Essay Writing Tips Quote integration citation and transitions

Essay Writing Tips Quote integration, citation, and transitions.

Proper Quote Integration: Examples with Dialogue: Example 1: Frustrated with his workaholic tendencies, Clare tells her husband, “ ‘You work too much, though, Tom – and too hard’ ” (Finney 7). Example 2: Tom acknowledges his faults and his guilt when he asks her, even though he knows the answer already: “ ‘Sure you don’t mind going alone? ’ ” (Finney 7). Example 3: Realizing how much his wife matters to him now, Tom reacts by “[shooting] his arm forward toward the glass, and he said, ‘Clare’” (Finney 7).

Quote Integration Continued: Examples 1 with narration: Incorrect: Tom is having trouble staying aware, keeping balance, and resisting panic. “And to save his life he concentrated on holding onto consciousness” (Finney 12). Correct: Tom is having trouble staying aware, keeping balance, and resisting panic. Tom realizes that in order to “save his life he [had to] concentrat[e] on holding onto consciousness” (Finney 12).

Quote Integration Continued: Example 2 with narration: Incorrect: Tom thought more about what could go wrong. “It was extremely likely, he knew, that he would faint, to slump down along the wall, his face scraping, then drop backward, a limp weight, out into nothing” (Finney 12). Correct: Tom thought more about what could go wrong, for he knew that “It was extremely likely… that he would faint… then drop backward… into nothing” (Finney 12).

Citation Rules and MLA format: When taking sections out of a quote, it requires three dots. Example: Even after the paper was outside on the ledge it was still hard for Tom to “. . . understand that he actually had to abandon it. . . and he began to curse” (Finney 9). After stating the author’s last name in the first citation, it is not necessary to state it again. In the second citation, only the page number needs to be cited.

Citation Rules and MLA format: Punctuation marks inside the quote are excluded. Example: “The mental picture of himself sidling along the ledge outside was absurd. . . and he smiled” (Finney 9). Note: There is no punctuation mark after smiled, even though it is the end of that particular sentence. Instead, the period is after the citation parenthesis.

Citation Rules and MLA format: If you change the quote to fit your own purposes, use brackets to denote the changes. Example of Original Quote: In one scene “. . . his whole body was racked with a violent shuddering beyond control. . . ” (Finney 10). Example of Altered Quote: In one scene Tom’s “. . . whole body [is] racked with a violent shuddering beyond control. . . ” (Finney 10).