Quotes and Attribution

Introduction

Good quotes are essential to turning a story from being good to being great. They play an important role in breaking up the journalist’s writing, transitioning from one fact or sub-issue to the next, giving authoritative heft to a story, and conveying the richness of the human experience. Put another way, quotes are useful in both substantive and stylistic ways.

However, quotes are also a representation of the individuals featured in a story. They must thus be conveyed accurately and clearly. This can present a challenge as journalists simply lack the space to fully quote everything their sources said during the course of the interviews—and, even if they did, it would likely result in a story that is an incoherent mess.

Quoting sources in a story thus involve a process of selection and placement, and often require journalists to move between direct quotes and paraphrased statements.

Direct Quotes

Direct quotes are statements that reflect the exact words used by the source. They are always placed in between quotation marks (") to make clear that they are the source’s words, and not the journalist’s.

Direct quotes are most useful for conveying emotions, opinions, and personal experiences. Quoting dry, basic facts (or descriptions that you can easily observe with your own eyes) is generally neither interesting nor a good use of space (as you can typically convey those facts more succinctly yourself).

As a journalist, you should be listening for quotes that tell you how people feel or think about the subject. An ideal quote will exemplify or elaborate upon a fact.

When using direct quotes, it is important that you change things as little as possible. Most interviewees are able to express themselves coherently—especially as many public figures and experts receive media training today—so you typically only have to ‘tidy up’ a quote.

Tidying up typically involves largely mechanical tasks like removing ‘ums’ and ‘ers’ or correcting a tense (e.g., using “have” when the correct syntax calls for “had”). However, you should never change the meaning of a quote. It is not your job as a journalist to make an interviewee sound “smarter”—nor should you be trying to make them sound “dumber.” Your job as a journalist is to accurately convey the interviewee’s intended meaning (as best you can).

What journalists can do, however, is patch quotes. Patching allows you to link one sentence from an interview with another sentence from earlier or later on in that interview. This is particularly useful if you have an inexperienced interviewee or a fast thinker who jumps around a lot during an interview.

For example, consider the following portion of a hypothetical interview: “Arsenal are one of the most storied clubs in England. I mean, last weekend was a pretty poor showing, but they’re typically quite good. Still, they remain the only English team to complete a top-flight season undefeated.”

We could easily patch that interview segment by writing:

“Arsenal are one of the most storied clubs in England,” Zamith said. “They remain the only English team to complete a top-flight season undefeated.”

Patching is critical for ensuring good flow for a story. Direct quotes are typically between one and three sentences in length. Unless they are particularly compelling, longer quotes will often slow down a story.

Here are a few other things to keep in mind when quoting a source:

  • Every quote should be clearly attributed so the reader knows exactly who said what.

  • When you quote a person for the first time, introduce them. The introduction typically includes the person’s full name and title. For example, in the aforementioned quote, you might write, “said Rodrigo Zamith, an associate professor of journalism at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.”

  • With subsequent quotes, use the source’s last name. If there are two sources with the same last name in the story, use their full name.

  • If there are several paragraphs between a source’s previous quote and their next one, remind the audience of the source’s qualifications. For example, you might later write, “said Zamith, the journalism professor.”

  • It is perfectly fine to use the word “said” repeatedly in your story to transition between the quote and the attribution. This is a neutral term that does not ascribe motivations that you cannot ascertain to your source. Most publications will stick to the past tense (as the interview already took place), though “says” is permissible at some outlets.

  • You should typically use the “[NAME] said” construction when quoting sources. However, you may invert this when an explanatory clause (or attribution) is added. Here’s an example of such an inversion: “said Zamith, who has watched nearly every game over the past decade.”

  • Single or multi-sentence quotes are usually given their own paragraph in a story. This helps draw attention to the quote. Partial quotes (i.e., a sentence fragment) or short quotes may be incorporated into a paragraph containing the journalist’s own words.

  • When using multi-sentence quotes, insert the attribution after the first sentence. Do not add it to the very end of a multi-sentence quote.

  • In feature writing, you may break up a single sentence into multiple segments for effect. For example: “Last weekend was a poor showing,” Zamith said, shaking his head. “They’re typically quite good.”

  • In the United States, punctuation (e.g., commas and periods) typically goes within the quotation marks.

Paraphrased Statements

Journalistic stories also make frequent use of paraphrased statements, which are sometimes also called indirect quotes. These refer to statements attributed to a source that are conveyed through the journalist’s choice of words.

For example, rather dedicating space to an extended quote, a journalist may simply write: According to Zamith, Arsenal have won 13 top-flight titles in England.

Paraphrased statements are important for adding authority and connective tissue to a story. They allow you to attribute a range of information—which adds heft to your story by highlighting that the information is not just your opinion or feeling—and make it easier to introduce transitions to the story by blending your words with the source’s. They are also useful when a source clearly intends to express a specific idea but does so in a clumsy way. In such an instance, you are not simply helping the source look “smarter”; you are helping the audience more easily understand the point.

Paraphrased statements are particularly useful for conveying purely factual information since facts, in isolation, are typically not very exciting and can be conveyed succinctly. If there’s nothing unusual, interesting, or newsworthy about the exact wording of a statement, it is typically better expressed via paraphrasing.

For example, consider the following quote: “The new Journalism building will house eight lab spaces and two lecture halls,” Zamith said. “These classrooms will offer seating capacity for 480 students. It will open next fall.”

There is nothing particularly interesting about that expression. Instead, it would be better to paraphrase it as: Zamith said the new building, due to open next fall, will seat up to 480 students across eight lab spaces and two lecture halls.

Because the journalist has greater control over the word choice of a paraphrased statement, it is even more crucial that they take care to accurately capture the source’s meaning and intent. For example, a source may intentionally use the word “good” to refer to an average instance of something. By using the word “great” or “outstanding” in the paraphrasing, the journalist may end up conveying a greater sense of pleasure than the source actually feels. It is thus good to stick closely to the source’s language, even when paraphrasing.

Similarly, journalists should be careful with the attribution terms they use. For example, the word “claims” can raise undue skepticism about a statement. Instead, it is best to use the following neutral descriptors: “said,” “stated,” “according to,” and “added.”

The LQTQ Format

One structural approach to newswriting that highlights the value of quotes is the LQTQ Format, with the acronym standing for Lead-Quote-Transition-Quote.

The approach begins with a strong lead (e.g., an anecdotal lead or a summary lead) that conveys the essence of the story or hooks the reader in.

Then, in the second full paragraph, important information not found in the lead is offered to help further contextualize the story (i.e., the nut graf). This second paragraph ends with a transition or set-up for the first extended quote in the story.

The third paragraph consists of a direct quote that helps to illustrate or elaborate upon the information provided in that second paragraph. As this is the generally the first direct quote, it typically includes complete attribution information for the source.

Subsequent paragraphs follow the Transition-Quote model. For example, the fourth and fifth paragraphs become linked thusly: The fourth paragraph introduces the next major fact or important piece of information, all the while transitioning the previous direct quote to the next direct quote—which comprises the fifth paragraph. That subsequent quote should elaborate on the transition, offer an expert opinion, or illustrate the issue via an individual’s experience or emotion. Transitions may include paraphrased statements (by the same source or a different one), original facts uncovered by the journalist, or contextual information.

A transition does not have to be a single paragraph in length; it can cover two and even three paragraphs. The idea is that direct quotes are introduced with good frequency, to ensure that the reader is able to regularly hear from someone other than the journalist.

This process continues until the end, with the story concluding with a kicker quote that aptly encapsulates the story, points to what is to come (the future), or otherwise leaves the audience with a satisfying conclusion. (You should not simply summarize the story in the conclusion.)

Choosing Who and What to Quote

Journalists will frequently speak with far more sources than they end up quoting or paraphrasing. Put another way, it is perfectly fine to speak with a source and not quote them in the story. If another source is able to express something in a more informative or compelling way, refer only to that other source. (However, it can be helpful to include multiple sources to illustrate that a particular opinion or belief is shared.) In short, be selective with what and who you quote.

You should also be mindful of the source’s authoritativeness on a particular subject matter. For example, a quote from a company’s CEO will typically carry more weight than a quote from that company’s media spokesperson. (Keep in mind, though, that many quotes in press releases are effectively written by spokespeople.) In general, you should seek to attribute information to the most authoritative sources.

Moreover, if your story angle changes over the course of reporting it, you should simply drop the now-superfluous material. While quotes can be highly useful, they can also be detrimental when used improperly (or overused). There are better uses for space than a tangential quote.

Finally, as a rule of thumb, journalists should paraphrase dry facts, but directly quote emotions, opinions, and newsworthy expressions voiced by sources. As suggested by the LQTQ Format, direct quotes should be placed throughout the story—generally, at least after every few paragraphs—regardless of the story structure.


Key Takeaways

  • Quoting sources in a story thus involve a process of selection and placement, and often require journalists to move between_direct quotes and paraphrased statements.

  • Direct quotes are statements that reflect the exact words used by the source. Paraphrased statements are those attributed to a source that are conveyed through the journalist’s choice of words.

  • It is perfectly fine to speak with a source and not quote them in the story. Instead, attribute information to the most authoritative and interesting sources.