Introducing a quotation

Don't simply drop quotations into your paper and leave it to the reader to make connections.

Integrating a quotation into your text usually involves two elements:

• A signal that a quotation is coming--generally the author's name and/or a reference to the work

• An assertion that indicates the relationship of the quotation to your text

Often both the signal and the assertion appear in a single introductory statement, as in the example below. Notice how a transitional phrase also serves to connect the quotation smoothly to the introductory statement.

Ross (1993), in her study of poor and working-class mothers in London from 1870-1918 [signal], makes it clear that economic status to a large extent determined the meaning of motherhood [assertion]. Among this population [connection], "To mother was to work for and organize household subsistence" (p. 9).

 

The signal can also come after the assertion, again with a connecting word or phrase:

Illness was rarely a routine matter in the nineteenth century [assertion]. As [connection] Ross observes [signal], "Maternal thinking about children's health revolved around the possibility of a child's maiming or death" (p. 166).

EXERCISE:

1. Create a page on your wiki called 'Quoting Exercises'

2. Quote at least 2-3 written statements taken from your resources (include the web link to the original piece or sections of the source on your wiki)

Note: Text below was lifted from UW-Madison Writing Center,http://www.wisc.edu/writing/Handbook/QPA_quoting.html#2