Incorporating Textual Evidence into a Structured Paragraph  

Note that plays, novels and films are italicized, poems and short stories are identified by quotation marks. Please italicize the title One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest in your work.  

You can incorporate a direct quotation into a sentence in three different ways: with no punctuation, with a comma, or with a colon.  The quotation cannot stand by itself as a sentence.  Here are three effective sentences with quotations: 

NO PUNCTUATION: As McMurphy boisterously enters the ward, Chief Bromden realizes that this is "the first laugh [he has] heard in years” (16). 

When the lead-in part of the sentence is a dependent clause, use a comma to connect your textual evidence. See below:

COMMA: McMurphy kindly reminds Ellis, who is soaked in his own urine, of his human dignity when he asks Ellis, “Whyn’t you go get dried up?” (25). 

When the lead-in part of the sentence is an independent clause, use a colon to connect your textual evidence. See below:

COLON: After his nightmarish reprogramming, Mr. Tabor becomes what the Combine would consider a model citizen: "Why, I’ve never seen anything to beat the change in Maxwell Tabor since he’s got back from the hospital…” (40).  

The number in parentheses is the page number. With MLA formatting, you should never include “page” or “pg.” within the parentheses – only the actual number. Traditional MLA formatting requires the last name of the author and the page number in the parenthetical citation. However, since Kesey is the only author that you will discuss in your paragraph, you do not need to include his name in your parenthetical citation.

A QUOTATION CAN NEVER STAND ALONE AS A SENTENCE. 
 
Note that ONLY question marks and exclamation points appear within the quotation marks. If your quote ends with either, you still need the period after you parenthetical citation. 
 

Quotations are the best form of evidence to support the point you will argue in your topic. However, quotations by themselves will not do the job. You need to surround each piece of textual evidence with your own explanation of three things:

•* the context of the textual evidence (ground the reader in the plot before you present your textual evidence)  
* your interpretation of the textual evidence (what is the significance of this quotation) 
* how the textual evidence supports your point  

Here is a sentence outline for your paragraph:

1.Clearly stated topic sentence that is specific and focused

2.The context of your textual evidence

3.The actual textual evidence – incorporated into a sentence using one of the above examples

4.Your interpretation of the textual evidence

5.   A discussion focusing on how the textual evidence supports your claim in your topic sentence

 

You may need to use a few sentences to discuss your interpretation of the quotation and how it supports your claim in your topic sentence.