How to Connect a Quote to Your Own Analysis in an Essay

One of the most common comments on student essays is painfully familiar: good quotation, weak analysis. That usually does not mean the student failed to find evidence. It means the paragraph never built the bridge between the evidence and the claim. A quotation was inserted, maybe even elegantly introduced, but the reader was left to do the interpretive labor alone.

A steadier sequence is simple. State the point you want to prove. Use only the part of the quotation that actually matters. Then explain which word, contrast, assumption, or action inside that evidence supports your judgment. Analysis is not a prettier form of repetition. It is the moment where you tell the reader why this detail deserves space in the paragraph at all.

Many international students drift into two habits here. One is to give extra background after the quotation instead of interpretation. The other is to jump straight to a broad conclusion and skip the close explanation in the middle. Force the paragraph to answer two questions: what exactly does this evidence show, and how does that connect to the topic sentence? Even two honest sentences can tighten the argument dramatically.