Always Proofread! Whether you use a typewriter or a computer, a heavily marked-up manuscript is preferable to an error-laden one. Errors of spelling and grammar may seem trivial, but they create the impression that you have worked hastily or carelessly. Even simple problems like misplaced commas can interfere with the sense of your writing. Word processors and spell-checkers take the drudgery out of proofreading, but you still must carefully reconsider what you have written. Your writing may look cleaner on the computer screen, but looks can be deceiving. Many people write faster and make more changes when they use a word processor. Remember that these habits of composition can make you more prone to certain mistakes, such as typographical errors and problems in parallel structure. Purdue's Online Writing Lab has three good handouts (96, 32, and 97) on proofreading.
Quotations require special vigilance in proofreading. If you have a parenthetical reference at the end of a quotation, precede it with quotation marks and follow it with the punctuation:
"...government of the people, by the people, and for the people, shall not perish..." (p.76).Americans fought bitterly so that "government of the people, by the people, and for the people, shall not perish" (p.76); yet seldom....
The string of three or four dots that appears in the examples above is called an ellipsis, and it indicates that the sentence being cited has not been given in full. Ellipses are very useful but must be handled intelligently. Be careful not to pare away so much of the original text that the quotation becomes unfaithful or nonsensical. An ellipsis with three dots (...) indicates that only the beginning or middle of the sentence has been omitted. An ellipsis with three dots followed by a period (....) means that the remainder of the sentence, up to its closing period, has been left out. Note: the use of an ellipsis to begin a quotation is becoming less common than it once was, but some readers will expect it.
If you intend to quote more than one sentence, or if a single quoted sentence takes up more than three lines, set the quotation as a separate block. Insert one blank line in double-space format, two blank lines in single spacing. Then type the block quotation in single-space format with each new line indented. Do not enclose block quotations in quotation marks (" "). Follow the quotation with a footnote or page reference as you would an ordinary quotation. Remember that all the standards of good quotation apply to block quotations, particularly the caution against padding out your text with irrelevant material.
See Some Matters of Form; see also Purdue's handout on quotation marks for further help and some exercises.
Copyright 1996 Yale University. Revised on Monday, May 20, 1996