The following are all good citation techniques. Refer to this list if you’re ever in doubt about how to cite and briefly quote in the same short sentence.

All these good example contain several essentials of good citation.

• They identify the AUTHOR
• They identify the TITLE of the article, essay, or story
  • They could contain the name of the publication also, but they don’t.
• They contain a QUOTATION
  • They could contain a PARAPHRASE instead, without quotation marks.
• They also have SAID language
  • SAID, BELIEVES, CLAIMS, ASSERTS, INSISTS, or countless other varieties of SAID.

Examples of Good Citation

• Daniel Flath, in his essay, “Boylan’s Folly,” claims that “boys can’t learn from women.”
  • Author, in “Title,” said that “quote.”
• Daniel Flath claims, in “Boylan’s Folly,” that “boys can’t learn from women.”
  • Author claims, in “Title,” that “quote.”
• In Daniel Flath’s essay, “Boylan’s Folly,” Flath claims, “Boys can’t learn from women.”
  • In Author’s essay, “Title,” Author claims, “Quote.”
  • In his essay, “Title,” Author claims, “Quote.”
• In “Boylan’s Folly,” Daniel Flath makes a bold claim: “Boys can’t learn from women.”
  • In “Title,” Author makes a bold claim: “Quote.”
• Daniel Flath thinks “boys can’t learn from women.” He makes this and other outrageous claims in his essay, “Boylan’s Folly.”
  • Author says “quote.” He makes this claim in essay, “Title.”
• That “boys can’t learn from women” is one of the outrageous claims Daniel Flath makes in “Boylan’s Folly.”
  • That “subject verbs” is a claim Author makes in “Title.”
• “Boys can’t learn from women,” according to Daniel Flath in “Boylan’s Folly.”
  • “Quote,” according to Author in “Title.”

RULES FOR REVISIONS

INCORPORATING THE QUOTE INTO OUR OWN SENTENCES

• When we quote full sentences, we allow the quotation to have its own punctuation, including a capital letter to start it off. For example:
• Harry Truman famously said, “War is hell.”
• But in a sentence in which we incorporate the quote into our own grammar, we usually start with the word that and we don’t capitalize the first word. Like this:
• The famous observation that “war is hell” is attributed to Harry Truman.
• That’s three punctuation differences: No comma before the quote. No initial capital. No period at the end of the quote.

APPOSITIVES (OR APPOSITIVE PHRASES) (OR NOUNS IN APPOSITION)

• In a sentence that describes the author twice, once by name, and once by calling him the author, we need a comma after Daniel Flath because it’s an appositive. I’ll explain.
• In the sentence “My dog buries his toys,” we identify the dog once.
• But in the sentence “My dog, Monty, buries his toys,” we set off the SECOND description of the animal with commas. It’s an appositive.
• We’d do it twice if we had to. “My dog, Monty, the older of my two dogs, buries his toys.”
• Think of the commas as parentheses. “My dog (Monty) (the older of my two dogs) buries his toys.”

PERIODS AND COMMAS INSIDE THE QUOTATION MARKS

• The rule is simple and absolute in ANY sort of sentence:
• Commas and periods go INSIDE the quotation marks.
• The rule applies ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS.
• The only exception is NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER. There are no exceptions.

SPECIAL RULE JUST FOR THE COLON

• Of all the Examples of Good Citation above, the one with the colon (:) is unique.
• It’s really rare, so don’t make a habit of using a colon haphazardly.
• It requires that the lead-in be a complete sentence. In this case the sentence is:
  • In “Boylan’s Folly,” Daniel Flath makes a bold claim.
• Notice how different that sentence is from this fragment:
  • In “Boylan’s Folly,” Daniel Flath said.
• So, if you begin with a complete statement that includes the Said Language (in this case “makes a bold claim”), you can follow that with a colon, which means “what follows IS that claim.”
• The Result:
  • In “Boylan’s Folly,” Daniel Flath makes a bold claim: “Boys can’t learn from women.”
• If you don’t understand the special case of the colon, don’t use it.

“SAID LANGUAGE”

• Said Language is a little tricky, but it can be learned. Mostly it’s about “hearing” the right and wrong way. Let’s start with easy examples of correct Said Language using said, claimed, asked, wondered, and replied (along with dozens of others):
  • Monty said, “Beef is better than chicken.”
  • “Beef is better than chicken,” said Monty.
  • Monty claimed, “Beef is better than chicken.”
  • Monty asked, “Is beef better than chicken?”
    • Notice the position of the question mark.
  • Monty wondered, “Is beef better than chicken?”
    • Notice the position of the question mark.
  • Monty replied, “Yes. Beef is better than chicken.”
• Very special case, if you’re interested:
  • Did Monty just say, “Beef is better than chicken”?
    • Notice the position of the question mark.

SPECIAL RULE JUST FOR “ACCORDING TO”

• The setup for “according to” is a little different.
  • According to Monty, “Beef is better than chicken.”
  • OR: “Beef is better than chicken,” according to Monty.
  • Notice that WE DO NOT SAY; According to Monty, he said, “Beef is better than chicken.”
  • That’s because “according to” IS said language.

The “Flawed Mechanics” Exercise

Fix the errors in these citations by typing corrected versions into the Reply field below. Number your sentences 1, 2, and 3.

1. In his essay, Daniel Flath, the author of “Boylan’s Folly,” says that, “Boys can’t learn from women.”
2. The author of “Boylan’s Folly”, Daniel Flath: “Boys can’t learn from women”.
3. In the essay by Daniel Flath, “Boylan’s Folly,” is said, “Boys can’t learn from women.”

One of Your Own

Write a new one of your own in the same Reply field. Number it 4.