Marlene Dietrich once said, “I love quotations because it is a joy to find thoughts one might have, beautifully expressed with much authority by someone recognized wiser than oneself.” There are many ways to open an essay, but using an interesting quotation is one of the most popular for exactly the reason that Dietrich said. Quotations let us say something in a way that is beautiful, impactful, and interesting by borrowing the best words that other people have said and using them to help develop and support our own writing. However, not all quotes are created equal.
In this article, we’ll examine some of the most effective ways to deploy quotations in order to open an essay effectively. Before we do so, however, it’s important to think a bit about why we use quotations.
Why Quotes?
Quotations serve a variety of purposes in an essay. Sometimes they are used to provide specific information in a way that indicates that builds credibility by showing that this is exactly what the person said. Sometimes they are used to provide examples of exceptionally beautiful language that the writer is not able to replicate because it is said so perfectly. Other times, quotations are used to break up large blocks of writing by providing a break from the writer’s voice and helping to excite the audience with something new and interesting.
When you open an essay with a quotation you are trying to accomplish one of a couple of goals. You either want to appeal to the authority of a famous person, present an idea in a way that someone else has said better, or open with a familiar phrase that will create recognition in the audience.
Getting Help with Quotations
Using quotations can be a challenge for many students, particularly those who are not fully comfortable with citations or how to use other people’s words without running the risk of plagiarizing. If you find that you need help working with quotations, you have a number of options available. One of the most beneficial options is to pay someone to write your essays for you. When you pay experts from a writing service like WriteMyPaperHub.com to create papers for you online, you will be able to overcome some of your biggest challenges and free yourself from the burden of writing essays. A professional essay writer has years of experience working with quotations and understands how to select the best quotation for your essay and to use it in the paper in a way that will help the paper to stand out, all while avoiding any risk of plagiarism while using someone else’s words.
Some students may be wary about paying someone to write papers for them, but these types of services aren’t just legitimate ways of getting essay help but are also an important support service in a time when students are writing more essays than ever before and schools’ writing centers and libraries are overwhelmed, underfunded, and limited in the help they can provide.
Using Quotes to Open a Paper
When you need to open a paper, choosing a quotation is a great way to start, but how do you select the right quote for your paper? There are a few rules of thumb you should follow as you think about the right way to select quotes for your essay.
- The quote needs to be interesting. The first and most important rule is that quotation needs to be interesting. A boring quotation is not going to interest your reader in wanting to read more of your paper. In fact, a boring quotation can actually set the reader up to dislike, ignore, or dispute your paper. Remember when selecting a quotation to keep the reader in mind and think about what they will find interesting, exciting, compelling, or unique.
- The quote should be unusual or unique. To help make a quotation interesting, it should be as unique or unusual as possible. That means that you should generally avoid overly familiar quotations, which can be a bit boring. Look for less familiar but still compelling words and phrases that will cause the audience to stop and take notice. If you use a quote everybody knows, the audience will likely gloss over it. But if you use a quote that isn’t familiar to everyone, the audience will likely become more interested in learning more.
- The quote should usually be from a famous person. “Fame” has a broad definition. It doesn’t always have to be a celebrity and could be someone prominent in the field you are writing about in your essay. But the point is that the audience needs to understand why you are presenting them with a quotation. A quote by someone no one has heard of doesn’t carry much weight, so using words from a prominent or important person signals to the audience that the words provided are important and need to be taken seriously.
There are many reasons to open an essay with a quotation, but the bottom line is that you need to think about how the quotation is going to impact the audience. By keeping the audience’s interests and needs in mind, you will be able to deploy quotations effectively and bring the audience into the paper smoothly while sparking their curiosity to learn more about your topic.