English/Schwartz SAVE this handout!!!

Quotation Integration and Citation

When you quote a word, sentence, or paragraph from another source (such as a story), you need to present that quotation in certain ways.

·         If you are quoting directly, you need to place quotation marks around the quoted selection (whether or not it was dialogue or had quotation marks around it in the original story; you are quoting it now and need to use quotation marks). 

“And right then, I was determined to put a stop to her foolish pride” (104).

“Why don’t you like me the way I am?  I’m not a genius!” (102).

·         If there is dialogue within your quotation, you need to use single quotation marks to mark that:

“‘You want me to be someone that I’m not,’ I sobbed” (106).

·         Don’t leave a quotation all by itself; integrate it into your own sentences.  You can do this in a few different ways:

o   You can use a colon to connect a complete sentence with a quotation that is also a complete sentence:

Jing-mei displays a tendency to be lazy when she is supposed to be practicing her piece for her piano recital: “But I dawdled over it, playing a few bars and then cheating, looking up to see what notes followed” (104).

o   You can integrate your writing with the quotation like dialogue; this will likely require a comma:

Jing-mei shouts, “I wouldn’t go on TV if you paid me a million dollars!” (102)

o   You can flow directly into a quotation, as if it were part of your own sentence:

Jing-mei admits that she was “just as excited” about becoming a prodigy, dreaming about being “a dainty ballerina,” the “Christ child,” and “Cinderella” (100).

·         Typically, end punctuation or commas go inside quotation marks.  If there needs to be a comma or period at the end of the quotation, it goes inside the closing quotation mark.  However, most of the time a parenthetical citation will follow the quotation, and the punctuation (as long as it is not an exclamation point or question mark from the original text—punctuation that carries meaning and inflection) goes after the parenthesis.  See examples above.

·         Quotations must represent the original text word for word.  If you want to skip over a section of a sentence, you need to show this by using ellipses and make sure the meaning of the sentence has not been distorted. (You can typically leave off the beginning or end of a sentence without using ellipses.)

“And then I saw what seemed to be the prodigy side of me—because I had never seen that face before.  I looked at my reflection, blinking so I could see more clearly.  The girl staring back at me was angry, powerful.”

“And then I saw what seemed to be the prodigy side of me…. The girl staring back at me was angry” (101).

Jing-mei admits that “in the beginning, [she] was just as excited as [her] mother, maybe even more so” (100).

·         You also need to cite your quotations.  When you are just quoting from one source and that is clear, you do not need to indicate what author or text the quotations come from (when using multiple sources, give the author’s name before a space and then the page number).  You do still need to indicate what page they are from, however.  Indicate the page number(s) in parenthesis following the quotation (or at a break such as a comma or period; see Handbook for those guidelines).  See the notes and examples above for guidelines. 

***YOU CAN ALWAYS REFER TO AN MLA STYLE GUIDE TO CHECK HOW TO PROPERLY PRESENT QUOTATIONS IN YOUR WRITING!***

Block or Pull-Out Quotations:

You typically shouldn’t quote long sections of text; just quote the parts that relate to what you are discussing or proving.  In the rare case that you want to quote a longer section, if the section is over 4 lines of text (or if you wish to quote more than three lines of poetry), you need to do a “pull-out” or “block” quotation.  You use a colon to introduce the quotation, start the quotation on a new line, indent the entire quotation, do not use quotation marks, and place the parenthetical citation (page number in parentheses) after the end punctuation.  See the following example.

We see the confrontation between civility and savagery when Ralph confronts Jack about letting the fire go out:

Jack stood as he said this, the bloodied knife in his hand.  The two boys faced each other.  There was the brilliant world of hunting, tactics, fierce exhilaration, skill; and there was the world of longing and baffled common-sense.  Jack transferred the knife to his hand and smudged blood over his forehead as he pushed down the plastered hair. (71)

You also need to do this if you are quoting a sequence of dialogue between more than one character and can’t “flow” the dialogue into your own writing.  Do the same with when quoting a play, if there are lines with multiple speakers that you can’t seem to “flow” (include the speaker designations then).

We again see the boys’ excitement with hunting and killing when they describe the pig they almost snagged:

All three of them tried to convey the sense of the pink live thing struggling in the creepers.

“We saw—”

“Squealing—”

“It broke away—”

“Before I could kill it—but—next time!” (33)

Quoting Poetry:

When you take a quotation (any part of an original text that you put word-for-word in quotation marks into your essay) from a poem, you need to do a few special things.

You should indicate the line number(s) (instead of page numbers) in the parenthetical citation rather than page numbers.  Just write the line number or the range of numbers (do not write “line” or “ln.”) If there is a line break within the section you are quoting, you need to indicate it with a slash /   :        

“So spake our Father penitent” (1097)     

“Not louder shrieks to pitying Heaven are cast,/ When husbands or when lapdogs breath their last” (45-46)

You can still use ellipses to skip over sections of the poem.  If you skip one entire line, show this with a series of ellipses after the line break (Use ellipses in their own line if you skip one or more lines in a block quote of verse.)

“Rebellious subjects, enemies to peace,/… Will they not hear?” (I.i.83-85)

For Shakespearean plays and other works with multiple sections, indicate all section to help your reader; in Shakespeare, we indicate act, scene, and line(s).  Be sure to count lines correctly—lines of iambic pentameter split between two speakers still only count as one line.  Watch for when the play switches to prose, too.

(III.ii.14-17)

If you wish to quote more than three lines of poetry, you need to do a block quotation (see above).

Key Points for Quotations:

·         Introduce quotations (don’t leave them hanging on their own!)  Be sure to indicate the context, that is, who’s speaking, when, what’s the situation, etc.  Do this before you present the quotation, and usually save analysis of the quotation for after the quote (so your reader can easily follow along!)  A quotation cannot be a sentence on its own in your essay.

·         Properly choose, introduce, present, integrate, cite, and punctuation your quotations as shown in this guide (and get help from an MLA style guide, online or in a book, or from Mrs. S. if you need it!  And edit, edit, edit!).

·         Finally, quotations always require ANALYSIS!  Don’t leave your quotations hanging!  Explain their significance (how they relate to or support the topic sentence or thesis, for instance).  Break down what’s important to know and notice about the quotations.  We use quotations as proof and to illustrate our claims, so be sure to follow through with analysis.  Help your reader to understand your point!

English/Schwartz

MLA Guidelines

You will find the MLA guidelines on the web (linked through my site) and in the style guide books in the classroom library.  Here are just a few key points: