- 1). Use quotation marks whenever a character speaks. Quotation marks should be used around the words each character speaks out loud. Many times, a tag is used to introduce or clarify which character is speaking. When using a tag, begin the sentence with the tag, followed by a comma, the first quotation mark, the dialogue, a period and a closing quotation mark. Conversely, you may start the line with the line of dialogue wrapped in quotation marks, a comma tucked inside of the quotation marks, followed by the explanatory tag and a period. For example:
Roy said, "If I was feeling better I would have called you."
If there are no tags on the line of dialogue, simply add the period within the quotation marks to denote the end of the character's sentence. Each line of dialogue between characters or descriptive paragraphs should be placed on its own line and indented just like a new paragraph. - 2). Use quotation marks within an essay which cites dialogue from a novel. For example, if you are citing a line delivered by a male character in a novel to bolster your point about the novel's message your essay line would look like this:
Smith's work suggests the ways we can perceive our world erroneously. In chapter five, his character, Matthew, says, "I am only a young man and cannot know the world at large."
Notice that the dialogue quotation is preceded by a comma before the quotation begins. The character which is speaking is also introduced. If you want to cite an entire line of dialogue including the author's tag you will use double quotation marks for all of the author's words and single quotation marks for the dialogue. A passage using both styles would look like this:
Smith forces the reader to acknowledge difference in this subtle passage, "Mark began to speak, 'I am but a troubled spirit.'". - 3). Cite the author's name, the book name, and the publication date using the Chicago Manual of Style. This style is the most commonly used for professional citation in the humanities. To utilize this style, insert a footnote directly after the cited novel dialogue. Create a footnote entry at the bottom of the page, which begins with the author's first and last name, comma, the title of the novel in italics, the publication information of the novel in parenthesis and the page number of the quote material. For example:
John Smith, The Dilemma (Anytown: Book Publisher, 2010), 67.
Remember to place the novel title in italics, a function we cannot show you in this format. - 4). Create a bibliographic entry, which will be included on a bibliography page at the end of the essay. This entry should start with the author's last name, first name, the novel's title and the publication information. For instance:
Smith, John. The Dilemma. Anytown, Book Publisher, 2010.