internal citation. when you copy words directly from one source and write/paste them directly into...

Internal Citation

When you copy words directly from one source and write/paste them directly into your own work, you must cite them correctly.

Cite entered the English language in the mid 1400s. It is a form of the Old French verb citer. The word’s origins go way back to the ancient Latin/Greek root that means “to summon, to urge, to call forth, to rouse, excite.

We are “calling forth a passage of writing” when we cite words today.

IMPORTANT

When you cite text, you must Copy it EXACTLY as it is written on the page.

Spelling, punctuation-even indenting—must match what’s on the page from which you are copying.

To show the words are not your

own

1. Place them in quotation marks

and

2. Acknowledge the source where

the words/text come from).

It’s pretty easy to do.

Eagle StrikeAnthony HorowitzPage 11

A man stood at the very front, staring straight ahead, his face blank. It was face the Alex recognized instantly. Yassen Gregorovich.

“A man stood at the very front, staring straight ahead, his face blank. It was face the Alex recognized instantly. Yassen Gregorovich” (Horowitz 11).

1. Passage is placed in quotation marks.2. Source is acknowledged: Anthony

Horowitz, page 11 of his book Eagle Strike.

“A man stood at the very front, staring straight ahead, his face blank. It was face the Alex recognized instantly. Yassen Gregorovich” (Horowitz 11).

1. Passage is placed in quotation marks.2. Source is acknowledged: Anthony

Horowitz, page 11 of his book Eagle Strike.

“A man stood at the very front, staring straight ahead, his face blank. It was face the Alex recognized

instantly. Yassen Gregorovich”

(Horowitz 11).

NOTE: The quotation marks enclose ONLY the words that have been copied.

“A man stood at the very front, staring straight ahead, his face blank. It was face the Alex recognized

instantly. Yassen Gregorovich” (Horowitz 11).

NOTE: The author’s LAST name in placed in a parenthesis immediately following the closed quote.

“A man stood at the very front, staring straight ahead, his face blank. It was face the Alex recognized

instantly. Yassen Gregorovich” (Horowitz 11).

NOTE: The page number from which the words are taken is written inside the parenthesis. (NO page, p., pg., pp.)

“A man stood at the very front, staring straight ahead, his face blank. It was face the Alex recognized instantly. Yassen Gregorovich”

(Horowitz 11).

NOTE: The period is at placed at the close of your citation, NOT at the close of the sentence.

Sound complicated? It isn’t.

Your turn . . .

Cite correctly #1 on your Internal Citation Practice sheet.

Eagle StrikeAnthony HorowitzPage 13

The three men moved away from the boat, heading into town. Suddenly Alex was on his feet . . . Even as he swept up his t-shirt and pulled it over his head, Alex knew that this was not a good idea.

#1

Here’s a sample to imitate.

“A man stood at the very front, staring straight ahead, his face blank. It was face the Alex recognized instantly. Yassen Gregorovich” (Horowitz 11).

Did you . . .

1.Put quotation marks only around the author’s words.

2.Place the author’s LAST name in a parenthesis at the end of the quotation.

3.Write the page number after the author’s name—keep it inside the parenthesis.

4.Remove the period from the end of the sentence and place it at the close of the parenthesis.

“The three men moved away from the boat, heading into town. Suddenly Alex was on his feet . . . Even as he swept up his t-shirt and pulled it over his head, Alex knew

that this was not a good idea” (Horowitz 13).  

Why must we take the bother to do all this when we use someone else’s words? What’s the point?

• This lets the reader know that these words are NOT YOUR OWN (avoids plagiarism).

• This gives credit to the source of the words.

• This allows others to go to that source, if necessary, and locate those precise words (for verification, to seek more information).

Try another one.

#2

Hamilton, Edith. Mythology. page 70

These two stories of the creation—the story of the five ages and the story of Prometheus and Epimetheus—different as they are, agree in one point. For a long time, certainly throughout the happy Golden Age, only men were upon the earth; there were no women. Zeus created these later, in his anger at Prometheus for caring so much for men.

“These two stories of the creation—the story of the five ages and the story of Prometheus and Epimetheus—different as they are, agree in one point. For a long time, certainly throughout the happy Golden Age, only men were upon the earth; there were no women. Zeus created these later, in his anger at Prometheus for caring so

much for men” (Hamilton 70).

Try this one. It’s got two new twists.

#3

A Northern LightJennifer DonnellyPages 6-7

What had I seen? Too much. What did I know? Only that knowledge carries a damned high price. Miss Wilcox, my teacher, had taught me so much. Why had she never taught me that?

“What had I seen? Too much. What did I know? Only that knowledge carries a damned high price. Miss Wilcox, my teacher, had taught me so much. Why had

she never taught me that?”

(Donnelly 6-7)

“What had I seen? Too much. What did I know? Only that knowledge carries a damned high price. Miss Wilcox, my teacher, had taught me so much. Why had she never taught me

that?” (Donnelly 6-7)

NOTE: Because this excerpt ends with a question mark, you must keep the question mark at the end of the question. Do not place a period at the close of the parenthesis to avoid double punctuation the end of a sentence (independent clause).

?  !  ?  !  ?  !  ?  !  ?  !  ?  !The same deal applies when the excerpt ends with an exclamation point.

Ends with a period—remove the period and place it at the close of the parenthesis.

Ends with a question mark or exclamation point—keep the question mark/exclamation point and NO period at the close of the parenthesis.

“What had I seen? Too much. What did I know? Only that knowledge carries a damned high price. Miss Wilcox, my teacher, had taught me so much. Why had she never taught me

that?” (Donnelly 6-7)

NOTE: Because this excerpt comes from pages 6 and 7, include both pages.

More trickiness . . .

Citing an excerpt that

is more than one

paragraph long . . .

Citing a passage that is more than one paragraph long requires you to understand that quotation marks are ALWAYS in pairs. The first set OPENS the quotation and the second set CLOSES the quotation.

That’s why, in many, many fonts, the first one is slightly different in appearance and in slant.

Quotation marks show an OPEN and a CLOSE direction.

“ Open

” Close

If your excerpt is more than one paragraph long, you must place an open quotation mark at the start of the excerpt and the close quotation mark at the close of the excerpt.

”You CANNOT put that close quotation mark on the excerpt UNTIL you are at the very END of the excerpt.

”

It’s not as confusing as

it sounds. Here’s an

example.

A Northern LightJennifer DonnellyPage 3

And then I see Cook running up from the dock, ashen and breathless, her skirts in her hands, and I know that I am wrong . . . .

I barely hear her. My eyes are on Mr. Crabb, the Ziplha’s engineer.

“And then I see Cook running up from

the dock, ashen and breathless, her skirts in her

hands, and I know that I am wrong . . . (no

quotes)

“I barely hear her. My eyes are on Mr.

Crabb, the Ziplha’s engineer” (Donnelly 3).

(closing quotation

mark)

Why do you think

citation for paragraphs

is done like this?

Basically, you want to let the reader

know where the excerpt begins and

ends, and the quotation marks at the

start of each intervening paragraph tell

the reader this is still part of the

excerpt. Only when you close the

quote at the end of the excerpt will

the reader know the excerpt is

complete.

Try this.

#4

The Things They CarriedTim O’BrienPage 86

When Curt Lemon was killed, I found it hard to mourn. I

knew him only slightly, and what I did know was not impressive. He had a

tendency to play the tough soldier role, always posturing, always puffing

himself up, and on occasion he took it way too far.

It's true that he pulled off some dangerous stunts, even a

few that seemed plain crazy, like the time he painted up his body and put

on a ghost mask and went out trick-or- treating on Halloween.

But afterward he couldn't stop bragging. He kept

replaying his own exploits, tacking on little flourishes that never happened.

He had an opinion of himself, I think, that was too high for his own good. Or

maybe it was the reverse. Maybe it was a low opinion that he kept trying to

erase.

“When Curt Lemon was killed, I found it hard to

mourn. I knew him only slightly, and what I did know was not

impressive. He had a tendency to play the tough soldier role,

always posturing, always puffing himself up, and on occasion he

took it way too far. (no quote marks)

“ It's true that he pulled off some dangerous

stunts, even a few that seemed plain crazy, like the time he

painted up his body and put on a ghost mask and went out trick-

or- treating on Halloween. (no quote marks)

“But afterward he couldn't stop bragging. He

kept replaying his own exploits, tacking on little flourishes that

never happened. He had an opinion of himself, I think, that was

too high for his own good. Or maybe it was the reverse. Maybe

it was a low opinion that he kept trying to erase” (O’Brien 86).

Dialogue

Lines of dialogue get the same treatment as paragraphs because when you write dialogue, what do you do every time the speaker changes?

You better be thinking indent or create a new paragraph.

Indenting every time a speaker changes with dialogue is the same action as making a new paragraph when you are writing.

Because it is the same, every time the words are indented when the speaker changes, you must place the open quotation mark at the start of each speaker change.

Do you see any problem with

placing quotation marks on

dialogue that already has

quotation marks?

It can get pretty confusing.

“ “Oh, Mattie, look at her. Oh,

jeezum, Mattie, look,” Ada says, her hands

twisting in her apron.

“ “Ssssh, Ada. She got soaked, that’s

all. They got lost on the lake and . . . And the boat

tipped and they swam to shore and she . . . She

must have fainted.”

“ “Oh, dear Lord,” Mrs. Morrison

says, her hands coming up to her mouth”

(Donnelly 3).

What’s the solution?

Solution: Change the double

quotation marks OF THE

DIALOGUE in the excerpt to

SINGLE quotation marks.

“ ” ‘ ’

Quotation marks on DIALOGUE ONLY go from this to this.

Your new dialogue would look like this.

“Yes,” she said.

becomes

‘Yes,’ she said.

“ ‘Oh, Mattie, look at her. Oh,

jeezum, Mattie, look,’ Ada says, her hands

twisting in her apron.

“ ‘Ssssh, Ada. She got soaked, that’s

all. They got lost on the lake and . . . And the

boat tipped and they swam to shore and she . . .

She must have fainted.’

“ ‘Oh, dear Lord,’ Mrs. Morrison says,

her hands coming up to her mouth” (Donnelly 3).

• Place an open quotation mark at the opening of your dialogue excerpt.

• Place a closing quote mark at the close of your dialogue excerpt.

• Place an open quotation mark at the start of each paragraph (speaker change). Do NOT place a double quote at the end of any paragraph until you get to the END of your excerpt—just like text without dialogue.

“ ‘Oh, Mattie, look at her. Oh,

jeezum, Mattie, look,’ Ada says, her hands

twisting in her apron.

“ ‘Ssssh, Ada. She got soaked, that’s

all. They got lost on the lake and . . . And the

boat tipped and they swam to shore and she . . .

She must have fainted.’

“ ‘Oh, dear Lord,’ Mrs. Morrison says,

her hands coming up to her mouth” (Donnelly 3).

. . . and continue to use the

DOUBLE open quotation marks• at the start of the excerpt• at the start of each

paragraph within the excerpt • Close the entire excerpt with

the double quotation mark.

It IS important when you type out

your dialogue that you keep the

formatting EXACTLY as it is in the

text. This means you must INDENT

the dialogue correctly EXACTLY like

it is indented in your book.

Once you finish formatting the

excerpt you will have single

quotes within double quotes!

“ ‘ ’ ”

Try this one.

#5

Crutcher, Chris. Athletic ShortsPages 55-56

No one steps forward.“Someone has to do it,” Coach

continues. “Chris Byers is gonna be wrestling one-twelve or one-nineteen all year long. Silver Creek has a good team this year; we can’t afford to forfeit. An’ we ain’t gonna. Either I get a volunteer, or I get me a volunteer.”

“Do it!” Johnny whispers again. “It’s not gonna be that bad. ”

“No one steps forward.

“ ‘Someone has to do it,’ Coach

continues. ‘Chris Byers is gonna be wrestling one-twelve or one-nineteen all year long. Silver Creek has a good team this year; we can’t afford to forfeit. An’ we ain’t gonna. Either I

get a volunteer, or I get me a volunteer.’

“ ‘Do it!’ Johnny whispers again.

‘It’s not gonna be that bad’ ” (Crutcher 55-6).