USING QUOTES
You have to introduce or explain the quote
somehow
• BAD EXAMPLE: Juliet does not want to marry Paris, and
will do anything to escape this fate. “Shall I not then, be
stifled in the vault, To whose foul mouth no healthsome air
breathes in, and there die strangled ere my Romeo
comes? (4.2)
• BETTER EXAMPLE: Juliet does not want to marry Paris,
and will do anything to escape this fate. She is even
willing to face her fear of being buried alive. “Shall I not
then, be stifled in the vault, To whose foul mouth no
healthsome air breathes in, and there die strangled ere
my Romeo comes? (4.2)
CORRECT WAYS TO INTRODUCE
QUOTES:
• 1. With explanation and a colon or period:
• Cyrano declares that in death he will meet all his heroes: “There at
•
•
•
•
•
•
last shall I find all the exiled souls I love– Galileo, Socrates . . .” (128)
Cyrano declares that in death he will meet all his heroes. “There at
last shall I find all the exiled souls I love– Galileo, Socrates . . .” (128)
2. With “he said” (or some synonym of said)
In death Cyrano will meet all his heroes. He declares, “There at last
shall I find all the exiled souls I love– Galileo, Socrates . . .” (128)
In death Cyrano will meet all his heroes “There at last shall I find all
the exiled souls I love,” he declares, “Galileo, Socrates . . .” (128)
3. As part of your own complete sentence.
In death, Cyrano will meet “all the exiled souls [he loves]” including
Socrates and Galileo (128).
QUOTES must be framed in a
complete sentence.
• BAD EXAMPLE: “Starts talking baby talk right there” (4).
Mama is favoring Shirley T. instead of sister.
• BETTER EXAMPLE: Mama “starts talking baby talk” to Shirley
T., clearly showing favoritism towards her (4).
•
• BAD EXAMPLE: “The greatest possible eyesore” (7). This
quote shows that the Sheridans look down on the poor people.
• BETTER EXAMPLE: The Sheridans look down on everyone,
and see the poor people’s houses as “the greatest possible
eyesore” (7).
Even if the characters don’t speak in complete
sentences, you must write in complete sentences.
• From “Why I Live at the P.O.”:
• But I says, "Too late. You 'tend to your house, and I'll 'tend to
mine. You hear things like that all the time if you know how to
listen to the radio. Perfectly marvelous offers. Get anything you
want free."
• BAD EXAMPLE: Sister proclaims that she’s capable of taking
care of herself, and has resources unknown to Mama.
“Perfectly marvelous offers. Get anything you want free” (6).
• BETTER EXAMPLE: Sister proclaims that she’s capable of
taking care of herself, and has resources unknown to Mama.
She claims the radio has informed her about “Perfectly
marvelous offers” and that she can “get anything you want free”
(6).
Keep punctuation accurate.
• BAD EXAMPLE: The Nurse’s counsels Juliet to forget
Romeo, and endorses Paris as a potential husband. “I
think it best you married with the county O he's a lovely
gentleman, Romeo's a dishclout to him an eagle, madam,
Hath not so green, so quick, so fair an eye As Paris hath!”
• BETTER EXAMPLE: BAD EXAMPLE: The Nurse’s
counsels Juliet to forget Romeo, and endorses Paris as a
potential husband. “I think it best you married with the
county. O, he's a lovely gentleman! Romeo's a dishclout
to him: an eagle, madam, Hath not so green, so quick, so
fair an eye As Paris hath” (3.4).
Know when to capitalize.
Direct quotations involve incorporating another person's exact words into
your own writing.
• 1. Quotation marks always come in pairs. Do not open a quotation and fail to
close it at the end of the quoted material.
• 2. 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."
• 3. 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.
• 4. If a direct quotation is interrupted 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.”
From the Online Writing Lab at Purdue
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/577/01/
Don’t repeat yourself with quotes.
• BAD EXAMPLE: Atticus does not believe he will win the
case. “’Atticus, are we going to win it?’ ‘No, honey.’” (Lee
41)
• BAD EXAMPLE: Clarisse notices details about nature,
like the dew on the grass each morning. On page 9 she
declares, “Bet I know something else you don't. There's
dew on the grass in the morning.”
•
• BETTER: Atticus is determined to press on no matter
what the outcome of the case. “’Atticus, are we going to
win it?’ ‘No, honey.’” (Lee 41) Though he is realistic about
the probability of their defeat, he explains to Scout that
they must still stand up for what is right.
Don’t summarize basic story events with
quotes.
• BAD EXAMPLE: Jem invites Walter Cunningham to eat
with them. “Come on home to dinner with us, Walter”
(24).
• BAD EXAMPLE: Juliet stabs herself. “O happy dagger!
This is thy sheath; there rust, and let me die” (Act 5 scene
2).
• BETTER EXAMPLE: Romeo can be cunning when he
needs to be. He manipulates the Apothecary into giving
him what he wants, using the poor man’s poverty as
leverage: “Famine is in thy cheeks . . . The world is not thy
friend, nor the world’s law . . . then be not poor, but break
[the law], and take this” (Act 5 scene 1).
In MLA format, you MUST indicate page
number in parenthesis or in your text.
• EXAMPLE 1: On page 152, Scout thinks Atticus will be
happy and surprised to see them, but her father is actually
terrified to find the children in this dangerous situation.
• EXAMPLE 2: Scout thinks Atticus will be happy and
surprised to see them, but her father is actually terrified to
find the children in this dangerous situation (152).
• EXAMPLE 3: Scout thinks Atticus will be happy and
surprised to see them, but instead sees “a flash of plain
fear . . . going out of his eyes” (152)
• EXAMPLE 4: On page 152, Scout thinks Atticus will be
happy and surprised to see them, but instead sees “a
flash of plain fear . . . going out of his eyes.”
In MLA format:
• You never abbreviate the word page. If it’s in a
parenthetical citation, you don’t need it. If it’s in the
text, spell it out.
• BAD EXAMPLE: Mrs. Dubose constantly insults the
Finch children. “So you brought that dirty little sister of
yours, did you?” (pg 106)
• BAD EXAMPLE: Mrs. Dubose constantly insults the
Finch children. On pg. 106, she sneers: “So you brought
that dirty little sister of yours, did you?”
• BETTER EXAMPLE: Mrs. Dubose constantly insults the
Finch children. “So you brought that dirty little sister of
yours, did you?” (106)
Parenthetical citations must include the
author’s last name (ONLY LAST NAME) if
there’s more than one source. If there’s
only one obvious primary source, just the
page number is sufficient.
• When Romeo is banished, he impulsively wishes for
death, and laments that even the very word is killing him:
“Hadst thou no poison mix'd, no sharp-ground knife,
No sudden mean of death, though ne'er so mean,
But 'banished' to kill me?” (Shakespeare 112) Similarly,
Christian declares he cannot live if he fails to win
Roxanne’s heart. He tells Cyrano, “ . . . I shall die,
Unless at once I win back her fair favor” (Rostand 56).
FAILURE TO PROVIDE CITATIONS FOR EVERY
QUOTE or PARAPHRASE YOU USE IS
PLAGIARISM.
It is NEVER appropriate to copy and paste, or even
paraphrase from sources such as Wikipedia,
Sparknotes, Cliffs Notes, Shmoop, Yahoo Answers,
etc.
(Even if you DID legitimately cite these, they are not
valid sources. You wouldn’t be plagiarizing, technically,
but you’d still fail.)
NOT SURE IF IT’S OK TO USE A
SOURCE?
ASK.
A good question to ask yourself: “What does my teacher expect me to know for this
assignment?”
What are alternatives to fossil fuels, and how to they vary in efficiency and
availability?
Your teacher does not expect you to be an expert on fossil fuels. This assignment
most likely will require research. Your teacher will probably provide instructions on
how to conduct this research.
In Romeo and Juliet, is Shakespeare showing how hate destroys love, or how love
cannot be destroyed by hate?
This is asking for YOUR thought and analysis. It would be dishonest to use
someone else’s.