quoting in admissions essays?
hey guys, if I were to quote a few lines from a poem in my admissions essay to U Chicago and attribute it to the author, would that be ok? obviously it takes up space but that's fine with me, I'm just concerned about plagiarism guidelines.
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3 answers
I think you should generally avoid quoting, unless the specific quote had a HUGE impact on your life. In your reply to @Melokenzie, you said you are wanting to quote a Shel Silverstein poem. I think you would be better served by just summarizing the poem. In the past when I've used quotes in essays, I have been told that it seemed like I was mainly using them to stretch out my word count. Unless you are talking about how a SPECIFIC quote had a significant impact on your life, I would suggest against it.
Good luck with your essay!
Why do you want to quote the poem? Did it have a great impact on you? If that or something similar is the case to quote the poem say something like: this or these lines in author's poem "the lines you choose" made me realize xxx. That way you mention the author and the title of the poem directly so you wouldn't need a full citation. Even if your reasoning for including it is different a similar format should be fine, you just need to make sure it flows well.
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I agree with that, My comment follows the assumption their essay includes the quote because it significantly impacts them/ the essay. To the author, if your not sure the quote will significantly impact your essay leave it out or paraphrase. Some feedback I got was to not talk about others so you don't need to elaborate much on an event but rather how you responded to it. Unless the quote made you come to some impactful revelation consider leaving it out.