Some notes on punctuation
| For citations | For quotations |
You create a quotation when you write down the exact words written or spoken by someone else. When you insert a quotation into a piece of writing, you need to use proper punctuation.
First, you need to make sure you put quotation marks around the words you are copying directly from a source.
"We passed through a range of low arches, descended, passed on, and descending again, arrived at a deep crypt, in which the foulness of the air caused our flambeaux rather to glow than flame."
When we start a set of quotation marks, it is called "opening the quotation marks"; when we end a set of quotation marks, it is called "closing the quotation marks".
Click to learn some basic information about quotations, how to shorten a quotation, how to edit a quotation, how to divide a quotation, how to deal with a long quotation, or how to punctuate a quotation.
You need to create a citation when you quote someone else's words or paraphrase someone else's ideas in your writing.
Remember that you always need to have the author's last name and where the the quotation is from (the page number for print sources, the page name and paragraph number for web sources) in the same sentence as the quotation or paraphrase.
If you use parenthetical citation, you close the quotation marks with NO END PUNCTUATION, open the parentheses, put the author's name and the page number, close the parentheses, and put the end punctuation.
"We passed through a range of low arches, descended, passed on, and descending again, arrived at a deep crypt, in which the foulness of the air caused our flambeaux rather to glow than flame" (Poe 11).
When we smoothly work the quotation into our writing, we usually use a comma at the end of our introduction to the quotation, then open the quotation marks, put the quote in, and close the quotation marks.
In fact, Montressor describes it by saying, "We... arrived at a deep crypt, in which the foulness of the air caused our flambeaux rather to glow than flame" (Poe 11).
We can also smoothly incorporate the quotation if we write a sentence that blends directly into the quotation; in that case, we don't need a comma to set apart the introduction to the quotation.
For example, during the early exposition when Montressor is explaining the situation, he says that he "would be avenged" for the insults Fortunato made, but not only would he "punish, but punish with impunity" (Poe 7).
If we manage to work the page number and author's name into the sentence, instead of using parenthetical citation after the quote, we can just put the period (or other end punctuation mark as appropriate) INSIDE the quotation marks.
On page 7, Poe writes that Montressor "would be avenged" for the insults Fortunato made, and not only would he "punish, but punish with impunity."