History[ edit ] The oldest classical Greek and Latin writing had little or no space between words and could be written in boustrophedon alternating directions. Virginia has been a university English instructor for over 20 years. She specializes in helping people write essays faster and easier. The Goal in Punctuating When you write a conversation, your most important goal is making sure your reader understands who is talking. The following rules are easy to follow and will make sure that your reader doesn't have to backtrack in the story isn't that annoying? Indent each time a new person speaks. Make it clear who is speaking. Quotation marks only around speech. Long quotations are special. Use Emotional Words for "Said" "Do you understand soldier! Every time a new person is speaking, you need to start a new paragraph and indent. If the person only speaks a word or short phrase, you still need to indent. Include any description which accompanies the action of that person in the paragraph with that quote. Here is an example: George said, "Jane, did you hear that noise last night? You always think everything bad is my fault! Softly, she touched his arm. I must have woken myself up. Where's the number for that sleep doctor? It helps the reader to follow the conversation and know when a new person is speaking. In a movie or real conversation, the visual and audio clues easily let us know when a new person is talking. In writing, you use punctuation and formatting instead. In the above example, the name of the person was used in each paragraph; however, sometimes, when the dialogue is fast, you may omit the names of the speakers in short sentences. By indenting each line, the reader can still know who is speaking. Make it Clear Who is Speaking There isn't a firm rule about how many times you need to say the name of the speaker. Instead, the rule is that your reader shouldn't get confused and have to re-read. If are doing a short dialogue with just two people, say their names every sentences or so. Someone is starting to speak. Someone is stopping speaking. Therefore, when you use quotation marks, be sure to put them right before the words someone says and right afterwards. You never include the name of the person speaking inside the quotation marks as I have students do each year. George said, " I will pick up the laundry today on the way home from work. No New Paragraph Sometimes, a lot of description or other information might come in between the words someone is speaking. In that case, you need to remember: Quotation marks go around speech starting and stopping. If same person is speaking, you don't need to start a new paragraph. Here is an example with the dialogue underlined: Steve, my husband's French cousin, had an unusual haircut: Finally, he confessed, "I was going to ask you to cut my hair like Steve's, because I thought it might make me look at bit more debonair. I've changed my mind though, after his sister told me that their mother cuts his hair and everyone at school makes fun of him. I'd been trying to imagine what my husband would look like with a brown bowl on his head. Use Variety for "Said" There is nothing more boring than dialogue that always uses "he said" and "she said" or conversations that always put the speaker first. That kind of sentence writing only works for beginning reader books. A paragraph (from the Ancient Greek παράγραφος paragraphos, "to write beside" or "written beside") is a self-contained unit of a discourse in writing dealing with a particular point or idea. A paragraph consists of one or more sentences. Though not required by the syntax of any language, paragraphs are usually an expected part of formal writing, used to organize longer prose. When writing your book you should separate the writing from the formatting. Write first, format later. However, there are some steps you can make when writing your book in Microsoft Word that will make the job of formatting your book easier and help prevent errors in the book formatting process. Turnitin provides instructors with the tools to prevent plagiarism, engage students in the writing process, and provide personalized feedback. Sep30 Comments Off on Indenting quotes in an essay. Indenting quotes in an essay Posted by Essay on challenges before the nation critical analysis of research papers valente dreams research paper quote tok essay senses baruch essay requirements university of delaware essay heidi essay. Dissertation tu darmstadt physik septimus . 6 Easy Rules with examples for punctuating quotation in dialogue and conversation. Includes examples, Words for Said chart and writing conversation tips. APA Citation Style Guide. A guide from the Landmark College Library, updated for the 6th edition (© ) APA Style. American Psychological Association’s Style of citing sources.