The English Corner at Richland College
Specialized Punctuation for Quoting
Special punctuation or grammar is needed when quoting to indicate changes you made to a quote
that do not affect the meaning of it. There are four main ways of altering a quote: ellipses,
brackets, sic, dialogue, and indirect sources.
Ellipses
Ellipses are inserted in a sentence when you want to remove unnecessary information from the
middle of a quote. An ellipsis is not needed at the beginning or the end of the quote unless it
needs to be clear that the train of thought has been interrupted. Be careful to not fundamentally
change the meaning of the quote by leaving out information.
“Making students’ nonacademic interests an object of academic study is useful…but this
tactic won’t in itself necessarily move them closer to an academically rigorous treatment
of those interests” (Graff 204).
If you add an ellipsis when there is already an existing ellipsis, place your ellipsis in brackets.
In N. Scott Momaday’s House Made of Dawn, when Mrs. St. John arrives at the rectory,
she tells Father Olguin, “We live in California, my husband and I, Los Angeles…This is
beautiful country […]” (29).
Brackets
Brackets are used when inserting your own words for grammatical or content clarity (past tense
to present, singular to plural). A comment that appears within the quotation must be inside
brackets. Brackets are not needed when only changing the case of a letter at the beginning of a
quote.
According to Booker, “This confusion [about the rapid change of social and political
dynamics at the beginning of the twentieth century] was particularly acute in the United
States.”
Orgel argues that in Renaissance England “the distinctions of gender [were] fluid and
unclear” (13).
Sic
Sic is added to indicate that an error in grammar or spelling belongs to the original source and is
not your mistake. Use brackets [sic] when explaining errors within a quote and parentheses (sic)
when explaining following the quote. Don’t overuse sic because it can make you appear
snobbish. Try paraphrasing as an alternative.
Leaver’s poem about prostitution exposes a nasty truth: “Tricks recognize the game,
Oh, they willin' [sic] to pay to play.”
Handout created by Justine White
www.richlandcollege.edu/englishcorner
EE Cummings writes of the moon like a balloon, “and if you and i should get into it, if
they should take me and take you into their baloon” (sic).
Dialogue
Dialogue within a quote is punctuated differently from regular quotes. Use single quotes around
the dialogue and double quotes around the rest of the quote.
When Harry Potter tries to quit and claims he doesn’t care, Dumbledore calms him.
“‘You do care,’ said Dumbledore. He had not flinched or made a single move to stop
Harry demolishing his office. His expression was calm, almost detached. ‘You care so
much you feel as though you will bleed to death with the pain of it’” ( Rowling 335).
Indirect Sources
An indirect quote is citing a quote within a quote. You have two jobs when citing a quote within
a quote: who originally said the words and who wrote the article.
According to First Lady Michelle Obama, the power of an artistic performance can be
diplomatic: “That's the beauty of arts and culture, music and dance. It's a universal voice”
(qtd. in Brown).
Michelle Obama didn’t write the essay. Laura Brown did. Therefore, you need to give credit to
both people. In your sentence, identify who said the words. In your citation, identify who did the
work. Use the abbreviation “qtd. in” to represent quoted in. You will have a Works Cited entry
for Laura Brown (see below).
Works Cited
Booker, M. Keith. “The National Pastime: Baseball, Television, and the American National
Identity.” Daily Life through History. ABC-CLIO, 2015. Web. 19 June 2015.
Brown, Laura. “Michelle Obama: America's Got Talent.” Fashion Trends and Women's Fashion
Shows—Harper’s BAZAAR, Hearst Communications, 13 Oct. 2010. Web. 13 Oct.
2011.
Cummings, EE. “Who Knows if the Moon’s.” Hello Poetry: EE Cummings. Hello Poetry, n.d.
Web. 19 June 2015.
Graff, Gerald. “Hidden Intellectualism.” They Say / I Say: The Moves That Matter in Academic
Writing. 2nd ed. New York: Norton, 2010. 204. Print.
Leavers, Linda. “Trafficked.” Poems and Quotes: Slang Poetry. Poems and Quotes, 03 May
2015. Web. 19 June 2015.
Momaday, M. Scott. House Made of Dawn. New York: Harper & Row, 1968. 29. Print.
Orgel, Stephen. Impersonations: The Performance of Gender in Shakespeare's England.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1966. 13. Print.
Rowling, J.K. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. New York: Scholastic, 2003. 335.
Print.
Handout created by Justine White
www.richlandcollege.edu/englishcorner