Why You Should Use Quotes When Writing an Essay

Essays are very common at every academic level and in every educational system. There are all sorts of them, which means that students need to tackle tasks separately, know what to include, and find the right way to share their thoughts and findings. 

Unless you were tasked to write a paper that is solely creative, free of external data and research, you should definitely consider using some quotes. Quotes can be found in all sorts of essays, including argumentative, persuasive, cause and effect, and even descriptive papers. 

But, why should you use quotes when you write your papers? In this article, you’ll learn why quotes can give you more points with your professor, as well as how to avoid plagiarism when using them. 

Quotes and Plagiarism: What You Should Know about Essay Writing

Before we get to the part where we learn about the benefits of quotes, let’s get something clear – you can never use someone else’s ideas in your paper without using proper symbols and marks. If you write an essay where you quote someone else’s words and don’t put them in quotation marks, this equals plagiarism. 

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A lot of the time, plagiarism is done unintentionally. Students try to incorporate some information they read and think that rewriting it a bit will make it original. This is a big mistake because advanced scanners can easily find plagiarism, and professors use them now more than ever. The solution? You can ask an expert: “fix my essay for me”, and wait for them to edit, proofread, and improve your writing so you can get a high grade. A professional help service will do a grammar check and save your time so that you can study or simply rest and have some fun. 

Of course, you’ll often need to use books, journals, websites and other sources to write your essays. It’s important not to confuse plagiarism with summarizing i.e. giving a brief statement about the main points of the author. This is not plagiarism, and neither is quoting when it’s indicated properly. 

Reasons to Use Quotes in Your College Essay

Now that you know that quotes aren’t plagiarism if used properly, it’s time to learn why these are good for your assignments. Here are some of the reasons:

• Reinforce ideas. The most important reason for using quotes is to reinforce the information you present in your paper. Arguments are much stronger when they are supported with tangible data such as quotes.
• More credibility. Quotations imply that others agree with your arguments, and that you based them on experts’ opinions and findings. This gives you entire essay more credibility.
• More concise and more memorable. When you quote someone, this gives you a more memorable, concise phrasing to support your idea. This makes your content more trustworthy and more powerful, especially when you use influential or famous quotations.
• Showcase your knowledge. Quotes show the reader that you aren’t just throwing assumptions and guesses at them, but have actually done research and know a lot about the topic. 
• Break the monotony. Essays can be monotonous since they list arguments, stats, and supporting facts. Quotes help break this monotony and make the paper more interesting. 
• Emphasize a feeling. Let’s say that your essay shares a sad message, and you add a quote to complement it and make it stronger. If you want to write something engaging and funny, a humorous quote is perfect for the paper. In other words, quotations can help you awaken the feeling you want with your paper. 

Things That You Should Be Quoting in Your Essay

Even though quotations are a great idea, they aren’t always the right fit. You can’t just add one for the purpose of having quotations. If you want to reap the benefits listed above, you need to know where and when you can add them. 

The quotation you choose should relate to your discussion. For example, if you are describing a character, something that character says or something that others say about them is a great idea for a quote. You can also use them to describe settings and events. 

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One Final Tip!

Don’t just quote for the sake of it, but also don’t over-quote. These are support materials that will back up your ideas and arguments, which means that they shouldn’t tell the story for you. Be selective, take small portions that strengthen your ideas, and don’t overcrowd the paper with too many quotations. 

Author’s Bio:

Sylvester Greer is a professional content editor that works for a writing service. His task is to check the work of authors and students, and edit it into perfection. In addition to editing others’ work, Sylvester also writes his own unique content.