Integrating Evidence
1. Most sophisticated authors integrate (rather than insert) quotations into their writing – in other words, they make sure that quotations flow smoothly and clearly into the surrounding sentences. Quotations should not just be inserted with no lead-in, as in the following example:
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer ranks among one of the many current television shows to feature recurring gay characters. “Buffy puts a specifically nineties spin on the idea of ‘character development,’ allowing one of its main characters, Willow, to undergo a sexual awakening and re-orientation” (Harper 82).
What follows is a revision of the same sentences that demonstrates successful integration of the quotation:
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer ranks among one of the many current television shows to feature recurring gay characters. Cultural critic Andrea Harper sees the gay subplot as a modern adaptation of traditional narrative strategy, suggesting that “Buffy puts a specifically nineties spin on the idea of ‘character development,’ allowing one of its main characters, Willow, to undergo a sexual awakening and re-orientation” (82).
2. When quoting an entire sentence or passage, you can either A) offer an introductory clause or phrase, often including the author’s name and perhaps source title, B) incorporate it within the flow of your own prose, C) use an interrupted structure, or D) make your point in a sentence, followed by a colon.
A) Using an introductory clause/phrase:
Speaking of the larger social implications of modern witchcraft, Angela Harper suggests, “The Wicca movement functions as a woman-centered and essentially feminized cultural space” (88).
B) Incorporated structure:
The fact that Willow realizes her homosexuality at the same time that she becomes actively involved in witchcraft speaks to the way that “[t]he Wicca movement functions as a woman-centered and essentially feminized cultural space” (Harper 88).
C) Interrupted structure:
“Buffy puts a specifically nineties spin on the idea of ‘character development,’” according to cultural critic Andrea Harper, “allowing one of its main characters, Willow, to undergo a sexual awakening and re-orientation” (82).
D) Minimalist structure - colon:
- EXAMPLE: Buffy the Vampire Slayer ranks among one of the many current television shows to feature recurring gay characters: “Buffy puts a specifically nineties spin on the idea of ‘character development,’ allowing one of its main characters, Willow, to undergo a sexual awakening and re-orientation” (Harper 82).
3. When quoting part of a sentence or passage, make sure the quote matches in tense, grammar, etc., to the rest of your paragraph.
EXAMPLE: Character development among the male leads in Buffy, however, can best be described as a “process of harsh humiliation and emasculation that transform[s] them from super-men to girlie-men” (Harrison 9).
4. Do not overuse the same integration strategy in an essay.
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