Q-Tips (Tips on Using Quotations and Quotation Marks)

Using Quotation Marks: Direct Quotation: A direct quotation repeats a speaker or writer’s EXACT

words and must be indicated with quotations marks (“”).o The comma or period following the direct quotation goes inside the

quotation mark.o When a quotation is a sentence fragment, the comma preceding is

omitted. Ex: Jackie said the party was “a total flop.” (Fragment) Ex: The placement director said, “The recruiter for Proctor and

Gamble will be on campus next Thursday to interview students for marketing jobs.” (Complete)

o When an expression like “he said” interrupts a quoted sentence, use commas to set off the expression. When the expression comes between two complete quoted sentences, use a period after the expression and capitalize the first word of the second sentence.

Ex: “Hop in,” said Jim. “Let me give you a ride to school.” Ex: “I can’t remember,” said Jim, “when we’ve had a worse

winter.” Expressions Singled Out for Special Attention: If you wish to call

attention to a word or symbol or if you are discussing the word itself, then you may use quotation marks or italics to set it apart.

Ex: “Bonnets” and “lifts” are British terms for car hoods and elevators.

Quotation Marks within Quotation Marks: When a direct quotation or the title of a shorter work appears within a direct quotation, use single quotation marks (‘ ’).

Ex: “I heard the boss telling the foreman, ‘Everyone will receive a Christmas bonus,’” John said.

Ex: The instructor told the class, “For tomorrow, read Ernest Hemingway’s ‘The Killers.’”

Using Semicolons, Colons, and Question Marks: Position semicolons and colons that come at the end of quoted material after, not before, the quotation marks.

Ex: There are two reasons why I like “Babylon Revisited”:the characters are interesting and the writing is excellent.

o When a question mark accompanies a quotation, put it outside the quotation marks if the whole sentence rather than the quotation asks the sentence.

Ex: Why did Cedric suddenly shout, “This party is a big bore”? Ex: Whatever possessed him to ask, “What is the most

shameful thing you ever did?”

Using Quotations in Your Writing:

Lead-Ins:

When working quotes into your writing, the quote must not only be set up to support your point, but it must also be positioned naturally within a sentence. Your goal is to create a flow from your writing, into the quote, and back to your writing. Quotes should NEVER seem like they’ve been “dropped in”.

All quotations must have a lead-in. NEVER drop a quotation into a sentence or paragraph without a proper lead-in. The lead-in links the quotations to what surrounds it in the context of your paper.

There are three main types of lead-ins:1. The “somebody said” lead-in:

Ex: After he first begins to suspect Cuff’s suspicion of Miss Rachel, Gabriel declares, “[I]t was not pleasant to find these very different persons and things linking themselves together in this way” (Collins 131).

2. The “blended” lead-in:This lead-in provides more flexibility as some of the quoted material is left out, and what is retained blends in with your sentence. The sentence must, however, read as a complete statement without being awkward. Capitalization and punctuation of the original quotation may be changed to fit the grammatical structure of your sentence.

Ex: His childhood imagination has been dulled by maturity and he can no longer fully identity with the natural world. Instead of being lifted “as a wave, a leaf…a cloud,” (53) he instead, “fall[s] upon the thorns of life!” (54).

3. The “sentence” lead-in:This kind of lead-in is another effective technique and includes a complete sentence introducing the quote followed followed by a colon (:).Ex: When Lucy visits the house with Rosanna’s letter to Mr. Franklin, Gabriel reacts much unlike himself: “The detective-fever burnt up all my dignity on the spot. I followed her, and tried to make her talk” (Collins 185).

Punctuation Specifics: Put the author’s last name and the page number (if you have one) in

parentheses after the quote. This is known as PARENTHETICAL DOCUMENTATION or in-text citation.Ex: (Collins 135) Notice there is no punctuation between the author and page number.

Remember to put the punctuation OUTSIDE the parentheses UNLESS your quote ends in an exclamation point or a question mark. If this is the case then you put a period after the parentheses.Ex: …….!” (Collins 31). ……?” (Collins 31).

Additional Points to Remember: If you use the author’s name in the lead-in of a quote, do not repeat the

author’s name in the documentation.Ex: Collins wants the reader to see Betteredge as a “materialistic, greedy man” (14).

When no author is given, you can cite a work by its full title (either underlined or in quotation marks) or you may abbreviate the title, but make sure that it is clear to which work you are referring. If it is a website, make sure that you cite the title of the site or the article.

Ex: …………” (“Symbolism” 31). If anywhere in your paper you are citing two different works by the same

author, then you must distinguish which work you are citing.Ex: …………” (Collins, The Moonstone 5).

{FYI: Underline the titles of longer works, books, magazines, newspapers and place quotation marks around titles of articles, poems, etc. Do not use italics.}

Ellipsis (…): At times you may wish to borrow only part of a sentence and combine it with

your own words. To do so, use the ellipses (…) to indicate that words are being left out.

Make sure that by omitting words you have not significantly altered the meaning of the source.Ex: Gabriel acknowledges that the Sergeant’s “abominable justice.…favoured nobody” (Collins 164).

Brackets [ ]: Brackets – NOT parentheses – can be used to clarify things for the reader:

Ex: Later, he describes himself as “being restless and miserable, and having no particular room to go to,” while feeling “wretchedly old, and worn out, and unfit for [his] place” (Collins 134).The passage originally reads, “…and unfit for my place”. Use brackets to substitute the pronoun my for his.

Using brackets also helps the writer maintain consistent verb tense and make it make sense grammatically.

Block Quoting: A long quotation of more than four typewritten lines should be blocked. To do

so, set it off from the text by beginning a new line, indenting one inch from the left margin, and typing it double-spaced WITHOUT QUOTATION MARKS. Place your punctuation at the end of the quote, space, and then write your parenthetical documentation.Ex: . Upon relaying this newly-found evidence to Mr. Franklin, Gabriel is interrupted by Cuff:

‘Mr. Betteredge,’ says the Sergeant, ‘you have done a very foolish thing in my absence. You have

done a little detective business on your own account. For the future, perhaps you will be so

obliging as to do your “detective business along with me.’ (Collins 118)

Practice:1. Some linguists think that the quintessential American ok

may have come from the African waka.2. My favorite piece of jazz music is St. James Infirmary.3. What did Yeats mean by the line in his famous poem The

Second Coming things fall apart, the center cannot hold?4. Carl Thomas described the performance as extremely

intense.

5. I managed to read Faulkner’s short story The Bear Jennifer sighed but I don’t really know what to say about it in my paper for English.

6. Why do so many student writers confuse effect with affect?

7. In response to the Great Depression, Franklin Roosevelt declared the only thing we have to fear is fear itself; however, many families who had lost their homes and couldn’t even earn enough for food really did have something to fear.

8. Yiddish words like mishugana and kibitz have come to be used outside the Jewish community.

9. In his closing argument, the defense attorney asked the jury how would any one of us act if accused of a crime we knew we didn’t commit?