Parentheses

If you are not using the author’s name or the article title within your sentence, your
sentence should end with an in-text citation, like this (Pomerleau). In the parentheses,
you should always have the author’s last name. If you don’t have an author, use the first
couple words of the article title, like this (“Citations are…”). The “ “ show that it is an
article title, and the … shows that you cut off part of the title.

Commas and colons

Two ways you can incorporate quotes into your writing are with commas and colons.
Commas are usually used after a clause, or a sentence starter, like the ones listed below.
Colons are usually seen when you use a full sentence to introduce a quote. If you use this
method, be sure the sentence and quote fit together, like in example two below.

Sentence starters
● According to the text…
● One example from the text…
● For example…
● The author claims…
● The text states…

Examples
1. According to the text, “Mt. Blue Middle School is a great place to work”
(Pomerleau).
2. Ms. Pomerleau loves her student teaching placement: “Mt. Blue Middle School is
a great place to work”.
3. According to the text, “Mt. Blue Middle School is a great place to work”
(“Student…”).

Continuation of the sentence

A third way to include quotes in your writing is to use them as a part of your sentence.
When writers use this method (yes, YOU are a writer), the quote usually follows a word
such as “that”.

Examples
● On page 9, the text suggests that “Mt. Blue Middle School is a great place to
work” (Pomerleau).
● In her essay, Pomerleau states that “Mt. Blue Middle School is a great place to
work”.