FRAMING AND INTEGRATING QUOTES

Skillful writers integrate the words of other writers into their texts. They don’t set up “orphans” – as in this example:

WRONG—ORPHANED QUOTE: 
Though many people fear speaking before groups, it’s a routine part of doing business. “An oral presentation is an important means of obtaining and exchanging information for decision making and policy development” (Lehman 434). Consequently, we must overcome our fears and learn how to make good oral presentations. 

Instead, skillful writers set up the quote, as in this example:

RIGHT—INTEGRATED QUOTE:
Though many people fear speaking before groups, it’s a routine part of doing business. One expert says, “An oral presentation is an important means of obtaining and exchanging information for decision making and policy development” (Lehman 434). 
Consequently, we must overcome our fears and learn how to make good oral presentations. 

To set up direct quotes, you will probably use the two following patterns. In the first, you begin the sentence with your own setup words (frame), then end with the words of another writer. In the second, you begin with the writer’s words and end with your own.

(1) Frame Followed by Quote:

When speaking to various audiences, we need to remember one fact: “[people] listen to speeches about things of interest to
them” (Lehman 435). 

Author Carol Lehmam has identified “… some important facts [we] can obtain about most audiences: ages, genders, occupations, educational levels, attitudes, values, broad and specific interests, and needs, if any” (435). 

(2) Quote Followed by Frame:

“In addition to these factors, [we] should also consider … the occasion and location” of the oral presentation we are making (Lehman 435). 

“Patriotic speeches to a group of military veterans will differ from speeches to a group of new recruits, just as Fourth of July speeches will differ from Memorial Day speeches,” writes Carol Lehman (435). 

You do not want abrupt shifts between your prose and the quoted material. In order to form a seamless whole, you may need to tailor quotations to fit your prose style. You may have to change nouns/pronouns or verb tenses, use ellipses to indicate cut material, add necessary information to make the quotation coherent.