In-Text Citations MLA

For your TKAM final essay, you must have direct citations from the novel. This means that you may not paraphrase. Requirements

When do I use direct citations? Whenever you incorporate the author’s words, dialogue, or ideas into your essay. This gives the author credit and allows you strengthen your claim with direct support. For example: Atticus Finch comments, “‘Courage is when you know you’re licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what’” (112). When do I use direct citations?

How do I format in-text citations? Step One: Choose your quote! It can be dialogue or narrative. Step Two: Incorporate it into your original writing. Try to use some of the introductory phrases listed on your handout below. Step Three: Punctuate! How do I format in-text citations?

Atticus Finch comments, “‘Courage is when you know you’re licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what’” (112). Introductory phrase Original text taken from TKAM Period to end the sentence Page number to indicate where you got the quote. You do NOT need to use the author’s last name since it’s all coming from the same book. These single quotation marks are ONLY used when taking dialogue. They tell the reader that it is not the narrator speaking. Quotation marks, indicating that you are borrowing these lines Punctuation

Practice with Punctuation 1. I never deliberately learned to read, but somehow I had been wallowing illicitly in the daily papers (17) 2. Easy does it son, Atticus would say. She’s an old lady and she’s ill. You just hold your head high and be a gentleman (100) 3. You seem sure enough that he choked you. All this time you were fighting back, remember? (185) DIALOGUE 4. People have a habit of doing everyday things even under the oddest conditions. I was no exception: Come along, Mr. Arthur, I heard myself saying, you don’t know the house real well. I’ll take you to the porch sir (272) Practice with Punctuation

Practice with Punctuation 1. Scout comments, “I never deliberately learned to read, but somehow I had been wallowing illicitly in the daily papers” (17). 2. “‘Easy does it son,’ Atticus would say. ‘She’s an old lady and she’s ill. You just hold your head high and be a gentleman’” (100). 3. Atticus questioned Mayella Ewell, “‘You seem sure enough that he choked you. All this time you were fighting back, remember’” (185)? 4. Scout concludes, “People have a habit of doing everyday things even under the oddest conditions. I was no exception: ‘Come along, Mr. Arthur,’ I heard myself saying, ‘you don’t know the house real well. I’ll take you to the porch sir’” (272). Practice with Punctuation

Reminders and Guidelines You must have at least one piece of textual support per body paragraph. Try to only use two lines of text at the most! When the text is longer, the formatting gets really confusing. Let’s avoid it! Reminders and Guidelines