Writing about Literature: Quoting When writing about literature, direct quotes from your primary source is your best evidence to prove your point. Using quotes correctly, however, is also a difficult skill to master, especially in reference to format and grammar. This hand-out is designed to show the different ways to set-up, use and punctuate direct quotes. NOTE: It is not necessary to use the entire quote or even a complete sentence from the original quote. HOWEVER, it is unethical to manipulate a quote in such a way that it changes its original meaning. The easiest way to think of this is with movie reviews. Often bits of a review are quoted to make the movie seem exceptionally spectacular even if it had received only modest praise. Example: The original review reads: This film has some spectacular moments, infrequent though they may be. Jane Doe, The Springfield Gazette, section B, page 17. The ad in the paper reads: SPECTACULAR Jane Doe METHODS With few exceptions, quotes should NEVER stand on their own as sentences. Instead, they must be attached to or inserted within other sentences of your text. There are three primary methods for inserting quotes into papers: 1) blending 2) traditional comma or dialogue format 3) colon Blending Blending is the combining of the writer s (meaning your) prose with a direct quote from another source. Blends are generally used with shorter quotes, often a key phrase or even a single word. Often times the writer will begin a sentence and use the quote to finish it, but a blend can appear virtually anywhere within a sentence. When using this technique, a comma is usually NOT required to set up the quote. Example: Original quote is taken from The Martian Chronicles: No matter how we touch Mars, we ll never touch it. And then we ll get mad it, and you know what we ll do? We ll rip it up, rip the skin off, and change it to fit ourselves (Bradbury 54). Possible uses in a paper: 1) Spender notes that humans will never touch Mars (54), suggesting either that they will be unable to be that gentle, or unable to understand the true essence of the culture.
2) Spender does not believe humans will embrace the Mars or the Martian culture. Instead, he believes humans will change it to fit ourselves (54). NOTE: Rarely would you begin a sentence with the quoted portion. Such sentences tend to be awkward. NOTE: In the first example, the citation does NOT immediately follow the actual quotes. Instead, the citation is placed immediately preceding the nearest end mark, i.e. comma, period, etc. Standard Comma or Dialogue Introduction This type of quote set-up is often used when quoting what a character says, but it is not limited to such a role. One can quote a narrative portion of the text with the same format, which usually has a word of speaking, writing or thinking to set-off the quote. A comma is then used. Examples: 1) Quoting dialogue : Spender s views about mankind are evident when he says, We Earth Men have a talent for ruining big, beautiful things (54). 2) Quoting narrative: The general mood of despair is further established as the narrator notes, As suddenly as it happened, the wind died (55). NOTE: 1) Please note that whether quoting dialogue or narrative, standard double quotation marks are used. Do not confuse the issue of quoting from the text with whether or not the text is actually a character speaking. Both examples are punctuated the same way. 2) If you choose a quote which is broken up with dialogue prompts (the he said she said ), do NOT include those prompts. Set up the quote so that you do not need them. Colon At times, you can formally introduce the quote with a complete sentence statement. Instead of ending the sentence with a period, a colon would be used to connect the statement to the followup quote. In each case, the quote is essentially fulfilling the promise of the statement.
Examples: 1) Early on, Greene establishes the mood and a major theme of the novel with an unusual comparison: The man s dark suit and sloping shoulders reminded him uncomfortably of a coffin (14). (The example above refers to the Graham Greene s novel The Power and the Glory.) 2) Spender s feelings about mankind can be seen in his assessment of what humans will do to Mars: We ll rip it up, rip the skin off, and change it to fit ourselves (54). NOTE: 1) The first example quotes narrative and the second example quotes dialogue. The colon technique is viable for each. 2) Again, many of you will be tempted to place a period where I have placed a colon. Remember, QUOTES do not follow periods. They follow commas, colons or are blended into the structure of the sentence. Quotes should not stand on their own, but rather must be connected to a sentence in one of the three ways offered. FORMAT Aside from the basic ways to insert quotes, there are some formatting rules to be aware of and understand: 1) prose short quote format 2) prose long quote format 3) verse short quote format 4) verse long quote format Prose Short Quote Format Prose refers to non-verse writing, i.e. writing without meter or poetic structure. Standard prose works would be novels, short-stories, modern plays, essays, etc. Prose short format is used when the length of the quote takes up LESS than four lines of YOUR text. Each example you have seen thus far is prose short quote format. In short quote format, when writing about one work, the author s last name is included along with the page number of the quote the first time you quote from the text. Thereafter, only the page number need be included. The in-text citation is placed outside the quotes, and immediately in front of the nearest end mark (period, comma, semi-colon, colon)
Example: Spender notes that humans will never touch Mars (54), suggesting either that they will be unable to be that gentle, or unable to understand the true essence of the culture. Prose Long Quote Format (Block Format) For prose, long quote form is used only when the quote would take up four or more complete lines of YOUR paper BEFORE being offset (sometimes this requires some adding up of partial lines). When using quotes of over four lines of YOUR paper, you must set it off from the rest of your text by beginning a new line, indenting one inch (usually two TAB spaces), and continuing double spacing. Quotation marks are no longer needed. Quotes will be introduced with either a comma or colon depending on the situation (but, generally speaking, do not blend long quotes). The citation is placed after the period. Begin a new line (not indented) to return to your writing NOTES: 1) To restate, with prose, even if you quote a passage that is twelve lines of the work you are reading, if it only takes up three lines in your paper, you use SHORT format. 2) Conversely, if the quote is only a line or two in the text, but for some reason takes up four or more lines in your paper (BEFORE YOU OFFSET IT), then long form is required. 3) Again, line totals refer to standard format. Three-and-a-half lines will become four if you offset them in long format, but you would be wrong to do so because the test is the number of lines before being offset. Sample quote taken from page 147 of Graham Greene s The Power and the Glory : It was an odd thing that ever since that hot and crowded night in the cell he had passed into a region of abandonment almost as if he had died there with the old man s head on his shoulder and now wandered in a kind of limbo, because he wasn t good enough or bad enough Life didn t exist anymore; it wasn t merely a matter of the banana station. Now as the storm broke and he scurried for shelter he knew quite well what he would find nothing. Quote put into a paper with long format: Later in his journey, the Whiskey Priest makes a grim revelation that reveals his hopeless mindset:
It was an odd thing that ever since that hot and crowded night in the cell he had passed into a region of abandonment almost as if he had died there with the old man s head on his shoulder and now wandered in a kind of limbo, because he wasn t good enough or bad enough Life didn t exist anymore; it wasn t merely a matter of the banana station. Now as the storm broke and he scurried for shelter he knew quite well what he would find nothing. (Greene 147) The Whiskey Priest s thoughts show his gradual degeneration as his faith continues to be test and eroded. Even the word choice of the narrator reinforces this ideas, as it states the Priest is in a kind of limbo, a term associated in Catholicism with Purgatory. Verse (Poetry) Short Quote Format Verse can include traditional poems, epic poems and plays (primarily Shakespeare) that are written in meter. Short format is used when quoting three lines or fewer of the verse. When quoting from a poem (traditional or epic), the in-text citation should include the line numbers of the passage being quoted, NOT the page of the passage. Insert a virgule (slash mark) between the end of one line and the beginning of the next, leaving a space before and after the virgule Do NOT include a virgule at the end of the final line being quoted Example using a passage from Robert Browning s Meeting at Night : Browning s vivid imagery is evident as he describes the long black land; / And the yellow halfmoon large and low (1-2). Verse Long Quote Format (Block Format) When quoting more than three lines from verse, it is necessary to offset (or block) the quote, just as with the long quote prose example. Begin a new line and indent one inch (double tab usually) No quotes are needed End each line in your paper where the line ends in the original poem No slash marks are used
Quote is DOUBLE-SPACED The citation follows the period at the end of the quote Begin a new line (not indented) to return to your writing Sample passage to be quoted (lines 5-8 of John Donne s Valediction Forbidding Mourning ): So let us melt, and make no noise, No tear-floods, nor sigh-tempests move; Twere profanation of our joys To tell the laity our love. Incorrect format example #1: Out of respect for their love, Donne believes he and his lover should not make an emotional scene at their parting: So let us melt, and make no noise, / No tear-floods, nor sigh-tempests move; / Twere profanation of our joys / To tell the laity our love. (5-8) The mistake: Even though the writer correctly realized the quote s length required long format, he does not end lines in his paper where they end in the text. The poem does not appear the way it does in the original. Incorrect format example #2: Out of respect for their love, Donne believes he and his lover should not make an emotional scene at their parting: So let us melt, and make no noise, / No tear-floods, nor sigh-tempests move; / Twere profanation of our joys / To tell the laity our love. (5-8)
The mistake: While the writer has correctly ended the lines so that they begin and end as they do in the original poem, he has also included virgules (slash marks), which are unnecessary. Correct example: Out of respect for their love, Donne believes he and his lover should not make an emotional scene at their parting: So let us melt, and make no noise, No tear-floods, nor sigh-tempests move; Twere profanation of our joys To tell the laity our love. (5-8) QUOTING FROM PLAYS A play written in prose is quoted in the exact same manner as a novel. Include the page number in the citation, and follow the prose formats. If a play is divided into acts, scenes AND line numbers (which is more typical of plays written in verse, notably Shakespeare), then all three of those elements and NOT the page number are included in the citation. Example (taken from act 3, scene 1, line 64 of Shakespeare s play Hamlet): As he contemplates life s irony, Hamlet wonders whether it is better To be or not to be (3.1.64). If the play is written in verse, then follow the verse (poetry) formats. Example (again, from Hamlet): Soon after seeing the Ghost, Hamlet tells a skeptical Horatio, There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, / Than are dreamt of in your philosophy (1.5.187-8). Note the use of the virgule to distinguish the end of one line and the beginning of the next.
NOTES ABOUT IN-TEXT CITATIONS (or PARENTHETICAL CITATIONS) 1) The citation is not always placed immediately after the quote; it is always placed after the quote and immediately preceding the next end-mark. Example: Spender notes that humans will never touch Mars (54), suggesting either that they will be unable to be that gentle, or unable to understand the true essence of the culture. Here, the nearest end-mark after the quote occurs after the word Mars, and thus the citation is placed in front of the comma that follows Mars. 2) For the first citation, when writing about only one work, include the author s last name along with the page number, but after that, include only the page number. ELLIPSIS Sometimes it is necessary to edit quotes because of their length. As long as the meaning remains intact, use an ellipsis (... ) to indicate edited material. The ellipsis can occur in the middle of quote, at the end of a quote (although this is no longer required), or occur in any combination thereof. Generally, the ellipsis is not used to begin a quote, even if quote is picked up in the middle of the original. The capitalization, or lack thereof, of the first word in the quote will let us know if you have picked it up in the middle of a sentence or not. Original quote (from page 147 of Graham Greene s novel The Power and the Glory): It was an odd thing that ever since that hot and crowded night in the cell he had passed into a region of abandonment almost as if he had died there with the old man s head on his shoulder and now wandered in a kind of limbo, because he wasn t good enough or bad enough Life didn t exist anymore; it wasn t merely a matter of the banana station. Now as the storm broke and he scurried for shelter he knew quite well what he would find nothing. Possible uses: 1) The narrator notes that the priest now wandered in a kind of limbo (147). (N.B. Again, generally, when blending, the ellipsis is NOT used at the beginning despite the quote being picked up mid-stream. An ellipsis at the end of a quote is only used when ending the quote mid-sentence. Here, because I ended the quote in the middle of a sentence, I could have ended with an ellipsis, but new MLA format does not require it.)
2) The desperation of the Whisky Priest is revealed in his seeming state of hopelessness: Life didn t exist anymore... Now as the storm broke and he scurried for shelter he knew quite well what he would find nothing (147). 3) The way the Whisky Priest has given up hope is best explained in his belief that Life didn t exist anymore (147). NOTE: Even though this is a blend, and the word Life would not normally be capitalized, it is capitalized here because that is the way it appears in the quote. The capitalization tells us that the quote was picked up at the beginning of a sentence. FINAL OBSERVATIONS 1. The MLA Guide to Writing Research Papers will have further examples regarding how to use quotes properly. USE IT. 2. Be sure to maintain balance in using quotes. You do not want the majority of your paper to be quotes, but you should include them in every body paragraph. There should be more of your writing in an essay than quotes (at least a 3-1 ratio). 3. Always be sure to reproduce the quote accurately in your text. 4. Vary the way you use quotes. If you always use the dialogue form, your writing will feel less sophisticated than if you also use blending and direct statement introductions from time to time. 5. There is nothing wrong with using more than one quote in a paragraph, but avoid using two or more longer quotes in one paragraph, or even one paper. 6. Remember that quotes are meaningless unless you explain their respective significance. 7. There is nothing wrong, even having a variety of sources at your disposal, to double check with me to make sure that you are using quotes properly. I will appreciate your interest in getting it right. Work Cited Gatewood, David. Writing about Literature: Quoting Benjamin School. Palm Beach Gardens, FL. http://www.benjaminschool.net/uploaded/faculty/dgatewood/quoting_literature.doc
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