Writing Handout L-7:

Quotation Customs
Blending quotes into an essay or research paper is called in-text citation. Follow your instructors
guidelines concerning precise citation requirements such as MLA or APA. The ASC offers specific handouts
for these formats. The following information is a general guideline for integrating quotes into your writing.
Authors name: The first time you refer to an author, use the first and last name. In subsequent
references, use the last name only. Do not use complimentary titles, such as Mr. or Mrs. In some cases, you
might not know the author and might have to cite the name of an article.
Titles: Titles of short stories, most poems, and essays are placed inside quotation marks. Titles of
novels, plays, books, and long poems are italicized.
To Quote or Not to Quote?

Be selective when using quoted material. Does the quote bring any insight to the point you are
trying to make? If not, consider a paraphrase. Either way, you must credit your source.
Consider how you could paraphrase the quote. Would it bring the same insight as the quote? If so,
then you probably do not need to quote, but you still must credit your source.
Do not use long quotes in short papers. If your essay is only 350 words long, then you should not
use a quote that is more than one or two lines long.
Limit quotes to special words or phrases that are so well written or so insightful that there is no
way to put them into your own words and get the same effect.
Quotes should not be more than 20% of a finished paper. Otherwise, it looks like you
connected a bunch of quotes with a few of your sentences.

Using Quotes Correctly

You cannot simply insert a direct quote between two of your own sentences. This is called a
drop quote. Here is an example of a drop quote: Dick is an evil man. He killed nine people that
day. Dicks evil side took over.
Here is the correct format of the above example:
Dick is an evil man because he killed nine people that day.

All quotes should be introduced or followed by your own words. Preferably, you want to blend
your words with those from your source so there is a seamless connection.

L-7 Literary Conventions and Quotes (June 2013; ASC Eng/Read)

Page 1

Four Methods of Blending Quotations into Sentences

1. Introduce a quotation with a complete sentence and a colon.
Example: In Desert Solitaire, Edward Abbey states his purpose for solitary journeys into the
wilderness: I find that in contemplating the natural world, my pleasure is greater if there are not too
many others contemplating it with me at the same time."
Example: Abbey's philosophy might be summed up best by his desire for people to understand the
need for preserving the wilderness: "Wilderness is not a luxury but a necessity of the human spirit
and as vital to our lives as water and good bread."
Example: Abbey ends his essay with an admonition: "Anarchism is not a romantic fable but the
hardheaded realization, based on five thousand years of experience, that we cannot entrust the
management of our lives to kings, priests, politicians, generals, and county commissioners."
2. Use an introductory or explanatory phrase, but not a complete sentence, separated from the
quotation with a comma.
Example: In Desert Solitaire, Abbey explains his purpose for going into the wilderness when he says,
"I find that in contemplating the natural world my pleasure is greater if there are not too many
others contemplating it with me, at the same time."
Example: Abbey suggests the consequences of following conventional wisdom when he says,
"Where all think alike, there is little danger of innovation."
Example: Abbey asks, "Has joy any survival value in the operations of evolution?"
Example: According to Abbey, A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against his
government.
Note: You should use a comma to separate your own words from the quotation when your introductory or
explanatory phrase ends with a verb such as "says," "said," "thinks," "believes," or "asks" (and many more).
You should also use a comma when you introduce a quotation with a phrase such as "According to Abbey."

L-7 Literary Conventions and Quotes (June 2013; ASC Eng/Read)

Page 2

3. Make a quotation a part of your own sentence without any punctuation between your own words
and the words you are quoting.
Example: In Desert Solitaire, Abbey states his purpose for going into the desert when he says that "I
find that in contemplating the natural world my pleasure is greater if there are not too many others
contemplating it with me, at the same time."
Example: Abbey suggests the consequences of following conventional wisdom, stating that
when people all think alike, there is little danger of innovation."
Example: Abbey argues that the "tragedy of modern war is that the young men die fighting each
other - instead of their real enemies back home in the capitals.
Example: According to Abbey, modern man tends to "seal himself off from the natural and isolate
himself within a synthetic prison of his own making.
Notice that the word "that" is used in three of the examples above. In these examples, "that"
replaces the comma that would be necessary without the word "that" in the sentence. You usually
have a choice when you begin a sentence with a phrase such as "Abbey says." You either can add a
comma after "says" (Abbey says, "quotation"), or you can add the word "that" with no comma
(Abbey says that "quotation.")
4. Use short quotations--only a few words--as part of your own sentence.
Example: In Desert Solitaire, Abbey states that his pleasure is greater when he is alone.
Example: Abbey argues that wilderness is necessary because people need to know that they have a
refuge even though we may never need to go there.
Example: Abbey believes that fearful societies are doomed to quick extinction and that without
courage, all other virtues are useless.
Note: When you integrate quotations in this way (#4), you do not use any special punctuation.
Instead, you should punctuate the sentence just as you would if all of the words were your own. No
punctuation is needed in the sentences above because the sentences do not follow the pattern
explained in numbers 1 and 2: There is not a complete sentence in front of the quotations, and a
word such as "says," "said," or "asks" does not appear directly in front of the quoted words.
REMINDER: For further clarification concerning exact quotation styles, such as MLA or APA,
Please consult an Academic Support Center tutor or the ASC Web site.

L-7 Literary Conventions and Quotes (June 2013; ASC Eng/Read)

Page 3

Special Situations
When you use quotations, you must use the authors exact words, interior punctuation, and spelling.
Some exceptions to this general rule include ellipsis points and brackets. The following examples show the
general rules. For specific citation styles, such as MLA or APA, please request ASC handouts.
*Ellipsis: You may omit part of the authors words as long as you do not change the authors meaning
and use ellipsis points (three spaced periods for omitted material within a sentence and four spaced periods
for omitted material between sentences). Ellipses are not required at the beginning or end of quotation
unless needed for clarification.
*Brackets: Brackets are used to enclose a word for clarification that was not in the original source.
Examples
Czeisler writes, The timing of the light . . . had to be sinchronized [sic] with particular phases of a
persons circadian rhythm in order for it to be effective.
Circadian rhythms are [biological] processes that occur repeatedly on approximately a twenty-four hour
cycle.
Note: Ellipsis points are used to show that some of the authors words have been omitted. The
brackets enclosing sic are used to indicate that the word synchronized was misspelled in the original
source, and the brackets enclosing biological are used to show that this word was not in the original
source.

Long quotes
MLA (more than four typed lines)
*Introduce the quotation with a signal phrase containing the authors name and an appropriate verb, followed by a colon.
*Indent the entire quotation one inch from the left margin.
Environmentalist author Edward Abbey explains his
*Use the normal right margin and double space.
beliefs:
*Do not put quotation marks around the indented quotation.
Men come and go, cities rise and fall, whole
*Place the page number in parentheses following the closing
civilizations appear and disappear-the earth remains,
punctuation mark.
slightly modified. . . . I sometimes choose to think,
*If the signal phrase does not contain the authors name and
no doubt perversely, that man is a dream, thought an
illusion, and only rock is real. Rock and sun. (72)
publication date, put the authors name and page number in
parentheses after the closing punctuation mark.

APA (more than 40 words)

*Introduce the quotation with a signal phrase containing the authors last name, the publication date in parentheses, and
an appropriate verb, followed by a colon.
Environmentalist author Edward Abbey (1960) explains
*Indent the entire quotation inch from the left margin.
his beliefs:
*Use the normal right margin and double space.
Men come and go, cities rise and fall, whole civilizations
*Do not put quotation marks around the indented quotation.
appear and disappear-the earth remains, slightly
*Place the page (or paragraph) number in parentheses
modified. The earth remains, and the heartbreaking
following the closing punctuation mark.
beauty where there are no hearts to break. . . . I
*If the signal phrase does not contain the authors name and
sometimes choose to think, no doubt perversely, that
publication date, put the authors name, publication date, and
man is a dream, thought an illusion, and only rock is real.
Rock and sun. (p. 72)
page number in parentheses after the closing punctuation mark.
L-7 Literary Conventions and Quotes (June 2013; ASC Eng/Read)

Page 4