PRECISE VERBS AND QUOTATIONS

You can use a variety of useful words to introduce quotations; they will help you to avoid repetitive constructions such as 'Newman says' (or 'states'), 'This shows that,' or, worse still, 'This can be seen in.' More than variety, the following verbs provide exactness of thought as well as energy to your documents, whether or not you're introducing quotations. Please see Active and Passive Voice for additional information.

Always offer a rationale for your inclusion of a quotation, either before or after its use. In other words, do not 'drop in' like an unwelcome guest a quotation for no apparent relevance to the point you're making. The following brief quotations exemplify a variety of introductory methods to incorporate your excerpted material. Naturally, you will have to adjust the sentences to accommodate any parenthetical references (such as MLA or APA).

• "Joseph Stalin coldly lectured that 'a single death is a tragedy, a million deaths a statistic.'"
• "Elizabeth Newman argues that Cooper's style is 'perfectly acceptable' if we remember that he wrote the passage a century ago."
• "She repudiates his style in terse terms: 'Although Cooper may argue his point of view, he does so without conviction.'"
• "Even though the protagonist 'has a notion to strike out at her friend,' she lacks the courage to confront Emily: 'Jeannette awoke each day with fantasies of packing a bag and heading for the airport.'"
• "A noted scholar disputes the current trends to classify Medea as an archetypal Fury. After all, he underscores, women are 'sympathetic victims who have always had to avenge the abuses of fidelity.'"