Quotations are the spice that makes essays interesting. Your essay is filled with your writing and your analysis, but an unbroken succession of your own words can quickly become monotonous. Quotations are the answer and help students to break up their words with those of others and to help make their essays more compelling for the reader. However, there is an art to using quotations correctly, and they need to be introduced the right way in order to bring the audience into the quotation and to guide the audience through its connection to your main idea and your argument.
In this article, we’ll take a look at quotations and the right way to use them in your research paper in order to give those quotations maximum impact.
Why Use Quotations in Scientific Papers
Quotations are an important part of the writing process because they provide the readers with the exact words of your sources. However, not all words are worth quoting. Therefore, we need to start by asking when and why we should use quotations. The first reason to use quotations is to provide specific wording that your audience needs to see. For example, it is often the case that we will need to quote specific words in order to analyze and critique them. In this case, the exact words of the source are vital for understanding the argument that we wish to make.
Another reason to use quotations is to present information or an opinion in the most interesting or concise way possible. Many times, the original author just says it better, or in a way that can’t be improved upon. To that end, we will often use the exact words of sources in order to save space and to present information efficiently.
A third reason to use quotations might be considered artistic. For example, sometimes a source says something in an entertaining way. By using those entertaining words, you can amuse or intrigue your reader and thus keep their attention focused on your argument.
Getting Help with Quotations
Many students find that using quotations correctly in a paper is a major undertaking, and they fear the consequences of misusing a quotation, particularly an accusation of plagiarism. These students often benefit from having an academic expert to help with their projects. If you need to find someone to do your academic research paper for you, a paper writing service might be the right choice for you. When you ask an expert, “Can you help write my research papers for me please?”, you can discover the best way to approach any topic. A reliable service’s expert writers can create exceptional papers that demonstrate the correct way to use quotations to support an argument tailored to your exact assignment.
When to Use Quotations in an Academic Paper
However, when you write your own paper, remember that quotations shouldn’t be used willy-nilly everywhere in an essay. Indeed, many essay formats have a specific set of rules about how much quoted material you are allowed to use in a paper. For APA format, for example, there is a guideline that quotations should make up no more than 10-15 percent of a paper. In other formats, the number might be a bit higher, but in general, 20 percent is the upper limit. After all, your paper needs to be mostly in your own words.
Therefore, since the number of quotations you can use is limited, it’s important to deploy them strategically in order to maximize their impact. You should try to space out quotations so they are not all bunched together in one place in the essay. By using them regularly throughout, you will make your paper more rhythmic and help to direct and control the reader’s attention. It’s also a good idea not to use quotations at the beginning of paragraphs because you won’t have the opportunity to introduce them if they are in the first sentence. That can disorient the reader and leave them a bit confused. In extreme cases, readers might stop reading if they don’t understand what is going on.
Generally, a good pattern to use is to embed a quotation within a paragraph. Have a topic sentence and then a supporting detail that sets up the quote. Then, give the quotation, and wrap up the paragraph by explaining the quotation and how it connects to your main idea.
Introducing a Quote in Writing
So how can you introduce a quotation? The best way to introduce a quotation is to tell the reader what they are about to read and why. The idea of any introduction to a quotation is to link it to the paragraph’s topic sentence and to the thesis statement. Identify the author of the quotation, indicate where and when the words were said, and briefly explain what connection the quotation has to the main idea of the paragraph if it isn’t immediately obvious. This doesn’t have to be anything fancy, as long as it is effective. For example, an introduction to a quotation might be as simple as saying, “As so-and-so said in such-and-such book/article/etc.” and then presenting the quote. How much detail you will need will depend entirely on the amount of information that you feel the reader will need in order to understand the quotation. Generally, the more famous the quote or the person saying it, the less detail you need to introduce it. Particularly obscure or difficult quotes will need more explanation.