Learning Exercise

Go to Quoteland.com using URL or underlined title at the top of this page. Choose a subject area or field from Column 1 on the left. Select quotations from that field that you believe could be inserted within your work in the following forms. (Note the example that follows each bold print form below.) Submit one quotation for each form for a total of five quotations.

1. Announced quotes:
   Kevin asked, "Have you scheduled the meeting yet?"
   The new manager made the big announcement: "We will cut back on both employees and facilities this year, which may meaning closing the Washington office."
   A comma or colon introduces the announced quote. Note that the colon goes with the more dramatic quotation.

   
   
   

2. Integrated quotes:
   The suspicious stranger wore "clothes that resembled those of no local person."
   We found the Scottish highlands "bracing and beguiling" just as Cousin Edith had predicted.
   Note that no announcement, preliminary punctuation, or capitalization is needed for integrated quotes.

   
   
   

3. Passage quotes:

   
   

   • Here we indent ten spaces and use no opening and closing quotes. Indented quotes are used for long passages, usually more than three lines of quoted text. If you use parenthetical references, instead of placing them between the final quote and end punctuation --"ending" (James 53)-- place them after the end punctuation of the passage. (Brotton 1)

   
   
   
4. Indirect quotes:
   General Sherman said war is like hell.
   Requires no quotation marks. Contrast: (Sherman said, "War is hell.")

   
   
   

5. Vary quoted material with paraphrase:
   Quote only the most significant lines or passages from your sources, those that are especially well stated and would suffer from summarizing or paraphrasing. Exact quotes make strong evidence, but too many detract from your own control of the article you are writing. The reader feels as if he or she is reading a list of quotes with occasional interruptions for the current author's brief (may be seen as weak) contributions. Otherwise, use paraphrase to avoid quoting long passages and extraneous information. Restate the author's words in your own language:

   
   
   Kermode describes groups of elegant men women and who came out from Washington to watch the First Battle of Manassas while they ate picnic lunches on the hillsides (20).

   
   
   

6. Additional Help: Punctuation within/without quotes: Periods, Commas . , go inside ." ," Where to put Question or Exclmation Marks ? ! depends on whether quoted material alone is a question/exclamation or whole sentence is: Why did you ask, "Who authorized this"?
   Put Colons, Semicolons ": "; outside end quotations. Use brackets [ ] for material inserted within a quotation. He said, "You have exactly the right bookstore [in Chicago] for my next venture."
   

The integrated quotation represents the most sophisticated use of source material; however, careful selection of these forms or techniques adds interest, authority, and fun to your writing.