Essay Question: Quotes in the Topic

[caffinatedloz]

Hey guys!
If an essay topic includes a quote, how do you use that in your essay? Do you need to address it in your introduction?

[literally lauren]

Hey guys!
If an essay topic includes a quote, how do you use that in your essay? Do you need to address it in your introduction?

Hey laura

You should definitely use the quote in your essay - it's technically 'part' of the essay question, so it's hard to score well if you don't at least acknowledge it. Technically, you might get away with just talking about the ideas that the quote hints at, but it's 200% easier to just use and analyse the quote at some point. That way, your teacher HAS to give you marks for addressing the question!

As a general hint, the kinds of quotes that a prompt will include is usually not just VERY closely linked to the ideas in the rest of the question, but also kind of answers the question for you...

For example:
- "Until I feared I would lose it, I never loved to read. One does not love breathing."
   How does To Kill A Mockingbird explore the concept of loss?
      --> loss teaches us things and makes us appreciate what we have; Scout realises how much she loves reading when she realises she may lose the ability to do so
- "People generally see what they look for, and hear what they listen for."
   To Kill A Mockingbird is about the dangerous consequences of prejudice. Discuss.
      --> people's prejudice and confirmation bias (i.e. only seeing what they look for) contributes to the social and racial injustice we see in the novel
- "I think there's just one kind of folks. Folks."
   Harper Lee's novel suggests that there is more that unites us than divides us. Do you agree?
      ---> as per the quote, yes! Folks are folks, and the narrative perspective of Scout helps us to see the good in humanity in spite of its divisions and divisiveness.

Sometimes there'll be more complex quote + question combinations, but in general, the quote is giving you a MASSIVE HINT about what you should be discussing.

So, I'd say the golden rule is to try and analyse the quote in your first body paragraph! This not only assures the marker that you've addressed the whole essay question right from the start, but also creates the illusion that you're using the quote as a 'springboard' into other ideas for later paragraphs. On the contrary, if you used the quote in your third B.P. it might seem forced... or like you'd forgotten the quote until the last minute and just chucked it in the final paragraph You could optionally include the quote in the intro, but it's more important than the quote is unpacked and discussed in a B.P. where you can get marks for it!

Hope that helps!

[caffinatedloz]

Thank you so much!!