Test Prep: Guidelines on Writing about Reading Revisited

I. Incorporating Quotations

1. Introduce your quotation so the readers understand the context.

a. Make sure it is clear who is speaking and what is going on in that part of the text

b. Provide the page number in parentheses at the end of the sentence
Ex. In the first chapter of Charlotte’s Web, Fern stopped her father from killing the runt; she stood in front of him and exclaimed, “Please don’t kill it!” (2).

2. Smoothly and correctly incorporate the quotation into your sentence using the right punctuation and grammar. A quote should not be a separate sentence.

a. Use a colon after a complete sentence before the quote:
Ex. The word rain is repeated several times to emphasize the gloomy mood: “The next daywas rainy and dark. Rain fell on the roof of the barn…. Rain fell in thebarnyard and ran in crooked courses down into the lane…” (25).

b. Use a comma if quotation follows an incomplete sentence:
Ex.Because the rain kept him indoors, “Wilbur was crying again, for the secondtime in two days” (27).

c. Integrate the quotation with the rest of the sentence:
Ex. Therain is important because it “upset Wilbur’s plan” (25).

3. Before the quotation, use signal phrases and transitions such as:

One example that...

One way this is true is...

This is shown by...

This is made clear when...

The author illustrates this...

Professor Gates found that...

Other similar verbs: demonstrates, reports, suggests, observes, asserts, emphasizes, declares, holds, maintains, demonstrates, implies, asserts, writes, claims

4. After the quotation, use transitional words and phrases to elaborate:

• This passage suggests...
• In other words,
• This example shows that ...

Other similar verbs: proves, demonstrates, reveals, illustrates, explains

5. When quoting poetry and drama, use a slash to indicate line breaks, and for the in-text citation, include line numbers in parentheses. Example: From the beginning, the Duke in Browning's poem gives the reader a sense of how possessive he really is: "That's my last Duchess on the wall, / Looking as if she were alive" (1-2).

II. "All about Titles"

1. Use quotation marks for shorter works such as: short stories, articles, poems, songs, etc.
2. Italicize or underline titles of longer works such as: newspapers, magazines, full-length books, films, works of art
3. capitalize the first and last words of the title, and then capitalize everything else except for prepositions, conjunctions, and articles