QUOTATION MARKS AND PROPER PUNCTUATION FOR INTEXT CITATION

QUOTATION MARKS AND PROPER PUNCTUATION FOR INTEXT CITATION A Handy Guide for all your Literary Analysis Needs

PUNCTUATING TITLES Use quotation marks to set off titles of short works, or pieces that are a part of a larger work (short stories, poetry, song titles, articles, television episodes, chapters, etc…). § “I’m Nobody! Who are You? ” poem by Emily Dickinson § “Call Me Maybe” song by Carly Rae Jepsen

PUNCTUATING TITLES (CONTINUED…) Use italics or underline (when handwriting or when typing) for larger works or works that embody smaller pieces (books, magazines, movies, plays, television series, album titles, long music compositions, etc…) § Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller § Big Bang Theory § Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck § People Magazine

PUNCTUATING TITLES (CONTINUED…) Remember, if you can physically put it on a shelf, then put it on a shelf!

QUOTATION MARKS FOR DIRECT QUOTATIONS Use quotation marks at the beginning and end of a direct quotation: § “I can’t wait for my birthday so I can have some chocolate cake, ” said Mrs. Koch. ? ’s and !’s go inside quotation marks. A period only goes inside the quotation when nothing else follows in the sentence. When punctuating dialogue, indent a new paragraph for each new speaker. Use quotation marks around both parts of a divided quotation: § “My children, ” shared Mrs. Koch, “will be making my cake this year. ”

COMMA USE FOR DIRECT QUOTATIONS Separate explanatory words from a quotation with a comma, no matter where these explanatory words fall: § “I absolutely love chocolate, ” said Mrs. Koch. § Mrs. Koch screamed, “Hooray! It’s cake time!” § “The icing, ” said Mrs. Koch, “is a delicious chocolate buttercream. ”

CORRECT MLA IN-TEXT CITATIONS MLA format follows the author-page method of in-text citation. This means that the author's last name and the page number(s) from which the quotation or paraphrase is taken must appear in the text, and a complete reference should appear on your Works Cited page. The author's name may appear either in the sentence itself or in parentheses following the quotation or paraphrase, but the page number(s) should always appear in the parentheses, not in the text of your sentence. NOTE: the period ends the sentence AFTER the page number! § Wordsworth stated that Romantic poetry was marked by a "spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings" (263). § Romantic poetry is characterized by the "spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings" (Wordsworth 263). Courtesy of Purdue owl Writing Lab

CORRECT MLA IN-TEXT CITATION (CONTINUED…) Enclose the quotation within double quotation marks. Provide the author’s last name (first) and specific page(s) (second) in the text. § DO NOT include any commas § DO NOT include other details like “pg. ”, “p. ” or “page” within the parenthesis! Punctuation marks such as periods, commas, and semicolons should appear after the parenthetical citation. Question marks and exclamation points should appear within the quotation marks if they are a part of the quoted passage but after the parenthetical citation if they are a part of your text. § According to some, dreams express "profound aspects of personality" (Foulkes 184), though others disagree. Courtesy of Purdue owl Writing Lab

CORRECT MLA IN-TEXT CITATION (CONTINUED…) When directly quoting something already quoted (indirect quotation), change the author’s double quotes (“”) to singles (‘’), and put your own double quotes (“”) around the whole selection: § Steinbeck explains, “she looked at the pearl in his hand for a moment and then she looked into Kino’s eyes and said softly, ‘No, you’” (89).

CORRECT MLA IN-TEXT CITATION (CONTINUED…) For lines of poetry : if yo u are citing a poem in a prose a nalysis, combine the lines of a poem using hyphens § “What happens to a dream deferred? /Does it dry up/ like a raisin in the sun? ” (Hughes). § NOTE: same punctuation rules apply for poetry as in prose. For lines in plays : if yo u are citing a prose play, i ndent t he speakers one inch fr om the left margin. All other lines are indented one and a quarter inches. Th e s peakers sho uld b e written in all capital letters, followed by a period. I nclude stage directio ns as they appear in the original source. Cite the p ag e number as you w ould for any other quoted prose. § Early on in the play A Raisin in the Sun, Walter explodes when Ruth refuses to listen to his ideas: RUTH. Eat your eggs, Walter. WALTER. (Slams the table and jumps up) --DAMN MY EGGS--DAMN ALL THE EGGS THAT EVER WAS! R UTH. Then go to wo rk. WALTER. ( Looking up at her ) See--I’m trying to talk t o you ‘bout m ysel f- -( Shaking h is head with the repetition )--and a ll you can say is ea t them eggs and go to work. (34)

CORRECT MLA IN-TEXT CITATION (CONTINUED…) For long quotes: for passages that you want to include that are longer than 4 lines typed, the format changes dramatically. § place quotations in a free-standing block of text and omit quotation marks. § Introduce the quote and finish your typing with a colon (: ) § Start the quotation on a new line, with the entire quote indented one inch from the left margin § Only indent the first line of the quotation by an additional quarter inch if you are citing multiple paragraphs. § Your parenthetical citation should come after the closing punctuation mark.

CORRECT MLA IN-TEXT CITATION (CONTINUED…) For example, when citing more than four lines of prose, use the following examples: Nelly Dean treats Heathcliff poorly and dehumanizes him throughout her narration: They entirely refused to have it in bed with them, or even in their room, and I had no more sense, so, I put it on the landing of the stairs, hoping it would be gone on the morrow. By chance, or else attracted by hearing his voice, it crept to Mr. Earnshaw's door, and there he found it on quitting his chamber. Inquiries were made as to how it got there; I was obliged to confess, and in recompense for my cowardice and inhumanity was sent out of the house. (Bronte 78)

CORRECT MLA IN-TEXT CITATION (CONTINUED…) Adding/changing words in quotations: If you add or change (tense) a word or words in a quotation, you should put brackets around the words to indicate that they are not part of the original text. § Jan Harold Brunvand, in an essay on urban legends, states, "some individuals [who retell urban legends] make a point of learning every rumor or tale" (78). Omitting words in quotations: If you omit a word or words from a quotation, you should indicate the deleted word or words by using ellipsis marks, which are three periods (. . . ) preceded and followed by a space. For example: § In an essay on urban legends, Jan Harold Brunvand notes that "some individuals make a point of learning every recent rumor or tale. . . and in a short time a lively exchange of details occurs" (78).