THE RESEARCH ESSAYHow to Incorporate Direct Quotes

and Paraphrases

Incorporating Direct QuotesFIRST:

• When including direct quotes in an essay, you must choose an effective quote and use it properly.

• A quote used improperly is a good sign that you did not

understand the play.

For Example:

Banquo said, “When the hurlyburly’s done, / When the battle’s lost and won” he will find Macbeth and kill him (I.i.3-4).

• What is wrong with this?!!!

SECOND:• Make sure you copy the quote correctly onto your paper.

• Keep spelling and capitalization just as it appears in the original.

• Place a slash ( / ) with a space on each side between consecutive lines of poetry.

If you quote four or more lines of poetry you should indent each line ten spaces (press tab twice). This is called a block quote. Example:

Additionally, it is his wife who said:When Duncan is asleep—Whereto the rather shall his day’s journeySoundly invite him—his two chamberlains Will I with wine and wassail so convince,That memory, the warder of the brain,Shall be a fume, and the receipt of reason A limbeck only. (I.vii.60-67)

Quotation Marks Within a Direct Quote

• Put double quotations around quotes you are incorporating.

• If words you have chosen from Macbeth already have double quotations, turn those into single quotations.

• For Example:  Macbeth foreshadows sleeplessness when he claims, “Methought I head a voice cry ‘Sleep no more! / Macbeth does murder sleep’” (II.ii.34-35).

THIRD

• Avoid just throwing your carefully selected quotes into your essay.

• Incorporate them in such a way that the essay seems to flow. You can create this effect by using different lead-ins.

Lead-Ins

• Readers should be able to move from your own words to the words you quote from a source without feeling a jolt.

• Avoid dropping a quotation or summary into the text without warning; instead, provide a clear signal phrase, usually including the author’s name, to prepare readers for the source.

Example Dropped Quotation (no signal phrase)

Although the bald eagle is still listed as an endangered species, its ever-increasing population is very encouraging. “The bald eagle seems to have stabilized its population, at the very least, almost everywhere” (Sheppard 96).

  Quotation with a Signal Phrase

Although the bald eagle is still listed as an endangered species, its ever-increasing population is very encouraging. According to ornithologist Jay Sheppard, “The Bald eagle seems to have stabilized its population, at the very least, almost everywhere” (96).

Another Example• Not this: There is less emphasis on teaching grammar in schools today. “Many teachers seem to believe rules stifle spontaneity” (Agee 10).

• But this: Because “many teachers seem to believe rules stifle spontaneity,” there is less emphasis on teaching grammar in schools today (Agee 10).

 

Three Types of Lead-ins

1. “Somebody said” lead-in

Jane Agee comments, “Many students are coming into state universities through junior colleges” (10).

2. Blended lead-in – Some of the quoted material is left out and what is kept blends in with your sentence.

According to Jane Agee, state universities are adding students from junior colleges through “special remedial programs where students are admitted on probation” (10).

3.Sentence lead-in – The sentence lead-in is followed by a colon.

Just after the first murder, Macbeth is characterized by Lady Macbeth: “Infirm of purpose!”(Shakespeare II.2.51).

FOURTH• You must DOCUMENT:

• all direct quotes• all summaries and paraphrases• all borrowed ideas• all facts and statistics

So, what do you not document?Anything that is considered “common knowledge”

For Example: • · Names of men who first landed on the moon• · The population of the United States• · The dates of the Civil War• · The first President of the United States• · Familiar proverbs

In-text Citation

Here are the basic elements necessary when documenting a source within your paper: 

1.  The source is introduced by a signal phrase that names its author.

2. The source is followed by a page number in parentheses. However, follow quotes & paraphrases from Macbeth with the act, scene, and line number.

3.  At the end of your paper, provide a works cited page (details to come later).

Example

According to King Duncan, Macbeth “is a peerless kinsman” (Shakespeare I.iv.58).

This quote has the following required elements:1. A lead-in

What type of lead-in is used here?2. Page number and/or reference to a line*Notice that the punctuation for the sentence

is placed AFTER the in-text citation.

About the Author’s name: If you do notdo not cite the author’s name in your lead-

in, you must cite the author’s name in the parenthetical documentation.

EXCEPTION:◦Since Macbeth is the only play by Shakespeare that

you are citing, once you have mentioned Shakespeare’s name either in the lead-in or the parenthetical documentation, you do not have to mention it again.

Example• For the first reference you make to Macbeth, mention Shakespeare’s name:

• In Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Macbeth compares life to a tale that ultimately means nothing (V.v.26-28).

OR• Macbeth compares life to a tale that ultimately means

nothing (Shakespeare V.v.26-28).• In subsequent references to Macbeth it is not necessary

to mention Shakespeare’s name. • You only provide the Act, Scene, and Line.

Just because you can omit referring to the author of Macbeth does not mean you can do the same for other sources…

• For critical sources, you must provide the page number and the author’s name EACH TIME YOU REFER TO THE SOURCE.

Example:

H. N. Hudson argues, “Lady Macbeth is the opposite of her husband,” yet “she differs from him in just the right way to supplement him” (203).

• If you cite the author’s name in the signal phrase, you do not have to cite it in the parenthetical documentation.

AUTHOR’S NAME IN TEXT

Tannen has argued this point (178-85)

AUTHOR’S NAME IN REFERENCE

This point has already been argued (Tannen 178-85).

Paraphrasing• Your paper should NOT consist of a string of direct

quotes.• Instead, much should be paraphrased.• Example:

Banquo warned Macbeth about the decietfulness of the witches (I.iii.120-126).

*Be sure to document Paraphrases!

A Note on Punctuation… You may choose whatever ending punctuation is

necessary for direct quotes, unless the quote you have chosen ends in a question mark.

For example: When Macbeth asks his wife, “If we should fail?”

the audience knows that he is ready to “bend up / Each corporal agent to this [that] terrible feat” (I.vii.59,80).

Notice that the ending punctuation for the sentence occurs AFTER the reference to the Act, Scene, and lines.

PARENTHETICALDOCUMENTATION

Using parentheses ( ) at the end of a sentence to document within your paper

where the previous quote or idea was found

This will also point your reader to the full works cited bibliographic entry!

Direct Quote to Paraphrase• As you insert the information from your notes into your

rough draft, you will need to turn some direct quotes into paraphrases.

• You STILL must document where that idea came from using parenthetical documentation (Johnson)

Paraphrase, but do not Plagiarize

• When paraphrasing, it is important to keep these things in mind:• you are simply putting into your own words what

another author has written. • avoid keeping the same sentence structure• Remember if you directly quote THREE or more

consecutive words, you MUST put quotation marks around them.

• If you use a specific term from an original, you must use quotation marks around it.

Example• Original taken from your textbook on page 289:

There are even those who say that somebody other than Shakespeare wrote the works that bear his name, although these deluded people cannot agree on who, among a dozen candidates, this other author actually was.

Errors: Same sentence pattern, more than three consecutive words used…

Name the errors in the following “paraphrase”:

Many critics say that somebody other than Shakespeare wrote the plays that people currently believe he authored, although even those critics can only speculate about who the real author must be (289).

Example of Parenthetical Documentation

• Critics contend that Twelfth Night is the most nearly perfect festive comedy that Shakespeare wrote (Schwartz 509).

• Parenthetical documentation tells your reader that the information in that sentence came from page 509 of a work by Schwartz.

Parenthetical Documentation• The author and page information should be placed at the

end of the paraphrased or quoted material.

• If you have no author name, use the title (“Hawthorne's women…” 348)

• If you have no page #, the reference should be (Smith).

Documentation• If you have two sentences that include information from the SAME source, you can wait to parenthetically document until the end of the second sentence!

• For a book with 3 authors, this is the correct parenthetical documentation:

(Watts, Smith & Jones 120)

Select Quotes• Your job is to find and copy down quotes that can be used as examples / evidence to support your thesis!

• After finding the quotes, always incorporate the quote and uses a quality “lead-in”• For example:

The fact that the porter stays awake is important. As Susan Jones states, “He is a drunk loser who, much like Macbeth, does not deserve to be rewarded with the sweetness of sleep” .

A Few Great Sites for You!

• http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/02/

• http://valenciacollege.edu/library/doc_mla_electronic.cfm

• http://bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/resdoc5e/RES5e_ch08_s1-0001.html#RES5e_ch08_p0106