Writing different essays is a significant part of a student’s life as they advance their careers. While some students find it complex to accomplish essay assignments, some find it easy to achieve the target goals of writing essays.
The secret to making essays admirable to read and do research is the presentation of ideas and measures to use to captivate the reader’s attention. Among the many approaches that have proven to have a positive impact is using quotes in an essay. That is why in this write-up, we will describe how to start essay with quote and make the whole paper interesting to read.
Can you start an essay with a quote?
If you are stuck on ideas on how to start off your essay and try to think if a quote will work, then you are on the right path.
Essays with quotes at the beginning of the paper give the writer or the student a simple way to strategize and figure out the content to include in the paper. However, the quote should align or match the main topic idea.
How to put a quote at the beginning of an essay
There are several ways how to start quotes in an essay. Therefore, as you start an essay with a quote, you can follow the approaches below.
- Begin with a full sentence, then a colon that introduces a quote:
The essay with quotes example, in this case, is “The situation depicts nothing but deception: “Nothing is as it seems” – Smith 1 - Write your own word, then finish with a quote
- Begin with the source, then a comma, and finally, a quote. For instance, “according to Smith, nothing is as it seems.”
- Start with a descriptive verb, a comma, then the quote. Therefore, starting essay with quote example, in this case, is as,
“Smith states, “nothing is as it seems.”
Quotes in essays examples with practical tips
As you use quotes in your essay, do not just pick any quote and place it anywhere in your essay. Instead, use the following tips to ensure you do the right thing to meet the context of the quote:
- Know the purpose of your paper/topic
Different quotes define different elements and situations. As you search for a perfect quote, you are likely to find several quotes to use. Make sure you weigh the options and see if the quote can meet the target information you need to deliver through your paper.
- Know your audience
Depending on the subject or topic you are handling, select a quote that will match the tune of the audience. When defining your audience, you consider elements such as age, gender, and profession, among other determinants.
For instance, a quote used for students won’t be the same as the quote used to describe doctors.
- Remember to include citations or reference
Of course, quotes are simply ideas, thoughts, or remarks of other people. Therefore, using them without proper referencing or citations will means using other people’s work without permission, which depicts plagiarism. Plagiarism is a serious offense in academic works and can attract a harsh penalty or punishment.
Therefore, be sure to cite your quote based on the approved or required formatting style. Besides avoiding plagiarism, citing your paper helps the reader locate the information faster in case they need to understand the context more.
- Connect your quote with your argument
Once you include a quote in your essay, that isn’t all. You need to describe to the reader how the quote relates to your topic or context.
You can describe this by relating the quote with your thesis statement and how the quote highlights and portrays the bigger problem or situation
This is especially important to ensure all the ideas you share in your essay are in alignment with the ideas you are presenting in the paper. Therefore, do not leave your quote hanging, but make the reader understand the whole context in relation to the theme of the paper.
Conclusion
Do you always struggle and wonder about the best measures to put in place when starting an essay? Well, after reading this piece, you will realize how easy and effective using a quote to start your essay can be.
