Page 130 - Aldi Lukman Nurhakim_How to Write Critical Esays: A Guide for Students of Literature

Presentation 129
include is correct English or strictly accurate, pause. First try to
find some expression which is undoubtedly appropriate and use
that instead. If you cannot think of one and must settle for the
dubious term, do not add quotation marks. Their defensiveness
will merely draw attention to the vulnerable phrasing and
virtually guarantee its being attacked.

Titles of scholarly and critical works

Titles of book-length works should again be underlined. So
should the titles of periodicals. Titles of shorter essays and
reviews which together compose a book or a periodical should
not be underlined. They should be preceded and followed by a
single quotation mark. So Marilyn Butler’s book (on English
literature and its background in the period 1760–1830) should
be described as Romantics, Rebels and Reactionaries. Her two-
page review article (about books on Wordsworth) should, on
the other hand, have its title placed in quotation marks: ‘Three
feet on the ground’, London Review of Books, 14–20 April
1983. Note that the title of the journal in which the essay was
published is underlined.

Quotations

Make sure that all your quotations are copied out with strict
accuracy.
Sometimes, to increase economy and help your reader to
concentrate upon what is most relevant to your present point,
you may want to omit some portion of the original passage. If
so, hesitate. Ensure that no significant misrepresentations will
be involved. Where you decide to go ahead and make the
omission, indicate it clearly with an ellipsis: three full stops
preceded and followed by a space (…).
Try to be meticulous about punctuation, capital letters and
spelling. The correct spelling is, of course, that adopted by the
text, regardless of modern practice.
Accuracy is more important than any of the other rules
about quotations which are given below. Where you break any
of the following conventions about where and how to set out