How to Quote a Quote

First, let me ask you this? Does this cake look good to

you?

So, why did you say, “No”?

• You wouldn’t eat the ingredients of a cake one-by one.

• All the ingredients must be blended together.

• Quoted material must be blended into the entire “cake,” as well.

• You must use punctuation to connect each quote to the idea it follows.

NoodleTools

• After you have read and annotated your sources, you’re ready to gather the quotes and\or paraphrases you’ll use as support.

• You must use NoodleTools to create the annotated Works Cited page before you create your notecards.

• I would suggest using this site for creating your notecards, your outline, and your actual essay.

NoodleTools

• Create an account through the school’s library page. Otherwise, you will have to pay.

• It’s an easy system to use, with helpful tips provided along the way.

Using Quotes

• Don’t organize your essay by your sources.

• You should be able to blend details from several sources into each of your subtopic arguments.

• Remember – you are Lady Gaga, and your sources are the backup singers.

How would you add this support?

• We were like some family on a TV commercial, with names like Myrtle and Fred. I could just hear us striking up a conversation about air fresheners.

The Bean Trees, Barbara Kingsolver

All quotes must connect to your own text. You might connect in the following way:

Taylor begins to experience some frustration when she thinks that Lou Ann is trying to force her to play a traditional domestic role: “ We were like some family on a TV commercial, with names like Myrtle and Fred. I could just hear us striking up a conversation about air fresheners” (88).

• Please notice the placement of the punctuation and page number.• Notice also the “connection” punctuation. What has been used?• Notice also the use of PRESENT TENSE.

How would you add this support?

I walk down the hall, past the laundry room, and into the family room. I close the door behind me, muffling the rumbling of the small shoes in the dryer.

“Where were you?” my mother says.

“In the bathroom,” I say.

“Hmph,” she says.

A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, Dave Eggers

How to Add It All

• Your support might look like this:

The novel begins with muffled sound and with what appears to be a typical uncommunicative conversation between a parent and child: I walk down the hall, past the laundry room, and into the family

room. I close the door behind me, muffling the rumbling of the small shoes in the dryer.

“Where were you?” my mother says. “In the bathroom,” I say. “Hmph,” she says. (1)If you have a longer quote, or one with dialogue layers, indent 10 spaces

and keep the punctuation the same as it appears in the actual work itself. Notice the colon, however.

Notice how this rule changes when you decide to use less of the text.

The novel begins with muffled sound and with what appears to be a typical uncommunicative conversation between a parent and child: “ I close the door behind me, muffling the rumbling of the small shoes in the dryer. ‘Where were you?’ my mother says” (1).

It’s best to blend your quotes into your own sentences. Make sure to add commentary.

The novel begins as the narrator notices the “rumbling of the small shoes in the dryer” and with what appears to be a typical uncommunicative conversation between a parent and child (1). Nobody in this family gets along, and it’s no wonder everyone appears to be a little crazy. The author gives dysfunction a new spin.

What You Need to Know

• Essentially, you will need to know just these few rules in order to use support quotes from any text.

• Remember, though, that quoted material is to be used as SUPPORT ONLY. Do not present the quoted material first and then “explain it.”

• Do not begin or end a paragraph with a quote. Always add original commentary.

Ask yourself, What would Lady Gaga do?

“Well, that's your opinion, isn't it? And I'm not about to waste my time trying to change it.”