Once you have read your sources together, you need to bring their words into your sentences smoothly and fairly. You practiced quoting in Composition; here are the tools for fitting quotations to your own grammar.
| Tool | Use it to | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Signal phrase | name the source and its stance before the quotation | Strunk insists that “vigorous writing is concise.” |
| Partial quotation | quote only the words you need, inside your sentence | Lincoln hoped the war would “speedily pass away.” |
| Brackets [ ] | change or add a word so the quotation fits or is clear | Douglass says that “[t]o him [the enslaved person], your celebration is a sham.” |
| Ellipsis … | show that you cut words from the middle | “In framing a government … the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed.” |
Signal verbs carry meaning: argues, claims, notes, observes, warns, concedes, insists, suggests, questions. “Concedes” tells the reader the source is admitting something; “insists” that it is pressing hard. Choose the verb that fits what the source does.
Key idea
Fit the quotation to your sentence, but never change its meaning. Changed or added words go in brackets; cut words are marked with an ellipsis; what is left must say what the source said.
Why it works
Quotation marks are a promise: these are the source’s exact words. Brackets and ellipses keep the promise while letting you fit the words to your sentence. Without them, a reader who checks the source will find words that don’t match, and stop trusting you.
Worked example: Cut fairly
Douglass: “For it is not light that is needed, but fire.” A student writes: Douglass says “it is … light that is needed.” What went wrong?
- The ellipsis cut “not,” so the quotation now says the opposite of what Douglass said.
- An ellipsis may remove words only when the meaning stays the same.
- A fair version: Douglass says that “it is not light that is needed, but fire.”
Answer: The cut reversed the meaning; that misrepresents the source.
Worked example: Add a clarifying word
Quote “To him, your celebration is a sham” so readers know who “him” is.
- Out of context, “him” is unclear.
- Add the clarification in brackets right after it: “To him [the enslaved person], your celebration is a sham.”
- Brackets tell the reader those words are yours.
Answer: Douglass argues that “[t]o him [the enslaved person], your celebration is a sham.”
Common mistake
Changing a quotation’s words without brackets, or cutting words without an ellipsis. Both make the quotation look like the source’s exact words when it isn’t. Styles differ on small details, such as spacing in an ellipsis and whether to bracket a changed first capital, so follow the style your teacher assigns; but every style marks changes. Check each quotation against the source, word for word.