Can You Start An Essay With A Quote? What You Should Know

“I could be bounded in a nutshell and count myself a king of infinite space” (Hamlet 2.2). A Healthy Journal was born out of passion, the passion for food, but mainly for a healthy life. We are a bunch of friends all over the world who, at a certain time of their lives, realised the doctor’s advice was not enough anymore. Therefore, we tried to help ourselves through diet, sport, natural remedies and little gestures made out of love.More …. Before you get started constructing a sentence, consider what your essential point is. … The following general steps address how to properly integrate a quotation into an essay.

  • Although searching fore quotes might be time-consuming, student should know that there are multiple methods that facilitate this process.
  • Such quotes can be interesting enough to draw attention, but they won’t fit in an academic essay because they’re your own thoughts.
  • Next, write the paragraph before that, working your way backwards until you’re in your introduction paragraph.
  • Describing context should be effective if quotes come from authors that confronted extreme events, phenomena, life circumstances, dilemmas, etc.

When using quotation marks, certain rules apply regarding capitalization and punctuation. Use quotation marks to indicate words used ironically, with reservations, or in some unusual way.

When Would You Want to Start with Quote?

The quote you choose to start an essay with should come from a credible scholarly source. In the first example, the author placed the exclamation point outside the quotation mark because she added it herself to emphasize the outrageous nature of the parking price change. The original note had not included an exclamation mark. In the second example, the exclamation mark remains within the quotation mark because it is indicating the excited tone in which the coach yelled the command. Thus, the exclamation mark is considered to be part of the original quotation. Do not use quotation marks at the beginning or end of the block quote—the indentation is what indicates that it’s a quote. Single space or double space within the block quotation, depending on the style guidelines of your discipline (MLA, CSE, APA, Chicago, etc.).

However, if it is very relevant and there is no other alternative, they can be used. In this case, you can make some adjustments to the quotes to make it look different and more appealing. Use double quotation marks (“”) around a direct quote. A direct quote is a word- for-word report of what someone else said or wrote. You use the exact words and punctuation of the original.

Pick the right tone for your essay

This will also aid you in determining whether or not it’ll serve as an effective introduction. Once again remember that you will need to document or show the source of the quotations you use, so make sure that you have recorded all necessary information about the source. You can add information to a quotation in order to define a word or phrase, to clarify the quotation’s information, or to make a brief comment on the quotation’s information. The information that you add always should be brief; reserve your major comments on the quotation’s information to be placed after the quotation ends. Under the MLA citation guidelines, you will add the page number after the name of the author. Using a quote in your paper is pretty straightforward; quoting a quote, however, requires a little more attention to detail. Research the quote in context; this will help you to best determine whether or not it should be included in your essay.

how to start off a quote

The question here is why someone would want to use an up quote in his /her essay. In simple term, an up quote can work to easily convince your audience to follow your stand on something by boosting the argument in your paper. In MLA, when you are required to cite a quote that has been written by various authors, you need to separate their names with commas and lastly the word ‘and’ e.g. . You should note that the author’s name can be written before or after the quote. When written after the quote, it should be enclosed in parenthesis. The page number comes at the end of the quote, and it is not a must to add anything trying to show that you are writing the page number. Explaining the meaning of the quote through the use of paraphrases, identifying how the quote is significant to the audience, and relating the quote to the current issues.

ICE: Introduce, Cite, and Explain Your Evidence

Our writing professionals are ready to help you clear all writing stress. They know how to start a paper with a quote, rhetoric question, or mind-boggling statistics, among other hooks. Reach us today for assurance of the best essays and top grades. But beginning a paper with a quote requires impeccable writing skills.

how to start off a quote

This reason alone makes writing an effective introduction quite intimidating. There aremany ways to begin an introductory paragraph, and many go with the route of using anecdotes. The oldest trick in the book, though, may be writing one using a quotation. Though the idea has been used many times over, finding the right quotation still offers charm that will ensure your essay’s great start. Learning to use it well, especially learning to weave it around the framework of your essay’s entirety, will surely hook your readers. It is vital for every essay to have an interesting introduction that can entice the reader and make him/her want to continue reading the essay. There are quite a number of ways that one can decide to use in developing an essay’s introduction, but there are some cases where the author will be forced starting an essay with a quotation.

A Guide To Kick

In American English, periods and commas are placed within the closing quotation mark, whether or not the punctuation is actually a part of the quoted matter. Notice that the secondary quote in each example is placed within single quotation marks. Also, notice that the periods are placed inside the single quotes. The American rule is that periods always go inside the quotation marks .

  • Use an introductory or explanatory phrase, but not a complete sentence, separated from the quotation with a comma.
  • Using quotations as the highlight of your essay will make it be the very thing that pulls in a reader while igniting great curiosity and interest.
  • At the conclusion of the quote, you should include the author’s surname and the page number in parenthesis.

Be particularly aware of quotations found on social media such as Pinterest, or on quote aggregators such as Brainyquote. These sources are notorious for mis-attributing and even making up famous quotes. Think of a quotation as a “hook” that will get your reader’s attention and make her want to read more of your paper. The well-executed quotation is one way to draw your reader in to your essay.

Begin a sentence with your own words, then complete it with quoted words

Jake holds a BS in International Business and Marketing from Pepperdine University. Paraphrased material (someone else’s idea put into your own words) need not have quotation marks around it, but should be attributed to the original speaker. Once you start a paper with a quote, ensure to indicate the source.

how to start off a quote

The text after the block quotation begins on its own line, with no indentation. You should not end a paragraph with a block quotation because any quotation you use as definition of argumentative essay evidence in your writing should be followed by analysis in your own words as part of the same paragraph. Block quotations are not surrounded by any quotation marks.

Use the words of the quote grammatically within your own sentence

This is very crucial, especially when the link is not easily visible. When it comes to grammar, luckily there aren’t too many rules for how to use quotation marks. In fact, if you can remember the three main rules below, you should be in good shape. Persuasive essay, including a shocking or amusing fact in your how to start off a quote introduction can be a great way to pique your reader’s curiosity. The fact you present can be one that supports the position you argue in the essay or it can be part of the body of data your expository essay explains. Make sure the fact you choose directly relates to the topic you’re covering in your essay.

  • You can also use your introduction to introduce the author in place of using their name in parentheses at the end.
  • As a student does not have the freedom of altering these quotes, even slightly, each single word needs to match.
  • Emotion – You want your audience to connect with your topic, whether your goal is to inform, persuade or entertain them.
  • By then, writing an effective essay introduction should be easy because you already have the content you need to introduce.

And in the case of both general and field-specific common knowledge, if you use the exact words of the reference source, you must use quotation marks and credit the source. To quote more than four typed lines of prose, use indentation rather than quotation marks. Set off the quoted prose by indenting ten spaces from the left margin of your text and double space the lines. Long quotations of prose are usually introduced by a sentence ending with a colon.

Changing verb tense or pronouns in order to be consistent with the rest of the sentence

It is important to get rid of them in order to try something new and great. Work on achieving the perfect balance between hypothesizing that your audience knows both nothing and everything. Write clearly and informatively, but never insult the intelligence of your reader.

  • When transiting to the next paragraph, ellipses (…) should be used.
  • We discuss when to use quotation marks in titles, how scare quotes work, and what the difference is between double and single quotation marks.
  • Block quotations are not surrounded by any quotation marks.
  • Because quotes require attribution, they can cause a reader to look aside, so you risk losing their attention during that first moment with your writing.

Then, write the paragraph that comes right before your conclusion. Next, write the paragraph before that, working your way backwards until you’re in your introduction paragraph. By then, writing an effective essay introduction should be easy because you already have the content you need to introduce. Notice that the writer has not only “borrowed” Chase’s material with no acknowledgment, but has also largely maintained the author’s method of expression and sentence structure. The phrases in red are directly copied from the source or changed only slightly in form. Field-specific common knowledge is “common” only within a particular field or specialty.

A golden rule of thumb is to find a middle ground between the assumption that the audience owns all the knowledge or they lack all knowledge. Look into the history and context of the quotes that you wish to mention. You must ensure that it means more or less just as the author is trying to portray it and not as something else entirely.