You should quote sparingly in your paper as it could rob you of your voice.
At one extreme, a really poor paper will include blockquote after blockquote. I get it: quotes take up space and help reach your word count, and it makes it appear that you've engaged with the reading. But all those blockquotes demonstrate a poor grasp of your own argument. If you're going to quote so much, I may as well read the source of quotes rather than your paper.
The best papers will quote only when the passage in the source is so unique, so valuable, and so succinct, that it cannot be said any other way. Abraham Lincoln could have opened his famous address with:
In 1776, we signed the Declaration of Independence. This document listed a number of grievances against the British crown. Those grievances included….
But instead he started with:
"Four score and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal…"
Because those words were and remain so powerful, you should quote him.
The same is true for short phrases. You don't have to quote an entire sentence or paragraph. Sometimes it might be enough to just quote a few choice words that you can wrap in your own prose.
While President of the United States, Bill Clinton resisted the elimination of affirmative action for college admissions, famously saying "mend it, don't end it."
If you want to include some information that you extracted from a source, please just paraphrase it in your own voice. There are two benefits to this.
Regardless if you quote directly or paraphrase, you must *cite* the source in your text.
You should always have an introductory phrase, such as "Liz Collinson writes," before the quotation.
After this phrase, add a comma, a space, then begin the quotation.
I'll say again for those in the back of the room: never let a quotation stand as its own sentence.
Over the years, I noticed that some students use only a few words for introducing quotations from a source. The most common are “says” or “states.” This burdens your reader after spotting each of these verbs more than a few times.
Some alternatives to “says” or “states” are verbs like:
Note: This is not an exhaustive list.
Obviously, these are not exact replacements for “says” or “states.” You will have to chose one depending on the appropriate context. But choosing the right verb not only makes for a less redundant essay, it allows you to use more precise language in your writing.
A verb-phrase you should not use is “talks about” or "speaks about." I didn’t hear the author talk or speak. Did you?
And another verb shouldn’t use is “believes” or “thinks” because we can’t read minds. At least not today.
In your essay, if you’re referring to a person—a character or an author—or a source, follow these guidelines