Goal 1: Introduce the Quotation with a Lead-in Phrase The goal is to splice the quotation onto your own sentence to create greater coherence. Image: “To Splice a Rope.” Courtesy of “Lost Crafts.”

Troubleshooting What’s wrong with this? In “Learning to Read,” Malcolm X shares how frustrating it was to be stuck in jail, unable to communicate. He writes, “It was because of my letters that I happened to stumble upon starting to acquire some kind of homemade education” (257). [I uploaded the correct version of this slide so that it wouldn’t be confusing!]

How do you introduce quotations? Always use a signal phrase to lead into the quotation. Splice the quotation onto your own words. Example 1: Splice the sentence onto a verb that describes what the author or article is doing: Malcolm X writes, “I saw that the best thing I could do was get hold of a dictionary—to study, to learn some words” (258). Other examples: The narrator says, According to Gregor, Punctuation Rules: Use a comma after the verb to introduce the quotation.

How do you introduce quotations? Example 2: Splice the quotation onto an independent clause (a clause that could be a full sentence): In his study of multiple CF programs, Gawande discovers that the best results are not achieved by technical skill alone: “more nebulous factors like aggressiveness and diligence and ingenuity can matter enormously” (226). Punctuation rules? Use a colon to show that the quote will explain the clause/sentence.

How do you introduce quotations? Integrate smaller parts of the quotation with your own words to create a seamless sentence: E.g. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. insists that an “unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law,” and he proceeds to argue, based on this premise, that “all segregation statutes are unjust because segregation distorts the soul” (208). Punctuation rules: When the quotations are integrated into the sentence structure, you do not need additional punctuation.

Brackets Use brackets if you change something or add something to the quotation. Freire claims, “Hence, [problem-posing education] corresponds to the historical nature of human kind” (84). The narrator explains how the images in the wallpaper shift as the light changes and darkens: “At night in any kind of light, in twilight, candlelight, lamplight, and worst of all by moonlight, [the wallpaper] becomes bars! The outside pattern I mean, and the woman behind it as plain as can be” (Gilman 10).

Ellipses Use ellipses (three spaced periods) when you leave out words (but don’t overuse them). Make sure that the sentence is still grammatically correct and retains its meaning. In an essay on urban legends, Jan Harold Brunvand notes that "some individuals make a point of learning every recent rumor or tale... and in a short time a lively exchange of details occurs" (78). This example is taken from the OWL at Purdue Handout on MLA Citations, which you can find here.here