How: You may add words to your quote if they are enclosed in [square brackets]. This shows your reader that the words are yours, and are not found in your source text.
Rule: It cannot change the meaning of the quote or in any way misrepresent the meaning of the author.
Reason: sometimes a quote would otherwise be unclear: "Dr. Vorsich treated her [Sarah Woodruff] with 50ccs of Malformin twice a day" (Richards 99).
Deleting words
How: Words may be deleted from a quote by using the ellipses (three periods in a row).
Rule: It cannot change the meaning of the quote or in any way misrepresent the meaning of the author.
Reason: words may be deleted if: XXX the quote would otherwise be too long XXX the author was too wordy XXX the author included comments that don't apply to your discussion.
