Sophs--Integrating Quotations

Never, never, DROP quotations into your text without integrating them. Quotations should support or amplify your argument or opinion, and should NOT be used as topic sentences or words to explain your opinion.

This fatal error is called a DROPPED QUOTATION.

You must grammatically integrate (work in) quotations from your sources in standard punctuation and syntax.


How does one do this?

Keep in simple, Sam.

1. Work in impartial quotations


e.g. Adolescents tend to think that tans are attractive and as a result of this are "less likely to use sun protection or to be knowledgeable about skin cancer risks" ("Indoor Tanning").


No comma needed before the quotation if it is worked in without signal phrase like "he said."


The word "less" is lower case (small l), also.


Note: the source citation comes after the quote and before the end period.



2. Quotations introduced with a signal phrase


e.g. Dr. Mark Naylor, a dermatologist at the University of Oklahoma Medical Foundation, said, "There has been an increase in the number of tanning-bed users with skin cancers on parts of their bodies that do not normally get exposed to sunlight" (qtd. in Levine 5).


There is a comma before the quotation because the signal phrase "said" introduces the quotation.


The word "There" is upper case (capitalized).


The source citation uses the phrase "qtd. in" to reflect an "indirect source," meaning that the quotation you've used did not originally come from the source that you used.


3. Set off a full sentence quotation with explanatory information first


Make a declarative statement that explains the importance of the quotation. Then introduce the quotation with a colon. Begin the quotation with an upper case letter.


e.g. Dr. Mark Naylor, a dermatologist at the University of Oklahoma Medical Foundation, notes a new effect of the proliferation of tanning beds: "There has been an increase in the number of tanning-bed users with skin cancers on parts of their bodies that do not normally get exposed to sunlight" (qtd. in Levine 5).



Other hints and reminders


For extended prose quotations of more than four lines


Set off more than four typed lines of prose. Indent one inch or ten spaces from the left margin. Use the normal right margin and do NOT single space. Do not put quotation marks around the quotation. Put the page number after the final punctuation mark.It would be very rare for you to have a quotation of this type in your paper.


Use an ellipsis ( a series of three spaced periods) to indicate left out words


e.g. "The ceremony honored twelve brilliant athletes … visiting the U.S."


Use brackets to indicate words you put in to clarify or make grammatical


e.g. The fruit that is picked and not sold is then treated by “men with hoses [who] squirt kerosene on the oranges" and “dump potatoes in the rivers and place guards along the bank to keep the hungry people from fishing them out."


Use the term “sic” to indicate an error in the original quotation (so that your reader doesn’t think that you’ve made the error)


e.g Joe Taylor said that “he was the bestest [sic] friend he ever had.”