RHE306		Schacht
	USING QUOTATIONS

QUOTING ACCURATELY
Above all, you must be careful to quote accurately. Attribute all information from outside sources, unless that information is common knowledge. Be sure that you understand the source from which you are quoting. If you misquote because you misunderstand the material, you will still be held accountable for that. Writers must make sure that they fully understand the meaning of source material before using it in an essay. In direct quotes, copy exactly what the author has written, and give credit to the source with paranthetical documentation. If the source material is paraphrased, credit must still be given to the original source.
INTRODUCING QUOTATIONS
Creative works
Assume that not all of your readers have read the creative text (book, movie, story) that you're talking about. However, they don’t need to know all the details of this text in order to understand what you're doing with it. You will probably want to offer a basic plotline, and then whatever contextual information the reader needs to understand your quote. The first time you mention it, you should also identify the author and the work.
Example - Incorrect:	The woman tells her lover that the world "isn't ours anymore" (87).
Correct:	Near the climax of the lovers' conversation in Hemingway's "Hills Like White Elephants," the woman tells the man that the world "isn't ours anymore"(87).
Critical works
Identify the source of the quotation within the text. This information will let your reader know that the source you are quoting is legitimate and isn't, say, your roommate Joe who happened to be up when you were writing your paper at 2 am. It will also help your reader distinguish the quotation's ideas from your own. The first time you use a quote from a critical source, give the author's name and name of the article/book, and/or the author's claim to authority. If you mention the author in the preceding sentence, you do not need to include the author's name in parentheses.
Example - Incorrect:	"A fully articulated pastoral idea of America did not emerge until the end of the eighteenth century" (Marx 236).
Correct:	Leo Marx, in his book The Pilot and the Passenger, claims that a "fully articulated pastoral idea of America did not emerge until the end of the eighteenth century" (236).
Correct:	Prominent American critic Leo Marx claims that a fully articulated pastoral idea of America did not emerge until the end of the eighteenth century” (236).
GRAMMAR AND QUOTATIONS
A short quotation is a grammatical extension of the writer’s own sentence, so when using quotations, it is important to remember to punctuate correctly. A comma separates brief, informal, grammatically incomplete introductions from quotations that complete the sentence:
Example - Incorrect:	Prufrock says "I am no prophet - and here's no great matter" (Eliot 83).
Correct:	Prufrock says, "I am no prophet - and here's no great matter" (Eliot 83).
Use a colon to separate grammatically complete introductions or statements (complete sentences) from the quotation:
Example - Incorrect:	Edith Hamilton describes Hera perfectly, "She was the protector of marriage, and married women were her peculiar care. There is very little that is attractive in the portrait the poets draw of her."
Correct:	Edith Hamilton describes Hera perfectly: "She was the protector of marriage, and married women were her peculiar care. There is very little that is attractive in the portrait the poets draw of her."
When integrating a quote into your sentence, keep all tenses the same. Change the tense in the quote to match the tense of your sentence. When you change words in a quote to your own words, be sure to put your words in brackets to let the reader know they are your words.
Example - Incorrect:	While the legislators cringe at the sudden darkness, "all eyes were turned to Abraham Davenport" (239).
Correct:	While the legislators cringe at the sudden darkness, "all eyes [turn] to Abraham Davenport" (239).
Make sure your sentences are complete sentences and not fragments or run-ons.
Example - Incorrect:	Yeats asks if, "before the indifferent beak." [incomplete sentence; makes no sense.]
Correct:	Yeats asks if Leda "put on [the swan's] knowledge" before his "indifferent beak could let her drop" (8).
Clarify pronouns that have no clear antecedents. You may know who the author is talking about, but your reader needs to be told. Do this by adding words in square brackets (as in the examples above and below).
Example - Incorrect:	Captain Wentworth says, "It had been my doing - solely mine. She would not have been obstinate if I had not been weak" (45). [Who the heck is "she"?]
Correct:	Captain Wentworth says, "It had been my doing - solely mine. [Louisa] would not have been obstinate if I had not been weak" (45).
Make sure subjects and verbs agree.
Example - Incorrect:	Wilfred Owen says that the only prayer said for those who die in battle is war's noise, which "patter out their hasty orisons" (17). [noise is singular; patter is plural]
Correct:	Wilfred Owen says that the only prayer said for those who die in battle are the noises of war, which "patter out their hasty orisons" (17).
When do you capitalize the beginning of a quote? Capitalize quotes that are grammatically complete. If the quote is a fragment (and could not be a complete sentence), do not capitalize.
Correct:	Captain Wentworth says, "It had been my doing - solely mine. [Louisa] would not have been obstinate if I had not been weak" (45).
Correct:	Yeats asks if Leda "put on [the swan's] knowledge" before his "indifferent beak could let her drop" (8).
MAKING EDITORIAL CHANGES IN QUOTATIONS
There are two acceptable ways of making changes in a quotation.
Ellipses (dot dot dot...)
Use ellipses to show that words have been omitted in the middle of a quote. However, do not use ellipses to show material has been omitted at the beginning or end of a quote.
Example - Incorrect:	Eagleton points out that one critic says, "Oedipus is guilty for two reasons: because of the deeds he actually committed...and because of his desire to commit them..."(50).
Example - Incorrect:	Eagleton points out that one critic says Oedipus "...is guilty for two reasons: because of the deeds he actually committed...and because of his desire to commit them" (50).
Correct:	Eagleton points out that one critic says, "Oedipus is guilty for two reasons: because of the deeds he actually committed...and because of his desire to commit them" (50).
Square brackets [ ]
Use square brackets to indicate editorial changes that you, not the quote's author, make to clarify the quotation or make it fit into the grammatical structure of the sentence. Do not use parentheses to indicate such changes, or your reader will see them as part of the original quote.
Example - Incorrect:	"She looked carefully for the place where (Elizabeth) had entered the garden" (Holst 89).
Correct:	"She looked carefully for the place where [Elizabeth] had entered the garden" (Holst 89).
INDENTING LONG QUOTATIONS
Sometimes a short quote – a sentence or two – may not be enough to make the author's ideas clear. While you should always try to make your quotes as brief as possible (so they don't overshadow what you are saying), you do need to make sure they're comprehensible. A long quotation is one that is more than four lines long. Indent the entire quotation by one tab mark (10 spaces), and do not indent its first line any further. Do not put quote marks around indented quotations. Introduce the quote with a short comment. If your paper is double spaced, you do not need additional blank lines between your text and the quote.
Correct:	In his book Powwow Highway, David Seals describes the main character’s sister through typical stereotypes about Indians, and about Indian women in particular.
		Nobility lay heavy on upon Bonnie Red Bird. It had been her destiny to be an Indian princess, and she had accepted that destiny. She had the immaculate auburn skin that made the Cheyenne among the most handsome of all the Plains Indians… [and] the restrained features that gave the Cheyenne a pure and peaceful look. (19)
EXPLAINING AND INTERPRETING QUOTES
You cannot simply plop a quote down in the middle of your paper and expect that the reader will understand why it is there. You need to explain the quote and interpret it in the context of what it is you are arguing. Show the significance of the quote to your argument.
Correct:	In his book Powwow Highway, David Seals describes the main character's sister through typical stereotypes about Indians, and about Indian women in particular.
		Nobility lay heavy on upon Bonnie Red Bird. It had been her destiny to be an Indian princess, and she had accepted that destiny. She had the immaculate auburn skin that made the Cheyenne among the most handsome of all the Plains Indians… [and] the restrained features that gave the Cheyenne a pure and peaceful look. (19)
	With this introduction of Bonnie, Seals demonstrates the way that stereotypes about Indians have shaped Bonnie's perceptions of herself. She has modeled herself as an Indian princess within white society - which leads, ultimately, to her downfall. The implications are clear: Stereotypes, whether held by whites or Indians, have the power to destroy.