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Incorporating Quotations
Here are some ideas to smoothly incorporate quotations into your writing.

Introduce, Include, Interpret

Now that you've decided to include the words of another in your paper, make sure that you incorporate them in such a way that they enhance your ideas and are understood by the reader. Remember the IQI rule: Introduce, Quote, and Interpret. For every quotation you use, you should introduce it with the author's name or text title and a signal phrase, add the quote, and lastly interpret the quote--that is tell how the quote is relevant to your larger point.

When you use the exact words of someone else in your papers, you need to include them into your essays in such a way that the text flows smoothly. When you don't, the quotes seem to be "just thrown in" and the text seems choppy and interrupted.
Remember to use the words of others sparingly because this is your paper with your own point of view not just a synopsis of what others have said.

• Introduce the quoted material by telling the reader some information about the writer: name (the first time an author is referred to use first and last names. After that, use only last the name). Following this section are some suggested introductory phrases.
  
• Include the quotation. Be sure to include the words within double quotation marks. Always include the page number where the quotation is located.
  
• Always interpret the quotation with a "coming-away" observation after the quoted material. This serves three essential functions: to explain the meaning of the quoted words; to restore your authority; and to reestablish your voice. Never assume the reader will understand the quotation or how those words relate to your points. Your words and your ideas are what are important-not some else's thoughts.
  

Dr. Dianne Reistroffer's dissertation, Individual Learning Styles and Career Choices Among Traditional and Non-traditional Theological Students in Six Protestant Seminaries, contains many examples of IQI. One example is:

Two statements along these lines come from Cardinal William Baum's Report on American Catholic Seminaries to the Vatican and an editorial by Dr. Martin E. Marty in the Christian Century. Excerpts from each follow.
[excerpts]
Interestingly, Baum and Marty fail to speak in any detail about "the best" of the mid career cohort. They are not alone in this tendency (p 4).

Notice that Reistroffer introduced the quoted material by saying who the authors were and where the source of the information. She then included the direct words of the authors. Finally, Reistroffer brought the information back to her premise by interpreting the quotation.

Reistroffer, Dianne. Individual Learning Styles and Career        Choices Among Traditional and Non-traditional Theological Students in Six Protestant Seminaries." Ph.D.diss., University of Wisconsin,1997.

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