Writing · Writing: Essays and Literary Analysis

Evidence and Integrating Quotations: Selecting, Framing and Citing

2.1 2.4About 70 minutes

Learning goals

I can decide when to quote, paraphrase or summarise, and choose the most revealing evidence.
I can integrate quotations so they fit my sentence grammatically, using signal phrases, colons, embedding and block quotations.
I can alter quotations honestly with square brackets and ellipses, and cite them in MLA 9 style.
I can frame evidence with analysis that is longer and sharper than the quotation itself.

Words to know

signal phrase
A short phrase that introduces a quotation and its speaker, such as As the narrator admits,.

embedded quotation
A quotation woven into the grammar of your own sentence, so the sentence reads smoothly.

block quotation
A long quotation set off from the text by indentation; in MLA, more than four lines of prose or more than three lines of poetry.

paraphrase
Restating a specific passage fully in your own words and sentence structure, still with a citation.

dropped quotation
A quotation that appears without any introduction or explanation; also called an orphan quotation.

literary present tense
The convention of describing events and authors' choices in a literary text in the present tense: the narrator writes, not wrote.

Evidence is chosen, not collected

At Grade 12, evidence is judged by quality, not quantity. One perfectly chosen phrase, closely analysed, is worth more than five long quotations dropped into a paragraph. This lesson uses short passages from Charlotte Perkins Gilman's short story "The Yellow Wallpaper" (1892; public domain), in which a woman whose physician husband has prescribed complete rest records her thoughts in a secret journal. You will study the story fully in Literary Analysis III.

Citation note: the examples cite the author only, (Gilman), because the story is printed in many editions and online. In your own essay, add the page number from the edition you used: (Gilman 12).

Quote, paraphrase or summarise?

Quote when the exact words matter: a revealing word choice, an image, a tone, a striking phrase you will analyse.
Paraphrase when the idea matters but the wording does not, or when a passage is long and plain.
Summarise when you need brief context: one sentence of what happens, so your analysis makes sense.

Never quote plot facts ("John is a physician") just to prove something happened. Quote language you can analyse.

Every quotation needs bread on both sides: an introduction before it and explanation after it. The explanation is usually longer than the quotation.

Making a quotation fit your sentence

A quotation must fit the grammar of the sentence around it. Read your sentence aloud without the quotation marks: it should sound like one correct sentence.

Square brackets [ ] change or add a word so the grammar works: He "hardly lets [her] stir without special direction" (the original says me).
Brackets can be combined with a quotation inside a quotation: She is "absolutely forbidden to 'work' until [she is] well again" (Gilman).
An ellipsis ( ... ) shows omitted words: She takes "phosphates or phosphites ... and tonics, and journeys, and air, and exercise" (Gilman). Never use an ellipsis to change the meaning.
Quotations within quotations switch to single marks: the original's "work" becomes 'work' inside your double quotation marks.
Literary present tense: Gilman's narrator writes, John laughs. Use the past tense only for real historical events: Gilman published the story in 1892.

Choose the method that suits the sentence. Embedding is often the most fluent, but a mix of methods keeps paragraphs from sounding mechanical.

Choosing the signal verb

The verb that introduces a quotation is a small act of interpretation. The narrator says is neutral. The narrator admits suggests reluctance. The narrator insists suggests that she is trying to convince herself or someone else. The narrator claims hints that she may be wrong. Choose the verb that matches your reading, and make sure the quotation supports it.

Useful signal verbs: acknowledges, admits, argues, asserts, concedes, confesses, implies, insists, laments, maintains, observes, protests, suggests, warns.

Citing in MLA 9 (the essentials)

Prose: author and page with no comma: (Gilman 12). If the author is named in your sentence, the page alone: (12). If there are no page numbers (some online texts), the author alone.
Poetry: line numbers: (lines 5-8) the first time, then (9-12).
Plays in verse: act, scene and line numbers with periods: (1.5.40) means Act 1, Scene 5, line 40.
Punctuation: the citation goes after the closing quotation mark and before the period: ... in marriage" (Gilman). A question mark or exclamation mark that belongs to the quotation stays inside it.
Secondary sources: introduce a critic by name the first time (Literary critic Jane Doe argues...) and cite the page. Full Works Cited entries and research methods are taught in the sibling unit Writing: Research, Forms and Conventions.

Keep your voice in charge

When you quote critics or the text, you must stay the main speaker of the essay. A good test: highlight quotations in one colour and your own words in another. Your colour should cover clearly more of every paragraph, and every paragraph should begin and end in your own words.

Worked example

Let's repair a paragraph with dropped quotations

Revise this student draft: The narrator is controlled. "He is very careful and loving, and hardly lets me stir without special direction." (Gilman). "I have a schedule prescription for each hour in the day." (Gilman). This shows she is controlled.

Diagnose: two dropped quotations, no signal phrases, citations placed after the period, and analysis that only repeats the topic (This shows she is controlled).
Choose the best evidence: the most revealing words are careful and loving next to hardly lets me stir: affection and control in one sentence. That tension is worth analysing.
Embed and alter honestly: The narrator describes John as "very careful and loving," yet in the same breath admits that he "hardly lets [her] stir without special direction" (Gilman).
Explain (word level): The conjunction "and" in her original sentence joins his love to his control as though they were the same thing, and the narrator does not seem to notice the contradiction.
Add the second piece of evidence only if it adds something: Even her time is not her own: she has "a schedule prescription for each hour in the day" (Gilman), a medical phrase that turns ordinary hours into a dose.
Link to the thesis: Gilman lets the reader see what the narrator cannot: in this marriage, care is the language in which control is spoken.
Revised paragraph: The narrator describes John as "very careful and loving," yet in the same breath admits that he "hardly lets [her] stir without special direction" (Gilman). The conjunction "and" in her original sentence joins his love to his control as though they were the same thing, and the narrator does not seem to notice the contradiction. Even her time is not her own: she has "a schedule prescription for each hour in the day" (Gilman), a medical phrase that turns ordinary hours into a dose. Gilman lets the reader see what the narrator cannot: in this marriage, care is the language in which control is spoken.

Two quotations, both embedded and correctly cited, each followed by analysis longer than the quotation, ending on a claim that serves the thesis.

Hands-on activity

Highlighter honesty test

You need: a recent essay or paragraph you wrote (printed or on screen), two highlighters or two text-highlight colours, and a pen.

Highlight every quoted word in one colour and every word of your own analysis in the other. Leave summary unhighlighted.
Estimate the ratio. Aim for at least two parts analysis to one part quotation.
Circle every dropped quotation (no introduction) and every citation placed after the period.
Rewrite two sentences: embed one quotation grammatically, and replace one says with a more precise signal verb.
Read each revised sentence aloud without the quotation marks. Does it sound like one correct sentence?

What to look for: every quotation introduced and explained; brackets and ellipses used honestly; the literary present tense throughout.

Just for fun

Quotation marks used for emphasis can backfire. A sign that says We "love" our customers makes everyone wonder what is really going on in that store. In essays, quotation marks mean only one thing: these are someone else's exact words.

Your turn

When should you quote rather than paraphrase?

Name the three layers of the quotation sandwich.

Fix the grammar: John "hardly lets me stir without special direction."

What is wrong with: "He hates to have me write a word." (Gilman). This shows he is mean.

Change to the literary present tense: The narrator hid her journal whenever John came in.

Choose a signal verb that suggests reluctance.

More practice: warm-up

What do square brackets show in a quotation?

Where does the period go relative to an MLA citation?

How long must a prose quotation be before MLA asks for a block quotation?

In MLA, what does (1.5.40) mean for a play?

What punctuation shows a quotation inside a quotation?

More practice: on your own

Embed this quotation in a sentence of your own with analysis: "Personally, I believe that congenial work, with excitement and change, would do me good."

Explain the difference in meaning between The narrator says... and The narrator insists....

Use an ellipsis honestly to shorten: "So I take phosphates or phosphites—whichever it is, and tonics, and journeys, and air, and exercise" (the original has a dash after phosphites).

A paragraph begins with a quotation and ends with a quotation. Why is that a problem?

Paraphrase: "John laughs at me, of course, but one expects that in marriage." Then explain why quoting may be better here.

Challenge

Write a paragraph (5 to 7 sentences) that integrates two quotations from "The Yellow Wallpaper" using two different methods, with analysis at least twice as long as the quotations.

A student writes: Gilman argues that "one expects that in marriage." Explain the error in attribution and fix it.

Explain how bracketed changes could be used dishonestly, and give a rule to prevent it.

Check your understanding

Quiz

Which is a dropped quotation?

Square brackets in a quotation show that the writer:

Which sentence uses the literary present tense correctly?

Which citation is punctuated correctly in MLA 9?

The signal verb admits suggests that the speaker is:

You should quote a passage when:

For parents and teachers

Big idea: Integrating evidence is part of expectation 2.1 (using essay form effectively) and 2.4 (writing complete, fluent sentences): a quotation must fit the grammar of the student's sentence. This is one of the most heavily marked skills in Grade 12 English and first-year university.

How to help: ask your teen to read a paragraph aloud. Listen for sentences that stop sounding like them: those are usually dropped quotations. Ask What does that word in the quotation do? to push them past summary.

Common difficulties: quoting plot facts; long quotations with one line of analysis; citations after the period; changing quotations so they mean something different; attributing a narrator's words to the author. The model paragraph and the critic Jane Doe are invented for this lesson; real secondary sources must be found and cited properly. Quotations from "The Yellow Wallpaper" may differ slightly in punctuation between editions, so students should copy from the edition they cite.