Using Quotations Guidelines

1. Never let a quotation be your argument  Insert the quotation smoothly between the point you make and the discussion that follows  Point – proof (quotation) - discussion

2. Standard Form  You tell the reader that you are about to quote something, then you do. Which of the following citations works better?  The narrator says, “As for my father, he was disgusted with me” (59).  The narrator says that “he was disgusted with me”(59).

Introduce a quotation with a colon, if the introduction is a complete sentence:  Exemplar:  First, the human heart refers to an exhibition in a museum: “The heart, ceiling high, occupied one corner of a large exhibition hall, and from wherever you stood, you could hear it beating” (52). The title relates to this fascinating exhibit of the human heart that shows people the human organ and how it works.

Standard Form: Some Considerations If introduced with a full sentence, the quotation must always be a full sentence If you use the word “that” before the quotation, the first word of the quotation should not be capitalized.

3. Blended Form  If you take the quotation marks away, you can’t even tell there is a quotation there. The quotation is an essential part of the whole sentence (but not a full sentence on its own).  The fact that Dunny “ill-wished Amasa Dempster” (37) leaves him feeling guilty.

Blended Form: Some Considerations These quotations do not have to be complete, stand-alone sentences. The more of this form you use, the more graceful the language will sound. Practice this form.

4. Quotations work best when part of every sentence is your own  The sentence containing the quotation should make sense grammatically.

Exemplar: which one is better?  She “saw her fear” (53), and she notices the morbid curiosity of the children as they are “waiting, waiting” (54) for something to happen.  She sees “her fear” (53), and she notices the morbid curiosity of the children as they are “waiting, waiting” (54) for something to happen.

5. Use square brackets to insert words  When you need to insert a word for clarity or change a word to make it fit grammatically, enclose the changed or inserted word in square brackets

Exemplar  “She [sees] her [Miss Aitcheson’s] fear, and she noticed the morbid curiosity of the children” (54).

6. Page number occurs after the quotation  Put it in round brackets  Punctuation follows the brackets

Exemplar  The narrator noticed that “the heart, ceiling-high occupied one corner of the large exhibition hall” (52).

7. If more than one work is cited in your paper, add author and page #:  Dunny recalls the muddy night-raid at Passchendale: “I pushed through and found myself in the German machine- gun nest, with three Germans ahead of me firing busily” (Davies 71). Likewise, Jim remembers “explosions had started up around them in earnest. So much noise, it was impossible to tell whose side was firing the big guns” (Itani 173).

8. If more than one work by the same author is cited: add the title, shortened or full  Elinor reprimands Marianne, saying, “I meant something less mournful, dearest” (Austen, Sense and Sensibility 57). Similarly, Mrs. Bennett admonishes Elizabeth: “You must marry Mr. Collins!” (Austen, Pride and Prejudice 123).

A shortened title might look like this:  Elinor reprimands Marianne, saying, “I meant something less mournful, dearest” (Austen, Sense 57). Similarly, Mrs. Bennett admonishes Elizabeth: “You must marry Mr. Collins!” (Austen, Pride 123).

9. In-text citation of more than four lines, typed: At the conclusion of My Side of the Mountain, Sam realizes how much he misses his family: Then I jumped in the air and laughed for joy. I recognized my four year-old brother’s pleasure song. The family! Dad had brought the family! Every one of them. I ran, twisting, and turning through the trees like a Cooper’s hawk, and occasionally riding a free fifty feet downhill on an aspen sapling. (George 175) Clearly, Sam cherishes his family more after his time away from home.

10. Other Important (if somewhat picky) Details 1.In either form, please note where the citation goes, and the punctuation around it. 2. All quotations should be quoted EXACTLY as they appear in the original, with the following exceptions:

The Exceptions:  1. The first letter of the quotation can be capitalized or un-capitalized as needed. With the word “that” it should be a small letter With a comma it should be a capital

Exceptions:  2. The Ellipsis (…): used only to indicate that you have removed words from the middle of a quotation. Dunny says he “ill-wished Amasa Dempster…, a terrible thing to do” (37). Incorrect: Dunny says he “…ill-wished Amasa Dempster” (37)