Using quotations in an essay

In a nutshell

In literature essays, you can use quotations taken from literature as evidence to support a point you are trying to make. When doing this, you need to pay attention to how you punctuate the quotation so that the meaning is clear.

Rules of quotations

When it comes to using quotations from a piece of literature, it's important to first consider a few things. Here are the three major rules:

Rule 1

Make sure you use the exact words from the original text.

Rule 2

It's better to use shorter quotations in a precise and clear way rather than quoting a chunk of text. This way, you can build your argument around the shorter quotations.

Example

It's clear the time traveller is excited as he is described as having eyes that "shone and twinkled", and that his "pale face" was "flushed".

Rule 3

Just as with direct speech, you can also either use single inverted commas ('...') or double inverted commas ("...") to punctuate a quotation, as long as you remain consistent. Don't randomly switch between the two in your writing.

Example

"shone and twinkled" OR 'shone and twinkled'

Punctuating quotations

Knowing how to punctuate a quotation is vital when answering an essay question or writing an essay yourself. Make sure to familiarise yourself with the following conventions. For the sake of understanding how to punctuate quotations, the famous balcony scene from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet will be used as a reference.

Excerpt

"O Romeo, Romeo,

wherefore art thou Romeo?

Deny thy father and refuse thy name,

Or if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love,

And I'll no longer be a Capulet."

Act 2, Scene 1

Commas and full stops

When using a quotation from a literature text in your essay or when answering an essay question, commas and full stops sit outside the inverted commas if they are not part of the written quotation. If they are not part of the written quotation, then it means they belong to the whole sentence.

Example

Juliet wants Romeo to deny his family for her love which is made clear in the line: "Deny thy father".

If a comma or full stop does appear in the original text then they need to be included in the quotation.

Example

Juliet also reveals that if Romeo were to not renounce his name and family, she would then renounce hers: "And I'll no longer be a Capulet."

Question marks and exclamation marks

If a quotation ends with a question mark or exclamation mark, then it should always be included inside the inverted commas.

Example

The line: "wherefore art thou Romeo?" illustrates Juliet's anguish that Romeo is who he is, a Montague.

Capitalisation

Quotations should normally start with lower case letters unless it's a proper noun (like a name) or if you start your sentence with a quotation or if it appears that way in the original text.

Using quotations

There are different ways to use quotations in an essay. One way is to embed a quotation into your sentence. In this case, the quotation becomes part of your own sentence.

Example

It's clear the time traveller is excited as he is described as having eyes that "shone and twinkled", and that his "pale face" was "flushed".

The other way is to introduce the quotation with a colon at the end of your point or before making your point.

Example

The line: "wherefore art thou Romeo?" illustrates Juliet's anguish that Romeo is who he is, a Montague.

Longer quotations

If you decide to quote a chunk of text, it would be appropriate to separate it from the main essay by leaving a line open and indenting the text (moving the text slightly away from the margin). In this case, it is also not necessary to use speech marks.

Example

A major theme in Romeo and Juliet is the strain between social, family and inner identity. This is apparent in Juliet's desperation to be with Romeo and her willingness to do so by extreme means:

O Romeo, Romeo,

wherefore art thou Romeo?

Deny thy father and refuse thy name,

Or if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love,

And I'll no longer be a Capulet. (2.1.33-36)