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Global Arts Studies Program - GASP 001 (Kaminsky)

Integrating Quotations

Avoid Dropped Quotes

  • Dropped quotes are plopped in without context.  The reader may have to guess the relevance of the quote.
  • Ensure that you introduce the quote and that your reader knows why it is important.
  • Ensure that you follow up with your analysis of the quote.  Why is it important? Sandwich your quote.

Anchor Your Quotes

  • Identify the author (or speaker) AND the context of the quote.
  • Possible Formula: In (title of source), (author) argues/describes/writes, "quote" ( ).
  • You can vary this formula. 
  • Aim to use descriptive and engaging verbs to really describe what the author is going. 

Verb Possibilities

acknowledges

adds

admits

agrees

argues

asserts

believes

characterizes

claims

comments

compares

condemns

confirms

contents

contrasts

criticizes

declares

defends

demonstrates

denies

describes

disputes

distinguishes

emphasizes

endorses

explains

grants

identified

illustrates

implies

insists

justifies

notes

observes

objects

points out

reasons

refutes

rejects

reports

responds

shows

suggests

supports

thinks

writes

wonders

adapted, with examples, from What, Why, and How? Integrating Sources from Skyline College

Example Quote Integration

Look at the following piece of writing with quote integration.  What are the author successfully done?  Is there anything else the author could improve?

Piggford, George. "Looking into Black Skulls: Amiri Baraka's 'Dutchman' and the Psychology of Race." Modern Drama, vol. 40, no. 1, 1997, p. 74+. Literature Resource Center, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=LitRC&sw=w&u=ucmerced&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE%7CA19791571&asid=cc55e0765a8af7ba3fa0435bb7691e29. Accessed 30 Mar. 2017.

Excerpt:

Frantz Fanon, in Black Skin, White Masks, extols the power of language rather than political activism to solve what he terms the "color problem," suggesting that this problem exists primarily in language itself: "From all sides dozens and hundreds of pages assail me and try to impose their wills on me. But a single line would be enough. Supply a single answer and the color problem would be stripped of all its importance."(13) Fanon implies in this passage that if language is transformed - if the answer to this "problem" is found - the issue of race will simply disappear. This assumption is based on Fanon's naive trust in the Freudian psychoanalytic method.

Quotation Sandwich

from cdn.quotesgrams.com

quotation sandwich

More Information

The Writers Handbook: Avoiding Plagiarism (University of Wisconsin - Madison)

  • includes information on paraphrasing vs quoting

Integrating Quotations from a Literary Text into a Literary Analysis Paper (University of Wisconsin, Madison)

  • information on choosing quotations and integrating them into your writing

Choosing Appropriate Quotes (CUNY Academic Commons)

  • provides a list of questions to ask yourself before including a quote; see #2

Integrating Quotes MLA (Boise State University, Writing Center)

  • refers to the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd components of integrating quotes; shows what the author of the quotes says and then what the writer says (sandwich)