What is a Quote in News Articles?
A quote in news articles are copied phrases of a person saying something in an interview or from a speech. News articles need quotes to help the reader understand the ideas, see the situation from a different point of view, and they also make the article more interesting and alive.
#1. DO NOT MAKE THE QUOTE TOO LONG
A quote should not be longer than three lines. To shorten the quote, you can turn the quote into two quotes.
Original Quote: “I was so nervous for the piano recital. My hands were shaking horribly when I was playing,” said John Smith, a piano player.
Example: “I was so nervous for the piano recital,” said John Smith, a piano player. “My hands were shaking horribly when I was playing.”
Or, another way to shorten the quote is to only use half of the quote and use the other half in context after or before the quote.
Example: John Smith was extremely nervous for the piano recital. “My hands were shaking horribly when I was playing.”
OR, another way to shorten the quote is to take out some of the useless, unnecessary parts, leaving only the important parts.
Example: “I was so nervous for the piano recital,” said John Smith, a piano player.
#2. Don’t Announce the Quote
Announcing the quote is a waste of space and it makes the quote sound repetitive.
Here is an example of announcing the quote:
Luke said that he doesn’t really have a favourite colour. “I like all of the colours of the rainbow, but I can’t pick my favourite.”
#3. Change Out-of-time Quotes into In-time Quotes
You want the reader to feel like he/she is in the midst of the story. You can do this by turning your Out-of-time quotes into In-time quotes. Out-of-time quotes are quotes that are spoken to a reporter. In-time quotes are the person actually saying the quote.
Here is an example of an Out-of-time quote:
“He told me that he had forgotten to do his homework the morning that it was due.” Tom said.
Here is an example of an In-time quote:
“Oh no! I forgot to do my homework!” Julian said the morning before it was due and he quickly scribbled some words on the page.
So these are the basic things of quoting that journalists need to watch out for when quoting in articles. Hope that you have learned something from reading this!
