English

Instructions

Write a few sentences (about 100 words) integrating a quote from any of the articles that you will be using in your paper. Be sure to connect your quote to the rest of your sentences. You can do this via signal phrases (“Smith argues” OR “According to Smith,” etc) or by integrating your quote as it grammatically fits into your sentence. Document your quote by using the MLA in-text citation guidelines you have studied in this lesson.

Here is an example to help guide your response:

John:          Hi everyone,

Here is my paragraph with the quotes I integrated into it:

On Sula’s deathbed, she expresses to Nel her thoughts about the lifestyles and conditions of the women in Medallion. “You think I don’t know what your life is like just because I am not living it? I know what every colored woman in this country is doing.” Even though Nel wants Sula to settle down and have children, Sula takes pride in her choice not to conform. “Dying just like me. But the difference is they dying like a stump and I’m going down like one of those redwoods. I sure did live in this world.” Sula says everybody’s life is a journey to death, yet she believes her course to be nobler than that of her peers. She knows she is living her authentic self, and she does not live for appearances.

Emily:         Hello, John. I think you did a great job on your paragraph. I think the quote can be put into the sentence by using commas and introductory phrases. This can help tie together your argument and the quote so that it flows. Also cite the author and let the reader know what page you are talking about. Your essay seems like it is going to be very good!

Professor:    John, this is a good point about Sula and her desire to live authentically. Emily makes a good observation. You haven’t integrated your quote into your discussion, and you haven’t cited the page numbers from the novel. To integrate the quote, you need punctuation and signal phrases. Here is an example of how to integrate and cite from the novel:

On Sula’s deathbed, she expresses to Nel her thoughts about the lifestyles and conditions of the women in Medallion: “You think I don’t know what your life is like just because I am not living it? I know what every colored woman in this country is doing” (Morrison 93).  Even though Nel wants Sula to settle down and have children, Sula takes pride in her choice not to conform. She continues by telling Nel that the women of Medallion are “[d]ying just like me. But the difference is they dying like a stump and I’m going down like one of those redwoods. I sure did live in this world” (Morrison 93). Sula says everybody’s life is a journey to death, yet she believes her course to be nobler than that of her peers. She knows she is living her authentic self, and she does not live for appearances.