Incorporating Quotes into Literary Analysis Essays

by Shawn Hassen

 Writing an expository essay about a piece of literature requires evidence from the novel, short story, or poem. Not only do we paraphrase and explain details from the piece in order to support our argument, but we must also quote appropriately. Key words: appropriately and correctly. Practicing a few key skills with students will help them when they are incorporating quotes into their literary analysis essays.

Students can fall into a couple of different traps when it comes to their literary essays. First, they may take the easy road and dismiss quotes altogether. When I taught students, they knew that an essay without the required quoting element could not receive a passing grade. Secondly, they may be tempted to quickly pull out a quote that is irrelevant to their thesis. They may drop the quote or create a massive run-on with it. And finally, they may forget the MLA citation (or do it incorrectly), which results in plagiarism.

For the purposes of providing examples in this article, I will quote from a source now in the public domain—my particular printed source is Mark Twain, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Signet Classic (Penguin Books), 1983.

Quoting is required when we write about literature. It’s not optional. You may want to establish the number of quotes for students. In a typical 600 – 800 word essay, I told students that they needed approximately two quotes per “part” of their thesis (see my previous post on the thesis sentence). That usually translates to two quotes per body paragraph, assuming each paragraph correlates with a part of the thesis. In a much longer essay, this would not necessarily be the case, of course. Establishing parameters for students helps them avoid over-quoting (and thereby giving their own explanations and connections short shrift).

Quotes must be relevant to the thesis. They should also be poignant. If I am writing about Huck’s growing internal conflict, I can’t choose quotes about the Mississippi River, about plot, or about Jim (unless I’m connecting it to Huck’s conflict). Nor should I choose obscure quotes—I need to scour the pages for the pivotal quotes, which is why it is important for students to annotate as they read (so they aren't starting from ground zero as they hunt for quotes). The importance (and challenge) of quoting is also why I required students to read paper copies. Annotating on electronic devices is more hip and techy, but also more cumbersome. Quickly flipping through pages with short annotations at the top and margins is much more expedient for students than scrolling back and forth through the many screens of a novel (where they were less likely to have annotated anything).

Just like my paragraphs have topic sentences that correlate to the parts of my thesis sentence, my quotes must correlate to my topic sentences. Quotes are part of my package of evidence, so they must help prove the point I am trying to make.

Quotes can’t be dropped into a paragraph by helicopter. They need an appropriate lead-in and follow through that connect to the writer’s point.

NO: Huck begins to wrestle with his feelings. “The more I studied about this, the more my conscience went to grinding me, and the more wicked and low down and ornery I got to feeling (Twain 205).

NO: Huck begins to wrestle with his feelings, “the more I studied about this, the more my conscience went to grinding me, and the more wicked and low down and ornery I got to feeling” Twain 205).

YES: Huck has made many decisions easily, but now his confidence is shaken. The more he thinks about his dilemma, “ . . . the more my conscience went to grinding me . . .(Twain 205), and the more his inner conflict grows.

Quotes must have proper MLA citations, which include author’s last name and page number (assuming they are using a printed version). The citations should correlate to the Works Cited page (unless your students are all working on the same piece of literature and you have allowed them to omit this formality as a classroom writing exercise).

Taking a little classroom time to practice these skills with students will give them the tools they need to better incorporate poignant, well-chosen, relevant quotes in their essays.