What are the best ways to explain a quotation in an essay?
Integrating quotations into essays is an art. When you’re analyzing fiction, you need to cite passages directly in your paper. Make sure to cite the quotations by putting (Hardy #) after each quote, unless this is the only book you’re citing, when just (page #) is sufficient. Oftentimes, the best way to see how to do something is to observe how it is done well — models. In that vein, please click on the first link below. These essay excerpts illustrate how to smoothly integrate quotes into a literary analysis. Observe how these quotes are blended into the essays, providing evidence for the writers’ analyses. The work itself is the final authority, and any literary analysis must go to the work to back up claims, much like a geologist goes to the rocks themselves. If you’re going to focus on just one quote for the entire essay, there are lots of possibilities. First, contextualize it. Where in the story does it appear? What is the significance of the quote in terms of the whole story? Y
