How do you choose quotations, and how do you use them in a paragraph?

Mainly AQA Specification

A01 is a crucial part of the marking scheme so it is important that you come to grips with it effectively. It looks at your ability to critically use textual references and quotations to support your essay...But to do this, you need to first choose quotations that are relevant to your argument.

Consider asking yourself these questions…What point are you making? It could be relevant to a certain character or part of the book, which narrows down your search for a quote. Also what themes are you using? Using collective themes throughout an essay can give clarity to argument, and will allow you to embed cultural and societal perspectives. Once you know what type of quote you’re looking for, you need to go find it! This is where knowledge of your text becomes really useful (try to jot down page numbers of key events so it is easier to navigate through the text). Look for short snappy quotes to put in your essay as long quotes often don’t support your point effectively and tend to lead to “waffle”.

Whilst there are lots of ways to analyse a quote, markers look for concise analysis from a structure like the PEEL approach. PEEL stands for Point, Evidence, Explain, and Link. Firstly, you have to make a Point about the text or quote (this could be contextual or explain the way a quote acts metaphorically). Next is to provide evidence for your point, this is where you embed your quote to support the point you just made. The analysis you make here can boost your marks (to an extent of course!) so make sure it’s concise and coherent! After this, you explain how your evidence supports your point and see if you can analyse the quote anymore. Finally, state how all of the analysis from your quote links to the question. By relating your point to the overall title here, you can provide coherence to your argument which will impress the markers. This structure will prevent you from getting confused and tangled in even the most difficult of questions as it allow you to hit all of the assessment objectives.

Remember: You will need to memorise quotes for your exam so use short and snappy ones

Tip: Try writing out quotes on sticky notes and putting them up around your room, I used to do this as I could never remember them!