INCORPORATING QUOTATIONS
When integrating direct quotations into a paper it is important to move smoothly from the source information to your own thoughts (and vice-versa). If quotations are simply dropped into a paper without significant warning, a reader may become confused as to the appropriateness and relevance of that particular quotation.
Rank these passages from best to worst in terms of how they use quotations. Be prepared to discuss what each passage does well and what it does poorly. How would you revise the passages that you ranked as making poor use of quotations?
A. The son and father's reactions to the mother's death further indicate how little they value her. When they realize that she is dead and that there is nothing they can do, they “poured her on the couch” and “waited and watched TV”. Using the word “poured” instead of “laid” or “put” makes the mother more of an object than a person, implying that she really isn’t as important to them as she should be, and instead of crying and grieving, they simply sit and watch TV.
B. Of equal importance was the young officer's reliance on rationality. He chose a bicycle as transportation, because it symbolized humanities mastery over nature, concurrently emphasizing his reliance on rationality over emotion. "To ride a bicycle is itself some protection against superstitious fear…" (299). Thefalse protection rationality provides leads the officer up to, and through, the chateau’s door, and eventually to his death in WWI.
C. Snow White's beauty was a type of seduction which forced the prince to take her to his castle. Moreover, along the way when the prince’s men carried the “glass coffin, they stumbled and dropped it and the chunk of apple flew out of her throat and she woke up miraculously (lines 132-134).” Their love was shared at a wedding in which the Queen arrived and had to wear “red-hot iron shoes and eventually dances herself to death (line 139).”
D. Leota also frequently refers to her husband in unflattering terms. She calls him a "shrimp" (48), even though he is hardly short at 5 feet 10 inches tall. Similarly, she tells Mrs. Fletcher that if she ever asked Fred’s advice, they would be “floatin’ down the YazooRiver on a houseboat or something,’” insinuating that he is lazy and foolish (48).