There are two principal reasons why students fail to use quotations effectively. First, they misunderstand what they've read and its application to what they've written. Second, they either don't introduce the quotation, or they don't discuss it, or both.

Let's consider the problem of misunderstanding first. Writers frequently develop what they want to say by contrast. That is, they introduce points of view that are not their own and then reply to those points. In other words, they counter argue. An example of this strategy occurs in paragraphs 23 and 24 of Juliet Schor's "Work and Spend" (The Anteater Reader, Spring 2001). Reviewing the relationship between dissatisfaction and spending, Schor says

           "Over time, further increases in income set in motion another round of the same. He becomes dissatisfied
        with renting and 'needs' to buy a home. Travel by car takes too long, so he switches to airplanes. His tastes   (23)
        become more discriminating, and the average price of a restaurant meal slowly creeps upward. Something
        like this process is why Americans making $70,000 a year end up feeling stretched and discontented.
           Of course, part of this is a life cycle process. As our young man grows older, possessions like cars and      (24)
        houses become more important. But there's more to it than aging. Like millions of other American consumers,
        he is becoming addicted to the accouterments of affluence.

At the beginning of paragraph 24, Schor inserts two sentences (in red) that offer an alternative point of view about the origin of dissatisfaction, the counterclaim that it results from "aging." Then she swings the argument back to her claim of "addiction" in the next sentence (in green). If you misunderstand her thesis or mistake one of the parts--the alternative viewpoint--for the whole, then you may quote her in a way that detracts from your argument. It is easy to quote too much and include material that is irrelevant to or contradicts your argument. It is also easy to quote too little and so quote out of context. Read what you wish to quote, or quote from, especially well.

Second, let's look at why quotations need introduction and discussion. Every extended quotation (four or more lines) needs to be introduced and discussed. You might think of quotations as witnesses in a trial. The jury--your reader--has to be told beforehand what the testimony of the witness will prove and shown afterward how the testimony contributes to the case. Quotations don't speak for themselves.

Frequently, during close reading you will introduce bits of quoted material, a few words at a time, that do not have to be "sandwiched" between an introduction and a discussion sentence. These short quotations merely call attention to text that you plan to analyze and so don't have to be treated so elaborately. But longer quotations must be "sandwiched."

An important reminder for non-native speakers of English (ESL): proofread the quotations in your final draft. ESL speakers tend to copy grammar mistakes, the same ones they make in their own writing, into otherwise grammatically clean quotations.