1.  Identify the subject and predicate, prepositions, adverbs and adjectives.  “While the bubbles were yet sparkling on the brim, the doctor's four guests snatched their glasses from the table, and swallowed the contents at a single gulp” (Hawthorne 102).  Write your own sentence, mimicking the pattern of the above sentence.

2. Incorporating quoted material into literary analysis

3.  To support my argument.  To demonstrate my familiarity with the text.  To avoid getting kicked out of school for plagiarism!

4.  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.

5.  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).

6.  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).

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

8.  The quote is part of your sentence. Do not capitalize any word unless it would ordinarily be capitalized.  Example: Holden gets frustrated and decides to leave, claiming that “people are always ruining things” (Salinger 88).  Do not capitalize “people” even though in the original text it is the first word of the sentence.

9.  When it is necessary to leave out a few words from the original text, use an ellipses (…) indicating where the words were skipped.  He claims that “people are … ruining things” (Salinger 88).

10.  Sometimes a word needs to be changed in order for the sentence to be grammatically correct.  Use brackets to enclose added words:  She is just about to apologize when she realizes that this nun is not “Mama or Papa [who she] could argue things with” (Alvarez 15).  (The original text is written in first person.)

11.  Lead your reader into the quote.  Use the quoted material.  Explain how the quote relates to the main point of your paragraph.

12.  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).

13.  Avoid plagiarism! At the end of the sentence, include a parenthetical citation.  In most cases, the author’s name and page number is required (Author 348).  In some cases, only a page number is needed (348).  In Shakespeare’s plays, you need Act.scene.line (IV.3.14-17).  Why?

15. Lastname, Firstname. Title of Book. Place of Publication: Publisher, Year of Publication. Medium of Publication.

16.  Does not require a works cited page if you are only using quotes from the play.