Journalism 110

Quotes

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Quotes should be:

• Vivid, new information
• Interesting
• Back up point or support lead
• Dramatic
• Strong reaction

Avoid:

• Boring quotes
• Unclear
• Accusatory

On second reference, use the last name unless your publication uses courtesy titles

Adapted from Carole Rich, Missouri Group, Melvin Mencher, Chip Scanlan

How to punctuate quotes

• Commas go inside quotation marks

"Those people were freaking out," Jones said.

• Question marks inside if quoted material is a question

"Did you you see the size of that shark?" Lam asked.

• Each new speaker gets new quotation marks

"I won't go swimming there anytime soon," Johnston said.

"Me neither," Lam said.

• After first sentence, attribute

"You'd have to be crazy to get in that water," Johnston said. "I hope I never come here again."

• Placing attribution in middle of the sentence can be awkward

"The shark," Lam said, "was huge."

• Continuing quote to next paragraph, no closing quote marks

Lam shivered and looked out across the quiet sea. "I've never liked swimming.

"I hate it even more now."

• Don't bump quotes (it's hard to tell who is speaking

(AVOID:) Johnston said he might go swimming again. "It'll have to be next week or later."

"He's crazy," Lam said.

• Limit partial quotes

(AVOID THIS:) Jones said that people "screamed" and ran off.

• Limit ellipses (the three dots)

(AVOID:) "They say the water is safe . . . but I'm not sure I believe them," Lam said.