Citation Workshop

Here’s a sample response to the Citation Exercise:

In the New York Times article,” The Fiction That Makes the World Go Round”, Richard Davies explores the idea of money itself. Money is just a paper good that’s purpose is to be used to trade goods and services for. As a review for the book The Story of a Made-Up Thing written by Jacob Goldstein, Richard Davies quotes from the novel, “But it’s really “a made-up thing, a shared fiction. Money is fundamentally, unalterably social.”” In which he responds with, “The early chronicles of cash show how societies move from monies with intrinsic value… to paper currencies that are valuable because they are tools — ways to exchange goods and services.” Showing an understanding of how money, a small rectangular piece of paper can hold so much value. As well as their use in humans’ everyday life and in our society overall, for a trade of goods or services.

Let’s first look at punctuation.

As a publication (like book titles, like the Bible, like NationalGeographic.com) the New York Times deserves to be italicized.

The title of Goldstein’s book is Money: The Story of a Made-Up Thing.

Double quotes are used ALWAYS with one exception: when they’re inside another set of double quotes. There, and only there, single quotes are used.

Periods and commas ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS go inside quotation marks. With one exception: I lied. There is no exception. NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER.

Here’s the paragraph again with corrections:

In the New York Times article, “The Fiction That Makes the World Go Round,” Richard Davies explores the idea of money itself. Money is just a paper good that’s purpose is to be used to trade goods and services for. As a review for the book, Money: The Story of a Made-Up Thing, written by Jacob Goldstein, Richard Davies quotes from the novel, “But it’s really ‘a made-up thing, a shared fiction. Money is fundamentally, unalterably social.’ ” In which he responds with, “The early chronicles of cash show how societies move from monies with intrinsic value… to paper currencies that are valuable because they are tools — ways to exchange goods and services.” Showing an understanding of how money, a small rectangular piece of paper can hold so much value. As well as their use in humans’ everyday life and in our society overall, for a trade of goods or services.

Now for some grammar.

Money is just a paper good that’s purpose is to be used to trade goods and services for.

Here, we understand that money and paper goods are not people, but the grammar (which isn’t a set of rules but merely indicates common practice) strongly suggests we call who to make a possessive: whose.

To eliminate the clumsy “ending with a preposition” problem, we can revise the sentence:

Money is just a paper good whose purpose is to be traded for goods and services.

Here’s the paragraph again with corrections:

In the New York Times article, “The Fiction That Makes the World Go Round,” Richard Davies explores the idea of money itself. Money is just a paper good whose purpose is to be traded for goods and services. As a review for the book, Money: The Story of a Made-Up Thing, written by Jacob Goldstein, Richard Davies quotes from the novel, “But it’s really ‘a made-up thing, a shared fiction. Money is fundamentally, unalterably social.’ ” In which he responds with, “The early chronicles of cash show how societies move from monies with intrinsic value… to paper currencies that are valuable because they are tools — ways to exchange goods and services.” Showing an understanding of how money, a small rectangular piece of paper can hold so much value. As well as their use in humans’ everyday life and in our society overall, for a trade of goods or services.

More grammar and usage.

The book is not a novel; it’s a piece of non-fiction.

The phrase “As a review for the book” doesn’t deliver on its promise to describe whether the review stands up to our expectations or not.

In his review for Money: The Story of a Made-Up Thing, written by Jacob Goldstein, Richard Davies quotes from the book, “But it’s really ‘a made-up thing, a shared fiction. Money is fundamentally, unalterably social.’ ”

Here’s the paragraph again with corrections:

In the New York Times article, “The Fiction That Makes the World Go Round,” Richard Davies explores the idea of money itself. Money is just a paper good whose purpose is to be traded for goods and services. quotes from the book, “But it’s really ‘a made-up thing, a shared fiction. Money is fundamentally, unalterably social.’ ” In which he responds with, “The early chronicles of cash show how societies move from monies with intrinsic value… to paper currencies that are valuable because they are tools — ways to exchange goods and services.” Showing an understanding of how money, a small rectangular piece of paper can hold so much value. As well as their use in humans’ everyday life and in our society overall, for a trade of goods or services.

More grammar. There are three fragments.

In which he responds with, “The early chronicles of cash show how societies move from monies with intrinsic value… to paper currencies that are valuable because they are tools — ways to exchange goods and services.”

FIXED: Davies responds with: “The early chronicles of cash show how societies move from monies with intrinsic value… to paper currencies that are valuable because they are tools — ways to exchange goods and services.”

Showing an understanding of how money, a small rectangular piece of paper can hold so much value.

FIXED: That transition demonstrates how money, a small rectangular piece of paper, can hold so much value.

As well as their use in humans’ everyday life and in our society overall, for a trade of goods or services.

FIXED: In addition, it demonstrates the value of money in humans’ everyday life and in our society overall, for a trade of goods or services.

Here’s the paragraph again with corrections:

In the New York Times article, “The Fiction That Makes the World Go Round,” Richard Davies explores the idea of money itself. Money is just a paper good whose purpose is to be traded for goods and services. quotes from the book, “But it’s really ‘a made-up thing, a shared fiction. Money is fundamentally, unalterably social.’ ” Davies responds with: “The early chronicles of cash show how societies move from monies with intrinsic value… to paper currencies that are valuable because they are tools — ways to exchange goods and services.” That transition demonstrates how money, a small rectangular piece of paper, can hold so much value. In addition, it demonstrates the value of money in humans’ everyday life and in our society overall, for a trade of goods or services.

POLISH: We need to solve the wordiness problem we created by making full sentences out of those fragments.

Here’s the paragraph again with corrections:

In the New York Times article, “The Fiction That Makes the World Go Round,” Richard Davies explores the idea of money itself. Money is just a paper good whose purpose is to be traded for goods and services. quotes from the book, “But it’s really ‘a made-up thing, a shared fiction. Money is fundamentally, unalterably social.’ ” Davies responds with: “The early chronicles of cash show how societies move from monies with intrinsic value… to paper currencies that are valuable because they are tools — ways to exchange goods and services.” That transition demonstrates how money, a small rectangular piece of paper, can hold so much value and play such a big role in our everyday lives as a tool for trading goods and services.