WHAT ARE QUOTATION TRANSITIONS AND HOW DO I WRITE THEM?
by Kathy McLain, M.A.
Introduce all borrowed material--direct
quotation, paraphrase, and summary--with a quotation transition to signal
to the reader that you are moving from your words to borrowed material.
Some students believe when they put quotation marks around an idea that
they do not need to include a quotation transition. This is not
true. Quotation transitions serve an essential function: They
clearly signal to the reader that borrowing is beginning, and these
quotation transitions help to make a smooth transition between your
writing and the borrowed material. Good quotation transitions
have two elements:
They make a smoothly-worded transition between
your words and your borrowed material.
They let the reader understand how the borrowed
material supports the issue or argument being discussed in the paper.
Example of a Quotation Transition:
One researcher notes that this theory is valid for three
reasons: "first, this bacteria has the right structure; second,
this bacteria is very hardy; and third, this bacteria is easily spread" (Conway
43).
In this sample there is a smooth transition
between the writer's words and the borrowed material. The quotation
transition also suggests how the borrowed material furthers the discussion
in the paragraph.
