Using Quotes
First, use quotes sparingly, You will only keep a direct quote if the quote is so elegant, powerful and perfect that paraphrasing would contaminate its eloquence. Students tend to use too many quotes in their research papers, most of your paper will be paraphrased.
Use this structure when using quotes: Write the words exactly as written with quotation marks at the beginning and the end of the quote. Each quote needs a sentence(s) before it introducing the quote. The quotes needs to be followed immediate by a source citation. Each quote needs to be followed by a sentence(s) justifying the use of the quote.
Your paper is not merely a series of quotes, nor should quotes be dropped in to the middle of your paper. Quotes need to be relevant to your thesis and integrated into your paper.
See the following examples from LF '23, Take note of the punctuation before the quote...
Her father always believed that women should have equal rights to men and even once wrote to a friend, “what an absurd notion that women have no intellectual and moral faculties sufficient for anything but domestic concerns” (Frost-Knappman 19). Her father wanted her and her sisters to grow up to become smart and strong women, so starting from a young age, he taught them about the idea of self-worth and self-discipline. Anthony’s parents constantly supported her throughout her journey in the women’s rights movement (Frost-Knappman 19).
Her father always believed that women should have equal rights to men as evidenced in a letter he wrote to a friend: “What an absurd notion that women have no intellectual and moral faculties sufficient for anything but domestic concern” (Frost-Knappman 19). Her father wanted her and her sisters to grow up to become smart and strong women, so starting from a young age, he taught them about the idea of self-worth and self-discipline. Anthony’s parents constantly supported her throughout her journey in the women’s rights movement (Frost-Knappman 19).
In example 1, the quote completes the sentence so you need a comma before the quote. In example 2, the sentence is complete and the quote is being tacked on to the end so you would use a colon.