Here are some common disadvantages of starting an essay with a quote.


Here, I will be breaking down a comparative analysis. You will get to know exactly how I write one! Specifically, I will be focusing on the two texts, The Longest Memory and Black Diggers. I have also included my own essay as an example to follow through.


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How You Integrate a Quote into an Essay Depends on Three Factors:

When planning an essay, it is easy to let yourself go off track, discussing another point that is not quite relevant to the topic given. To prevent this from happening, always keep the topic firmly in your mind - glance at it periodically throughout your planning if needed, and check that every body paragraph that you are planning directly relates back to the topic and answers what it is asking. So, keeping the topic and its focus on theocracy firmly in mind, I chose to approach this essay with the following structured plan:Â

Here, we are asked to examine the benefits and challenges of a theocratic system, as depicted in The Crucible. Thus, we must consider both the positive and negative aspects of the binding of law and religion. It is a good idea to delegate two paragraphs to the challenges and one to the benefits, due to the fact that Miller wrote the play with the authorial intention of denouncing the repressive rigidity of its government - this means it is easier to think of negatives rather than positives.Â

You could contend that the novel is indeed about courage, as Atticus not only teaches it to his children but also applies it to his defence of Tom Robinson in the face of structural racism. However, courage is also linked more broadly to empathy, which is explored as a panacea for discrimination. A complete contention like this breaks up your points neatly, but also grounds everything you have to say in an essay that still addresses the question and the idea of courage.

Which brings us to a topic that is a bit knottier than it might first seem. Although empathy is shown to be courageous, particularly in the context of its setting, part of the novel’s message is also that courage can be fluid. This means that you might agree for a paragraph or two, emphasising the importance of context, before expanding on this idea of courage in the third.


There’s a simple rule for how many quotes should be in an essay.

As with quoting, it is important to accurately represent paraphrased material by offering any needed context. Another consideration writers should be mindful of when paraphrasing is being careful to use their own original language and sentence structures. New academic writers sometimes think that they can paraphrase by simply switching up a few words in a quote, but that would actually be considered plagiarism— to be specific. For this reason, writers must paraphrase thoughtfully to ensure they accurately represent a text’s meaning without mirroring its original language or sentence structure. One of the easiest ways to do this is to step away from the content you need to paraphrase and explain it from memory. This approach can help you generate new phrasing and avoid the temptation to borrow elements from the original. For additional guidance on paraphrasing, check out our guide on avoiding plagiarism.

How to Write Short Responses and Essays on Quote Topics

Offer explanation or analysis. Quotations (and any form of evidence for that matter) don’t speak for themselves; as a general rule, assume your reasoning for using a particular quote isn’t obvious to your reader. As a writer, you must create a bridge between your argument and a quotation by interpreting, analyzing, or discussing its content to clarify its relevance to your paper. As a rule of thumb, your explanation or analysis should also balance out your quotation, meaning it should be at least as long as the quote you selected.

For example, if you use a block quote, but only have one sentence of analysis to offer about it, that might be a sign that you don’t actually need to use the entirety of that passage (see Step 1 for additional information about quote selection).

How to Start an Essay With a Quote: 14 Steps (with Pictures)

Select your quote. Quoted materials should generally be used sparingly, so quote as little material as possible. In many cases, you might just need to quote a particular phrase or maybe a sentence.

Occasionally, you might need to quote multiple lines or utilize a block quote, which is a longer quote that is set apart from the rest of your paper’s text. Be sure to defer to your discipline’s style guide (e.g., MLA) to determine when and how to use a block quote. Generally speaking, longer quotes, particularly block quotes, should be used VERY judiciously and only in cases where their length can be justified by the content’s relevance to your paper AND by what you have to say about the quoted material (more on that in Step 3).

How can I start an essay with a quote

For those needing a little more evidence that you should not take the quote “Good fences make good neighbors” as literal truth, take the time to , you will see that the neighbor who advocates fences is portrayed as a dark character, filled with latent violence, and is directly compared to a cave man, “an old stone savage” who carries rocks to the wall like some head hunter returning with the skulls of those he has killed. Throughout the poem, the narrator argues against his neighbor, questions why they are rebuilding the wall, mocks the idea by wondering if the neighbor fears that his apple orchard is going to invade the pine trees on the other side, and suggests that we should be careful when building walls–or fences–that we should pay attention to what we many be fencing out–and in. The poem is highly ironic, but its purpose is clearly to question the reason for fences and walls, not to promote them, and the wall here is linked with fear and violence. In an additional irony, the reluctant narrator and his neighbor are repairing a stone wall, not a fence.