PREPARING TO WRITE
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QUOTATIONS There are two important aspects to the use of quotations. The first is selecting the best word, phrase, or passage to quote; the second is incorporating the words you have chosen to quote into your own text. The second of these is a matter that will be dealt with later (see INCORPORATING QUOTATIONS INTO TEXT, page 33).
Rules for Quoting We may be inclined to think of quotations as belonging primarily to academic writing, particularly literary essays. There is a virtual obligation to quote if you are discussing a play, a novel, or the work of other scholars, but a wellchosen quotation can enhance any type of writing. Words taken directly from a source document can be used to support your own arguments and to give them greater authority by showing that others think the same way that you do (or, alternatively, to give you something to argue against) or to illustrate a point you are making. In the preparatory stages of writing, too, you will frequently find that the easiest way of writing a note is to put down exactly what is said in the source material rather than putting the idea into your own words. There are certain rules for quotation, however, that should be observed even if you are only quickly jotting down something for use primarily as a note: 1. You must quote accurately 2. You should quote a meaningful section of text 3. You should make a note of where your quotation comes from These are the essential rules. There are also additional rules that will mainly apply to people writing academic assignments: 4. 5. 6. 7.
You You You You
should should should should
always quote for a purpose not quote too often not make your quotations too long not always rely on your quotations to speak for themselves
The reason for the first rule is obvious. There is no point in appealing to another writer for assistance in assembling your text—which is essentially what you are doing when you quote—and then carelessly distorting that other author’s meaning. When you jot down a quotation as a note, you may believe at the time that it is unlikely to form part of your final text, but you may very well change your mind later, so always follow the exact wording of the original. The phrase “a meaningful section of text” in the second rule is deliberately all inclusive. It may often be sufficient for your purposes to quote a single word from a text if you want to call attention to the particular term that an author uses to describe or explain something. When you are taking notes, however, it is usually better to put down a longer piece of text, because you will probably need a certain amount of context to remind yourself of why you selected those words to quote. Alternatively, or in addition, it is often