HOW TO QUOTE IN ACADEMIC ESSAYS:
Rule Number One:
Only provide quotes when it strengthens your argument and provides a good example of what you are discussing. If you are quoting secondary source, consider if it is not better to paraphrase (rewrite the idea) in your own words what the author is saying before quoting. Only quote Palmer and Colton if they have a particularly apt phrase or analysis.
Example of paraphrase:
Fascism claimed to be a better economic system than capitalism, but in the end it deceived Italians by emphasizing nationalism and international conflict over higher salaries and better living conditions.
Rule Number Two:
Always introduce quotes. Never have a quote in a paper without stating who wrote the quote within the body of the essay.
Example of incorrect quote:
“But it undeniably substituted a widespread psychological exhilaration, a feeling that Italy was undergoing a heroic national revival.”
Example of correct quote:
Fascism, according to Palmer and Colton, “undeniably substituted a widespread psychological exhilaration, a feeling that Italy was undergoing a heroic national revival” for real economic progress and social justice.
Rule Number Three:
Always introduce the author of primary quotes to the reader before quoting them. When you quote that author, use only the last name to introduce quotes. Try to integrate all quotes into essay if at all possible.
Example:
Benito Mussolini ruled Italy for 23 years (1922-1945) as a Fascist dictator. He popularized fascism throughout the world with his economic, political, and social ideas. Mussolini wrote that fascism “was not only the giver of laws and founders of institutions, but the educator and promoter of spiritual life.” In other words, fascism represented far more than a political system, it represented a philosophy that demanded total dedication to its principles of Social Darwinism and ultra nationalism.
Rule Number Four
When quote is longer than four lines in your essay you must indent to separate the quote from the text by a double space. Quote must also be indented.
Example:
Hitler, in Mein Kampf, seemed to show a complete contempt for the intelligence of the German people. He wrote:
For the great majority of a nation...thought and conduct are ruled by sentiment rather than by sober reasoning. This sentiment, however, is...not highly differentiated, but has only the negative and positive notions of love and hatred, right and wrong, truth and falsehood. Its notions are never partly this and partly that.
For Hitler, people were sheep to be led by the wolf without and any respect or deference to their wishes.
[Note: Three dots ... are used when you skip over parts of the quoted person’s words within the quote.]