Quoting and citations AP LANG

Partial quotes vs. full sentence quotes Keep your quotes less than four lines of text in your essay unless absolutely necessary. If your quote requires more than four lines of text, special rules apply. Look up “MLA Format Long Quotes” for how to do it.

Partial quotes vs. full sentence quotes Partial quotes do not need to be introduced with a comma and do not need to begin with a capital letter. Susan Sontag asserts that people tend to take photos “to appropriate the thing photographed” (34).

Partial quotes vs. full sentence quotes Full sentence quotes need to be introduced with a comma or a colon and must begin with a capital letter. Susan Sontag asserts, “To photograph is to appropriate the thing photographed” (34).

Introducing a quote with a colon IC: “…” (citation). LIFE Magazine explores the various ways photography can broaden one’s worldview: “They allow us to become citizens of the world and, increasingly, of the universe” (“The Power of Pictures” 32).

Titles “The Stranger in the Photo is Me” by Donald M. Murray Short text (short stories, poems, essays, articles, chapters in a book, episodes) Quotation marks “The Stranger in the Photo is Me” by Donald M. Murray Long text (books, newspapers, magazines, movies, TV shows) Italics (or underline if writing by hand) Candide by Voltaire Shakespeare’s Macbeth

Always use Present tense verbs Write in the present tense when discussing details from a text: In his essay “Barriers to Seeing,” Patterson enumerates a variety of mental habits that inhibit a photographer’s ability to see the subject being captured. When discussing the influence of photography on a person’s perception of reality, Susan Sontag argues, “…” (34).

When discussing an author, use full name at first, then last name only Names of authors When discussing an author, use full name at first, then last name only Andy Grundberg, then Grundberg only. (Never Andy!) Consistency in a paper is helpful (i.e. if you use a last name for one, use it for the other)

Three Sentence Model for Quoting Set up the quote (give context – who? what? when? why? etc.) Provide the quote with citation Explain the quote

Parenthetical Citations In general, the goal is always to include the author’s last name and page number either in the sentence itself or in the citation at the end. Author N. Scott Momaday praises a photographer’s ability to “draw with light, to transcend the limits of ordinary vision” (30). Another skill attributed to professional photographers is the ability to “draw with light, to transcend the limits of ordinary vision” (Momaday 30).

Parenthetical Citations No author identified? Use the article title instead (shortened to the first two words if necessary). Don’t forget to put the title in quotes! LIFE Magazine’s “The Power of Pictures” observes, “They allow us to become citizens of the world and, increasingly, of the universe” (32). LIFE Magazine observes, “They allow us to become citizens of the world and, increasingly, of the universe” (“The Power of Pictures” 32).

Pay attention to punctuation! Another skill attributed to professional photographers is the ability to “draw with light, to transcend the limits of ordinary vision” (Momaday 30). LIFE Magazine observes, “They allow us to become citizens of the world and, increasingly, of the universe” (“The Power of Pictures” 32). Where are the commas? Where are the periods?

Never use a quote as a topic sentence in a body paragraph. Word of caution! Never use a quote as a topic sentence in a body paragraph. Transition, topic sentence. Elaborate on topic sentence. Set up quote; include quote; explain quote. Second quote, other evidence. Concluding sentence.

Follow up… Works Cited Pages, Bibliographies, Footnotes and Endnotes Recently, the AP Language exam started asking questions about abbreviations and information found in citations, footnotes and endnotes. Many footnote abbreviations have a Latin origin and are still used today. Look up and record the meaning of the most common footnote abbreviations.