Quotations and Punctuation

Quotations

Quoting is used to repeat exactly what another source has said or written, and the text is presented between quotation marks. You quote when:

• You want to use a part of the author’s argument to express your own thoughts.
• The author’s words are written so perfectly that you cannot improve them by paraphrasing.
• You want to analyze the author’s original words.

Quote Sandwich

When framing each quotation, you might think about building a “quote sandwich.” Sandwiching quotes between an introduction—which includes an attributive tag naming the author(s)—and an explanation helps the reader see how the quote you included supports your overall thesis and the immediate point you’re trying to make.

Provide context: If you haven’t used it yet in the essay, tell us the source’s title and author (if known), and any other information that’s relevant, like the purpose of the organization that published it, for instance. You may also want to use a signal phrase, which is an introductory clause that signals to the reader a shift in point of view from you to your source like “Korsgaard argues…” or “Vendler noted…” Signal verbs are in the present in MLA format and in the past in APA format.

Other common signal verbs: Acknowledge, Admit, Agree, Argue, Assert, Believe, Claim, Compare, Confirm, Comment, Contend, Counter, Declare, Deny, Dispute, Emphasize, Find, Illustrate, Imply, Insist, Maintain, Mention, Note, Observe, Point out, Reason, Refute, Reject, Report, Respond, Suggest, Think, Write

Insert the quote: Provide the quote itself. Be sure to format correctly and use quotation marks around exact language.

Explain the significance of the quote: Once you’ve inserted your quotation, along with its context and attribution, don’t stop! Your reader still needs your assessment of why the quotation holds significance for your paper.

Quotations and Punctuation

Commas and periods: In the American style, periods and commas go inside quotation marks except when you use in-text citations. When including citations, periods and commas go outside the quotation marks.

Inside: The men later inhabit the hotel without pretension, according to Cole, forgoing the hotel beds to sleep on mats on the floor after “years of bedding down in the hills.”

Outside: Sheriff argues that this feint of self-delusion is meant to temper “the fact that blackness is constructed through the shared experience of discrimination and prejudice and is thus a product of oppression” (Sheriff 58).

Exclamation points and question marks go inside the quotation marks when they are part of the quotation and outside when they are part of your own sentence that contains the quotation. With in-text citations, the question mark or exclamation point goes inside the quotation if it is part of that quotation, and a period follows the parenthetical citation.

Inside: The fact that Emerson periodically contradicts his own ideas only further exemplifies his point: “Why drag about a corpse of your memory, lest you contradict somewhat you have stated in this or that public place?” (125).

Outside: But what are we to make of Harding’s admonition to “write while you can no matter the sacrifice”?

Colons and semi-colons go outside quotation marks.

Outside: This opening conforms to many of the standards of what Karen Halttunen refers to as “the narratological structure of the nonfictional murder mystery”; such tales of murder typically begin “with the corpus delicti, the fact of the crime, usually established by the dead body” (108).

Single vs. Double Quotation Marks vs. (qtd. in ___)

Double quotation marks are the convention for indicating a word, phrase, or chunk of text is pulled from the original source word for word. Sometimes the source includes quotes within it. When quoting these quotes, use either single quotation marks or a parenthetical citation that includes the phrase: (qtd. in ____).

• • Single quotes inside double quotes example: In the novel, Mary Ann told her husband, “‘It’s fine, I guess.’”
  • Qtd. in example: In the novel, Mary Ann told her husband, “It’s fine, I guess” (qtd. in Smith 98).

Using ellipses to remove unnecessary words

Shortening a quote by an author will help your argument to focus on its point more effectively. Show the words you have removed by using an ellipsis (…).

Example:

Original text: While the relationship between emotional stress and disease, and mental and physical health more broadly, is often considered controversial within medical orthodoxy, Dr. Maté argues too many doctors seem to have forgotten what was once a commonplace assumption, that emotions are deeply implicated in both the development of illness, addictions and disorders, and in their healing.

Selective quotation: “Dr. Maté argues too many doctors seem to have forgotten…that emotions are deeply implicated in both the development of illness, addictions and disorders.”

Using brackets to change or add words in a quote

Writers can clarify the meanings of words to better match their own arguments or styles.
To do so, put the changes in square brackets [like this].

Example:

Original text: With scientists’ warning that sharply higher temperatures would devastate the global south and threaten the viability of industrial civilisation in the northern hemisphere, campaigners said the new paper reinforced the imperative to cut emissions.

Quoted text with brackets: “With scientists’ warning that sharply higher temperatures would devastate the global south and threaten the viability of industrial civilisation in the northern hemisphere, campaigners said the new [research] reinforced the imperative to cut emissions.”

Source: “Scientists shocked by Arctic permafrost thawing 70 years sooner
than predicted.” The Guardian. June 18, 2019

Block longer quotes

When quoting large chunks of text (4+ lines of quoted material in MLA; 40 words in APA), “block” the information by indenting once from the left-hand margin. Do not use quotation marks at the beginning or end of the 
block quote—the indentation is what indicates that it’s a quote.

Example:

After reading several doctrinally rigid tracts, John Adams recalled the zealous ranting of his former teacher, Joseph Cleverly, and minister, Lemuel Bryant. He expressed his ambivalence toward religion in an 1817 letter to Thomas Jefferson:

Twenty times, in the course of my late reading, have I been on the point of breaking out, “This would be the best of all possible worlds, if there were no religion in it!!!!” But in this exclamation, I should have been as fanatical as Bryant or Cleverly. Without religion, this world would be something not fit to be mentioned in public company—I mean hell. (Smith 19)

Adams clearly appreciated religion, even if he often questioned its promotion.