Integrating quotations

AP English Language and Composition: Glass 1

Integrating quotations

Tips on how to integrate textual support smoothly into your own

writing


What works?

INEFFECTIVE

Rodriguez writes, “My parents, who are no longer my parents in a cultural sense.” He expresses the alienation from his family that has resulted from his assimilation into English-speaking American culture.

EFFECTIVE

Rodriguez describes his parents as “no longer [his] parents in a cultural sense” to express the alienation from his family that has resulted from his assimilation into English-speaking American culture.


What Works? 2

INEFFECTIVEde Crevecoeur argues that poor Europeans have no real attachment to their homelands. “Can a wretch who wanders about, who works and starves, whose life is a continual scene of sore affliction or pinching penury; can that man call England or any other kingdom his country?”

EFFECTIVEde Crevecoeur criticizes the lack of social mobility in Europe using a biting rhetorical question: “Can a wretch who wanders about, who works and starves, whose life is a continual scene of sore affliction or pinching penury; can that man call England or any other kingdom his country?”


Options for Integrating Quotations: #1 = Incorporate Incorporate the quotation into your sentence,

punctuating it as you would if it were not a quotation.

Mukherjee argues in favor of an acculturation model “that differs from both the enforced assimilation of a ‘melting pot’ and the Canadian model of a multicultural ‘mosaic’”(4).


Options for Integrating Quotations: #1 = Incorporate 2 If you must change an element within the quote

to make it work grammatically, use brackets to indicate the change.

Rodriguez describes his parents as “no longer [his] parents in a cultural sense” to express the alienation from his family that has resulted from his assimilation into English-speaking American culture.


Options for Integrating Quotations: #2 = attribute

Introduce a full-sentence quotation by using an attributive speech tag like “he writes,” “she claims,” and so on.

Jacob Needleman claims, “A dream is a vision or truth, of what can be and ought to be, and a dream is a deception.”

Elaine Pagels asks, “Whom do we include in the ‘American Dream’?”


Options for Integrating Quotations: a cautionary note

Do NOT use an attributive speech tag like “he writes,” “she claims,” “she argues,” “he asserts,” etc. to introduce a quote that is NOT a complete sentence.

INCORRECT: Rodriguez writes, “My parents, who are no longer my parents in a cultural sense.”

ALSO INEFFECTIVE: Rodriguez writes, “My parents, who are no longer my parents in a cultural sense” in order to express the loss of family intimacy.


Options for Integrating Quotations: cautionary note 2

What’s the problem with following a speech tag with a non-sentence quote?

Speech verbs like say, assert, exclaim, ask, etc. take a full-sentence complement. They “expect” a full sentence to follow them.


Options for Integrating Quotations: cautionary note 3

Notice how ungrammatical and unfinished the following “sentences” sound:

Mukherjee says.

The girl said, “The grumpy man, who lives next door.”


Options for Integrating Quotations: #3 = Use a sentence.

Use a full sentence of your own to introduce a full sentence by the quoted author.

You must use a colon to introduce the quotation in this case.

Jacob Needleman says it best: “A dream is a vision or truth, of what can be and ought to be, and a dream is a deception.”


Options for Integrating Quotations: Colon or comma?

Jacob Needleman says it best: “A dream is a vision or truth, of what can be and ought to be, and a dream is a deception.”

Underlined portion = a complete sentence; introduce quote with colon

Jacob Needleman says, “A dream is a vision or truth, of what can be and ought to be, and a dream is a deception.”

Underlined portion = a fragment; introduce quote with comma


Punctuation Rules: The Basics Capitalize the first letter of any complete sentence you

quote unless you introduce it with “that.”

In describing the New World, de Crevecoeur claimed, “The rich and the poor are not so far removed from each other as they are in Europe” (1).

de Crevecoeur claimed that the “rich and the poor are not so far removed from each other as they are in Europe” (1).

de Crevecoeur claimed that “[t]he rich and the poor are not so far removed from each other as they are in Europe” (1).


Punctuation Rules: The Basics, 2

If the quotation is broken into two parts, do not capitalize the first letter of the second part.

“Our team is bound to win," said Coach Glass, "because UHS students are excellent Ultimate Frisbee players."


Punctuation Rules: Commas and Periods

Commas and periods go within closing quotation marks, EXCEPT when a parenthetical reference follows the quotation.

Jacob Needleman said, “A dream is a vision or truth, of what can be and ought to be, and a dream is a deception.”

In her essay, Dr. Linguist notes, "The gestures used for greeting others differ greatly from one culture to another” (3).


Punctuation Rules: Colons and Semi-Colons

When colons and semi-colons are not part of the quotation, put them outside of the closing quotation marks.

At the English Department meeting, Ms. Balzer voiced her opinion on the rules for integrating quotations: “They’re not intuitive, but they are very important"; several other teachers agreed.


Punctuation Rules: Question Marks, Exclamation Points, and Dashes

If a question mark, exclamation point, or dash is part of the original quotation, place it within the closing quotation mark.

Elaine Pagels asks, “Whom do we include in the ‘American Dream’ ?” (5).


Punctuation Rules: Question Marks, Exclamation Points, and Dashes

If a question mark, exclamation point, or dash is part of your sentence that includes the quotation, place it outside of the closing quotation mark.

Do other columnists agree with David Brooks’ claim that “maximum status goes to the Gladwellian heroes who occupy the convergence points of the Internet ecosystem” (2)?


Block Quotes: 4+ Lines

Use block quotes sparingly, if at all.

The more your quote, the more you must explain!

If you really must use a block quote, remember these guidelines…


Block Quotes: Usage Rules

Begin quote as a new line of text.

Indent 1” from left margin.

No quotation marks

Parenthetical citation goes outside final punctuation within quote.


Block Quotes: Example

In his poem “The Problem," Ralph Waldo Emerson explores the inner philosophical struggle of a religious yet unorthodox man:

I like a church;I like a cowl;

I love a prophet of the soul;

And on my heart monastic aisles

Fall like sweet strains, or pensive smiles:

Yet not for all his faith can see

Would I that cowlëd churchman be. (1-7)


Integrating quotations: fin!

Time to practice…

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Integrating quotations