Writing Academic English 4th Edition

punctuating
Direct
ouotation§

Chapter 3 I SupportingDetails:Facts,Quotations,andStatistics 45

Followthesegeneralmlesforpunctuatingdirectquotations.

1.Putquotationmarksaroundinformationthatyoucopywordforwordfrom

a source.Donotusequotationmarkswithparaphrases,summaries,or

indirectquotations.

2.Normally,placecommas(andperiods)beforethefirstmarkandalsobefore

thesecondmarkina pairofquotationmarks.

AccordingtoSportsIllustrated,"EliminatingdrugusefromOlympicsports

wouldbenosmallchallenge."

"EliminatingdrugusefromOlympicsportswouldbenosmallchallenge,"

accordingtoSportsIllustrated.

Therearetwoimportantexceptions:

• Ifyouinsertonlya fewquotedwords intoyourownsentence,don'tuse
  commas.
  CharlesYesalisbelievesthat"alargepercentage"ofathleteswhohaveset
  newrecordshavedonesowiththehelpofperformance-enhancingdrugs
  (qtd.inHerper,par. 6 ).


• Whenyouaddanin-textcitationaftera quotation,puttheperiodafterthe
  closingparenthesismark.
  TheInstituteofGlobalEthicswarns,"TheOlympicscouldwellbecome
  justanothermoney-drenchedmediapromotioninwhichcontestantswill
  bemotivatedlessbyathleticglorythanbylucrativefuturecontracts"
  (Kidder,par.7).

3.Capitalizethefirstwordofthequotationaswellasthefirstwordofthe

sentence.

Dr.DonaldCatlin,directorofa drug-testinglabeatUCLA,stated,"The

sophisticatedathletewhowantstotakedrugshasswitchedtothingswe

can'ttest for"(qtd.inBambergerandYaeger62).

4.Ifyoubreaka quotedsentenceintotwoparts,enclosebothpartsin

quotationmarksandseparatethepal1Swithcommas.Capitalizeonlythe

firstwordofthesentence.

"Thesophisticatedathletewhowantstotakedrugs,"statedDr.DonaldCatlin,

directorofa drug-testinglabatUCLA,"hasswitchedtothingswecan'ttest

for"(qtd.inBambergerandYaeger62).

5. Ifyouomitwords,useanellipsis(threespacedperiods).
   Accordingtoa 1997articleinSportsIllustrated,"Theuseofsteroids
   hasspreadtoalmosteverysport,frommajorleaguebaseballtocollege
   basketballtohighschoolfootball"(BambergerandYaeger62).