How to incorporate quotes into an interview article

You turn off your recorder and thank the person opposite you for the interesting conversation. Then you rush to your laptop to work out all the notes (read: scribbles) while the story is still fresh in your memory. You have collected a few juicy quotes, but how do you process them in the text? And what is the correct spelling?

In Babbage's articles, we often use quotes. They enliven a story and make it more convincing. You prove that you have really spoken to a person. You can use a quote in your text in different ways:

1. Direct citation. After an interview, you mainly select. Which words, that someone has spoken, do you process in the article? You place the quote between quotation marks (you can read more about this later in the article).
2. Indirect quoting. In this form, you have more freedom to refine the quote and rewrite it from spoken language to written language. You do not place these words between quotation marks, because your interview candidate did not literally say this. However, you do indicate in certain words that it is a statement by the interviewee. For example: Eva is thrilled with her new freelance assignment at a content marketing agency.
3. Paraphrase. You literally repeat what someone said.

Quoting is quite a difficult task. To what extent can you tinker with a quotation without doing violence to the content? In this blog I discuss the different forms and spellings. Would you like to learn more about interviewing and writing interviews? Then the training Interview techniques an absolute must. In two days you will learn from journalists Evert de Vos and Luuk Sengers how to prepare an interview, work it out and everything in between.

Incorporating quotations into the text: What forms are there?

When you prepare an interview, you already think about the form. In a news interview, for example, an expert briefly talks about a certain issue or event. Are you interviewing a person who talks about his life, thoughts and work? Then you are working on a portrait interview. You can also choose from different models for quotes (source University of Groningen).

1. Question-answer

Question and answer alternate in the text. In the section Spot on we apply this model a lot. The reader gets the feeling of being a participant in the conversation as it happened.

2. Monologue or full-quote

In a monologue or full-quote interview, the entire text consists of what the interviewee has said and the questions are removed. It seems as if the person has been talking all the time. This form is often seen in magazines when someone shares a personal story.

3. Indirect quotation

This is a paraphrase (rephrasing) of the interviewee's words in indirect speech. Example: 'What is the first step?' 'Analytical thinking,' says Dirk Smit.

4. Assembly model

The montage model is a hybrid of the above models. Combining different forms provides variation in the text and can be attractive to the reader. Use it functionally: a quote if the interviewee is central and a paraphrase if you want to emphasize the subject or provide an interpretation.

5. Writing of quotations

What about the use of punctuation and capitalization in quotes? Oddly enough, there are no fixed rules for what is right or wrong (source Society Our Language). There are, however, general tips that you can follow.

Single or double quotes?

Whether you have single or double quotation marks used, both are allowed. It is recommended to consistently choose one form.

Quote a whole sentence

When you quote an entire sentence, the quotation begins with a capital letter and the period, question mark, or exclamation point falls within the quotation marks.

• He told me, “My deadline is 14.00:XNUMX p.m.”
• A student asked, “Will you email the slides after the training?”
• The coach shouted, "Time's up!"

The sentence begins with a quotation

If your sentence begins with a quotation, the period is omitted (the question mark or exclamation mark remains), and the quotation is followed by a comma or a space.

• “My deadline is 14.00 p.m.,” he continued.
• “Will you email the slides after the training?” the student asked.
• “Time's up!” the coach shouted.

You quote part of the sentence

When you quote part of a sentence, start with a smaller font.

• Eva found the assignment 'rather unclear'.

An interrupted quote

There is some discussion about the correct spelling of an interrupted quotation. The Society Our Language adheres to the following rules: place a comma within the quotation marks if it also appears in a whole quoted sentence.

• “Anyway,” she concluded her story, “I’m coming to practice tomorrow.” The whole sentence is, “Anyway, I’m coming to practice tomorrow.”
• “How,” Eva wanted to know, “do I apply these tips in practice?” The whole sentence is: “How do I apply these tips in practice?”

Thoughts

You don't put quotation marks when it's a thought. After the colon, there's a lowercase letter.

• I thought: the deadline is way too tight.
• The deadline is way too tight, I thought.

Training Interviewing

In the two-day training Interview techniques learn all aspects of the journalistic interview. We use not one but two seasoned trainers, which makes it possible to practice in realistic role plays. You interview one of the trainers, while the other watches and gives feedback.

You will learn just as much from your own interview as from watching and listening to the other students. In addition, the trainers share numerous tips.