Handout: Citing and Introducing Sources

English 1113

Grasso

INTEGRATING SOURCES AND QUOTATIONS IN YOUR ESSAY

1. A good quotation adds more to your conversation than a summary or paraphrase

Ex: (Summary) The author feels that theories can be correct even if you don’t agree with them.

(Quote) “I wondered if I’d rejected the possibility of divine, objective beauty simply because I was excluded from it. Being excluded from a theory doesn’t make it incorrect” (106).

* The quotes gives a much fuller idea of what the author intended, and also brings the author's voice into the conversation. So it becomes more of a dialogue, than a monologue (just you writing).  

2. Always introduce quotes: give context for the source

In Chloe Cooper Jones’ essay, “Such Perfection,” she writes that “Being excluded from a theory doesn’t make it incorrect” (106).

OR: Even though the author feels left out of the standard definitions of beauty, she still admits, “Being excluded from a theory doesn’t make it incorrect” (106).

3. Always respond to a quotation with your own words and ideas. Don’t let a quote speak for itself.

In Chloe Cooper Jones’ essay, “Such Perfection,” she writes that “Being excluded from a theory doesn’t make it incorrect” (106). This is important because it makes her question whether beauty really exists as a thing, rather than an idea, and this is one of the reasons she travels to Italy in the first place.

4. Add a Works Cited page listing all the sources you quoted in your paper

Jones, Chloe Cooper. “Such Perfection.” Best American Travel Writing. Ed. Robert

MacFarlane. New York: Mariner Books, 2020.

Author + Essay + Anthology (and Editor) + City + Publisher + Date.

For more information about citation, check out the OWL: Purdue’s On-Line Writing Lab at: Purdue OWL // Purdue Writing Lab(I’ll place a link on-line). It will help you cite any source according to MLA citation or any other.