Introducing and Incorporating Quotations in Your Essay

INTRODUCING AND INCORPORATING QUOTATIONS IN YOUR ESSAY

There are a number of good reasons for using quotations in your essay, rather than simply paraphrasing from your source:

A good quotation can illustrate your point more effectively
The wording of the quotation is more powerful to your point than any paraphrase could be.
Especially when dealing with a primary source, the precise wording may prove especially significant to the point you are trying to make.

In general, do not over-quote, but feel free to incorporate quotations that you believe to be especially good evidence.

I. Introducing Quotations.

One of the most common mistakes made by students is the failure properly to introduce a quotation. You need to introduce a quotation so that

The speaker/writer is properly identified for the reader.
The context of the quotation is provided.
You can properly incorporate the quotation into the rest of your prose.

A. If you introduce the quotation with an introductory phrase (rather than a full sentence), use a comma.

Example: As President Obama noted in his victory speech on election night, “I’m not talking about blind optimism, the kind of hope that just ignores the enormity of the tasks ahead or the road blocks that stand in our path.”

B. If you introduce a quotation with a full sentence, use a colon.

Example: Obama announced on election night that there would be a sense of practicality to his message of hope: “I’m not talking about blind optimism, the kind of hope that just ignores the enormity of the tasks ahead or the road blocks that stand in our path.”

II. Short versus Long (Block) Quotations

Shorter quotations, usually less than three lines of text, should be incorporated in the manner of the two examples provided above.

Longer quotations, on the other hand, should be separated from the rest of your text by indenting them (which means you do not need quotation marks). They still need to be properly introduced.

Example:

2
The 2012 Presidential Election, in many ways, was a referendum on
the promise of “hope and change” that Barack Obama had promised
Americans in 2008. Indeed, sensing the need to reframe his message
after four difficult years, Obama announced on election night that there
would be a sense of practicality to his message of hope:
I’m not talking about blind optimism, the kind of hope
that just ignores the enormity of the tasks ahead or the
road blocks that stand in our path. I’m not talking about
the wishful idealism that allows us to just sit on the sidelines
or shirk from a fight. I have always believed that hope is
that stubborn thing inside us that insists, despite all the
evidence to the contrary, that something better awaits us
so long as we have the courage to keep reaching, to keep
working, to keep fighting.[1]
Noticeably absent from the President’s speech was the euphoric
“Yes we can” refrain from four years earlier; instead, Obama chose to
temper that message with a reminder that hope and change requires
perseverance, patience, hard work, and the courage to stay the
course. Nonetheless, the President remained committed to steering
his nation, as his favourite predecessor put it, towards “the better
angels”[2] of its nature.

Note that the quotation above is properly introduced, placed in appropriate context, and then its significance is properly explained to the reader.

[1] For proper format, see Footnote and Bibliography guide.

[2] Ibid.