SupportAvoid simple plot summary – add something new/YOUR take on the story

Please don’t make me write: “Quote all alone ” or FLOAT :

“The box grew shabbier each year: by now it was no longer completely black but splintered badly along one side to show the original wood color” (Jackson 1).

Jackson describes the box as “splintered badly along one side to show the original wood color” (Jackson 1), emphasizing the initial tradition hidden underneath the newer layers of paint.

Punctuation Punctuation w/Quotation w/Quotation

MarksMarks

Arthur Miller’s The Crucible shares some similarities with Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery”

Punctuation w/Quotation Punctuation w/Quotation MarksMarks

Arthur Miller’s The Crucible shares some similarities with “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson.

Punctuation w/Quotation Punctuation w/Quotation MarksMarks

Does Arthur Miller’s The Crucible share similarities with Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery”

QuotationsQuotationsExcept for when you are citing

the page number in parentheses

PUNCTUATION GOES INSIDE THE

QUOTATION MARKS

Essay Writing Techniques - MLA

In-text Quotations:

The father asks, “Are you scared?” (McCarthy 28). To which the boy replies, “Yes, I am

scared” (28).

Please Notice That:

Quotation marks are placed at the end of the quoted text, not after the citation.

Period does not go after quote, but after the parenthesis in the citation.

Question Marks/exclamation points go inside the quotation marks. Semi-colons/colons go outside.

Floating Quotes

You must introduce the quote in some way. Never use quote as a stand-alone sentence!

This: O’Brien clearly explains, “More than

anything, though, the stockings were a

talisman for him. They kept him safe”

(118).

Not This: “More than anything, though, the stockings were a talisman for him. They kept him safe” (118).

Do not begin a sentence with a quote, and then start the next sentence with, “This quote shows how….”

Style Note: Integrate the Quote into Text; make it a part of your sentence.

Examples:

His need to sometimes even sleep “with the stockings up against his face” (O’Brien 117) reinforces the idea that soldiers need to be reminded of comfortable times to balance the harsh cruelties of warfare.

AND

The reason Jensen and Strunk suddenly trusted each other after the incident with the jackknife is because “everything was square between them” (64).

Proper MLA QuotingProper MLA Quoting

“Quote” (Last-Name Page).

Proper MLA QuotingProper MLA Quoting“Quote only words, phrases, lines,

and passages that are particularly interesting, vivid, unusual, or apt, and keep all quotations as brief as possible”

OR

When you use quotations in an essay, Gibaldi warns, “Quote only words, phrases, lines, and passages that are particularly interesting, vivid, unusual, or apt, and keep all quotations as brief as possible”

(Gibaldi 109).

(109).

Quoting QuotesTo quote quotes use single quotation marks for quote:e.g. “The central dilemma of the

play is expressed in Hamlet’s question, ‘To be or not to be’” (Tremblay 23).

e.g. When Tremblay argues that “the central dilemma of the play is expressed in Hamlet’s question, ‘To be or not to be’” (23), he is wrong.

e.g. “Read ‘The Lottery,’” he told me.

Omitting Words

• e.g. Michael Meyer explains that, in presenting your interpretation of a work, “argumentation requires . . . supporting your thesis with clearly defined terms, ample evidence, and a detailed analysis of relevant portions of the text” (9).

• If you are omitting a whole sentence or more:e.g. “If you have a choice, it’s generally best

to write about a topic that you feel strongly about. . . . If your essay is to be interesting and convincing, what is important is that it be written from a strong point of view that persuasively argues your evaluation, analysis, and interpretation of a work” (Meyer 9).

Adding or Changing Material in Quote

• for clarity of time:“When we last see Lady Macbeth [in the sleepwalking scene], she is obviously distraught” (Santos 72).

• for clarity of pronoun reference: Guildenstern reports to the King, “Nor do we find [Hamlet] forward to be sounded” (Shakespeare 3).

• for syntax consistency: Mathematics is not only one of the “subjects of knowledge,” Frye points out, but one “which [is] also a means of knowing” (109).

Sometimes, if a quotation would be unclear or confusing to your readers, you may change a word or insert supplementary information within a quotation to clarify an idea.

Clarifying Sentences

• ORIGINAL QUOTE:• Lady Gaga: It was a lot of fun.

• CLARIFIED QUOTE• Lady Gaga said, “[My vacation] was a lot of fun.”

Modifying Sentences

• ORIGINAL QUOTE:• She was running, dancing and singing.

• MODIFIED QUOTE• When the character__________________

“run[s], danc[es] and sing[s]”

Modifying Sentences

• ORIGINAL QUOTE:• “3+3=5”

• MODIFIED QUOTE• “3+3=5 [sic]”

Longer QuotesLong prose quotations of more than four lines

should be set off from your text in a “block format.”

Edgar V. Roberts offers this interesting comment on the origins of fiction:

Fiction had its roots in ancient myths and folk tales. In primitive civilizations, stories were circulated by word of mouth, and often traveling storytellers would appear in a court or village to entertain eager listeners with tales based on the exploits of heroes and gods. Although many of these were heavily fictionalized accounts of events and people who may or may not ever have existed, they were largely accepted by the people as fact or history. (51)

This sadly goes against everything Roberts originally meant.