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USING QUOTATIONS
Dr. Marguerite Connor
TWO TYPES OF DIRECT QUOTATION:
A. Separated
1. Comma or colon and quotation marks separate citation and quotation
2. The first letter of the quotation is capitalized
3. You are distinguishing between your ideas and those of your source
For example: St. Paul declared, "It is better to marry than to burn." [use the comma to separate when the quote grammatically completes your sentence]
In his first epistle to the Corinthians, St. Paul commented on lust: "It is better to marry than to burn." [use a colon if the quotation follows a clause that could stand alone as a complete sentence]
B. Integrated
1. No punctuation (except for quotation marks) separates citation and quotation
2. The first letter of the quotation is not capitalized
3. You are integrating your ideas with those of your source
For example: St.Paul declared that "it is better to marry than to burn."
Thoreau warned his readers to "beware of all enterprises that require new clothes."
The effect is very smooth, and the reader's attention is not distracted from the flow of sentences.
Often, we use the historical present tense when quoting a variety of different sources from different eras in order to put them on equal terms--even if the author is dead. If their ideas remain 'true' or if their ideas are still verv important, that's another reason to use the historical present tense.
For example, When Shelley acknowledges that poets are creators of language and music and art, he also asserts that they have a civic role: They are the institutors of laws, and the founders of civil society, and the inventors of the arts of life. Writing one hundred years later, Benedetto Croce affirms Shelley's insistence upon the social and spiritual responsibilities of the poet. According to Croce, Shelley sees poetry "as the eternal source of all intellectual, moral, and civil vitality."
PUNCTUATING QUOTATIONS
1. All periods and commas are placed inside the terminal quotation marks (it doesn't matter if whether the period belongs to your sentence or the quoted sentence!) unless you are using a citation format that gives the page number after the quote.
P.T. Barnam is reputed to have said that "there's a sucker born every minute."
or
P.T. Barnam is reputed to have said that "there's a sucker born every minute" (Smith 79).
or
P.T. Barnam is reputed to have said that "there's a sucker bom every minute," and Barnam's circuses undertook to entertain each and every one.
2. All semicolons, colons, and dashes are placed outside the terminal quotation marks. For example: George Santayan wrote that "those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it" ; today, we are in danger of forgetting the lessons of history.
3. Question marks and exclamation points are sometimes placed inside the quotation marks (if part of the quote) and sometimes placed outside (if part of your own sentence).
For example: In 1864, General Sherman signaled the arrival of his reinforcements: "Hold the fort! I am coming!" [the exclamation is part of the original quotation]
Can anyone in the 1980s agree with Dumas that "woman inspires us to great things and prevents us from achieving them"? [the question is the writer's/student's, not Dumas']
4. Quoting inside a quote:
Use single quotation marks for the words that are already quoted by your source, but double quotation marks around words you are quoting.
For example: At the beginning of World War I, Winston Churchill observed that "the maxim of the British people is 'Business as usual."' [notice the single then double quote marks at the end]
5. If you want to leave out some words from a long quotation, use ellipses [...] to indicate to the reader that you've deleted something. Do not delete words in order to change the meaning of the quotation!
For example: Maugham does not believe that "suffering ennobles the character; ... suffering, for the most part, makes men petty and vindictive."
6. For variety, interrupt a quote like this: "I do not mind lying," wrote Samuel Butler, "but I hate inaccuracy."
USING ELLIPSES
It is permissible to delete words from a quotation, provided that you indicate to the reader that something has been omitted. Your condensed version is as accurate as the original; it is just shorter. But you must remember to insert the conventional symbol for deletion, three spaced dots, called an ellipsis. Once made aware by the ellipsis that your version differs from the original, any reader who wants to see the ornitted portion can consult the original source.
Original:
It is not true that suffering ennobles the character; happiness does that sometimes, but suffering, for the most part, makes men petty and vindictive.
W. Somerset Maugham
Quotation with Ellipsis:
Maugham does not believe that "suffering ennobles the character; ... suffering, for the most part, makes men petty and vindictive." (or: .... vindictive" (76). if you are citing the page number according to MLA format).
Notice that:
1. The three dots are spaced equally.
2. The dots must be three.
3. The semicolon is retained to provide terminal punctuation for the first part of the quotation.
If you wish to delete the end of a quotation, and the ellipsis coincides with the end of your sentence, you must use the three dots, plus a fourth to signify the sentence's end.
Quotation with Terminal Ellipsis:
Maugham does not believe that "suffering ennobles the character ... suffering, for the most part, makes men petty and vindictive." (or: .... vindictive" (76). if you are citing the page number according to MLA format).
You can use the ellipsis to link two separate quotes form the same paragraph in your source, but only if the two sentences. Do not overuse it. It is not supposed to replace summary or paraphrase. Use it when you are working with a long passage that contains serveal separate points that you wish to quote, or when you truly only need part of a long sentence. Be careful not to change the meaning of the original quotation.
Original:
As long as there are sovereign nations possessing great power, war is inevitable.
Albert Einstein
Inexact Quotation:
Einstein believes that ".... war is inevitable."
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1 Information and exercises in this handout were taken from Brenda Spatt, Writing From Sources, 4th ed., New York: St. Martin's Press, 1966.
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