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Quotation Integration:

Every time you quote something in your essay, you must use a signal phrase or sentence

somewhere in your sentence, either at the beginning, middle, or end. The signal text shows your

readers that the quoted information comes from a specific published source.

Remembering just a few simple rules can help you use the correct punctuation as you introduce

quotations. There are some exceptions to the rules below, but they should help you use the

correct punctuation with quotations most of the time.

 Rule 1: Someone says, "quotation." If the word just before the quotation is a verb

indicating someone uttering the quoted words, use a comma. Examples include the words

"says," "said," "states," "asks," and "yells." But remember that there is no punctuation if

the word "that" comes just before the quotation, as in "the narrator says that."

 Rule 2: Complete sentence: "quotation." If you use a complete sentence to introduce a

quotation, use a colon (:) just before the quotation.

 Rule 3: Aim for always producing grammatical sentences. Use brackets to change

anything in a quotation in order to make it grammatical.

 And remember that a semicolon (;) never is used to introduce quotations.

These rules oversimplify the use of punctuation with quotations, but applying just these few rules

should help you use the correct punctuation about 90 percent of time.

There are mainly three ways to integrate quotations.

1. Integrate quotations with a dependent clause and a comma. 2. Integrate quotations with a colon and an independent clause 3. Integrate quotations into your own sentence.

Below are explanations of how to use each of these methods.

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Rule 1: When you use an introductory or explanatory clause or phrase (i.e. not a complete sentence) to integrate a quotation, separate the clause or phrase from the quotation with a

comma.

Most common example with a dependent clause and comma:

MLA:

Thoreau asks, "Why should we live with such hurry and waste of life?" (14).

Or

"Why should we live with such hurry and waste of life," Thoreau asks (14).

APA:

According to Jones (1998), "Students often had difficulty using APA style, especially when it

was their first time" (p. 199).

The dependent clauses here are ‘Thoreau asks’, ‘According to Jones’, and ‘She states’. When

you set off a quotation with a dependent clause, you must use a comma. 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). Change the punctuation as necessary in order to make

the quotation fit your sentence.

Another common example with a dependent phrase and comma:

According to Thoreau, "We do not ride on the railroad; it rides upon us" (10).

Or

"We do not ride on the railroad,” according to Thoreau, “it rides upon us" (10).

In short, you must use a comma when you introduce a quotation with a phrase such as

“According to Thoreau.” If you put the phrase in the middle of the sentence, you must put two

commas, one on either side of the phrase.

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Examples with a longer dependent clause or sentence and a comma:

MLA:

Thoreau suggests the consequences of making ourselves slaves to progress when he claims, "We

do not ride on the railroad; it rides upon us" (10).

In "Where I Lived, and What I Lived For," Thoreau directly states his purpose for going into the

woods when he says, "I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the

essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to

die, discover that I had not lived" (3).

APA:

She stated, "Students often had difficulty using APA style" (Jones, 1998, p. 199), but she did not

offer an explanation as to why.

Rule 2: Introduce the quotation with a complete sentence and a colon.

Example with colon:

MLA:

Thoreau ends his essay with a metaphor: "Time is but the stream I go a-fishing in" (28).

Thoreau suggests the consequences of making ourselves slaves to progress: "We do not ride on

the railroad; it rides upon us" (10).

This is an easy rule to remember: if you use a complete sentence to introduce a quotation, you

need to use a colon. Be careful not to confuse a colon (:) with a semicolon (;). Using a comma in

this situation will most likely create a comma splice, one of the serious sentence-boundary errors.

If you are in the habit of dropping in quotations without making them a part of your sentence, go

back through your essay and add colons so that you connect the quotations to your sentences.

Another example with colon:

In "Where I Lived, and What I Lived For," Thoreau directly states his purpose for going into the

woods: "I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential

facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die,

discover that I had not lived" (3).

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APA:

Jones (1998) has found that students struggle with APA at first: "Students often had difficulty

using APA style, especially when it was their first time" (p. 199).

NOTE: It is not common to quote with colons in APA.

Rule 3: You can also make the quotation a part of your own sentence without any punctuation between your own words and the words you are quoting. Make sure to use

brackets if necessary to change the quotation so that it fits the tense, form, and overall

grammar of your sentence.

Example of integrated quotation:

MLA:

In “Where I Lived, and What I Lived For,” Thoreau claims he “went to the woods because [he]

wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life” (3).

APA:

As researchers Yanovski and Yanovski (2002) have explained, obesity was once considered

“either a moral failing or evidence of underlying psychopathology” (p. 592).

Other things to consider when quoting:

Making Changes to the Original Quotation:

Note, if you have to change a word in the quotation, in the Thoreau example above I changed the

“I” to “he”, then you should use brackets.

Notice that you do not need to put ellipses (the three dots “…”) when you are quoting from the

middle of sentences.

Notice the word "that" is used. When it is used in this way, "that" replaces the comma which

would be necessary without it in the sentence.

You usually have a choice, then, when you begin a sentence with a phrase such as "Thoreau

says." You can add a comma after "says" (Thoreau says, "quotation"), or you can add the word

"that" with no comma (Thoreau says that "quotation.")

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Notice the punctuation of all of the examples above in relation to the quotations. If you do not

produce a parenthetical citation in your sentence (no author's name and page number in

parentheses), the commas and periods go inside the final quotation mark ("like this."). Note,

however, that this is the way we do it in America. In England, the commas and periods always

go outside of the final punctuation mark.

Semicolons and colons, on the other hand, go outside of the final quotation mark ("like this";).

Question marks and exclamation points go outside of the final quotation mark if the punctuation

mark is part of your sentence—your question or your exclamation.

Example:

Do you think she would "like this"?

Those marks go inside of the final quotation mark if they are a part of the original—the writer's

question or exclamation.

Example:

"I really, really like this!" she said.

Notice that you would not use a comma in this sentence. Never use punctuation marks right next

together.

Explaining Quotations in Your OWN Words:

MLA dictates that you should explain all quotations in your own words:

After you quote something fully, you should then explain the quotation briefly—a sentence of

two—when you analyze the quotation in detail. You may also point to and explain specific

words in the quotation.

Example of full quotation from above:

In "Where I Lived, and What I Lived For," Thoreau directly states his purpose for going into the

woods: "I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential

facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die,

discover that I had not lived" (3). In other words, Thoreau claims his retreat to the woods around

Walden Pond was motivated by his desire "to live deliberately" and to face only "the essential

facts of life." What he means is that he wanted to see if he could survive on his own by feeding

and sheltering himself. When he says he wants to live “deliberately” he means he wants to take

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stock of what it would require to survive on his own in the “woods,” the forested area around

Walden. Ultimately, he wanted to learn what this would teach him about life.

APA dictates that you should not explain the quotation in your own words:

When you quote you should provide enough context clues for your reader to understand the

quotation fully.

Example:

The widening scope of the obesity problem has prompted medical professionals to rethink old

conceptions of the disorder and its causes. As researchers Yanovski and Yanovski (2002) have

explained, obesity was once considered “either a moral failing or evidence of underlying

psychopathology” (p. 592). But this view has shifted: Many medical professionals now consider

obesity a biomedical rather than a moral condition, influenced by both genetic and environmental

factors. Yanovski and Yanovski have further noted that the development of weight-loss

medications in the early 1990s showed that “obesity should be treated in the same manner as any

other chronic disease . . . through the long-term use of medication” (p. 592).

The search for the right long-term medication has been complicated. Many of the drugs

authorized by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA ) in the early 1990s proved to be a

disappointment. Two of the medications—fenfluramine and dexfenfluramine—were withdrawn

from the market because of severe side effects (Yanovski & Yanovski, 2002, p. 592), and several

others were classified by the Drug Enforcement Administration as having the “potential for

abuse” (Hoppin & Taveras, 2004, Weight-Loss Drugs section, para. 6). Currently only two

medications have been approved by the FDA for longterm treatment of obesity: sibutramine

(marketed as Meridia) and orlistat (marketed as Xenical). This section compares studies on the

effectiveness of each.

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Avoiding Plagiarism when Quoting and Paraphrasing:

APA Style

Original In the current paper we will be examining responses to a particular type of

imposter; the vegetarian who eats meat. We chose this example because the core

norm of the vegetarian is very clear (to not eat meat), and violation of the norm is

easily recognized.

Hornsey, M.J. & Jetten, J. (2003). Not being what you claim to be: impostors as

sources of group threat. [Electronic version] European Journal of Social

Psychology, 33, 639-657.

Plagiarized

Version

Correct

Version

Hornsey and Jetten (2003) investigated responses to impostors. They defined

impostors, in this case, as vegetarians who eat meat. They “chose this example

because the core norm of the vegetarian is very clear (to not eat meat), and

violation of the norm is easily recognized” (p. 641).

Hornsey and Jetten (2003) investigated what they claim are “response to a

particular type of imposter” (p.641). They defined “impostors”, in this case, as

meat-eating vegetarians. They claim they chose this example because it was a

clear instance of how someone in the vegetarian cultural group can violate “the

core norm of the vegetarian…(to not eat meat)” (p. 641).

The thing to notice is that in the plagiarized version the author takes the words

“responses to imposters” without showing that these are Hornsey and Jetten’s

actual words. Then the author only changed a few sentences when describing the

test subjects: “vegetarians who eat meat.” Changing a few words or letters does

not fix the problem.

Instead, the author needed to quote the key language of the original and

significantly change the language when paraphrasing it. In the correct version, the

author makes sure to show that “responses to imposters” is Hornsey and Jetten’s

actual language. The author sufficiently changed the form of the test subject

description: “meat-eating vegetarians.”

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MLA Style

Original The women in The Sopranos are, without a doubt, at least as deadly as the males –

in some cases, literally, in other cases metaphorically. Livia, Carmela, Dr. Melfi,

and Janice are more dangerous than Junior, Tony, Christopher, and Paulie because

the women commandeer power while seeming to wield none. The evidence of

their powers of destruction is more easily disguised. In other words, while the

women might stoop to conquer, they do eventually and efficiently conquer their

enemies.

Barreca, Regina. “Why I Like the Women in The Sopranos.” A Sitdown with

theSopranos: Watching Italian American Culture on TV’s Most Talked-

About Series. Ed. Regina Barreca. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2002.

27-46.

Plagiarized

Version

Correction

Version

According to Regina Barreca, the women in The Sopranos are at least as deadly as

the males: “in some cases, literally, in other cases metaphorically.” Livia,

Carmela, Dr. Melfi, and Janice, Barreca claims, are “more dangerous” than

Junior, Tony, Christopher, and Paulie because the “women commandeer power

while seeming to wield none” (37).

In “Why I like Women in the The Sopranos,” Regina Barreca argues that “the

women in The Sopranos…Livia, Carmela, Dr. Melfi, and Janice are more

dangerous than Junior, Tony, Christopher, and Paulie because the women

commandeer power while seeming to wield none” (37). In other words, Barreca is

saying that the women ultimately have the real “power” over the men. While it is

true that the men murder and are quite “dangerous” for doing so, the women are

more “dangerous” because they can get the men to murder for them. Barreca

claims that the women’s power needs to be understood “metaphorically,” rather

than “literally” (37).