How to Write Essays With Quotes From Writers
Essay writing is a skill that takes time and practice to develop. There are many different types of essays that benefit from the addition of quotes from outside sources. However, persuasive and analytical essays in particular benefit from skillful quote integration. Integrating quotes must be done in a manner that supports main ideas within the essay but does not detract from author originality. Write essays with quotes from other writers to support an essay's central message using correct formatting technique as well as a tone and style appropriate to the essay genre.
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Instructions
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Identify key quotes within the primary source text. Primary sources might be a work of literature that is the focus of the essay. For example, in an essay about Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet," key quotes might be from influential scenes in the play or its tragic final scene. Appropriate quotes from the primary source should serve to support your essay's main point or thesis statement.
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Identify key quotes from secondary sources. Secondary sources would be sources that discuss the primary source. For example, secondary sources used to support an essay on "Romeo and Juliet" might analyze characters or plot structure within the play. The quotes selected from the secondary sources should support main ideas within your essay's supporting paragraphs. They should also be from reputable authors or universally acknowledged experts on the topic that is the focus on your essay.
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Use proper formatting when integrating your quote. Depending on the type of essay, you may choose to use APA (American Psychological Association) or MLA (Modern Library Association) formatting. In either case, properly citing a quote from an outside source protects you and your work from committing plagiarism.
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Integrate your quote with the appropriate style or tone. The tone or style selected depends on the type of essay you are writing. For example, persuasive essays might use a quote integration that asserts the correctness of a certain argument with terms like, "The author argues, asserts, proclaims, insists etc." Analytical essays benefit from quote lead-ins that comment on some aspect of the text. Write an analytical essay with quotes by using terms like, "With these words...", "Shakespeare uses...", "In vivid sensory detail...", etc.
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Follow technical guidelines when selecting only specific components of a quote. For example, when integrating a longer quote into an essay in which you do not wish to use an entire paragraph, place ellipses between the two parts of the paragraph you wish to use. Another writing technique for effective quote integration is to place your own words of explanation in brackets within a quote that cannot be understood out of context.
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