Quotations are the currency of a literature essay. They show that a student knows the text, and they give the analysis something to work on. In An Inspector Calls essays, the difference between a middling and a strong response often lies in how the quotations are chosen and used.

Students commonly make three mistakes. They choose long quotations and comment on none of the words. They paraphrase instead of quoting. Or they quote accurately but say nothing about why the line matters.

Since the play is short and much of the memorable dialogue comes from a handful of speeches, students can build a compact bank of quotations. The marking question is how well they use them.

The following criteria make that easy to assess.

Three things to check

First, is the quotation short enough to analyze closely? Second, is it embedded smoothly into the student's own sentence? Third, does the analysis focus on specific words and their effect? An essay that meets all three has strong evidence handling, whatever the level of interpretation.

• Quotations of a few words rather than full sentences where possible
• Accurate wording and punctuation, with no invented lines
• Evidence spread across the play, not only the opening
• Comment on at least one word or phrase from each quotation
• A link back to the question after each piece of analysis

Feedback that improves choice

Ask students to shorten a long quotation to its most important words, and explain what they removed and why. The exercise trains them to spot the part of the line that does the work. It also helps them remember it under exam conditions.

Another useful comment is to ask whether a quotation from a different part of the play would make the point better. This pushes students to widen their range.

Handling inaccurate quotations

In a closed-book exam, small errors are common and should not be penalized heavily if the meaning is clear. Invented or badly distorted quotations are a different matter. A short note distinguishing between the two helps students see what matters.

Encourage students to learn a small number of quotations well instead of a large number badly. A dozen good ones cover most questions.

Checking evidence across a class

Evidence handling is a skill that can be checked systematically. AI feedback tools such as GraideMind can assess each essay's use of quotations against your rubric, flagging those with long, unanalyzed passages or evidence from a single act, so you can see the pattern quickly.

That lets you spend your time on the more interesting question of how well students interpret the words they have chosen.