2. Quoting Why, When and How

3. Quotations are useful in writing. Quotations can enliven a discussion. Quotations can align you with authority. Quotations can be used to express your meaning perfectly.

4. Whenever you copy something that someone said or wrote, you’re quoting. Uh, actually I... I couldn’t help noticing that myself. It’s sort of what you might call a, a bulbous bouffant. The guy on the bench says, “Uh, actually I... I couldn’t help noticing that myself. It’s sort of what you might call a, a bulbous bouffant.”

5. Don’t use too many quotations, though. As rhetoricians point out, “Numerous quotations interrupt the flow of your discussion and give readers the impression that your paper is just a collection of other people’s ideas” (Kirszner and Mandell 186).

6. So the majority of your paper will be in your words. Your paper will sound uniquely like you--the smart you. You may summarize and paraphrase a source’s words and ideas, but you’re using your words. In fact, you should NOT quote what you can easily paraphrase.

7. So when you quote, do it sparingly and selectively. Think of quotations as spices. You need some to bring out the flavors of your paper, but you don’t want them to overpower the whole thing.

8. There are four basic quoting rules: 1. Indicate that you are quoting. 2. Introduce or embed quotations with your own words. 3. Cite quotations. 4. Quote accurately. We’ll look at #1 and #2 today.

9. 1. Indicate that you are quoting. Enclose short quotations within double quotation marks. Short Quotation = 4 lines or fewer Money Magazine writer Joseph S. Coyle writes that we can be "overwhelmed" by change if we don't adapt to it. According to Joseph S. Coyle, “You will have to master change--or risk being overwhelmed by it.”

10. For long quotations, do NOT use double quotation marks. Instead, hit Return and indent the quotation 10 spaces from the left only. Long Quotation = more than 4 lines with regular margins Joseph S. Coyle offers Americans some practical advice on surviving economic changes: You will have to master change--or risk being overwhelmed by it. Remember that while about 1.2 million jobs were eliminated in the past two years, the U.S. economy created approximately 6 million new ones. To keep your career moving forward, though, you may need new computer-based skills, and you will need a flexible, sophisticated understanding of the ongoing restructuring of the nation's economy. (56)

11. Rule #2: Introduce quotations with signal phrases (or embed quoted words into your own sentences). This rule is the most important one. If you fail to introduce or embed quotations, you will be using dropped quotations (also called “orphan” quotations).

12. This is a dropped quotation. “Uh, actually I... I couldn’t help noticing that myself. It’s sort of what you might call a, a bulbous bouffant.”

13. If you are familiar with The Vestibules, a comedy trio from Canada, you might recognize this quotation. (You might recognize a Secret Word of the Day!)

14. If you haven’t seen a certain YouTube video, you may wonder what “bulbous” and “bouffant” mean. You may wonder who is speaking.

15. One reason that this quotation is unclear is that it is a dropped quotation. A dropped quotation is a quoted word, phrase, sentence, or group of sentences that is “dropped” into a paper without any kind of introduction. You don’t know who is speaking (or writing).

16. You will want to avoid dropped quotations in your writing.

17. Reason #1 to avoid dropped quotations: Not knowing is annoying.

18. Reason #2 to avoid dropped quotations: Dropped quotations make your writing choppy and difficult to read.

19. Reason #3 to avoid dropped quotations: Dropped quotations “derail” your paper. Readers stop thinking about what you’ve written and start wondering who is “speaking” or why you’re putting the quotation into your paper.

20. Like long stretches of dialog, dropped quotations are confusing: “Look over there.” “Across the street?” “Yeah, yeah, yeah.” “Um huh.” “See that LADY?” “Yes.” “What kind of a hairstyle does she have?” “Uh, that looks like a bouffant.” “YES. A BOUFFANT!” “Yes, a bouffant.” “Uh, actually I... I couldn’t help noticing that myself. It’s sort of what you might call a, a bulbous bouffant.” “Yes, a bulbous bouffant.”

21. At the very least, state who the speaker or author of the quotation is: Pare says, “Uh, actually I... I couldn’t help noticing that myself. It’s sort of what you might call a, a bulbous bouffant.”

22. “Look over there,” Deniger says. “Across the street?” Bowman asks. “Yeah, yeah, yeah,” answers Deniger. Bowman responds, “Um huh.” “See that LADY?” Deniger asks. Bowman answers, “Yes.” “What kind of a hairstyle does she have?” Deniger asks. Bowman states, “Uh, that looks like a bouffant.” “YES. A BOUFFANT!” Deniger says triumphantly. “Yes, a bouffant,” agrees Bowman. “Uh, actually I... I couldn’t help noticing that myself,” Pare states. “It’s sort of what you might call a, a bulbous bouffant.”

23. Here’s the same quotation with the signal phrase in a different place. “Uh, actually I...,” Pare says, “I couldn’t help noticing that myself. It’s sort of what you might call a, a bulbous bouffant.” As this example illustrates, you can put signal phrases in the middle of quotations, but you have to interrupt the quotation logically and punctuate carefully.

24. Here’s yet another way to “anchor” the quotation: “Uh, actually I... I couldn’t help noticing that myself. It’s sort of what you might call a, a bulbous bouffant,” Pare says. You can also put a signal phrase at the end of a quotation. Sometimes, however, it’s awkward to do so. Frequently, readers wonder who is speaking and have to wait until the end of the quotation to find out.

25. There are times when just adding a signal phrase such as Pare says or According to Pare isn’t enough. You may need to explain the context of the quotation: We know that Pare has adopted Deniger’s habit of vocalizing musical- sounding words when he says, “It’s sort of what you might call a, a bulbous bouffant.” Did you notice that I eliminated some of the words at the beginning of that quotation? You can do that!

26. Well, let me qualify that statement: You can omit words from a quotation IF the omission doesn’t change the meaning of the quotation!

27. Here’s an example of what NOT to do: “‘Oh, darling I missed you!’ she cried...” “and fired the gun again.”

28. In fact, you can quote just a few words: We know that Pare has adopted Deniger’s habit of repeating funny- sounding words when he introduces the phrase “bulbous bouffant.” No comma is necessary before the quoted words—they are embedded in the sentence.

29. So far, the signal phrases that precede the quotations end in a comma or, as in the last example, blend right in with the quoted words. What if you use a complete sentence before the quotation ? We know that Pare has adopted the habit of vocalizing musical-sounding words when he joins the conversation of the lady’s hairstyle: When a complete sentence introduces a quotation “Uh, actually I... I couldn’t help noticing that myself. It’s sort of what you might call a, a bulbous bouffant.” use a colon.

30. Finally, signal phrases with the word "that" at the end are special. Signal phrases with "that" at the end aren’t punctuated and don’t require capitals at the beginning of the quotation: Pare says that “it’s sort of what you might call a bulbous bouffant.”

31. There’s an exception to not capitalizing the beginning of a quotation that has the word “that” at the end of the signal phrase. If the beginning of the quotation is a proper noun-- someone’s name or the name of a place--do capitalize. Bernard thinks that “Beluga” is a funny word to say.

32. To recap: * Quote sparingly. * Quoting Rule #1: Indicate that you are quoting with double quotation marks for short quotations and a left-margin indent of 10 spaces for long ones. * Quoting Rule #2: ALWAYS introduce, anchor, or embed quotations. * Use a signal phrase before, after, or in the middle of the quotation.

33. (Recap continued) * If signal phrase is a complete sentence, end it with a colon. * If a signal phrase ends with the word “that,” do not punctuate or capitalize the first word of the quotation.

34. That’s it for now. We’ll go over Rules #3 and #4 later. 3. Cite quotations. 4. Quote accurately.