Quotation Countdown
This is the exact NUMBER of quotation marks you need around your evidence when you are quoting purely narrative text.
What is 2?
Ex. "America was where all my mother's hopes lay" (Tan 1).
This is the term for a quote that awkwardly sits in a paragraph entirely by itself without any supportive introductory text.
What is a floating quote?
You use this specific punctuation tool if you need to add or change a word inside a quote to help your sentence flow better
What are brackets [...]?
Example: changing "she has a peculiar smell" into “[Old Lady Chong] has a peculiar smell”.
Identify the missing component in this citation: Danielle shares, “I’ve told her about Mr. Terupt many times...” (Buyea).
What is the Page Number?
When quoting spoken dialogue text, the evidence needs to have THIS MANY quotation marks around it.
What is THREE?
Example: "'Of course you can be a prodigy too'" (Tan 1).
A proper quote stem is not a standalone sentence. To build a complete thought, it should ideally answer at least three of these five contextual questions.
What are WHO, WHOM, WHAT, WHERE, AND WHEN?
You use this specific punctuation tool to completely omit or skip unnecessary words or phrases from the middle of a quote.
What are ellipses (...)?
Explain why this sentence does not need an author's last name inside its closing parentheses: Amy Tan in her story states, “My mother came to America in 1949 after losing everything” (1).
What is because the author's name was already stated in the quote stem? (Bonus rule: You also drop the author's name if you cite the exact same author twice in a row).
What is COMBINATION OF QUOTATIONS marks?
Name 2 of the 4 generic introductory phrases that completely BANNED because they weaken essay writing.
On page X, the author states...
The author says...
This quote says...
One quote that shows this is...
If a quote ends with a question mark or an exclamation point, this is exactly where that specific punctuation mark must be placed.
What is INSIDE the quotation marks?
For a bonus 50 points, where does the period go?
Fix all the citation and punctuation errors in this student's draft: ...Jing-mei shouts out, “‘Why don’t you like me the way I am’” Tan 8?
What is: ...Jing-mei shouts out, “‘Why don’t you like me the way I am?’” (Tan 8).