ideas are correct 2. To illustrate your interpretation and point of view 3. To demonstrate how you arrived at an original idea of your own

Rules for using quotes Quotes must be relevant to your topic or claim. You must introduce the quote. You must show how it supports your point or idea. Explain the relevance.

When to use quotes Typically, avoid using quotes in the introduction Use them after you’ve made a claim No-No: beginning or end of paragraphs. Quotes must illustrate YOUR ideas.

Let’s see an example

Step 1: Claim O’Brein’s character in his novel, The Things They Carried, is able to sort through his emotions by writing about his experience in Vietnam.

Step 2: Evidence (quote) The method of story-telling is effective for him, because “by telling stories, you objectify your own experience. You separate it from yourself. You pin down certain truths” (158).

Step 3: Explain the Relevance His stories thus become a type of therapy for him where O’Brien can discover the lessons he learned without feeling directly involved. The more distance he gains from the war, the more he can heal.

O’Brien’s character in his novel, The Things They Carried, is able to sort through his emotions by writing about his experience in Vietnam. The method of story-telling is effective for him, because “by telling stories, you objectify your own experience. You separate it from yourself. You pin down certain truths” (158). His stories thus become a type of therapy for him where O’Brien can discover the lessons he learned without feeling directly involved. The more distance he gains from the war, the more he can heal. Claim Quote (with introduction) Explanation of Relevance

S: Make a claim about a heroic trait E: Elaborate on that trait, in reference to Beowulf E: Provide an example, using a quote I: Explain the relevance of the quote; show how it proves your claim.