How to Integrate Quotations
Integrating quotations is when you “weave the author’s words into your own sentences.” Non-integrated short quotations in MLA format are now considered an error. Block quotations of four or more lines should be avoided in short essays. Integrated quotations allow you to use the key point or idea from an author and combine with your words to create an original sentence.
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The old style of using quotations resulted in a short quote like this:
“On Sunday morning while church bells rang in the villages along shore the world and its mistress returned to Gatsby’s house and twinkled hilariously on his lawn” (Fitzgerald 65).
Integrated quotations expect the quoted material to be combined with your writing. While integrated, this example would be boring if you did it every time you quoted:
Fitzgerald writes, “On Sunday morning while church bells rang in the villages along shore the world and its mistress returned to Gatsby’s house and twinkled hilariously on his lawn” (65).
Sometimes you need the entire quotation for clarity, but often you don’t allowing you freedom in how you create the integrated quotation.
“On Sunday morning while church bells rang in the villages along shore the world,” Gatsby was getting drunk with his dog (Fitzgerald 65).
Or
While he was usually seen sober, “on Sunday morning while church bells rang in the villages,” Gatsby was getting drunk with his dog (Fitzgerald 65).
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- Direct quotations, summaries and paraphrases are all cited.
- Do NOT put ellipses IN FRONT of a quotation, even if you remove the start of the original sentence.
- Do NOT put ellipses AT THE END of a quotation, even if you remove the end of the original sentence.
- ALWAYS make the mixture of the author’s words and your words grammatically correct. Remove the quotation marks and proofread the sentence to make sure.
- If you need to insert a word of your own, or if you need to change a letter in order to make the sentence grammatically correct, use square brackets []
While he was usually seen sober, “[this] morning while church bells rang in the villages” Gatsby was getting drunk with his dog (Fitzgerald 65
Integrating Direct Quotations
(from The University Writing Centre of Central Florida, 2004 http://www.uwc.ucf.edu/Writing%20Resources/Handouts/integrating_quotations.htm)
After carefully choosing your quotations, you must integrate them as smoothly as possible into your essays. That means you have to attribute the quotations to someone so your readers know who is “speaking.” Citing a source at the end of a sentence is not enough; readers need a clear indication of who is saying what. Always avoid constructions such as the following:
Your sentence. “Direct quotation from a text” (source). Your sentence.
Ineffective writers insert quotations throughout their essays without properly setting
Professor Mahmoud Aziz asserts that Hemingway’s reputation “is in large part dependent upon the real-word exploits of the author” (23).
Provide attribution to the speaker in the middle of the quotation:
“Education without attention to the arts, ” explains theorist Elliot Eisner, “would be an impoverished enterprise” (1).
Provide attribution to the speaker immediately after the quotation:
“They can run, but they can’t hide,” warned President Bush during a recent press conference.
Punctuation for Introducing Quotations
Smith states, “The solution is elusive; years of research are still required”(32).
Use a colon after a complete sentence that introduces a quotation.
Smith implies that the answer will not come quickly: “The solution is elusive; years of research are still required” (32).
Use no punctuation if the introductory phrase ends with “that.”
Smith emphasizes the need for patience, noting that “… years of research are still required” (32).
