Suppose you are researching how the novel To Kill a Mockingbird was reviewed when it first was published. You find the July 13, 1960, review by Herbert Mitgang in The New York Times. In the review you find words worth citing. How do you introduce the citation? Let’s look at some examples, returning to the image of the hamburger and bun.
[First, you introduce your source, the top bun of the hamburger:] The New York Times reviewed To Kill a Mockingbird when the book came out. [Second, you introduce the citation, the hamburger:] It says Mockingbird is “a winning first novel by a fresh writer with something significant to say.” [Third, you give your opinion why this citation is significant, the bottom bun of the hamburger:] The Times writer singles out both the novel’s writer and its message.
Now, let’s leave out the bracketed information: The New York Times reviewed To Kill a Mockingbird when the book came out. It says Mockingbird is “a winning first novel by a fresh writer with something significant to say.” The Times writer singles out both the novel’s writer and its message.
What’s wrong? Several things. First, did The New York Times review Mockingbird or did a person? If it was a person, the name of that person should be identified. Second, can you, the research paper writer, identify the date when the review was published? If so, including that specific information increases the credibility of your source. And third, since a pronoun needs to have an antecedent, what is the antecedent to “It,” the first word of the second sentence? There is none.
Better: The New York Times published a book review by Herbert Mitgang of To Kill a Mockingbird on July 13, 1960, when the novel was published. Mitgang says Mockingbird is “a winning first novel by a fresh writer with something significant to say.” Mitgang singles out both the novel’s writer and its message for praise.
Suppose we keep the “better” citation with one change: The New York Times published a book review by Herbert Mitgang of To Kill a Mockingbird on July 13, 1960, when the novel was published. Here it is. Mockingbird is “a winning first novel by a fresh writer with something significant to say.” Mitgang singles out both the novel’s writer and its message for praise.
Here what is? The last noun in the previous sentence is “novel.” Yet “Here it is” does not refer to the novel. “Here it is” refers to the review. “Here it is” is a poor transition from the upper bun of the hamburger to the hamburger itself.
Let’s try again with another change. The New York Times published a book review by Herbert Mitgang of To Kill a Mockingbird on July 13, 1960, when the novel was published. The quote is “a winning first novel by a fresh writer with something significant to say.” Mitgang singles out both the novel’s writer and its message for praise.
The word “The” before the word “quote” indicates a particular quotation. Yet no particular quotation is mentioned in the previous sentence. “The quote” refers back to nothing. An improvement would be, “A quote from that review” but even that improvement is not as good as naming the person doing the quoting.
When you are introducing a direct quote,
- Introduce the quotation with the name of the person or organization responsible for the quote. For example, The US Congress passed an act which says, “. . .”
- Identify additional details to put the quote in context. Such details could be a date, a place, or the context (a war, an election, a first novel, after the passage of 30 years).
- Don’t use “It says” unless “it” has been identified and “it” identifies who is responsible for the quote. Even then, your writing is better if you remove the pronoun “it” and use the noun.
- Don’t use “The quote is” unless you have already identified the quote in some way. Even then, use more specific language, usually naming the source of the quote, for a better transition.
English Writing Teacher 