Punctuate Quotations Correctly

Use the following rules for punctuating quotations:

“The hotel manager told the guests to ‘make yourselves at home.’”

But what can be gained from following the committee’s recommendation that the state should “avoid, without exceptions, any proposed tax hike”?

Dawn Smith asked a critical question: “Do college students understand the importance of avoiding running up the debt on their credit cards?”

Many college students consider themselves “free at last”; all too often, however, they find that freedom has its costs.

“Preliminary reports have been consistent,” Yates notes. “Without immediate changes to current practices, we will deplete known oil supplies by mid-century” (335).

According to critic Joe Robinson, Americans are overworked: “Ask Americans how things are really going and you’ll hear stories of . . . fifty- and sixty-hour weeks with no letup in sight” (467).

The most recent information indicates, says Chen, that “we can expect a significant increase in costs by the end of the decade. . . . Those costs, however, should ramp up slowly” (35).

Checklist for Quoting

image Identify the source of the quotation.

image Punctuate the quotation appropriately.

image Use ellipsis marks, brackets, and “sic” as necessary.

image Check each quotation against the source to be sure you aren’t introducing errors or misrepresenting the source.

image Use transitions and attributions to integrate the quotation effectively into your draft.

image Ensure that the source is cited in your works cited or references list.