CITING AND INTEGRATING QUOTES A How-To Guide

The format for a prose quote “Quote” (author’s last name page number). EXAMPLE: “Roses are red and violets are blue” (Ski 2).

Question marks and exclamation points The only time punctuation is at the end of the quote is when a question mark or an exclamation point is present: EXAMPLE: When Susie says, “I’m so glad you came!” she reveals her excitement (Ski 2). EXAMPLE: When Susie asks, “Why didn’t you come?” she reveals her bewilderment (Ski 2).

If you are quoting dialogue If you are quoting dialogue within your quote, use single quotation marks to show it. “When Jake said ‘I have a great idea,’ we all knew trouble was coming” (Ski 1).

If you are quoting an extended exchange within a play  Indent the speakers one inch from the left margin. All other lines are indented one and a quarter inches. The speakers should be written in all capital letters, followed by a period. Include stage directions as they appear in the original source. Cite the page number as you would for any other quoted prose.

Extended exchange: example EXAMPLE: Early on in the play “A Raisin in the Sun,” Walter explodes when Ruth refuses to listen to his ideas: RUTH. Eat your eggs, Walter. WALTER. (Slams the table and jumps up) --DAMN MY EGGS--DAMN ALL THE EGGS THAT EVER WAS! RUTH. Then go to work. WALTER. (Looking up at her) See--I’m trying to talk to you ‘bout myself--(Shaking his head with the repetition)--and all you can say is eat them eggs and go to work (34). 

Quotations must be given context Bad Example:  Men are the sole cause of the war. “May God forgive the men who brought about this war” (Rhodes 260). Good Example:  Men are described as the sole cause of the war when Christian Rhodes states “May God forgive the men who brought about this war” (Rhodes 260).

Use Signal Phrases A signal phrase can be set up in three ways: 1. Writing a complete sentence followed by a colon and then the quote. Example: Demeter is not actively responsible for the plants’ growth, but passively so: “When Demeter felt especially fine, tiny shoots of barley or oats would spring up in the footprints She left” (110).

Use Signal Phrases 2. Writing an incomplete sentence, followed by a comma and then the quote Example: The author shows that Demeter is seen as passively responsible for the plants’ growth, saying, “When Demeter felt especially fine, tiny shoots of barley or oats would spring up in the footprints She left” (110).

Use Signal Phrases 3. Writing a statement that ends in that or a signal phrase and then the quote Example: Demeter’s passive responsibility in the plants’ growth is clear when the author states that “When Demeter felt especially fine, tiny shoots of barley or oats would spring up in the footprints She left” (110). **See handout for list of signal phrases

Integration without signal phrases There are times (especially when you are writing about literature) when you can move right into the quote without using a signal phrase, but do this carefully by making sure you are integrating the quote in a way that is grammatically correct.  Examples: When Jake sees Gitl for the first time in three years, “...he vaguely wishes that her release were delayed indefinitely” (34), showing that he is not prepared to combine the “un-American appearance” (34) of his wife with his American lifestyle.

Three easy ways to use a quote in a sentence 1. Your own words “Quote” ( ). EXAMPLE: Dillard explains her purpose when she says, “quote” (Dillard 2).

Three easy ways to use a quote in a sentence 2. “Quote” ( ) your own words. EXAMPLE: “Quote” is one example of how Hughes writes in a childlike style (Hughes 1).

Three easy ways to use a quote in a sentence 3. Your words “Quote” ( ) your words EXAMPLE: By using the phrase “quote” Sedaris makes fun of himself and his jealousy of Hugh (Sedaris 1).

Technical Rules: Ellipses  If you want to make a long quote shorter in order to present the reader with a more concise quotation, do so using an ellipse, which is three periods, each period having a space before and after it (example: “... ”). EXAMPLE: The narrator shows her belief that landscape can affect the human when she says that “the sound of that tinkling brook...filled my heart with a strange melancholy....The voice of waters...always had an extraordinary effect upon my mind” (107).

Technical Rules: Adding Text to Quotes  The quote you use should make grammatical sense with the rest of your sentence. Therefore, you may sometimes have to add words to a quote, or modify the verb form in the quoted text. You do this by enclosing the added material in square brackets (like this: [ ] ).

Technical Rules: Adding Text to Quotes EXAMPLE-Original Text  The narrator is grateful for the separation that nature gives him from the battle, and “conceived Nature to be a woman with a deep aversion to tragedy” (100). EXAMPLE-Revised Text  The narrator is grateful for the separation that nature gives him from the battle, and “conceive[s] Nature to be a woman with a deep aversion to tragedy” (100).