Blending Quotations

The Basics Always integrate quotations into your text. NEVER just “drop” a quotation in your writing! In other words, don’t let a piece of textual evidence stand alone as its own sentence (unless it’s multiple sentences long). Use your own words to introduce a quotation. I should only recognize a quote because I see the quotation marks!

How To Improve Blending Quotes  Use only the most effective part of the quotation.  Maintain a smooth sentence style.  Use ellipses (…) when necessary  Remember to use brackets [ ] if you add or change a word.  Use signal phrases which precede the quote.

Example from TKAM Original example: Mr. Radley is an unattractive man. “He was a thin leathery man with colorless eyes, so colorless they did not reflect light” (Lee 32). See how the quote is just “dropped in?”

Example from TKAM (cont’d) Original — unblended: Mr. Radley is an unattractive man. “He was a thin leathery man with colorless eyes, so colorless they did not reflect light” (Lee 32). Smoother integration — well blended: Mr. Radley is unattractive, a “thin leathery man with colorless eyes” (Lee 32). The part about his eyes reflecting light is omitted as extraneous information, unimportant to the purpose. Smoother integration – with a signal phrase: Harper Lee describes Mr. Radley as “a thin leathery man with colorless eyes…[that] did not reflect light” (32).

Another Example Original: This becomes apparent when Hemingway hints of a storm on the move. “The shadow of a cloud moved across the field of grain” (Hemingway 179). Smoothly blended into sentence: The danger of the approaching storm became apparent, as “the shadow of a cloud [moved] across the field of grain” (Hemingway 179).

Student Examples from a Night Timed Writing Original: Now, as Rabbi Eliahu searches hopelessly for the son that had abandoned him, Elie renounces his faith completely. “In spite of myself, a prayer formed inside of me, a prayer to this God in whom I no longer believed” (Wiesel 91). A suggested revision: Now, as Rabbi Eliahu searched hopelessly for the son that had abandoned him, “a prayer formed inside [Elie]…to this God in whom [he] no longer believed,” and he renounced his faith completely (Wiesel 91).

More Student Examples Original: Night also represents the fire that killed so many people. “Just as the train stopped, this time we saw flames rising from a chimney into a dark sky” (Wiesel 28). A suggested revision: Wiesel suggests night represents death by fire as he and other passengers witness “flames rising from a chimney into a dark sky,” which are no doubt burning people alive (Wiesel 28).

More Student Examples Original: You start to see Elie’s disgust with himself fairly early in the book. “What had happened to me? My father had been struck in front of me, and I had not even blinked” (Wiesel 39). A suggested revision: Elie is disgusted with himself after his father was beaten right “in front of [him], and [he] had not even blinked” (Wiesel 39). He begins in that moment to question his own values, as his concern for his father appears to decrease.

More Student Examples Original: Throughout the book, most of the killings or horrible events occur during the night. “They must of taken him away before daybreak and taken him to the crematorium” (Wiesel 112). A suggested revision: Throughout the book, many horrible events including the killings occur during the night. Indeed, Wiesel tells of a man “taken…away before daybreak… to the crematorium” (Wiesel 112).

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