Integrating Quotes/Evidence

Evidence is crucial

 As you know, in your body paragraphs, you must

include some type of evidence to support your claim
and add credibility.
 When you use a quote or piece of evidence, there is a
right way and a wrong way to place this information in
your paragraph!
 You want this evidence to flow smoothly into your
constructed paragraph; you can’t just stick it in there
and check it off your list!
What NOT to do:

 A quote should not stand alone as it’s own sentence.

 No island quotes!
 A quote should never be used without a citation.
 No anonymous quotes!
 A quote should not end a paragraph.
 No stranded quotes!
I.C.E
 When using a quote or piece of evidence,
remember the acronym ICE:
 I – Introduce the quote!
 C – Cite the quote!
 E – Explain the quote!
 Introducing the quote

1. Introduce your quote with an explanatory phrase

 Begin your sentence with a phrase that introduces the quote, and
then punctuate with a comma before including the quote.
 Ex: In his famous I Have a Dream speech, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
said, “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in
a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but
by the content of their character.”
 Introducing the quote

2. Include only short quotes in your sentence, so that

the majority of the sentence is your own words.
 Place quotation marks around the author’s original words
and punctuate the sentence as you normally would.
 Ex: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. dreamed of a day when his
children would only be judged by the “content of their
character.”
 Introducing the quote

3. Sometimes, you may provide an introduction for the

quote in the form of a complete sentence.
 When you do this, you use a colon to introduce the quote:
 Ex: In his I Have a Dream speech, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
explains his vision: “I have a dream that my four little children will
one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color
of their skin but by the content of their character.”
Others ways to introduce…

 According to Dr. King, “_______________” ( ).

 In his speech, King states, “ ______________” ( ).
 King felt strongly that “__________________” ( ).
Citing the Quote
 You must always cite your quote or piece of evidence, even if the
information is summarized and isn’t directly quoted.
 In this class, we will always use MLA citation.
 Citations must be placed in TWO places:
 In your body paragraph, after the quote/evidence (in-text citation)
 In your works cited page at the end of your essay
In-text Citation
 An in-text citation is a reference to the original author or speaker embedded
in the text of the paper. In-text citations quickly alert the reader to the
original source and make it easy for the reader to find the citation in the
Works Cited Page.
 Inside the citation will be the author’s last name and page number.
 Do not use a comma between the two.
 Do not use pg. or p. or #.... Just put the page number all by itself!

Introduce your quote, “quote” (King 4).

The period goes

after the citation
In Text Citation
 If you use the author’s last name in the introduction of the quote, then you
do NOT need to include it in the parenthesis. You will just put the page
number.
 If there is no author’s last name given, then you will put the title of the book
or article in the parenthesis, followed by the page number. You must format
the title correctly, even in the parenthesis.
 Titles of books are underlined.
 Titles of articles are placed in quotation marks.
 If there is no page number, simply leave that part out of the parenthesis.
Explain the quote!
 After you have used a quote or piece of evidence, you must
explain the significance. Don’t leave it stranded; talk about it!
 There are many ways to explain quotes:
 Provide analysis that connects the quote to your main idea and topic
sentence
 Explain why it is important and relevant
 Provide explanation of any information that may be
confusing/misleading
 Add your own interpretation or opinion of the quote
Sentence starts to help explain:

 This proves that…

 This illustrates…
 This shows that…
 This highlights the difference between…
Remember…
 Do not begin a sentence with a quote; you
should always introduce it.
 Always cite the quote.
 Never use a quote without explaining it
 I.C.E