Using quotations in your papers

When you use a quotation from an outside source in your paper, the quotation needs to be logically incorporated into your own comment. If you insert a quotation without linking it properly to your own comment, you're using the quoted material improperly, and you're creating a problem of understanding for your reader.

Right use of quote:

Ariel Hart notes in today's Atlanta Journal-Constitution that between 2000 and the present, Atlanta's commute increased "from 26 minutes to 31.2 minutes, the highest jump in the nation."

Wrong use of quote:

Ariel Hart notes in today's Atlanta Journal-Constitution that Atlanta's commute got worse in the past six years. "Atlanta's average commute rose from 26 minutes to 31.2 minutes, the highest jump in the nation."

In the first example, the quoted material links smoothly with other material, and the way the link is done, I know where the quote came from. In the second, WRONG version, the quotation has been thrown into the text without making it truly clear who is speaking.

For more information about using quotations properly, see "Using Quotation Marks" in the St. Martin's Handbook, 5th ed., Pp. 771-778.