CHAPTER 4 Quotations and Attributions
Overview
Knowing how and when to quote is an essential skill for any reporter; knowing how and
when to attribute sources is equally important. In fact, we believe the subjects are important
enough to warrant a separate chapter.
The actual reporting and writing experience that students bring to an introductory course
ranges from extensive to none at all. Some students in your class will have already mastered
most of the rules of quoting sources; for others, it will be a mystery. Give students ample
opportunities to practice the punctuation rules for quotations, and offer them scenarios
concentrating on magazine journalism or public relations. Encourage students to have a
personal policy of placing only the exact words of a speaker within quotation marks.
In the final section, concerning on- and off-the-record information, students will see
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Teaching Tips
You may wish to begin a discussion about quotations by reviewing the basic rules of using
demonstrates the correct use and placement of quotation marks.
A mistake students often make is to close the quotation at the end of a paragraph, even
though the same speaker is quoted at the beginning of the next paragraph. The Associated
Press Stylebook has a chapter on punctuation; style rules for punctuating quotations are found
When you are sure that students understand basic punctuation rules, you can stress the
importance of using quotes and recording them accurately. However, it is our belief that
English instructors may have urged students to use synonyms
prefer to avoid those synonyms. Stress the importance of attribution, but keep the students
from including attribution two or three times per paragraph, even if the source is the same.
Lecture Notes
I. WHAT TO QUOTE DIRECTLY
A. Matthew Weiner/Don Draper anecdote illustrates how direct quotes add color and
credibility to a story.
B. Unique material the surprising and unexpected.
1. Use good judgment in selecting quotes anecdote.
2. instead, paraphrase and attribute.
C. The unique expression look for the clever, the colorful, the colloquial.
D. Important quotes by important people prominence is an important property of news;
lends credibility, authority and interest to your story.
II. ACCURACY AND FAIRNESS IN DIRECT QUOTATIONS
A.
B. Verification information in accurate quotes must still be verified.
D.
releases; get your own quotes.
E. Practicing prepublication review checking quotes with sources is standard practice
at many newspa
1. Defense against libel.
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III. ALTERING QUOTATIONS
A. both too few quotes and too many; look for kernels.
B. Paraphrasing quotes the writer conveys the meaning of the quote, more clearly and
more succinctly.
1.
C. Using partial quotes can be choppy, fragmentary, so use them sparingly.
D. Capturing dialect or accent writing the way people talk.
1. Be consistent.
E. Mixing and matching questions and answers.
1. Can you use responses to one question to answer another?
F. Correcting grammar in quotes the most perplexing problem related to handling
direct quotations.
1. The case for correcting grammar accepted practice at many newspapers because
spoken English is usually not as precise as written English.
2. The case against correcting grammar most newspapers have no written policy on
correcting grammar errors in quotes.
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G. Removing redundancies no agreement in the industry; for most reporters/editors,
answer is to remove quotation marks and paraphrase.
H. Deleting obscenity, profanity and vulgarity.
1. Many newspapers never allow obscenities, profanities and vulgarities to be
published.
2. Sexual terminology, when appropriate (child molestation stories, for example), can
be used.
IV. ATTRIBUTING DIRECT AND INDIRECT QUOTES
A. When to attribute.
1. Almost always for direct quotes; ordinarily for indirect quotes.
2. Give as much information as possible for anonymous sources without naming them.
B. How to attribute
1. Place attribution at end of first sentence if the direct quote is more than one
sentence long.
3. Separate partial quotes and complete quotes.
4. Fully identify the speaker the first time you attribute a direct or indirect quote.
5. Attribute quotes to only one person.
6.
the witness.
7. In stories covering past news events, attributions should be in the past tense but
features and pro
V. HANDLING ON- AND OFF-THE-RECORD INFORMATION
A. Problems with anonymous sources.
1. Such sources are dangerous.
2. Anonymous information can lack credibility; the source may be lying.
3. Once promised, you cannot revoke anonymity without risking a breach-of-contract
suit.
B. Disagreement about terminology.
1. Off the record, not for attribution, background, deep background
agreement about what these terms mean.
C. Background interviews.
1. Do
2. Be aware that information may be self-serving.
3. Background/off-the-
known, available from several sources, or you are a witness.
Class Activities and Discussion Questions
Activity 1: Find a newspaper story that includes direct quotes, partial quotes and paraphrases.
Number each paragraph. Make copies for your students. Ask students to count how many
Pick a direct quotation from the story, and ask students to analyze why the reporter used it
instead of a partial quotation or a paraphrase. Do the same thing with a partial quotation, and
Activity 2: To help students work on punctuation, download stories from the Internet, and
remove all punctuation. Make copies, and have students work in pairs to correctly add
punctuation back into the stories. Use an overhead projector, a projection unit or a
PowerPoint presentation to show students how the story was originally punctuated.
Activity 3: Make copies of several newspaper and magazine news stories. Put students in
groups, give each group one story, and have students highlight all the different words used
for attributing quotes. Create a class list showing the number of times a particular word is
Before the quote.
In the middle of a single-sentence quote at a natural pause point.
After a single-sentence quote.
Where should attributions go? Why?
Activity 4:
s for quoting and attribution.
quotations. Among the characteristics students should look for: unique material, quoting of
Activity 5: Pair up students and have them record an informal interview with one another.
are two examples of excellent quotes? What makes them effective? How easy or difficult is it
to choose the actual quotes to include in a story?
Activity 6: Show the clip from the film in which Bob Woodward
(played by Robert Redford) tries to get his source, Deep Throat (played by Hal Holbrook), to
length.) In the scene, Woodward gets a note from Deep Throat in his copy of The New York
Times. The note gives him specific instructions on how to contact Deep Throat. After
following those instructions, Woodward meets Deep Throat in a parking garage. Woodward
tries to convince his source to help him on the Watergate story, but the source resists. Stop
the film after the parking garage conversation concludes. Discussion questions: What does it
mean for a source to be on the record? Off the record? Not for attribution? On background?
Solutions to Textbook Exercises
1. Your journalism blog. The use and misuse of anonymous sources in American
journalism is a discussion that never seems to grow old. Many newspapers have
developed specific rules and regulations, up to and including editor approval, regarding
the use of anonymous sources. But the practice especially in the Washington, D.C.,
them on the use of anonymous sources. And yet, unnamed senior White House officials
end up being quoted every day in newspapers across the country. As you know, the terms
in this exercise are defined differently in the literature, and practicing journalists certainly
use them differently from one another. The text discusses this problem briefly.
with the subject but probably not on anything sensitive or condemning.
incident or policy, but none of the information or its source can be quoted.
2. This concise exercise deals with some of the key problems with direct quotations
discussed in the text. No two people will agree on every decision to be made here, but
story. Note that the attributions are in the present tense.
He has much to be happy about. Physical therapy has hastened his recovery since
the day he awoke from a 10-week-long coma. He has lived to celebrate his 26th
birthday.
He speaks slowly about his birthday party, celebrated with friends and a big cake.
He lives in a house with his mother and stepfather in the rolling, green countryside
near Springfield.
His mother talks about the sad condition he was in when he came out of his coma.
Now, Chris is able to respond in incomplete sentences to questions and can carry on
he found himself in the medium-security prison in Springfield. Then came what the
family argued that he received punishment beyond what the Eighth Amendment of the
U.S. Constitution calls cruel and unusual.
She says the state should have paid at least a million dollars.
e infection of the brain after sleeping on the concrete floor of
a confinement cell, his mother says. He had been placed in solitary confinement
because he would not clean his cell. The disease went undiagnosed for eight days and
3. Getting quotations down correctly is a skill that needs lots of practice. If students use a
digital recorder, they can note the location of the quote and find it easily. If you send the
4. You may wish to do this as an in-class activity. The story need not be a long one. Ask
students to read their quotes aloud to see the reaction of the person quoted. Students are
Solutions to Workbook Exercises
1. The purpose of this introductory exercise is to help students appreciate the significance of
using quotations in journalism. We try to point out to students that there are at least 10
different quotes in a typical 25-paragraph news story. We also point out that newspapers
and magazines often use quotes differently: In most newspapers, quotes tend to be short
2. Finding bad television sports journalism is, unfortunately, not difficult. The questions are
often simplistic, and the answers are almost always riddled with clichés. But this exercise
offers a fairly straightforward way to compare live quotes to published quotes. Depending
on the publication, students should see a fairly wide range of outcomes for published
3. The point of this exercise is to help students understand that, when it comes to speech,
what we hear and say is less formal than what we read and write. But no newspaper or
from time to time when we speak. Even the most conservative newspaper policies on
4. Remind students that writers should use direct quotations when the speaker says
something unique or says it in a unique way or when an important person says something
important. Students should be able to find a number of examples of over-quoting.
5. Students may list all or some of the following problems with trying to reproduce dialects
in a story. The first problem is that it is difficult to make the copy consistent. The second
problem arises when the writer reproduces the dialect for some people, but not others. A
third problem is that such writing is difficult to read. It slows down readers and often
6. The statement is false. If the quote is libelous or defamatory, the writer or the news outlet
can be held liable. Also, the quote might be offensive to local tastes and standards. In
radio and television news, the station might be fined for broadcasting certain language.
7. Students will rewrite the sentences in different ways. The benefit of the exercise will
come from the discussion. If a student has elected to paraphrase a direct quote, he or she
b. The group performed with Taylor Brown and John Barnes last summer in New York,
c.
loved writing songs and playing guitar, for three years he struggled over whether he
e. (Leave as is.)
f.
lways staying with friends. Traveling can really