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On the record Slide 2 When should I use quotations? Discussing specific arguments or ideas - Important to forming counter-arguments Giving added emphasis to a particularly authoritative source on your topic - Quote an expert -Harriet Jacobs, a former slave from North Carolina, published an autobiographical slave narrative in 1861. She exposed the hardships of both male and female slaves but ultimately concluded that "slavery is terrible for men; but it is far more terrible for women." Slide 3 When should I use quotations? Analyzing how others use language - Literary analysis Slide 4 The PB & J Approach The words that precede and follow a quotation are just as important as the quotation itself Think of a sandwich, and the quotation/evidence is the filling It needs bread, or it will be messy Lead in Evidence Analysis Slide 5 Setting up Quotations Provide a context for each quotation Context should set the basic scene (when or where something happened) or introduce the author (establish credibility) A quote should NEVER stand alone Slide 6 Embedding Quotations Right: Quotations need to be introduced appropriately using a signal phrase or sentence rather than being "dropped" into the paragraph with no context. Wrong: A dropped/stand alone quotation is inserted into the text without any lead in. The boy was terrified. He swore he had just seen an unholy apparition. Note that the quotation is not linked grammatically with the preceding sentence. It is standing all alone and quotations never should. Slide 7 Ways to Fix Dropped/Hanging Quotations Slide 8 Method 1 Use a full sentence to introduce the quotation. Wrong: The Swede feared for his life. "You are all out to get me" (Crane 97). Right: The Swede feared for his life: "You are all out to get me" (Crane 97). The colon links the preceding sentence with the quotation. Because both parts of this example are complete sentences, the colon (not the comma) is the appropriate mark to link them because a comma would create a comma splice. Slide 9 Method 1 When embedding a quotation this way, a colon must be used! No other form of punctuation will work. This method is used to introduce a block quotation or a quotation that is a full sentence. This is the least desirable of the methods so use it VERY sparingly! Slide 10 Method 1 Examples Wrong: The sergeant's letters affected the girl for a long time after she read them. The story haunted her for days (135). Right: The sergeant's letters affected the girl for a long time after she read them: The story haunted her for days (135). Wrong: The boy was terrified. He swore he had just seen an unholy apparition (66). Right: The boy was terrified: He swore he had just seen an unholy apparition. Slide 11