Integrating Quotations#

Use the passage below to complete each exercise. Your goal is to weave another writer’s words into your own using several different strategies.

Source passage#

In Plato’s Phaedrus there is a dialogue about a new invention: writing. The god Theuth brings this new invention as a gift to the Egyptian king Thamus. Thamus is not impressed:

“[T]his discovery of yours will create forgetfulness in the learners’ souls, because they will not use their memories; they will trust to the external written characters and not remember of themselves. The specific which you have discovered is an aid not to memory, but to reminiscence, and you give your disciples not truth, but only the semblance of truth; they will be hearers of many things and will have learned nothing; they will appear to be omniscient and will generally know nothing; they will be tiresome company, having the show of wisdom without the reality.”

— Plato, Phaedrus (275a–b), translated by Benjamin Jowett

Quotation Integration Exercises#

Pattern A: Leading with the attribution#

Structure: Attribution → full quotation → citation

Write a sentence that introduces a quotation from Plato with a signal phrase before it. Choose a verb that reflects how the author is communicating — does he argue, warn, contend, observe?

Template:

[Author’s name] [signal verb] that “[your selected quotation]” (citation).

Example:

Plato cautions that those who rely on the written word “will be hearers of many things and will have learned nothing” (275a).

Pattern B: The interrupted quotation#

Structure: “First part of quote,” → attribution, → “conclusion of quote” → (citation)

Begin with your quotation, often something very eye-catching. Then interrupt the quote with an attribution, complete the quotation, and cite appropriately.

Template:

“[First part of quote],” [attribution], “[conclusion of quote]” (citation).

Example:

“The specific which you have discovered is an aid not to memory, but to reminiscence,” Plato writes, “and you give your disciples not truth, but only the semblance of truth” (275a).

Pattern C: The brief quotation#

Structure: Your writing → a brief quoted phrase → your writing continues → (citation)

You may choose to briefly index or reference a text in the middle of your writing. This may happen as you paraphrase or summarize another text, but pause to quote a specific word or phrase for emphasis. But these brief references can be used for many other purposes.

Template:

[Your claim], which Plato describes as “[a short phrase from the text]” (citation), [rest of your sentence].

Example:

Plato argues that writing will make for shallow learning, which he describes as “the show of wisdom without the reality” (275a), and warns that it will produce students who only think they know and understand.

Pattern D: The delayed attribution#

Structure: Full quotation → attribution → (citation)

Lead with the quotation so the reader meets the idea before its source. This front-loads the claim for emphasis; the attribution then arrives as confirmation.

Template:

“[Quotation],” [author] [signal verb] (citation).

Example:

“[T]hey will be hearers of many things and will have learned nothing,” Plato warns (275a).

Note: Allow me to introduce what I call the “patriotic” comma. Note that the comma appears inside the quotation after the word “nothing” in the sentence above. This is the tradition within the US. In most of the English-speaking world, however, the comma would appear like this: “[T]hey will be hearers of many things and will have learned nothing”, Plato warns (275a). Both are correct; however, in the US the internal comma is the norm. USA! USA!

Pattern E: The colon pointer#

Structure: A complete sentence of your own → colon → quotation → (citation)

Template:

[An independent clause that sets up a quotation]: “[quotation]” (citation).

King Thamus’ rejection of writing comes down to a single point: writing does not “give . . . truth, but only the semblance of truth” (275b).

Common errors#

Study each pair. Identify what went wrong before reading the correction.

✗ Dropped quotation

Plato talks about writing. “They will be hearers of many things and will have learned nothing.” He thinks it is bad for the memory.

✓ Fix — Integrate the quotation into your sentence rather than dropping it in as a free-standing block:

Plato argues that the written word breeds only shallow familiarity, producing learners who “will be hearers of many things and will have learned nothing” (275a).

✗ Over-quoting

As Plato says, “[T]his discovery of yours will create forgetfulness in the learners’ souls, because they will not use their memories; they will trust to the external written characters and not remember of themselves. The specific which you have discovered is an aid not to memory, but to reminiscence, and you give your disciples not truth, but only the semblance of truth; they will be hearers of many things and will have learned nothing; they will appear to be omniscient and will generally know nothing; they will be tiresome company, having the show of wisdom without the reality” (275a). This shows his argument about writing.

✓ Fix — Paraphrase most of the passage and quote only what is essential. Ask: which phrase cannot be said better in your own words?

Plato argues that the written word produces the mere appearance of learning — a mind full of information but empty of understanding — leaving students with what he calls “the show of wisdom without the reality” (275a).

✗ Missing citation

Plato argues that writing gives its students “only the semblance of truth.”

✓ Fix — Every quotation needs a citation immediately after the closing quotation mark:

Plato argues that writing gives its students “only the semblance of truth” (275a).

• However, if the context of your writing has already established the quoted passage’s location, no citation is necessary.

Practice passage#

Now apply the five patterns on your own.

Why is it almost impossible to gaze directly at the Grand Canyon under these circumstances and see it for what it is—as one picks up a strange object from one’s back yard and gazes directly at it? It is almost impossible because the Grand Canyon, the thing as it is, has been appropriated by the symbolic complex which has already been formed in the sightseer’s mind. Seeing the canyon under approved circumstances is seeing the symbolic complex head on. The thing is no longer the thing as it confronted the Spaniard; it is rather that which has already been formulated—by picture postcard, geography book, tourist folders, and the words Grand Canyon. As a result of this preformulation, the source of the sightseer’s pleasure undergoes a shift. Where the wonder and delight of the Spaniard arose from his penetration of the thing itself, from a progressive discovery of depths, patterns, colors, shadows, etc., now the sightseer measures his satisfaction by the degree to which the canyon conforms to the preformed complex.

— From Walker Percy, “The Loss of the Creature,” p. 47.

Pattern A — lead with attribution#

Structure: Attribution → full quotation → citation

Write a sentence that introduces a quotation from Percy with a signal phrase before it.

Template:

[Author’s name] [signal verb] that “[your selected quotation]” (citation).

Pattern B — interrupted quotation#

Structure: “First part,” → attribution, → “rest of quote” → (citation)

Split a quotation from Percy and insert the attribution in the middle.

Template:

“[First part of quote],” [attribution], “[rest of quote]” (citation).

Pattern C — embedded quotation#

Structure: Your words → short quoted phrase → your words continue → (citation)

Build your own sentence around a short phrase drawn from the passage.

Template:

[Your claim], which Percy describes as “[a short phrase from the text]” (citation), [rest of your sentence].

Pattern D — delayed attribution#

Structure: Full quotation → attribution follows

Begin with the quotation; place the attribution after it.

Template:

“[Quotation],” [author] [signal verb] (citation).

Pattern E — paraphrase + selective quotation#

Structure: Your paraphrase → attribution → key phrase quoted → (citation)

Paraphrase Percy’s argument in your own words, preserving only one phrase you cannot improve upon.

Template:

[Your paraphrase of the idea]; Percy captures this with the phrase “[key phrase]” (citation).

Reference guide#

Signal verbs by rhetorical function#

Choose a verb that accurately reflects what the author is doing — avoid over-relying on says and states.

Punctuation quick reference#

• Use a comma after a signal phrase followed by a short quote: Plato warns, “they will be hearers of many things and will have learned nothing.”
• Use a colon when your own complete sentence introduces the quotation: Plato is blunt about the cost: “they will appear to be omniscient and will generally know nothing.”
• Use no punctuation when the quoted portion connects grammatically: Plato argues that writing offers “only the semblance of truth.”
• Place periods and commas inside closing quotation marks (US style): “the semblance of truth,” not “the semblance of truth”,
• Use brackets [ ] to change a word for grammatical fit. Use ellipsis … to omit words, but never distort meaning.
• The citation goes after the closing quotation mark, before the sentence’s final period: “the show of wisdom without the reality” (275a).