Dr. Denison MacPherson, MacIsaac, Gowans Quotations Purpose and Integration

Dr. Denison MacPherson, MacIsaac, Gowans “Quotation” or “Quote”? “Quote” A verb to “repeat or copy out (a group of words from a text)” (Oxford English Dictionary) “Quotation” A noun “a group of words taken from a text or speech and repeated by someone other than the original author or speaker” (Oxford English Dictionary)

Dr. Denison MacPherson, MacIsaac, Gowans We “quote” quotations! We should use the word “quote” to describe the action of “quoting” a “quotation”. Eg: To quote Samuel Beckett, “Words are all we have”.

Dr. Denison MacPherson, MacIsaac, Gowans How do we use quotations? We use quotations in the following ways: As dialogue in creative writing As evidence in non-fiction forms such as news articles, reports, paragraphs and essays

Dr. Denison MacPherson, MacIsaac, Gowans Problems with Quotations Quotations need to be appropriate to the context in which they are used Quotations need to be integrated smoothly into the piece of writing Quotations need to be cited properly

Dr. Denison MacPherson, MacIsaac, Gowans Integrating Quotations We integrate quotations into our sentences by using a comma a colon or

Dr. Denison MacPherson, MacIsaac, Gowans Quotations and the Colon Use a colon to introduce a quotation which does NOT flow naturally into the grammatical logic of the sentence Romeo questions the nature of love: “Is love a tender thing?” (I.iv.25). In her short story, “Once Upon a Time”, author Nadine Gordimer uses the sense of hearing to develop tone: “I was reading every faintest sound, identifying and classifying its possible threat.” (Gordimer 55). In both examples, the author has written an independent thought which introduces the supporting quotation. The quotations serves as a grammatical =‘s sign!

Dr. Denison MacPherson, MacIsaac, Gowans Quotations and the Comma Use a comma to integrate a quotation when the quotation fits the grammatical context of the sentence. Romeo questions the nature of love when he wonders if “…love [is] a tender thing…” (I.iv.25). Here, the grammatical context of the sentence is adjusted to insert the quotation without using a colon. Ellipsis (…) is used to indicate that part of the quotation has been omitted. Here, both a word, and a piece of punctuation, have been omitted. Square Brackets [ ] are used to insert the writer’s own words. In this case, the word [is] is inserted so that the quotation makes sense.

Dr. Denison MacPherson, MacIsaac, Gowans Citing the Quotation English Courses at Dr. Denison use the Modern Language Association Style Guide for citing quotations. Quotation Citations are embedded in the body of the text Embedded Citations refer to the Full Citation listed on the Works Cited page

Dr. Denison MacPherson, MacIsaac, Gowans Citations – Citing the Author If you are only referencing one text written by the author, cite the last name. If you are referencing two or more titles by the same author, cite the title of the text. In her short story, “Once Upon a Time”, author Nadine Gordimer uses the sense of hearing to develop tone: “I was reading every faintest sound, identifying and classifying its possible threat.” (Gordimer 55). In her short story, “Once Upon a Time”, author Nadine Gordimer uses the sense of hearing to develop tone: “I was reading every faintest sound, identifying and classifying its possible threat.” (“Once Upon a Time” 55).