Writing Analytically, 6th Edition - Rosenwasser, David & Stephen, Jill [200]
1. Acknowledge sources in your text, not just in citations. When you incorporate material from a source, attribute it to the source explicitly in your text—not just in a citation. In other words, when you introduce the material, frame it with a phrase such as “according to Marsh” or “as Gruen argues.”
Although it is not required, you are usually much better off making the attribution overtly, even if you have also cited the source within parentheses or with a footnote at the end of the last sentence quoted, paraphrased, or summarized. If a passage does not contain an attribution, your readers will not know that it comes from a source until they reach the citation at the end. Attributing upfront clearly distinguishes what one source says from what another says and, perhaps more important, what your sources say from what you say. Useful verbs for introducing attributions include the following: notes, observes, argues, comments, writes, says, reports, suggests, and claims. Generally speaking, by the way, you should cite the author by last name only—as “Gruen,” not as “William Gruen” or “Mr. Gruen.”
2. Splice quotations onto your own words. Always attach quotations to some of your own language; don’t let them sit in your text as independent sentences with quotation marks around them. You can normally satisfy this rule with an attributive phrase—commonly known as a tag phrase—that introduces the quotation.
According to Paul McCartney, “All you need is love.”
Note that the tag phrase takes a comma before the quote. Alternatively, you can splice quotations into your text with a setup: a statement followed by a colon.
Patrick Henry’s famous phrase is one of the first that American schoolchildren memorize: “Give me liberty, or give me death.”
The colon, you should notice, usually comes at the end of an independent clause (that is, a subject plus verb that can stand alone), at the spot where a period normally goes. It would be incorrect to write “Patrick Henry is known for: ‘Give me liberty, or give me death.’”
The rationale for this guideline is essentially the same as that for the previous one: if you are going to move to quotation, you first need to identify its author so that your readers will be able to put it in context quickly.
Spliced quotations frequently create problems in grammar or punctuation for writers. Whether you include an entire sentence (or passage) of quotation or just a few phrases, you need to take care to integrate them into the grammar of your own sentence.
One of the most common mistaken assumptions is that a comma should always precede a quotation, as in “A spokesperson for the public defender’s office demanded, ‘an immediate response from the mayor.’” The sentence structure does not call for any punctuation after “demanded.”
3. Cite sources after quotations. In MLA style, locate citations in parentheses after the quotation and before the final period. This information appears at the end of the sentence, with the final period following the closing parenthesis.
A recent article on the best selling albums in America claimed that “Ever since Elvis, it has been pop music’s job to challenge the mores of the older generation” (Hornby 168).
Note that in MLA style there is normally no punctuation at the end of the quotation itself, either before or after the closing quotation mark. A quotation that ends either in a question mark or an exclamation mark is an exception to this rule because the sign is an integral part of the quotation’s meaning.
As Hamlet says to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, “And yet to me what is this quintessence of dust?” (2.2.304–05).
See the section entitled “How to Cite Sources” earlier in this chapter for the appropriate formats for in-text citations in various documentation styles.
4. Use ellipses to shorten