Lead-ins for Direct Quotations The Research Process

Most Important Rule Never drop a quotation into a sentence or paragraph without a proper lead-in!

3 Types of Lead-Ins 1.Somebody says, 2.Sentence: 3.Blended

Somebody says, Punctuate as dialogue Use synonyms of “to say” – comment, add, declare, remark, respond, state, assert, suggest, etc. Use a complete sentence Use a comma

Example: Miss Maudie comments, “’You are too young to understand it... but sometimes the Bible in the hand of one man is worse than a whiskey bottle in the hand of--oh, of your father’” (67). Somebody says,

Sentence: Lead-in and quotation are complete sentences. Quotation begins with a CAPITAL letter. Use a colon  :

Atticus provides one of his many examples of advice: “’You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view--until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it’” (43). Sentence:

Blended Quotation is a grammatical part of sentence. Do not use a comma or capital letter unless needed. Do not use ellipses (…) at the beginning or end.

Scout learns “it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird” but that she can “shoot all the blue jays [she] wants” (Lee 68). Blended

Block Quotes Use to set off a large portion of quoted material. You must have ONE block quote in your research paper.

Block Quotation Rules Use when there are more than 4 lines of typed lines of prose, 3 lines of poetry, or 3 lines of verse drama. Indent 10 spaces from the left (2 tabs). Do not add quotation marks unless they appear in the original text. Place the end punctuation BEFORE the parenthetical documentation.

Educators express great concern regarding the academic quality of students who are graduating from America’s high school: Perhaps the first reality that should be examined is the decline of literacy. Are college-bound students less literate today? If one accepts declining SAT scores as valid indicators, the answer seems to be “yes.” In 2000 the average national verbal score on the SAT was 575. In 2005 it was 560. (Smith 127)

Quoting a Play Use a slash (/) to indicate the end of a line: “When shall we three meet again? / In thunder, lightning, or in rain” At the end of each quote include Act.Scene.Lines: “When shall we three meet again? / In thunder, lightning, or in rain” ( ).