MANUAL OF STYLE.

Finals season is upon us and that means ESSAYS, ESSAYS, ESSAYS! As an English Major, and a lover of language, I have decided to compile a list of rules and regulations that I think will benefit all of us paper writers. You can thank me when the A's start piling in! Here it is:

THE WORCESTER MANUAL OF STYLE.
LESSON 1. QUOTES.


Quotes are good things to quote. They are good to quote because when you quote them it gives your statement greater validity because in your quote you are quoting what someone else, someone presumably smarter than you, is saying. This is the nature of a quote. But when you quote things it is important not to get the quote wrong because a wrong quote is a misquote and that isn't good. Misquotes make both the quoter and the quoted look dumb. To quote a favorite teacher of mine, "quotes should be used to strengthen your argument. Your paper should be in conversation with your quotes." But when you quote things you gotta make sure that you say who you are quoting because otherwise you can get in trouble for quoting someone without quickly saying who said the quote. To show that you are quoting, put quotation marks around the quote.Without these quotes it is hard to tell that your quote is a quote. Here are some of my favorite quotes from Benjamin Franklin, co-founder and MVP of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League:

"Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise."
-Benjamin Franklin on the importance of exercise.
"He that blows the coals in quarrels that he has nothing to do with, has no right to complain if the sparks fly in his face."
- Benjamin Franklin on lighting a fire.
"He that can have patience can have what he will"
- Benjamin Franklin on representations of violence in the media.
"He that falls in love with himself will have no rivals."
- Benjamin Franklin on Lady Gaga.

In short, quotes are an important thing for papers. Quoting someone shows that you understand your own argument as well as the quote that you are quoting. So the next time you only have 8 pages of a 10 page paper and are looking to take up some room, just put in a quote. And you can quote me on that!