Writewell Quotations

(Comma needed: P.7 direct discourse)

Gilman Punctuation Rules:

Quotation Marks in Research Papers (see below)

Use a comma to set off direct discourse in a sentence, but not indirect discourse.
Example:

He said (,) “I cannot see you.” (direct discourse)
He said he could not see me. (indirect discourse)

When an expression like he said interrupts direct discourse, it should be preceded by a comma and followed by the punctuation mark needed if he said were removed.
Example:

“John is a good boy,” I said (;) “therefore, he has many privileges."

However, if he said is preceded by a question or exclamation, it should be preceded by a question mark or exclamation mark and followed by a period. Example:

“Are you going to the races?” she asked.
“How you have grown!” he exclaimed.

When you are writing a short story and you want to quote a conversation directly, start a new paragraph to denote every change in speaker.
Example:

“I am ready for action, sir!” cried out the young tackle to his coach as the trainer worked on his teammate’s injured knee.
“All right, kid, go get 'em!” replied the coach. The boy nodded, pulled on his helmet, and ran out onto the rain-soaked field.

Unemphatic exclamations, like yes, no, oh, or well occur frequently in direct discourse; they should be set off by commas.
Example:

“Well, gentlemen, why don't we get to work?” said Mr. Wigglesworth with a placid expression.
"Oh, please, anything but that!" cried out the class.

Honor in Writing at Gilman

How to Use Quotation Marks (Purdue OWL)
Extended Rules for Using Quotation Marks (Purdue OWL)
Using Single Quotations Marks (Darling et al)
Strange Verb Tenses in Reported Speech (Sorensen)

Quotation Marks in Research Papers:

MLA Formatting - The Basics (Purdue OWL video)
MLA Formatting: Works Cited Page (Purdue Owl Video)
MLA Overview and Workshop (Purdue OWL)
MLA Works Cited: Electronic Sources (Web Publications) (Purdue OWL)
MLA PowerPoint Presentation (Purdue OWL)

How to Use Quotation Marks (Purdue OWL)
Extended Rules for Using Quotation Marks (Purdue OWL)
The MLA Website

Honor in Writing at Gilman
Avoiding Plagiarism: Overviews and Contradictions (Purdue)
Avoiding Plagiarism: Safe Practices (Purdue)

Quotation Mark Exercise and Answers (Purdue OWL)

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(Cite author and page number)
(Remember to include a reference to this text on your Works Cited Page.)

Gilman Punctuation Rules:

"I deem it best to stick to the practical truth of things rather than to fancies. Many men have imagined republics and principalities that never really existed at all. Yet the way men live is so far removed from the way they ought to live that anyone who abandons what is for what should be pursues his downfall rather than his preservation." (Machiavelli 56)

MLA Formatting - The Basics (Purdue OWL video)
MLA Formatting: Works Cited Page (Purdue Owl Video)
MLA Overview and Workshop (Purdue OWL)
MLA Works Cited: Electronic Sources (Web Publications) (Purdue OWL)
MLA PowerPoint Presentation (Purdue OWL)

How to Use Quotation Marks (Purdue OWL)
Extended Rules for Using Quotation Marks (Purdue OWL)
The MLA Website

Honor in Writing at Gilman
Avoiding Plagiarism: Overviews and Contradictions (Purdue)
Avoiding Plagiarism: Safe Practices (Purdue)
Quotation Mark Exercise and Answers (Purdue OWL)

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(Cite the line number of the poem)
(Remember to include a reference to this text on your Works Cited Page.)

Gilman Punctuation Rules:

To them I may have owed another gift,
Of aspect more sublime; that blessed mood,
In which the burthen of the mystery,
In which the heavy and the weary weight
Of all this unintelligible world,
Is lightened:--that serene and blessed mood,
In which the affections gently lead us on,--
Until, the breath of this corporeal frame
And even the motion of our human blood
Almost suspended, we are laid asleep
In body, and become a living soul:
While with an eye made quiet by the power
Of harmony, and the deep power of joy,
We see into the life of things. (36-49)

How to Use Quotation Marks (Purdue OWL)
Extended Rules for Using Quotation Marks (Purdue OWL)
The MLA Website

Honor in Writing at Gilman
Avoiding Plagiarism: Overviews and Contradictions (Purdue)
Avoiding Plagiarism: Safe Practices (Purdue)
Quotation Mark Exercise and Answers (Purdue OWL)

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Punctuation & Capitalization
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(Cite the act, scene, and line number from the play.)
(Remember to include a reference to this text on your Works Cited Page.)

Gilman Punctuation Rules:

To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day
To the last syllable of recorded time,
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more: it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing. (V, v, 18-27)

How to Use Quotation Marks (Purdue OWL)
Extended Rules for Using Quotation Marks (Purdue OWL)
The MLA Website

Honor in Writing at Gilman
Avoiding Plagiarism: Overviews and Contradictions (Purdue)
Avoiding Plagiarism: Safe Practices (Purdue)
Quotation Mark Exercise and Answers (Purdue OWL)

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Use MLA format to cite your source. Gilman Punctuation Rules:

Quotation From Literature

Using MLA Parenthetical Form

Prose (short sections):

At the end of A Separate Peace, Gene Forrester claims, "I killed my enemy there [at school]" (196).

The title of the book is italicized.

This section of quotation is preceded by a comma and incorporated into the sentence.

Explanatory words are set in brackets.

The page number of the quotation precedes the period.

Prose (long sections):

      Gene attempts to rationalize his impulse in which Phineas was injured by contrasting it to the atrocities of the war:

My brief burst of animosity, lasting only a second, a part of a second, something which came before I could recognize it and was gone before I knew it had possessed me, what was that in the midst of this holocaust? (180)

This long quotation (over four lines) is preceded by a colon and incorporated into the sentence.

The quotation is indented (both margins) and is not surrounded by quotation marks.

The page number of the quotation follows the end punctuation.

Poetry (short sections):

In the fourth stanza of "Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird," Wallace Stevens poses a logical problem: "A man and a woman / Are one. / A man and a woman and a blackbird / Are one" (108).

The title of the poem is put in quotation marks.

This quotation is incorporated into the sentence, this time preceded by a colon.

The line breaks in the poem are indicated by a slash with spaces on each side ( / ).

The capital letters in the poem are preserved.

The page number of the quotation is followed by the end punctuation.

Poetry (long sections):

In the midst of indefiniteness, the final blackbird is a solid and constant presence:

XIII
It was evening all afternoon
It was snowing
And it was going to snow.
The blackbird sat
In the cedar-limbs. (110)

The quotation of more than three lines of poetry should be reproduced as it appears on the page with line breaks, capital letters, and punctuation copied accurately.

There are no quotation marks around the verse.

The page number appears in parentheses after the period.

Drama (short section from one character):

In the line, "First automobile's going to come along in about five years," the stage manager in Our Town first reveals his omniscient point of view (1.1).

The quotation is incorporated into the sentence.

The speaker and context are clear.

The act and scene (and line numbers if available) are enclosed in parentheses before the end punctuation.

Drama (long section or more than one character)

In his retort to Claudius, Hamlet mocks both the man and the marriage in one move:

HAMLET

I see a cherub that sees them. But come, for England!
Farewell, dear Mother.

KING.

Thy loving father, Hamlet.

HAMLET.

My mother--father and mother is man and wife, man and wife is one flesh, and so, my mother. Come, for England! (4.3. 48-53)

The characters are identified by their full names in capital letters followed by a period.

Lines of dialogue are indented and then continue from the name; they are further indented in subsequent lines.

If line numbers are given, then line breaks from the text are preserved.

There are no quotation marks around the dialogue.

The act, scene, (and line numbers if given) are enclosed in parentheses after the end punctuation.

MLA Formatting - The Basics (Purdue OWL video)
MLA Formatting: Works Cited Page (Purdue Owl Video)
MLA Overview and Workshop (Purdue OWL)
MLA Works Cited: Electronic Sources (Web Publications) (Purdue OWL)
MLA PowerPoint Presentation (Purdue OWL)

How to Use Quotation Marks (Purdue OWL)
Extended Rules for Using Quotation Marks (Purdue OWL)
The MLA Website

Honor in Writing at Gilman
Avoiding Plagiarism: Overviews and Contradictions (Purdue)
Avoiding Plagiarism: Safe Practices (Purdue)
Quotation Mark Exercise and Answers (Purdue OWL)

Jump to:
Usage
Punctuation & Capitalization
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Content