Transcript

ADVICE AND PRACTICE

QUOTATION MARKS

Guidelines for Using Quotation Marks

Quotation – serves to set off material that represents quoted or spoken language Hillocks (1986) similarly reviews dozens of research findings. He writes,

“The available research suggests that teaching by written comment on compositions is generally ineffective”(p. 167).

In the United States, periods and commas go inside quotation marks regardless of logic. My favorite poem is Robert Frost's “Design.”

In the United Kingdom, Canada, and islands under the influence of British education, punctuation around quotation marks is more apt to follow logic. My favorite poem is Robert Frost's “Design”.

The placement of marks other than periods and commas follows the logic. What do you think of Robert Frost's “Design”?

Guidelines for Using Quotation Marks

Single quotation marks – in the US English they are used to enclose quoted material within other quoted material “‘ Design’ is my favorite poem,” he said.

British practice, again, is quite different. In fact, single-quote marks and double-quote marks are apt to be reversed in usage.

In newspapers, single quotation marks are used in headlines where double quotation marks would otherwise appear. Congress Cries ‘Shame!’

In philosophical discourse, key concepts may be set apart with single-quote marks. When such concepts are set off in this way, periods and commas go outside the single-quote marks. Sartre's treatment of ‘being’, as opposed to his treatment of ‘non-being’,

has been thoroughly described in Kaufmann's book.

Guidelines for Using Quotation Marks

Direct quotations involve incorporating another person's exact words into your own writing.

Quotation marks always come in pairs. Do not open a quotation and fail to close it at the end of the quoted material.

Capitalize the first letter of a direct quote when the quoted material is a complete sentence. Mr. Johnson, who was working in his field that morning, said, "The alien spaceship

appeared right before my own two eyes."

Do not use a capital letter when the quoted material is a fragment or only a piece of the original material's complete sentence. Although Mr. Johnson has seen odd happenings on the farm, he stated that the spaceship

"certainly takes the cake" when it comes to unexplainable activity.

If a direct quotation is interrupted with a mid-sentence, do not capitalize the second part of the quotation. "I didn't see an actual alien being," Mr. Johnson said, "but I sure wish I had."

Guidelines for Using Quotation Marks

When quoting text with a spelling or grammar error, you should transcribe the error exactly in your own text. However, also insert the term sic in italics directly after the mistake and enclose it in brackets. Mr. Johnson says of the experience, "it's made me reconsider the

existence of extraterestials [sic]."

Quotations are most effective if you use them sparingly and keep them relatively short. Too many quotations in a research paper will get you accused of not producing original thought or material (they may also bore a reader who wants to know primarily what YOU have to say on the subject).

Guidelines for Using Quotation Marks

Indirect quotations are not exact wordings but rather rephrasings or summaries of another person's words. In this case, it is not necessary to use quotation marks. However, indirect quotations still require proper citations, and you will be committing plagiarism if you fail to do so. Mr. Johnson, a local farmer, reported last night that he saw an alien spaceship on his own

property.

Many writers struggle with when to use direct quotations versus indirect quotations. Use the following tips to guide you in your choice.

1. Use direct quotations when the source material uses language that is particularly striking or notable.

Martin Luther King Jr. believed that the end of slavery was important and of great hope to millions of slaves done horribly wrong.

The above should never stand in for this unique talk: Martin Luther King Jr. said of the Emancipation Proclamation, "This momentous decree

came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice."

Guidelines for Using Quotation Marks

2. Use an indirect quotation (or paraphrase) when you merely need to summarize key incidents or details of the text.

3. Use direct quotations when the author you are quoting has coined a term unique to their research and relevant within your own paper.

When to use direct quotes versus indirect quotes is ultimately a choice you'll learn a feeling for with experience. However, always try to have a sense for why you've chosen your quote. In other words, never put quotes in your paper simply because your teacher says, "You must use quotes."

Guidelines for Using Quotation Marks

Quote length

If the original quote is too long and you feel not all the words are necessary in your own paper, you may omit part of the quote. Replace the missing words with an ellipsis. Original Quote: The quarterback told the reporter, "It's quite simple. They played a

better game, scored more points, and that's why we lost.“ Omitted Material: The quarterback told the reporter, "It's quite simple. They . . .

scored more points, and that's why we lost." Make sure that the words you remove do not alter the basic meaning of

the original quote in any way. Also ensure that the quote's integration and missing material still leave a grammatically correct sentence.

Quote context

If the context of your quote might be unclear, you may add a few words to provide clarity. Enclose the added material in brackets. The quarterback told the reporter, "It's quite simple. They [the other team] played a

better game, scored more points, and that's why we lost."

Guidelines for Using Quotation Marks

Quotations within a Quotation

Use single quotation marks to enclose quotes within another quotation. The reporter told me, "When I interviewed the quarterback, he said they simply

'played a better game.'"

Quotation Marks Beyond Quoting

Quotation marks may additionally be used to indicate words used ironically or with some reservation. The great march of "progress" has left millions impoverished and hungry.

Do not use quotation marks for words used as words themselves. In this case, you should use italics. The English word nuance comes from a Middle French word meaning "shades of

color."

Guidelines for Using Quotation Marks

Additional Punctuation Rules when Using Quotation Marks

Use a comma to introduce a quotation after a standard dialogue tag, a brief introductory phrase or a dependant clause.

The detective said, “I am sure who performed the murder.”

As D. H. Nachas explains, “The gestures used for greeting others differ greatly from one culture to another.”

Guidelines for Using Quotation Marks

Put commas and periods within quotation marks, except when a parenthetical reference follows.

He said, “I may forget your name, but I never forget a face.”

History is stained with blood spilled in the name of “civilization.”

Mullen, criticizing the apparent inaction, writes, “Donahue's policy was to do nothing” (24).

Guidelines for Using Quotation Marks

Place colons and semicolons outside closed quotation marks. Williams described the experiment as "a definitive step

forward"; other scientists disagreed. Benedetto emphasizes three elements of what she calls her

"Olympic journey": family support, personal commitment, and great coaching.

Place a question mark or exclamation point within closing quotation marks if the punctuation applies to the quotation itself. Place the punctuation outside the closing quotation marks if the punctuation applies to the whole sentence. Phillip asked, "Do you need this book?" Does Dr. Lim always say to her students, "You must work

harder"?

Guidelines for Using Quotation Marks

TitlesUse double quotation marks to enclose the titles

of songs, short stories, essays, poems and articles: Softly, almost tenderly, Legree recited the lyrics to the song

"She Made Toothpicks out of the Timber of My Heart."

The first draft of my favorite E. B. White essay, "Once More to the Lake," was a letter that White wrote to his brother a week after their mother's death.

Do not put quotation marks around the titles of books, newspapers or magazines; instead, italicize or underline those titles.

Quoting

Do not quote too much!A particular quotation “proves” something is a

common mistake students make. Unless there are data or statistical results, use different expressions, such as:

suggests implies testifies toindicates argues (that, for) shows demonstrates supports underscores

WRONG: This quotation proves that women encounter rampant discrimination in the workplace.

RIGHT: Smith's comment suggests how much resistance women still face in the workplace.

Quoting

Word-for-for accuracyGet the words right, even with mistakes! It can lead to an unclear quotation, so you can either [1]

use brackets (only sparingly) or [2] introduce / explain. Halder does his argument no credit when he opines, "History

shows that men are more intelligent then [sic] women" (34). I do not wish them to have power over men; but over themselves.

(them/themselves???)1. Mary Wollstonecraft does not wish to reverse the sexual balance

of power, but to move from domination to autonomy: "I do not wish them [women] to have power over men; but over themselves" (156).

2. Mary Wollstonecraft wants women to strive for autonomy, not domination: "I do not wish them to have power over men; but over themselves" (156).

Quoting

Introducing quotationSignal phrases and statements introduce quotations with a

minimum of fuss but enough information to help the reader make sense of them. The Founders understood the new Constitution as "a republican

remedy for the diseases most incident to republican government" (Madison 343).

In Federalist 51 Madison observes, "Different interests necessarily exist in different classes of citizens" (345).

Students often use weak or vague signal phrases: WRONG: Another point about sexual difference is made by Rubin. She

says, "The human subject . . . is always either male or female" (171). RIGHT: Rubin questions whether unbiased kinship diagrams are even

possible: "The human subject . . . is always either male or female" (171).

Quoting

One common way to build signal phrases is with the According to x construction: According to W. C. Jordan, there were about 100,000 Jews in France in the middle of the

11th century (202). According to Rich, we need to be careful about the risk of "presentism," of projecting

present meanings on past events (3). Another technique is to use clauses with the cited scholar as subject and a

signaling verb to orient the quotation. Here are some variations on the basic signal phrase construction of author + verb (+ that): Rich warns us that we need to be careful about the risk of "presentism," of projecting

present meanings on past events (3). Patterson reviews the legal limits placed on the murder of slaves (190-93).

Depending on what you want your reader to know, you can provide all sorts of explanatory material in a signal phrase. Here, for instance, a writer identifies his sources' scholarly expertise in order to make the citation more persuasive: The economic historians Nathan Rosenberg and L. E. Birdsell note that in the early

capitalist period (from the late fifteenth century on) people had to outgrow firms based on kinship and separate their personal finances from their firm's finances. . . . [A long quotation follows]

Quoting

In all citation styles, when you wish to include long quotations (more than four lines), you should do so in set-off block format. Left-indent the set-off quotation an appropriate amount (often a half-inch) and prepare for it with a signal statement ending in a colon: Privacy, one observer suggests, is the cardinal virtue of the Dutch:

Dutch citizens are proud of their country; they think well of it, and they want you to think well of it, but they do not necessarily want to unpack it, know all the details, sometimes tear the paper from the cracks, and reach independent judgments. . . . Never in the line of duty have I been bamboozled as in The Netherlands, where they all tell you different things, no one want to make a full disclosure and they will pick holes in any generalization you care to profess. . . . (Peter Lawrence, in Lawrence and Edwards 167)

In his study of the budgeting practices of more than 400 U.S. firms, Unapathy found budget games and manipulation were widespread:

Deferring a needed expenditure [was the budget game] used with the highest frequency. . . . Getting approvals after money was spent, shifting funds between accounts to avoid budget overruns, and employment of contract labor to avoid exceeding headcount limits are the other relatively popular games. . . . (90)

Quoting

Note that a good signal statement often gives a quick summary of the quotation.

Set-off quotations do's and don'ts:

Use a complete statement, not a fragment, to signal the quotation.

Punctuate the signal statement with a colon. Indent on the left (from a quarter-inch to an inch, depending on

format and teacher requirements). Don't put quotation marks around the set-off quotation. Put a space after the quotation's terminal punctuation and then

supply the parenthetical reference (note that this differs from punctuating short quotations).

Quoting

WRONG

Fombrum says,

"A name essentially describes how a company is perceived on the outside. It signals to outside observers what a company stands for; the quality of its products. When the value-priced cosmetics maker Avon tried to improve its reputation by purchasing the prestige retailer Tiffany's in 1979, most doubted the wisdom of the move. That's why it came as no surprise when five years later Avon sold off the operation. Not only did owning Tiffany's fail to add luster to Avon, but negative publicity about Avon ownership was rapidly tarnishing Tiffany's reputation (Fombrum 42)."

RIGHT Names can be highly valuable business assets:

A name essentially describes how a company is perceived on the outside. It signals to outside observers what a company stands for; the quality of its products. When the value-priced cosmetics maker Avon tried to improve its reputation by purchasing the prestige retailer Tiffany's in 1979, most doubted the wisdom of the move. That's why it came as no surprise when five years later Avon sold off the operation. Not only did owning Tiffany's fail to add luster to Avon, but negative publicity about Avon ownership was rapidly tarnishing Tiffany's reputation. (Fombrum 42)

Quoting

When readers see emphasis in a quotation, they don't know whether it was already there or was added by the quoter. Here's how to handle these cases: Locke argues that every individual in the state of nature has a

right to enforce the laws of nature: "the execution of the law of nature is, in that state, put into every man's hands . . ." (9, emphasis in the original).

For Wollstonecraft, universal education is critical: "my main argument is built on this simple principle, that if she [woman] be not prepared by education to become the companion of man, she will stop the progress of knowledge and virtue; for truth must be common to all, or it will be inefficacious with respect to its influence on general practice" (86, emphasis added).

Quoting

3-dot ellipsis

When you cut some of the words at the beginning of or within a quotation (but less than a full sentence), use 3-dot ellipsis. "Most of the world's Muslims today . . . are not Arabs and

cannot read Arabic" (Lippman 58).

Note that you put single spaces around the dots. A considerable number of academic readers care about such things, so be warned.

Quoting

4-dot ellipsis

If the deleted portion of the quotation includes a sentence's terminal punctuation, or if you are using the quotation to end a sentence in your essay, then you have to add a fourth dot, representing the period. If you leave out a sentence or more from a quoted passage, you must also use four-dot ellipsis. Make sure that what you do quote consists of grammatically complete sentences before and after the ellipsis: Frederick Douglass bores into his listeners' hearts, insisting that no one can truly

believe in the justice of slavery: "There is not a man beneath the canopy of heaven, that does not know that slavery is wrong for him. . . . At a time like this, scorching irony, not convincing argument, is needed" (Douglass 34).

Ann Hall perceives the difficulty in evaluating O'Neill's Anna Christie: "For feminist scholars, the conclusion for Anna is ambivalent at best. On the one hand, she is domesticated; she has relinquished all her ambition, and now stands behind 'her man' in order that he may attain his dreams. . . . On the other hand, Anna gains a certain degree of independence, ironically through her relationship with Andersen (174)."

Quoting

Citations go at the end of the quotation, of course, and are inserted before the final dot of 4-dot ellipsis. Here are several picky little ways to get ellipsis wrong (things like spaces in the wrong places), and the way to get it right:

WRONG

"Punctuation standards have changed over time. . ." (Walters 178)

"Punctuation standards have changed over time..." (Walters 178).

"Punctuation standards have changed over time . . . ." (Walters 178)

"Punctuation standards have changed over time...." (Walters 178)

RIGHT "Punctuation standards have changed over time. . ." (Walters 178).

Quoting

Finally, you don't always need to use ellipsis when you delete words. The reason for ellipsis is to notify your reader that there are words missing from the quotation. If this is already obvious from context, you don't need ellipsis:

WRONG Walton oversaw ". . . a massive overhaul of Wal-Mart's

inventory system" (147).

RIGHT Walton oversaw "a massive overhaul of Wal-Mart's

inventory system" (147).

Quoting

Students get confused about punctuating quotations. For in-text quotations, the rules of American usage are fairly simple: commas and periods go inside the quotation marks (by convention rather than for any rational reason), and all other punctuation marks go outside. If, however, these other punctuation marks are part of the original quotation, then you put them inside the quotation marks.

If, as is usually the case, a parenthetical citation follows the quotation, it generally goes inside the terminal punctuation. Here's an original passage and various possibilities in quoting from it:

SOURCE At this point I cannot suppress a sigh and a last hope. What is it that I especially find utterly

unendurable? That I cannot cope with, that makes me choke and faint? Bad air! Bad air! The approach of some ill-constituted thing; that I have to smell the entrails of some ill-constituted soul!

How much one is able to endure: distress, want, bad weather, sickness, toil, solitude. Fundamentally one can cope with everything else, born as one is to a subterranean life of struggle . . .

Friedrich Nietzsche, On the Genealogy of Morals. Trans. Walter Kaufmann and R. J. Hollindale. Modern Political Thought: Readings from Machiavelli to Nietzsche, ed. David Wootton (Indianapolis: Hackett, 1996), 917.

Quoting

Various quoted versions showing different punctuation: Nietzsche's melancholic energy is unmistakable: "At this point I cannot suppress

a sigh and a last hope. What is it that I especially find utterly unendurable? That I cannot cope with, that makes me choke and faint? Bad air! Bad air!" (917)

"I cannot suppress," Nietzsche says, "a sigh and a last hope" (917).

Nietzsche finds some consolation in the sheer catalog of human suffering: "How much one is able to endure: distress, want, bad weather, sickness, toil, solitude. Fundamentally one can cope with everything else. . ." (917).

"What is it," Nietzsche asks, "that I especially find utterly unendurable?" (917)

What did Nietzsche mean when he complained about "bad air" (917)?

Nietzsche envisioned the human condition as "a subterranean life of struggle" (917); his own difficult life bears testimony to this description.

Quoting

Sometimes you will quote a passage that itself contains quotation marks.SOURCE

But though I was initially disappointed at being categorized as an extremist, as I continued to think about the matter I gradually gained a measure of satisfaction from the label. Was not Jesus an extremist for love: "Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you." Was not Amos an extremist for justice: "Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream."

Martin Luther King, Jr., "Letter from Birmingham Jail." 1963. What Country Have I? Political

Writings by Black Americans, ed. Herbert J. Storing (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1970), 125-26.

How you handle this depends on whether the main quotation is long enough to be set off or not. If it is a short passage that you are incorporating into your text, then you will surround the main quotation with double quotation marks and mark the inner quotation with single quotation marks: Instead of denying the accusation that he is an extremist, King embraces it: "As I continued to

think about the matter I gradually gained a measure of satisfaction from the label. Was not Jesus an extremist for love: 'Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you . . .' " (125-6).

If it's a set-off quotation, then put the usual double-quotation marks around the inner quotation (since quotation marks aren't put around set-off quotations).

Quotation - practice

Mary is trying hard in school this semester, her father said.

No, the taxi driver said curtly, I cannot get you to the airport in fifteen minutes.

I believe, Jack remarked, that the best time of year to visit Europe is in the spring. At least that's what I read in a book entitled Guide to Europe.

My French professor told me that my accent is abominable.

She asked, Is Time a magazine you read regularly?

Flannery O'Connor probably got the title of one of her stories from the words of the old popular song, A Good Man Is Hard to Find.

Quotation - practice

When did Roosevelt say, We have nothing to fear but fear itself?

It seems to me that hip and cool are words that are going out of style.

Yesterday, John said, This afternoon I'll bring back your book Conflict in the Middle East; however, he did not return it.

Can you believe, Dot asked me, that it has been almost five years since we've seen each other?

A Perfect Day for Bananafish is, I believe, J. D. Salinger's best short story.

Certainly, Mr. Martin said, I shall explain the whole situation to him. I know that he will understand.

Practice

1. Do you know Billy Collins's poem On Turning Ten she asked.

2. Of all the poems in his latest book she said this is my favorite. It's really very funny she added

3. Turning towards her brother, she cried Help There were tears in her eyes and clearly she was anxious about something.

What's the matter he asked. I can't find our little sister she answered.

4. In Collins's poem, the line If you cut me I would shine suggests a child's belief in his own immortality.

Practice

1. Collins recalls Shelley's Ode to a Nightingale in his final two lines But now when I fall upon the sidewalks of life, / I skin my knees. I bleed

2. In his article Building a Better Vocabulary Darling suggests making vocabulary development a personal mission in life.

3. Toan's English professor asked him what was wrong.4. So what else is new Raoul asked have you begun your

studies in radiology yet5. What is the main idea in Louise Erdrich's poem Dear

John Wayne asked Professor Christie.6. Who said To be or not to be, that is the question asked

Professor Villa.


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