Common Writing Mistakes from Reading Quiz Two

1. Common Writing Mistakes from Reading Quiz Two Formatting Textual Evidence Correctly No matter the length of a quote, all textual evidence must be formatted in this way. All quotes must include a parenthetical citation. This citation follows the piece of textual evidence and is made up of the author’s last name and the page number(s) where the quote is found. The end punctuation of the quote is then included AFTER the citation. Sample sentence: Katnissdemonstrated her skill with this shot, “The arrow skewers the apple in the pig’s mouth and pins it to the wall behind it” (Collins 197). Author’s Last Name Page # End Punctuation Two reminders: It doesn’t matter if you are quoting part of a sentence or an entire sentence (see example above), all textual evidence MUST have a citation. • It doesn’t matter what the final piece of end punctuation might be (i.e. “.” “?” “!”), the “.” MUST always follow the citation. • If your quotation ends in a “?” or an “!” then you place that punctuation mark inside the quotation, and the “.” after the citation. [EX: “Run, Katniss! Get out of here!” (Collins 99).]

2. Punctuating A Quote Within A Quote When you punctuate a quote within a quote the ending punctuation remains the same, it is the punctuation inside the quotation marks that sometimes changes. Examples: • “Scrooge shouted, ‘Bah Humbug!’ as his nephew walked out the door” (Dickens 98). • “’Bah Humbug!’ Scrooge shouted as his nephew walked out the door”( Dickens 90). • “…he shouted to his nephew, ‘Bah Humbug!’ as he walked out the door”(Dickens 90). • “She started to cry as her mother rocked her and said, ‘that’s okay sweetie, it will be okay’”(Dickens 91). • Notice how in the second example, because the quotation is beginning with what the character said, you would begin your punctuation with a double quotation mark, “ and then follow that with a single quotation mark ‘. The double indicates the beginning of the entire selection being taken from your book, the single indicates just what the character is saying. • So, in the fourth example the entire quote is ending with what the character is saying so the quotation would close with a single quotation mark ‘ to end the dialogue and then a double quotation mark “ to end the entire selection. • Notice that in all examples the end punctuation is a period outside the citation.

3. Tone • Tone is the emotion/feeling the author would like the reader to experience while reading • Tone is not a lesson learned or theme Possible Tones: Fear Jealousy Anger Annoyance Sadness Frustration Joy Sympathy Hope Despair Love Confusion