How do we use quotes in essays?

Essays are written to give a writer’s perspective about a particular topic. An essay can either be formal or informal, but that’s a discussion for another day. Essays are most common in learning institutions where students have to argue out given topics. You can use quotes to solidify your arguments in the essays. However, you have to do so with caution to avoid using irrelevant quotes in your work, which will make a reader perceive you to be less knowledgeable about the topic you are discussing.  

To ensure that you are using quotes in essays as expected, follow the following guidelines. 

Do not start an essay with a quote. Quotes are only meant to be used after the writer has presented some information to the reader. In this case, the quote will serve its purpose of affirming the argument of the writer. Using a quote at the beginning of an essay raises several questions in a reader’s mind, which may distract the reader from the content as he/she tries to find answers to the questions. 

One has to list the actual speaker of the quote used in the essay. Failing to list the author or source of the quote can be considered as plagiarism, which can discredit your work altogether. The citation has to be in quotation marks as a standard rule. 

Do not include irrelevant references in the quote. If you realize that the reference to your quote has content that your audience may not understand or is not related to the topic of discussion, you may want to cut it out as it will confuse your audience. 

When quoting a quote in an essay, remember to mention the secondary source before you use the quote. In this case, the secondary source should be punctuated using double quotation marks while the quote itself is indicated with single quotation marks.