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You Can Quote Me

© Barb Alexander

A necessary part of your high school and/or college writing classes is knowing how to quote sources for research papers. Now, I remember when doing a research paper consisted of hoofing it to the library, leafing through large volumes called the Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature, submitting requests for clumsy microfilm reels, and borrowing books on the topic.

Then would come the notetaking and organizing, and just when I'd think I was done, I'd have to complete a "resources" page so that my teacher/professor knew I didn't make the whole thing up. Part of completing that research page was knowing which works to underline and which to wrap in quotation marks.

With the advent of the word processor, and later the home computer, the rules on underlining and quoting have changed a bit. Here's a primer:

When should I underline?

When you don't have a word processor or computer that has the italics function. In many cases, italicizing now takes the place of underlining.

Okay, so then when should I use italics?

• Novels / books (but do not do this when referring to The Bible or other sacred works)
• Newspapers and other journals (just don't italize the word "the" in the title)
• Magazines
• Vehicles, such as Titanic
• Works of art
• Movies
• Plays / Theatrical productions
• Poems that are quite long (They often appear to be books in themselves. For example, The Divine Comedy)
• TV shows
• A foreign word/phrase (ex: "Just set the timer for 20 minutes and voila! Your fast-cook microwave turkey is ready for Thanksgiving dinner.")
• Something you would normally underline for emphasis

Well, then, how about quotation marks?

• Short stories
• Most other poems
• Articles

Here's a way to remember the basics of these rules: Italicize the whole, wrap parts of the whole in quotes. For example:

- Friends is the TV show; "The One with the Red Sweater" is the name of the episode where the gang finds out Ross and Rachel are having a baby.

- Newsweek is the name of the magazine; "Anthrax Anxiety" is the name of an article in this week's issue.

The copyright of the article You Can Quote Me in English Grammar is owned by Janet Kay Blaylock. Permission to republish You Can Quote Me in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.