In my paper I used many quotes as evidence to help my argument. I also used quotes from sources as a connection to other sources. My main issue in using quotes is following them with a clear explanation. This was a big challenge I had in my early draft. Although I have included an example paragraph from my essay that I think has the key elements of good quote integration.

Example: UNE incorporates this modern idea of liberal arts into its core curriculum. In fact, UNE’s core values were “created to provide a foundation in the liberal arts, . . . and is designed to prepare students for living informed, thoughtful, and active lives in a complex and changing society,” (UNE handbook 3). UNE seems to believe that liberal arts will offer students a better way to strengthen their thinking. The handbook also specifically states that undergraduates “will develop foundational knowledge and critical thinking skills that are necessary for understanding and assuming their roles in natural, social, humanistic, and other environments,” (2). Without specifically mentioning liberal arts in this quote, these are all key characteristics to any authentic liberal arts education. UNE’s desire to foster critical thinking amongst students is a strong indication of a liberal arts mindset. Developing critical thinking skills is an excellent example of an advantage of liberal arts over other education styles, because these skills can be transferred and are valuable among nearly all  jobs today.

This is my signal phrase. What I could’ve done to improve my signal phrase was begin with where the quote was coming from. Instead I could have said something like, “As stated in the UNE handbook, UNE’s core values were …”

Quote Explanation: I used one of the templates from “They Say I Say” to set up my explanation. I followed the quote by stating what I think UNE believes, which is what I want the reader to take away from the quote in case they didn’t.

In this example I used the evidence from the handbook to show that the liberal arts characteristics are within the school’s core values. I think this example clearly shows the quotation sandwich which we’ve talked about in class. I introduced the quote, and immediately explained it after, and in the last few sentences I put it all together to show why I thought the quotes were important.