Thursday, October 2, 2008

The notes for Integrating Quotations in Compositions

September, 30, 2008
A2, Grace Hong
Intro.
Think of quotations as helium balloons. If you let go of a helium balloon, it flies away. In a similar way, if you use a quotations all by itself in your writing (without “holding it down” with an explaining sentence)
That quotation will seem disconnected from your own thoughts and from the flow of your sentences.

IMPORTANT!
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- Any sentence/paragraph/phrase/words taken word for word from the novel (or other book, magazine, article)
- It does not mean only things in a novel which are said by a character.

There are at least four ways to integrate quotations.
1. Introduce the quotation with a complete sentence and a colon.
Ex. Thoreau ends his essay with a metaphor: "Time is but the stream I go a-fishing in."

a. This is an easy rule to remember: if you use a complete sentence to introduce a quotation, you need a colon after the sentence.
b. Be careful not to confuse a colon (:) with a semicolon (;).
c. Using a comma in this situation will most likely create a comma splice, one of the serious sentence-boundary errors.

2. Use an introductory or explanatory phrase, but not a complete sentence, separated from the quotation with a comma.
Ex. According to Thoreau, "We do not ride on the railroad; it rides upon us."

Remember:
a. 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," "pondered," "recalls," "questions," and "asks," and many more.
b. You should also use a comma when you introduce a quotation with a phrase such as “According to Thoreau.”

3. Make the quotation a part of your own sentence without any punctuation between your own words and the words you are quoting.
Ex. Thoreau argues that "shams and delusions are esteemed for soundest truths, while reality is fabulous."

Reminder:
a. Notice that the word "that" is used in three of the examples above, and when it is used as it is in the examples, "that" replaces that comma which would be necessary without "that" in the sentence.
b. You usually have a choice, then, when you begin a sentence with a phrase such as "Thoreau says." You either can add a comma after “says” (Thoreau says, “quotation”) or you can add the word “that” with no comma (Thoreau says that “quotation.”)

4. Use short quotations--only a few words--as part of your own sentence.
Ex. Although Thoreau "drinks at" the stream of Time, he can "detect how shallow it is."

Remember:
a. When you integrate quotations in this way, you do not use any special punctuation.
b. Instead, you should punctuate the sentence just as you would if all of the words were your own.
c. No punctuation is needed in the sentences above in part because the sentences do not follow the pattern explained under number 1 and 2 above: there is not a complete sentences in front of the quotations, and a word such as “says,” “said,” or “asks,” does not appear directly in front of the quoted words.

All of the methods above for integrating quotations are correct, but you should avoid relying too much on just one method. You should instead use a variety of methods.


-Notice that there are only tow punctuation marks that are used to introduce quotations:
The comma (,) and the colon (:)
Note that a semicolon (;) is not used to introduce quotations.

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