Why
quote? Because someone else has said something better than you could say it;
the words are notable or memorable.
Poe
was born in Boston in 1809, the son of impoverished traveling actors.
Not
all of the preceding sentence is worth quoting. The words “impoverished
traveling actors” jump out at you as worth quoting; the rest is better left
alone.
Years
are plenty in the ages, and an intermittent rill called to life by a shower can do much
work in centuries and centuries.
In
the preceding sentence, the words “intermittent rill called to life by a
shower” jump out at you as worth quoting; the rest is better left alone.
Which
brings us to this principle: it
is often better to quote phrases than entire sentences.
Clunky (what not to do):
Nature doesn’t always mean the same thing. “The world of nature takes on a different
meaning for just about every person” (Dillard 300). For example, nature will
appear different …
Graceful (what to do):
Depending on our beliefs and our geographical location, it is possible for each
of us to see in nature a
“different meaning” (Dillard 300).
Good
formula: 50% your words, 50% quoted words.
Terrible (what not to do):
Annie Dillard grew up in
In
other words, don’t use quotations to repeat what you’ve already said. Instead,
use them to support your own ideas.
Terrible (what not to do):
“But the artificial obvious is hard to see” (Dillard 303). What this quotation
means is that …”
The
previous is backwards from what you should be doing. Don’t lead with quotations
and then explain them. Instead, lead with your own ideas and use quotations to
support your own ideas. (Note they are called “quotations,” not “quotes.”)
A
general rule that can apply in almost
all cases: Pretend the quotation marks and page numbers are removed. A reader
should not be able to tell you were quoting another’s words. That’s how natural your quoted
material should sound.
MLA style: MLA stands
for Modern Language Association. It is used in all English classes and
sometimes in other classes. An MLA style book (or any other style book)
instructs you in two things:
1.
How to integrate quotations into your text.
For example, the placing of the author’s last name and the page number the
quoted words are found on in parentheses is part of MLA style.
2.
What your Works Cited page should look like.