Incorporation/Embedding of quotations

Literary and rhetorical analysis requires you to quote text. The way a writer phrases or words an idea is the subject of your analysis, so paraphrasing literature—putting it into your own words—goes against the whole point of an analysis essay. When you quote literature in your essays and explications, you must incorporate or embed them grammatically into your own sentences. In this way, you are able to introduce the context of the quotation as well as its significance in supporting your argument.

A common reason for major grammatical errors is the improper incorporation of quotations. Here are three ways of incorporating quotes that will keep you from such errors:

Keats writes of the wish for death as if he were writing of a casual love interest: "I've been half in love with easeful death [ . . . ]" (23). (Notice that here, the writer has introduced the quotation with an analytical opening, guiding her reader to see in the quote what she wants the reader to see).
Keats' proclamation that he has been "half in love with easeful death" (23) creates a strange disjunction between the death wish and the languorous attitude. (Notice that here, the writer has imbedded the quotation into her own sentence structure. Only a short quotation like this one can be incorporated in this manner).
In this midst of his exploration of the nightingale's song, Keats turns the reader's attention to his speaker's immense sadness. Keats writes, "I've been half in love with easeful death [. . .]" (23). (Notice that here, the writer has provided a simple introductory tag only. In order to set up the quotation with its context and analytical significance, teh writer precedes this embedding with an analytical sentence).

Spacing: A space is used between the quotation and the parenthetical citation. No space separates the quotation and the quotation mark.

Which methods not to use:

Comma Splices: Often writers make the mistake of using the second method and instead of using a colon (:), they use a comma. In that case, they are creating a comma splice, because the quotation is one full sentence and the introduction to the quotation is one full sentence.


Incorrect	Dickinson describes the joy of a summer's day as if it were a alcohol drunk to excess, "I taste a liquor never brewed" (1). (A comma splice combines two independent claues with a comma. Read them aloud. Do both sound like complete sentences to you? If so, you can't use a comma to combine them).
Correct	Dickinson describes the joy of a summer's day as if it were a alcohol drunk to excess: "I taste a liquor never brewed" (1). (Notice, only the colon can serve as a mark of introduction when both your introduction and the quotation are independent clauses).

Wordy Introductory tags: In introducing a quotation, you generally only need one verb.


Incorrect	Wollstonecraft conveys her ideas on education by saying, " . . . " (2). (Notice, the writer unnecessarily adds the verb "saying" to the verb "conveys").
Correct	Wollstonecraft conveys her ideas on education: " . . . " (2).

Placing quotation in the middle of a long sentence: Regard the quotation as a precious work of art to be displayed with care, not a neglible element in your sentence's grammar to be included in an off-handed manner. Notice the problems with this form of incorporation of the quotation:


Incorrect	When the speaker says, "but not all the preaching since Adam /Has made Death other than Death" (39040), he expresses this pessimistic attitude by feeling that even all the consolation that people are giving him cannot make his daughter's death any better. (Here, the reder is asked to take in the complex idea of the quotation, not to mention the poetic techniques with which it is crafted, while also taking in the interrupted flow of the essay writer's own sentence).
Correct	Lowell uses a tautology to underline the unremitting quality of death: "not all the preaching since Adam / Has made Death other than Death" (39-40).

Incorrect

When the speaker says, "but not all the preaching since Adam /Has made Death other than Death" (39040), he expresses this pessimistic attitude by feeling that even all the consolation that people are giving him cannot make his daughter's death any better. (Here, the reder is asked to take in the complex idea of the quotation, not to mention the poetic techniques with which it is crafted, while also taking in the interrupted flow of the essay writer's own sentence).

Correct

Lowell uses a tautology to underline the unremitting quality of death: "not all the preaching since Adam / Has made Death other than Death" (39-40).

Misusing semicolons: Semicolons should never be used for introducing quotations. A semicolon is a mark of balance between two equally important independent clauses. In the case of your use of text, the literary text always carries more weight than your introductory clause. Also, never follow a quotation with a semicolon leading into your analysis of the quote. Instead, end the sentence with the quotation and then start a new sentence for your analysis.


Incorrect	Frost imagines the obliion of death as dark wood; The woods are lovely, dark, and deep [ . . . ]" (33). (Here, the semicolon, a mark of balance, is used to connect the introductory sentence and the quotation. Instead, use a colon, a mark of introduction).
Incorrect	Frost imagines the obliion of death as dark woods: The woods are lovely, dark, and deep [ . . . ]" (33); using the three modifiers enables Frost to convey the sense of abundance in the woods as opposed to the singularity of the road to be taken. (Here, the semicolon following the quotation suggests that your analytical insight has the same weight as Frost's lovely line of poetry).
Correct	Frost imagines the obliion of death as dark woods: The woods are lovely, dark, and deep [ . . . ]" (33). Using the three modifiers enables Frost to convey the sense of abundance in the woods as opposed to the singularity of the road to be taken.

Fused Sentences: If you try to use the quotation as the subject of your sentence, you will create what's called a fused sentence, the ungrammatical combination of two sentence structures that don't go together, e.g.


Incorrect	"I have been half in love with easeful death" (15) is an alarming statement of the speaker's attraction to death. (Notice that that quotation is a complete sentences in itself. This writer is using that quoted sentence as the subject of her own sentence).
Correct	Keats makes an alarming statement of his speaker's attraction to death: "I have been half in love with easeful death" (15).

Re-Quoting: After you've quoted a passage, don't re-quote it when you analyze it and don't re-cite the documentation (page or line number) when you're discussing it.