Unpacking QuotesFROM THE WRITING CENTER@ THE A.R.C.

What it Means To Quote. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, to quote is “to repeat or copy out (a group of words from a text or speech), typically with an indication that one is not the original author or speaker.”

The quote is not meant to the take place of your own thoughts and ideas but substantiate them.

If it is properly used, a quote will add relevance to your writing. In this Module you will: Learn to identify the proper structure of a quote. Determine how to incorporate a quote into your writing. Develop the proper setup, context, analysis, and reasoning of the quote to tie into thesis of

your paper.

Structure of Quotes No matter what style of paper you are writing, a quote needs to be incorporated and in many ways “unpacked” into the paper’s text.

If a quote is misplaced or not properly explained then it may be confusing to readers.

A quote that is not given proper setup, context, analysis, and reason (SCAR) will weaken the argument of the author.

Setup To properly setup a quote, provide qualifications that signal to the reader why this quote carries authority on the topic being discussed.

Qualifications are statements about the source of the quote that show it to be credible and relevant to your paper.

Signal phrases are statements preceding the quote and are used to transition into the quote while maintaining the flow of the paper.

Example of SetupIn her first book, The Egg in Me, Vol. 1: Call Me Yolk, Anna Marie Vincent, Head Chef of Maison Blanc for thirty-five years states, “The egg has always been the most accessible and versatile of all the proteins in my repertoire.”Notice how the blue words qualify the source. They show that Anna Marie Vincent has the authority to make statements about cooking in general and about eggs specifically. The word ‘states’ signals to the reader that the subsequent words were stated by Anna Marie who they now know to be a credible source on proper egg cooking.

Examples of Signal Phrases• Acknowledge

s• Adds• Denies• Rejects • Write

• Reports• Illustrates• Declares• Reasons• Observes

• Emphasizes• Comments• Grants• Implies• Disputes

Context When using a quote you have to stay true to the context in which the statement was used.

Avoid only using the parts of the passage that align with your topic. Do not strip the quote of its original meaning.

Example of ContextIn her first book, The Egg in Me, Vol. 1: Call Me Yolk, Anna Marie Vincent, Head Chef of Maison Blanc for thirty-five years states, “The egg has always been the most accessible and versatile of all the proteins in my repertoire.”

The words in purple show the context in which this quote was given.

Analysis After using the quote it is important to then break down the information you have presented to their most important parts (“ana” means a collection of information, “lysis” means to break down).

By breaking down the quote you are able to expand on its meaning, adding your own voice to it and contributing to the ongoing conversation of the topic at hand.

Example of AnalysisInformation presented: In her first book, The Egg in Me, Vol. 1: Call Me Yolk, Anna Marie Vincent, Head Chef of Maison Blanc for thirty-five years states, “The egg has always been the most accessible and versatile of all the proteins in my repertoire.”Analysis: Vincent is regarded by many as a master artist of the culinary world, and for her it is the simple egg, often thought of as merely a staple of the breakfast menu, that excites her imagination in the kitchen.Notice that this analysis phrases the information in a way more conducive to expansion and synthesis with your overall paper. This will be useful during the Reasoning stage of SCAR.

Reasoning To incorporate a quote into your paper you must make sure it is relevant to your topic. This can be used to move the focus from the paragraph to the greater context of the paper.

In many ways this step is to go further than just explaining the quote and offers a deeper analysis.

Example of Reasoning Information presented: In her first book, The Egg in Me, Vol. 1: Call Me Yolk, Anna Marie Vincent, Head Chef of Maison Blanc for thirty-five years states, “The egg has always been the most accessible and versatile of all the proteins in my repertoire.” Vincent is regarded by many as a master artist of the culinary world, and for her it is the simple egg, often thought of as merely a staple of the breakfast menu, that excites her imagination in the kitchen.Reasoning: If we are to elevate the use of the egg beyond throwing it in the pan and watching it sizzle, then we must alter our perception of the egg as merely a side dish on the breakfast table to something with a range of possibilities.Notice how this sentence shows that the quote has a reason for being used within your paper by contributing to the larger idea.

SCAR All Together

When unpacking a quote you want to make sure that you properly Setup the quote, establish the Context where the quote came from, Analyze the quote and establish the importance to your paper, and finally incorporate the quote into the Reason of your paper.

The “Unpacked” QuoteIn her first book, The Egg in Me, Vol. 1: Call Me Yolk, Anna Marie Vincent, Head Chef of Maison Blanc for thirty-five years states, “The egg has always been the most accessible and versatile of all the proteins in my repertoire.” Vincent is regarded by many as a master artist of the culinary world, and for her it is the simple egg, often thought of as merely a staple of the breakfast menu, that excites her imagination in the kitchen. If we are to elevate the use of the egg beyond throwing it in the pan and watching it sizzle, then we must alter our perception of the egg as merely a side dish on the breakfast table to something with a range of possibilities.

Unpacking Quotes• It should be noted that this is merely a format, and as with any format or “plug and play” concept in writing it only works to understand the process or to become comfortable with a particular technique until the writer fosters and develops their own talent. Also, because writing topics and sources can vary to great degree, the only real way to quote correctly is to deal with that particular source in your particular paper. In writing there are very few hard and fast rules. Writing is a malleable science.