CHAPTER 1

Although the scope of compiled work precludes a detailed discussion of grammar, usage, style, and related aspects of writing, this chapter addresses mechanical questions that you will likely encounter in writing research papers.

Spelling, including hyphenation, should be consistent throughout the research paper—except in quotations, which must retain the spelling of the original, whether correct or incorrect. You can best ensure consistency by always add opting the spelling that your dictionary gives first in any entry with variant spellings e.g. The American Heritage College Dictionary, or Random House Webster’s College Dictionary.

To save time and avoid possible errors, do not divide words at the ends of lines. If a word you are about to type on a typewriter will not fit on the line, you may leave the line short and begin the word on the next line. The "word-wrap" feature of word-processing programs performs this operation automatically. If you choose to divide a word, consult your dictionary about where the break should occur.

The plurals of English words are generally formed by adding the suffix -s or -es (laws, taxes), with several exceptions (e.g., children, halves, mice, sons-in-law, bison). The tendency in American English is to form the plurals of words naturalized from other languages in the standard manner. The plurals librettos and formulas are therefore now more common in American English than libretti and formulae. But some adopted words, like alumnus and phenomenon, retain their original plurals (alumni, phenomena). Consult a dictionary for guidance. If the dictionary gives more than one plural form for a word (appendixes, appendices), use the first listed. (See 3.2.7 for plurals of letters and for possessive forms of plurals.)

If you quote material in a foreign language, * reproduce all accents and other marks exactly as they appear in the original (ecole, pieta, tete, lecon, Fdhre, ado). If you need marks that are not avail-able on your word processor or typewriter, write them in by hand. On the use of foreign words in an English text.

The primary purpose of punctuation is to ensure the clarity and readability of writing. Punctuation clarifies sentence structure, separating some words and grouping others. It adds meaning to written words and guides the understanding of readers as they move through sentences. The rules set forth here cover many of the situations you will encounter in writing research papers..

a. Use a comma before a coordinating conjunction (and, but, for, nor, or, yet, or so) joining independent clauses in a sentence.

Alfred the Great established a system of fortified towns, reorganized the military forces, and built a fleet of warships.

In the Great Depression, millions lost their jobs, businesses failed, and charitable institutions closed their doors.

Pollsters focused their efforts on Columbus, Ohio; Des Moines, Iowa; and Saint Louis, Missouri.

c. Use a comma between coordinate adjectives—that is, adjectives that separately modify the same noun.

Critics praise the novel's unaffected, unadorned style. (The adjectives unaffected and unadorned each modify style.)

The new regime imposed harsh, repressive laws. (The adjectives harsh and repressive each modify laws.)

Most of the characters are average city dwellers. (The adjective average modifies city dwellers.)

A famous photo shows Marianne Moore in a black tricornered hat. (The adjective black modifies tricornered hat.)

d. Use commas to set off a parenthetical comment, or an aside, if it is brief and closely related to the rest of the sentence. (For punctuation of longer, more intrusive, or more complex parenthetical elements, see 3.2.5.)

e. Use commas to set off a nonrestrictive modifier—that is, a modifier that is not essential to the meaning of the sentence. A nonrestrictive modifier, unlike a restrictive one, could be dropped without changing the main sense of the sentence. Modifiers in the following three categories are either nonrestrictive or restrictive. (For the use of parentheses and dashes around complex nonrestrictive modifiers, see 3.2.5b.)

The theme song of the campaign, "Happy Days Are Here Again," is indelibly associated with the Great Depression.

The campaign song "Happy Days Are Here Again" is indelibly associated with the Great Depression.

Scientists, who must observe standards of objectivity in their work, can contribute usefully to public-policy debates.

The Italian sonnet, which is exemplified in Petrarch's Canzoniere, developed into the English sonnet.

Scientists who receive the Nobel Prize sometimes contribute usefully to public-policy debates.

The sonnet that is exemplified in Petrarch's Canzoniere developed into the English sonnet.

Note that some writers prefer to use which to introduce nonrestrictive clauses and that to introduce restrictive clauses.

After years of anxiety over the family's finances, Linda Loman looks forward to the day the mortgage will be paid off.

Although she was virtually unknown in her day, scholars have come to recognize the originality of her work.

Several cooperative but autonomous republics were formed. (The conjunction but links cooperative and autonomous, making a comma inappropriate.)

Many of the characters who dominate the early chapters and then disappear [no comma] are portraits of the author's friends.

The agent reported to the headquarters staff [no comma] that the documents had been traced to an underground garage.

j. Do not use a comma between the parts of a compound subject, compound object, or compound verb.

A dozen wooden chairs (no comma] and a window that admits a shaft of light complete the stage setting.

Ptolemy devised a system of astronomy accepted until the sixteenth century [no comma] and a scientific approach to the study of geography.

He composed several successful symphonies [no comma] but won the most fame for his witticisms.

Nona thought of the crew members, who worked from dawn to dusk [no comma] but whose lives seemed free and joyful.

She broadens her analysis by exploring the tragic elements of the play [no comma] and by integrating the hunting motif with the themes of death and resurrection.

The farmhouse stood on top of a hill [no comma] and just beyond the Silver Creek bridge.

l. Use a comma in a date whose order is month, day, and year. If such a date comes in the middle of a sentence, include a comma after the year.

Martin Luther King, Jr., was born on January 15, 1929, and died on April 4, 1968.

m. Do not use a comma between a month and a year or between a season and a year.

The events of July 1789 are as familiar to the French as those of July 1776 are to Americans.

Present at the symposium were Henri Guillaume, the art critic; Sam Brown, the Daily Tribune reporter; and Maria Rosa, the conceptual artist.

The colon is used between two parts of a sentence when the first part creates a sense of anticipation about what follows in the second. Leave only one space after a colon, not two.

a. Use a colon to introduce a list, an elaboration of what was just said, or the formal expression of a rule or principle.

The reading list includes three Latin American novels: The Death of Artemio Cruz, One Hundred Years of Solitude, and The Green House.

The plot is founded on deception: the three main characters have secret identities.

Many books would be briefer if their authors followed the logical principle known as Occam's razor: Explanations should not be multiplied unnecessarily. (A rule or principle after a colon should begin with a capital letter.) But do not use a colon before a list if the list is grammatically essential to the introductory wording.

The novels on the reading list include The Death of Artemio Cruz, One Hundred Years of Solitude, and The Green House. (The list is the object of the verb include.)

The reading list includes such novels as The Death of Artemio Cruz, One Hundred Years of Solitude, and The Green House. (The list continues the expression such ... as.)

b.Use a colon to introduce a quotation that is independent from the structure of the main sentence.

In The Awakening, Mme Ratignolle exhorts Robert Lebrun to stop flirting with Edna: "She is not one of us; she is not like us."

A quotation that is integral to the sentence structure is generally pre-ceded by no punctuation or, if a verb of saying (says, exclaims,

notes, writes) introduces the quotation, by a comma. A colon is used after a verb of saying, however, if the verb introduces certain kinds of formal literary quotations, such as long quotations set off from the main text (see 3.7.2—4, 3.7.7).

Dashes make a sharper break in the continuity of the sentence than commas do, and parentheses make a still sharper one. To indicate a dash in typing, use two hyphens, with no space before, between, or after. (Some word processors have a dash, and you may use it instead of hyphens.) Your writing will be smoother and more read-able if you use dashes and parentheses sparingly. Limit the number of dashes in a sentence to two paired dashes or one unpaired dash.

a. Use dashes or parentheses to enclose a sentence element that interrupts the train of thought.

Soaring in a balloon--inventors first performed this feat in 1783 --is a way to recapture the wonder that early aviators must have felt.

The "hero" of the play (the townspeople see him as heroic, but he is the focus of the author's satire) introduces himself as a veteran of the war.

b. Use dashes or parentheses to set off a parenthetical element that contains a comma and that might be misread if set off with commas.

The colors of the costume--blue, scarlet, and yellow--acquire symbolic meaning in the story.

The Italian sonnet (which is exemplified in Petrarch's Canzoniere, along with other kinds of poems) developed into the English sonnet.

Ruthlessness and acute sensitivity, greed and compassion--the main character's contradictory qualities prevent any simple interpretation of the film.

A dash may also be used instead of a colon to introduce a list or an elaboration of what was just said (see 3.2.4a).

Compound words of all types—nouns, verbs, adjectives, and so on—are written as separate words (hard drive, hard labor), with hyphens (hard-and-fast, hard-boiled), and as single words (hardcover, hardheaded). The dictionary shows how to write many compounds. A compound not in the dictionary should usually be written as separate words unless a hyphen is needed to prevent readers from misunderstanding the relation between the words. Following are some rules to help you decide whether you need a hyphen in compounds and other terms that may not appear in the dictionary.

a. Use a hyphen in a compound adjective beginning with an adverb such as better, best, ill, lower, little, or well when the adjective precedes a noun.

But do not use a hyphen when the compound adjective comes after the noun it modifies.

b. Do not use a hyphen in a compound adjective beginning with an adverb ending in

c. Use a hyphen in a compound adjective ending with the present participle (e.g., loving) or the past participle (e.g., inspired) of a verb when the adjective precedes a noun.

d. Use a hyphen in a compound adjective formed by a number and a noun when the adjective precedes a noun.

e. Use hyphens in other compound adjectives before nouns to pre-vent misreading.

continuing-education program (The hyphen indicates that the term refers to a program of continuing education and not to an education program that is continuing.)

Portuguese-language student (The hyphen makes it clear that the term refers to a student who is studying Portuguese and not to a language student who is Portuguese.)

f. Do not use hyphens in familiar unhyphenated compound terms, such as social security tax, high school reunion, liberal arts, and show business, when they appear before nouns as modifiers.

But do not use a hyphen in a pair of nouns in which the first noun modifies the second.

h. In general, do not use hyphens after prefixes (e.g., anti-, co-, multi-, non-, over-. post-, pre-, re-, semi-, sub-, un-, under-).

antiwar	overpay	Semiretired
coworker	postwar	Subsatellite
multinational	prescheduled	Unambiguous
nonjudgmental	reinvigorate	underrepresented

anti-icing (Without the hyphen, the doubled vowel would stake the term hard to recognize.)

A principal function of apostrophes is to indicate possession. They are also used to form contractions (can't, wouldn't), which are rarely acceptable in research papers, and the plurals of the letters of the alphabet (p's and q's, three A's).

c. To form the possessive of an irregular plural noun not ending in s, add an apostrophe and an s.

d. To form the possessive of nouns in a series, add a single apostrophe and an s if the ownership is shared.

e. To form the possessive of any singular proper noun, add an apostrophe and an s.

a. Place quotation marks around a word or phrase given in a special sense or purposefully misused.

If introduced unnecessarily, this device can make writing heavy-handed. Quotation marks are not needed after so-called.

The first idiomatic Spanish expression I learned was irse todo en humo ("to go up in smoke^").

You may use single quotation marks for a translation that follows the original directly, without intervening words or punctuation.

Use square brackets around a parenthesis within a parenthesis, so that the levels of subordination can be easily distinguished. Insert square brackets by hand if they are not available on your word processor or typewriter.

The sect known as the Jansenists (after Cornelius Jansen [1585-1638]) faced opposition from both the king and the pope.

The labors of Heracles (Hercules) included the slaying of the Nemean lion (so called because Hera [Juno] sent it to destroy the Nemean plain).

The slash, or diagonal, is rarely necessary in formal prose. Other than in quotations of poetry (see 3.7.3), the slash has a place mainly between two terms paired as opposites or alternatives and used together as a noun.

The writer discussed how fundamental oppositions like good/evil, East/West, and aged/young affect the way cultures view historical events.

A sentence can end with a period, a question mark, or an exclamation point. Periods end declarative sentences. (For the use of periods with ellipsis points, see 3.7.5.) Question marks follow interrogative sentences. Except in direct quotation, avoid exclamation points in research writing.

Place a question mark inside a closing quotation mark if the quoted passage is a question. Place a question mark outside if the quotation ends a sentence that is a question. If a question mark occurs where a comma or period would normally be required, omit the comma or period. Note the use of the question mark and other punctuation marks in the following sentences:

Whitman asks, "Have you felt so proud to get at the meaning of poems?^" Where does Whitman speak of "the meaning of poems^"?

Publications in the

United States

today usually have the same spacing after a period, a question mark, or an exclamation point as between words on the same line. Since word processors make avail-able the same fonts used by typesetters for printed works, many writers, influenced by the look of typeset publications, now leave only one space after a concluding punctuation mark. In addition, most publishers' guidelines for preparing a manuscript on disk ask professional authors to type only the spaces that are to appear in print.

Because it is increasingly common for papers and manuscripts to be prepared with a single space after all concluding punctuation marks, this spacing is shown in the examples in this handbook. As a practical matter, however, there is nothing wrong with using two spaces after concluding punctuation marks unless an instructor requests that you do otherwise. Whichever spacing you choose, be sure to use it consistently in all parts of your paper—the works-cited list as well as the main text. By contrast, internal punctuation marks, such as a colon, a comma, and a semicolon, should always be followed by one space.

Italic is a style of type in which the characters slant to the right (Casablanca). In research papers and manuscripts submitted for publication, words that would be italicized in print are best underlined.

Most word-processing programs and computer printers permit the reproduction of italic type. In material that will be graded, edited, or typeset, however, the type style of every letter and punctuation mark must be easily recognizable. Italic type is sometimes not distinctive enough for this purpose, and you can avoid ambiguity by using under-lining when you intend italics. If you wish to use italics rather than underlining, check your instructor's preferences. When preparing a manuscript for electronic publication, consult your editor or instructor on how to represent italicization.

In electronic environments that do not permit underlining, it is common to place one underline before and after each word or group of words that would be italicized in print.

The rest of this section discusses using italics for words and letters referred to as words and letters (3.3.1), foreign words in an English text (3.3.2), and emphasis (3.3.3). (See 3.6.2 for italicizing of titles.)

The word albatross probably derives from the Spanish and Portuguese word alcatraz.

The Renaissance courtier was expected to display sprezzatura, or nonchalance, in the face of adversity.

The numerous exceptions to this rule include quotations entirely in another language ("Julius Caesar said, 'Vent, vidi, vici'"); non-English titles of short works (poems, short stories, essays, articles), which are placed in quotation marks and not underlined ("El sueflo," the title of a poem by Quevedo); proper names (Marguerite de Navarre); and foreign words anglicized through frequent use. Since American English rapidly naturalizes words, use a dictionary to decide whether a foreign expression requires italics. Following are some adopted foreign words, abbreviations, and phrases commonly not underlined:

ad hoc	et al.	laissez-faire
Cliché	etc.	lieder
Concerto	genre	raison d'etre
e.g.	hubris	versus

Italics for emphasis ("Booth does concede, however ...") is a device that rapidly becomes ineffective. It is rarely appropriate in research writing.

In general, the first time you use a person's name in the text of your research paper. state it fully and accurately, exactly as it appears in your source.

Do not change Arthur George Rust, Jr., to Arthur George Rust, for example, or drop the hyphen in Victoria M. Sackville-West. In subsequent references to the person, you may give the last name only (Rust, Sackville-West)—unless, of course, you refer to two or more persons with the same last name-or you may give the most common form of the name (e.g., Garcilaso for Garcilaso de la Vega). In casual references to the very famous—say, Mozart, Shakespeare, or Michelangelo—it is not necessary to give the full name initially.

In general, do not use formal titles (Mr., Mrs., Miss, Ms., Dr., Professor, Reverend) in referring to men or women, living or dead (Churchill, not Mr. Churchill: Einstein, not Professor Einstein; Hess, not Dame Myra; Montagu, not Lady Montagu). A few women in history are traditionally known by their titles as married women (e.g., Mrs. Humphry Ward, Mme de Stael). Treat other women's names the same as men's.

The appropriate way to refer to persons with titles of nobility can vary. For example, the full name and title of Henry Howard, earl of Surrey, should be given at first mention, and thereafter Surrey alone may be used. In contrast, for Benjamin Disraeli, first earl of Beaconsfield, it is sufficient to give Benjamin Disraeli initially and Disraeli subsequently. Follow the example of your sources in citing titles of nobility.

It is common and acceptable to use simplified names of famous authors (Vergil for Publius Vergilius Maro, Dante for Dante Alighieri). Also acceptable are pseudonyms of authors.

Although there are still a few well-established uses for roman numerals (see 3.5.7), virtually all numbers not spelled out are commonly represented today by arabic numerals. If your keyboard does not have the number 1, use a small letter el (1), not capital I, for the arabic numeral. If your keyboard has the number 1, do not substitute the small el.

If you are writing about literature or another subject that involves infrequent use of numbers, you may spell out numbers written in one or two words and represent other numbers by numerals (one, thirty-six, ninety-nine, one hundred, fifteen hundred, two thousand, three million, but 2 1/2, 101, 137, 1,275). To form the plural of a spelled-out

If your project is one that calls for frequent use of numbers—say, a paper on a scientific subject or a study of statistical findings—use numerals for all numbers that precede technical units of measurement (16 amperes, 5 milliliters). In such a project, also use numerals for numbers that are presented together and that refer to similar things, such as in comparisons or reports of experimental data. Spell out other numbers if they can be written in one or two words. In the following example of statistical writing, neither "ten years" nor "six-state region" is presented with related figures, so the numbers are spelled out, unlike the other numbers in the sentence.

In the ten years covered by the study, the number of participating institutions in the

United States

doubled, reaching 90, and membership in the six-state region rose from 4 to 15.

Except at the beginning of a sentence, always use numerals in the following instances:

Commas are usually placed between the third and fourth digits from the right, the sixth and seventh, and so on.

Treat percentages and amounts of money like other numbers: use numerals with the appropriate symbols.

In discussions involving infrequent use of numbers, you may spell out a percentage or an amount of money if you can do so in three words or fewer (five dollars, forty-five percent, two thousand dollars, sixty-eight cents). Do not combine spelled forms of numbers with symbols.

Be consistent in writing dates: use either the day-month-year style (22 July 1999) or the month-day-year style ( July 22, 1999) but not both. (If you begin with the month, be sure to add a comma after the day and also after the year, unless another punctuation mark goes there, such as a period or a question mark.) Do not use a comma between month and year (August 1998).

Decades are usually written out without capitalization (the nineties), but it is acceptable to express them in figures (the 1990s, the '60s). Whichever form you use, be consistent.

Instead of BC and AD, some writers prefer to use BCE, "before the common era," and CE, "common era," both of which follow the year.

Numerals are used to indicate most times of the day (2:00 p.m., the 6:20 flight). Exceptions include time expressed in quarter and half hours and in hours followed by o'clock.

In a range of numbers, give the second number in full for numbers through ninety-nine.

For larger numbers, give only the last two digits of the second number, unless more are necessary.

In a range of years beginning in AD 1000 or later, omit the first two digits of the second year if they are the same as the first two digits of the first year. Otherwise, write both years in full.

In a range of years beginning from AD 1 through 999, follow the rules for inclusive numbers in general.

Use capital roman numerals for the primary divisions of an outline and after the names of individuals in a series.

Use lowercase roman numerals for citing pages of a book that are so numbered (e.g., the pages in a preface). Write out inclusive roman numerals in full: xxv–xxvi, xlvi–xlix. Your instructor may prefer that you use roman numerals to designate acts and scenes of plays

Whenever you cite the title of a published work in your research paper, take the title from the title page, not from the cover or from a running head at the top of a page. Do not reproduce any unusual typographic characteristics, such as special capitalization or lower-casing of all letters. A title page may present a title designed like one of the following examples:

The rules for capitalizing titles are strict. In a title or a sub-title, capitalize the first word, the last word, and all principal words, including those that follow hyphens in compound terms. Therefore, capitalize the following parts of speech:

· Pronouns (e.g., our, as in Save Our Children; that, as in The Mouse That Roared)

· Verbs (e.g., watches, as in

America

Watches Television; is, as in What Is Literature?)

· Adjectives (e.g., ugly, as in The Ugly Duckling; that, as in Who Said That Phrase?)

· Adverbs (e.g., slightly, as in Only Slightly Corrupt; down, as in Go Dow)

Do not capitalize the following parts of speech when they fall in the middle of a title:

· Prepositions (e.g., against, between, in, of, to, as in The Merchant of Venice and "A Dialogue between the Soul and Body") .

· Coordinating conjunctions (and, but, for, nor, or, so, yet, as in Romeo and Juliet)

Use a colon and a space to separate a title from a subtitle, unless the title ends in a question mark, an exclamation point, or a dash. Include other punctuation only if it is part of the title.

The following examples illustrate how to capitalize and punctuate a variety of titles. For a discussion of which titles to underline and which to place in quotation marks, see 3.6.2—3.

When the first line of a poem serves as the title of the poem repro-duce the line exactly as it appears in the text.

Dickinson's poem "I heard a Fly buzz--when I died--" contrasts the everyday and the momentous.

In general, underline the titles of works published independently (for works published within larger works, see 3.6.3). Titles to be under-lined include the names of books, plays. long poems published as books, pamphlets, periodicals (newspapers, magazines, and journals), films, radio and television programs, compact discs, audiocassettes, record albums, ballets, operas and other long musical compositions (except those identified simply by form, number, and key: see 3.6.5), paintings, works of sculpture, ships, aircraft, and spacecraft. In the following examples, note that the underlining is not broken between words. While there is no need to underline the spaces between words, a continuous line is often the default in word-processing programs, and it guards against the error of failing to underline the punctuation within a title,

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (compact disc, audiocassette, record album)

Use quotation marks for the titles of works published within larger works. Such titles include the names of articles, essays, short stories, short poems, chapters of books, individual episodes of television and radio programs, and short musical compositions (e.g., songs). Also use quotation marks for unpublished works, such as lectures and speeches.

Underline a title normally indicated by underlining when it appears within a title enclosed in quotation marks.

Enclose in single quotation marks a title normally indicated by quotation marks when it appears within another title requiring quotation marks.

"The Uncanny Theology of 'A Good Man Is Hard to Find"' (an article about a short story)

Also place single quotation marks around a quotation that appears within a title requiring quotation marks.

"Emerson's Strategies against ^'Foolish Consistency'" (an article with a quotation in its title)

Use quotation marks around a title normally indicated by quotation marks when it appears within an underlined title.

If a period is required after an underlined title that ends with a quotation mark, place the period before the quotation mark.

There are two common methods for identifying a normally under-lined title when it appears within an underlined title. In one practice, the title within is neither underlined nor enclosed in quotation marks. This method is preferred in publications of the Modern Language Association.

Approaches to Teaching Murasaki Shikibu's The Tale of Genii (a book about a novel)

From The Lodger to The Lady Vanishes: Hitchcock's Classic British Thrillers (a book about films)

In the other method, all titles within underlined titles are placed in quotation marks and underlined.

Each approach has advantages and disadvantages. In the first method, the titles of works published independently and the material containing them are always given opposite treatments. This practice has the advantage of consistency, but it can lead to ambiguity: it is sometimes hard to tell where a title like Approaches to Teaching Marasaki Shikiba's The Tale of Genji ends and where the adjacent text begins.

The second method prevents confusion between titles and the adjacent text. However, it treats titles of works published independently two ways: they receive quotation marks in underlined titles but nowhere else. In addition, within underlined titles this method abandons the distinction between works that are published independently and those that are not.

Whichever practice you choose or your instructor requires, follow it consistently throughout your paper.

The convention of using underlining and quotation marks to indicate titles does not apply to the names of sacred writings (including all books and versions of the Bible): of laws, acts, and similar political documents; of instrumental musical compositions identified by form, number, and key; of series, societies, buildings, and monuments; and of conferences, seminars, workshops, and courses. These terms all appear without underlining or quotation marks.

But underline titles of individual published editions of sacred writings and treat the editions in the works-cited list like any other published book.

Strengthening the Cooperative Effort in Biomedical Research: A National Conference

Words designating the divisions of a work are also not underlined or put within quotation marks, nor are they capitalized when used in the text ("The author says in her preface ... ," "In canto 32 Ariosto writes ..." ).

If you cite a title often in the text of your paper, you may, after stating the title in full at least once, use a shortened form, preferably a familiar or obvious one (e.g., "Nightingale" for "Ode to a Nightingale"), or an abbreviation (for standard abbreviated titles of literary and religious works.(see Appendix 2)

Quotations are effective in research papers when used selectively. Quote only words, phrases, lines, and passages that are particularly interesting, vivid, unusual, or apt, and keep all quotations as brief as possible. Over quotation can bore your readers and might lead them to conclude that you are neither an original thinker nor a skillful writer.

The accuracy of quotations in research writing is extremely important. They must reproduce the original sources exactly. Unless indicated in brackets or parentheses (see 3.7.6), changes must not be made in the spelling, capitalization, or interior punctuation of the source. You must construct a clear, grammatically correct sentence that allows you to introduce or incorporate a quotation with complete accuracy. Alternatively, you may paraphrase the original and quote only fragments, which may be easier to integrate into the text. If you change a quotation in any way, make the alteration clear to the reader, following the rules and recommendations below.

If a prose quotation runs no more than four lines and requires no special emphasis, put it in quotation marks and incorporate it into the text.

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times," wrote Charles Dickens of the eighteenth century.

You need not always reproduce complete sentences. Sometimes you may want to quote just a word or phrase as part of your sentence.

For Charles Dickens the eighteenth century was both "the best of times" and "the worst of times."

You may put a quotation at the beginning, middle, or end of your sentence or, for the sake of variety or better style, divide it by your own words.

Joseph Conrad writes of the company manager in Heart of Darkness, "He was obeyed, yet he inspired neither love nor fear, nor even respect.^"

"He was obeyed," writes Joseph Conrad of the company manager in Heart of Darkness, "yet he inspired neither love nor fear, nor even respect.^"

If a quotation ending a sentence requires a parenthetical reference, place the sentence period after the reference. (For more information on punctuating quotations, see 3.7.7.)

For Charles Dickens the eighteenth century was both ^"the best of times" and "the worst of times^" (35).

"He was obeyed," writes Joseph Conrad of the company manager in Heart of Darkness, ^"yet he inspired neither love nor fear, nor even respect" (87).

If a quotation runs to more than four lines in your paper, set it off from your text by beginning a new line, indenting one inch (or ten spaces if you are using a typewriter) from the left margin, and typing it double-spaced, without adding quotation marks. A colon generally introduces a quotation displayed in this way, though sometimes the context may require a different mark of punctuation or none at all. If you quote only a single paragraph or part of one, do not indent the first line more than the rest. A parenthetical reference to a prose quotation set off from the text follows the last line of the quotation.

At the conclusion of Lord of the Flies, Ralph and the other boys realize the horror of their actions:

The tears began to flow and sobs shook him. He gave himself up to them now for the first time on the island; great, shuddering spasms of grief that seemed to wrench his whole body. His voice rose under the black smoke before the burning wreckage of the island; and infected by that emotion, the other little boys began to shake and sob too. (186)

If you need to quote two or more paragraphs, indent the first line of each paragraph an additional quarter inch (or three spaces on a typewriter). If the first sentence quoted does not begin a paragraph in the source, however, do not indent it the additional amount. Indent only the first lines of the successive paragraphs.

In Moll Flanders Defoe maintains the pseudo autobiographical narration typical of the picaresque tradition:

My true name is so well known in the records, or registers, at Newgate and in the Old Bailey, and there are some things of such consequence still depending there relating to my particular conduct, that it is not to be expected I should set my name or the account of my family to this work....

It is enough to tell you, that ... some of my worst comrades, who are out of the way of doing me harm . . . know me by the name of Moll Flanders. . . . (1)

On omitting words within quotations, see 3.7.5. For translations of quotations, see 3.7.8.

If you quote part or all of a single line of verse that does not require special emphasis, put it in quotation marks within your text. You may also incorporate two or three lines in this way, using a slash with a space on each side (/) to separate them.

Bradstreet frames the poem with a sense of mortality: "All things within this fading world hath end" (1).

Reflecting on the "incident" in Baltimore, Cullen concludes, "Of all the things that happened there / That's all that I remember" (11-12).

Verse quotations of more than three lines should begin on a new line. Unless the quotation involves unusual spacing, indent each line one inch (or ten spaces on a typewriter) from the left margin and double-space between lines, adding no quotation marks that do not appear in the original. A parenthetical reference for a verse quotation set off from the text follows the last line of the quotation (as in quotations of prose); a parenthetical reference that will not fit on the line should appear on a new line, flush with the right margin of the page.

A line that is too long to fit within the right margin should be continued on the next line and the continuation indented an additional quarter inch (or three spaces). You may reduce the indentation of the quotation to less than one inch (or ten spaces) from the left margin if doing so will eliminate the need for such continuations. If the spatial arrangement of the original lines, including indentation and spacing within and between them, is unusual, reproduce it as accurately as possible.

When a verse quotation begins in the middle of a line, the partial line should be positioned where it is in the original and not shifted to the left margin.

In a poem on Thomas Hardy ("T. H."), Molly Holden recalls her encounter with a "young dog fox" one morning:

If you quote dialogue between two or more characters in a play, set the quotation off from your text. Begin each part of the dialogue with the appropriate character's name indented one inch (or ten spaces if you are using a typewriter) from the left margin and written in all capital letters: HAMLET. Follow the name with a period, and start the quotation. Indent all subsequent lines in that character's speech an additional quarter inch (or three spaces). When the dialogue shifts to another character, start a new line indented one inch (or ten spaces) from the left margin. Maintain this pattern throughout the entire quotation. For the other aspects of formatting, follow the recommendations above for quoting prose and poetry (3.7.2—3).

Marguerite Duras's screenplay for Hiroshima mon amour suggests at the outset the profound difference between observation and experience:

SHE. I saw everything Everything.... The hospital, for instance, I saw it. I'm sure I did. There is a hospital in Hiroshima. How could I help seeing it?

HE. You did not see the hospital in Hiroshima You saw nothing in Hiroshima. (2505-06)

A short time later Lear loses the final symbol of his former power, the soldiers who make up his train:

GONERIL. Hear me, my lord. What need you five-and-twenty, ten or five, To follow in a house where twice so many Have a command to tend you?

Whenever you wish to omit a word, a phrase, a sentence, or more from a quoted passage, you should be guided by two principles: fairness to the author quoted and the grammatical integrity of your writing. A quotation should never be presented in a way that could cause a reader to misunderstand the sentence structure of the original source. If you quote only a word or a phrase, it will be obvious that you left out some of the original sentence.

But if omitting material from the original sentence or sentences leaves a quotation that appears to be a sentence or a series of sentences, you must use ellipsis points, or spaced periods, to indicate that your quotation does not completely reproduce the original. Whenever you omit words from a quotation, the resulting passage—your prose and the quotation integrated into it—should be grammatically complete and correct.

For an ellipsis within a sentence, use three periods with a space before each and a space after the last... ).

Medical thinking, trapped in the theory of astral influences, stressed air as the communicator of disease, ignoring sanitation or visible carriers. (Barbara W. Tuchman, A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous Fourteenth Century [1978; New York: Ballantine, 1979] 101—02)

In surveying various responses to plagues in the Middle Ages, Barbara W. Tuchman writes, "Medical thinking ... stressed air as the communicator of disease, ignoring sanitation or visible carriers."

In surveying various responses to plagues in the Middle Ages, Barbara W. Tuchman writes, "Medical thinking ... stressed air as the communicator of disease, ignoring sanitation or visible carriers^" (101-02).

When the ellipsis coincides with the end of your sentence, use three periods with a space before each following a sentence period—that is, four periods, with no space before the first or after the last.

In surveying various responses to plagues in the Middle Ages, Barbara W. Tuchman writes, "Medical thinking, trapped in the theory of astral influences, stressed air as the communicator of disease....^"

If a parenthetical reference follows the ellipsis at the end of your sentence, however, use three periods with a space before each, and place the sentence period after the final parenthesis.

In a quotation of more than one sentence, an ellipsis in the middle can indicate the omission of any amount of text.

Presidential control reached its zenith under Andrew Jackson, the extent of whose attention to the press even before he became a candidate is suggested by the fact that he subscribed to twenty newspapers. Jackson was never content to have only one organ grinding out his tune. For a time, the

United States

Telegraph and the Washing-ton Globe were almost equally favored as party organs, and there were fifty-seven journalists on the government payroll. (William L.

Rivers, The Mass Media: Reporting, Writing. Editing. 2nd ed. [New York: Harper. 1975] 7)

In discussing the historical relation between politics and the press, William L. Rivers notes:

extent of whose attention to the press even before he became a candidate is suggested by the fact that he subscribed to twenty newspapers.... For a time, the United States Telegraph and the Washington Globe were almost equally favored as party organs, and there were fifty-seven journalists on the government payroll. (7)

QUOTATION WITH AN OMISSION FROM THE MIDDLE OF ONE SENTENCE TO THE END OF ANOTHER

In discussing the historical relation between politics and the press, William L. Rivers notes, "Presidential control reached its zenith under Andrew Jackson. ... For a time, the United States Telegraph and the Washington Globe were almost equally favored as party organs, and there were fifty-seven journalists on the government payroll" (7).

QUOTATION WITH AN OMISSION FROM THE MIDDLE OF ONE SENTENCE TO THE MIDDLE OF ANOTHER

In discussing the historical relation between politics and the press, William L. Rivers notes that when presidential control "reached its zenith under Andrew Jackson,... there were fifty-seven journalists on the government payroll" (7).

The omission of words and phrases from quotations of poetry is also indicated by three or four spaced periods (as in quotations of prose).

The omission of a line or more in the middle of a poetry quotation that is set off from the text is indicated by a line of spaced periods approximately the length of a complete line of the quoted poem.

Some instructors prefer that square brackets be placed around ellipsis points inserted into quotations, so that all alterations within quotations are indicated by brackets (see. 3.7.6). Regardless of which practice you follow, if the author you are quoting uses ellipsis points, you should put brackets around your ellipses to distinguish them from those of the author.

^"We live in California, my husband and I, Los Angeles.... This is beautiful country; I have never been here before." (N. Scott Momaday, House Made of Dawn [1968; New York: Perennial-Harper, 1977) 29)

In N. Scott Momaday's House Made of Dawn, when Mrs. St. John arrives at the rectory, she tells Father Olguin, "We live in California, my husband and I, Los Angeles.... [...] I have never been here before" (29).

Occasionally, you may decide that a quotation will be unclear or confusing to your reader unless you provide supplementary information. For example, you may need to insert material missing from the original, to add sic (from the Latin for "thus" or "so") to assure readers that the quotation is accurate even though the spelling or logic might make them think otherwise, or to underline words for emphasis. While such contributions to a quotation are permissible, you should keep them to a minimum and make sure to distinguish them from the original, usually by explaining them in parentheses after the quotation or by putting them in square brackets within the quotation.

A comment or an explanation that immediately follows the closing quotation mark appears in parentheses.

A comment or an explanation that goes inside the quotation must appear within square brackets, not parentheses.

He claimed he could provide ^"hundreds of examples [of court decisions] to illustrate the historical tension between church and state.^"

Similarly, if a pronoun in a quotation seems unclear, you may add an identification in square brackets.

In the first act he soliloquizes, "Why she would hang on him [Hamlet's father] / As if increase of appetite had grown / By what it fed on...."

Whether set off from the text or run into it, quoted material is usually preceded by a colon if the quotation is formally introduced and by a comma or no punctuation if the quotation is an integral part of the sentence structure.

Shelley held a bold view: "Poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the World" (794).

^"Poets,^" according to Shelley, ^"are the unacknowledged legislators of the World" (794).

Do not use opening and closing quotation marks to enclose quotations set off from the text, but reproduce any quotation marks that are in the passage quoted.

In "Memories of West Street and Lepke,^" Robert Lowell, a conscientious objector (or “C.O."), recounts meeting a Jehovah's Witness in prison:

Use double quotation marks around quotations incorporated into the text, single quotation marks around quotations within those quotations.

In "Memories of West Street and Lepke," Robert Lowell, a conscientious objector or "C.O."), recounts meeting a Jehovah's Witness in prison: "'Are you a C.O.?' I asked a fellow jailbird. / 'No,' he answered, 'I'm a J.W.'" (38-39).

Except for changing internal double quotation marks to single ones when you incorporate quotations into your text, you should repro-duce internal punctuation exactly as in the original. The closing punctuation, though, depends on where the quoted material appears in your sentence. Suppose, for example, that you want to quote the following sentence: "You've got to be carefully taught." If you begin your sentence with this line, you have to replace the closing period with a punctuation mark appropriate to the new context.

"You've got to be carefully taught,^" wrote Oscar Hammerstein II about how racial prejudice is perpetuated.

If the quotation ends with a question mark or an exclamation point, however, the original punctuation is retained, and no comma is required.

"How can I describe my emotions at this catastrophe, or how delineate the wretch whom with such infinite pains and care I had endeavored to form?" wonders the doctor in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (42).

"What a wonderful little almanac you are, Celia!" Dorothea Brooke responds to her sister (7).

By convention, commas and periods that directly follow quotations go inside the closing quotation marks, but a parenthetical reference should intervene between the quotation and the required punctuation. Thus, if a quotation ends with a period, the period appears after the reference.

N. Scott Momaday's House Made of Dawn begins with an image that also concludes the novel: “Abel was running”

If a quotation ends with both single and double quotation marks, the comma or period precedes both.

All other punctuation marks—such as semicolons, colons, question marks, and exclamation points—go outside a closing quotation mark, except when they are part of the quoted material.

If a quotation ending with a question mark or an exclamation point concludes your sentence and requires a parenthetical reference, retain the original punctuation within the quotation mark and follow with the reference and the sentence period outside the quotation mark.

In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, the doctor wonders, "How can I describe my emotions at this catastrophe, or how delineate the wretch whom with such infinite pains and care I had endeavored to form?" (42).

Dorothea Brooke responds to her sister, "What a wonderful little almanac you are, Celia!" (7).

If you believe that a significant portion of your audience will not be familiar with the language of a quotation you present, you should add a translation. If the translation is not yours, give its source in addition to the source of the quotation. In general, the translation should immediately follow the quotation whether they are run into or set off from the text, although their order may be reversed if most readers will not likely be able to read the original. If the quotation is run into the text, use double quotation marks around a translation placed in parentheses following the quotation but single quotation marks around a translation that immediately follows without intervening punctuation.

Chaucer's setting is April, the time of "shoures soote" ("sweet showers"; GP 1). Chaucer's setting is April, the time of "shoures soote" 'sweet showers' (GP 1).

Do not use quotation marks around quotations and translations set off from the text.

See also 3.2.8b for guidelines on translating a foreign word or phrase within a sentence.

If you need information on capitalization etc or on transliterating from other languages, consult the MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing.