 using quotations without making a splash. Quotations are important elements of an academic paper, but they can be used in all sorts of writing, such as news articles and blog posts. With a quotation, you can provide evidence of what you're claiming or comments from people to back up your point. This video will explain how to use quotations correctly using examples of different types of writing. What's a quotation anyway? A direct quotation can be as short as part of a line such as the central character can hardly control her enthusiasm at the prospect of quote, tearing into the house like a tornado on steroids end quote, to as long as this significant passage taken in its original form from the work you are using, whether it is the primary source, such as a person you interviewed or the article, books, or story you're studying, or the secondary source, someone else's comments on that article, etc. Why would we use quotations? There are three primary reasons why we would use a quotation. First, to support your argument or a particular point you're making. Second, to challenge someone else's argument. For example, critic wise view of Lydia as a character who is quote, a victim of fate, end quote, seems hard to reconcile when we reflect on these lines spoken by the character herself. Third, you can also use a quotation to acknowledge to your reader that the words you are using are not your own. Remember, plagiarism can be painful. How not to use quotations. Imagine that you have to put a large rock into a gently moving river. You could stand at the river's edge and drop it into the water, but that would cause a splash. Similarly, when you just drop a quotation into your paragraph, that causes a splash too. It disrupts the flow of the writing. Here's how not to do it. The central character is mean and proud of it. Quote, I eat little kids for breakfast, end quote. Furthermore, he shows no signs of ever becoming a better person. Splash. This is the better way. The character is mean and proud of it. Quote, I eat little kids for breakfast, end quote, he boasts. Furthermore, there are no signs that he will ever change for the better. When integrating quotations into your writing, it's good to go with the flow. So how do you do quotations right? Punctuation plays a part. To use quotations effectively, you'll likely need commas, colons, square brackets, and ellipses points. However, if the quotation is not a complete sentence, no punctuation, except quotation marks, is required. For example, the minister stated that the investment of $1 million represented, quote, a deep commitment from the government, end quote. Use a comma when your quotation is from one to four sentences long, even if they're short sentences. For example, as Carter says to the judge, comma, quote, I'm sorry I did it. If I could go backwards in time, I'd start to do things differently. That's the truth, end quote. For longer quotations, there are different methods depending on what you're writing. So follow the guidelines of the style guide you're using, such as MLA, APA, or the Canadian Press style guide. A popular way to include longer quotations is as a block. Use a colon after the lead-in, then include the quote as its own indented paragraph without quotation marks. You may also use a colon to introduce a quotation in a sentence. Here's an example. The following line shows just how badly Sue wanted to be accepted, colon, quote, I'd have shaved my head if I thought that would have got me even a sideways glance from the cool kids, end quote. Remember about going with the flow? Sometimes in order to make a line flow smoothly, you need to make some changes or to leave some things out. That's when we use square brackets and ellipses. If we need to change something in the quotation, we can put the changes in square brackets. For example, the original line in the text says, quote, Paul elbowed him in the head and didn't think twice as he skated away, end quote. But the reader doesn't know the other characters, the hymns, name, so we have to add it inside square brackets so that the sentence makes sense. The quote becomes, quote, Paul elbowed square bracket, Tony, square bracket in the head and didn't think twice, end quote. We don't need every word from the original sentence or paragraph. You're not getting paid by the word. In fact, you've probably got a word limit. You can leave out words or phrases that are not critical to the point you want your quotation to support. However, you need to show that you've left something out by using ellipses marks in place of whatever you have left out. For example, the author shows us how Paul is brutally transformed by the violence of the game, quote, Paul elbowed square bracket, Tony, square bracket in the head and didn't think twice as he skated away, end quote. Becomes, the author shows us how Paul is brutally transformed by the violence of the game, quote, Paul elbowed square bracket, Tony, square bracket, ellipses and didn't think twice, ellipses, end quote. The quotation sandwich. Some teachers use a sandwich model to describe how we should structure quotations. First, an introduction in your words, then the quotation to support the point and finally a conclusion in your own words to comment on the point. Here's a quotation sandwich. Company X should move products from locations where there is less demand to locations with higher demand. That's our introduction. Smith 2020 argues, implementing a relocation strategy is an effective method of inventory management that enables retailers to ensure products are optimally located. This is the quotation. Creating a plan to move products to locations with higher demand allows retailers to make the best use of their inventory to meet consumer needs. And that was the conclusion. Author tags and signal phrases. Additional elements that smoothly integrate quotations into the flow of your writing are tags and signal phrases. Tags and signal phrases that identify the author, the character or the commenter, your quoting helps the reader make the connection between the quotation and its source. Remember this drop quotation? The central character is mean and proud of it. Quote, I eat little kids for breakfast, end quote. Furthermore, he shows no signs of ever becoming a better person. Now look at how we integrated it so that it no longer creates a splash. The character is mean and proud of it. Quote, I eat little kids for breakfast, end quote, he boasts. Furthermore, there are no signs that you will ever change for the better. Here are some verbs that you might use in your signal phrases. Argue's, believes, claims, contends, declares, insists, observes, responds, states, suggests. Look for verbs that communicate clearly and strongly. We covered a lot, so let's review. You can use quotations to support the points you're making in your writing. Don't just drop your quotations in. You want your writing to flow, so don't just serve the flow with a quotation that does not integrate smoothly into the sentence and the passage that you're writing. Pay attention to punctuation. It'll help you set up your quotation in a way that will keep things flowing smoothly. Speaker tags and strong, active verbs help your reader understand your quotations. Thanks for watching.