14.4 Using dialogue in the narrative
Since students tend to include dialogue in a narrative paragraph, they should
understand the two ways to present discourse. The first method is direct discourse
or dialogue which is a quote of the exact words spoken by someone. These words,
when written exactly as spoken, are to be presented in quotation marks and
attributed to the speaker. The second method of presenting dialogue is indirect
discourse by which the words are paraphrased and not written in quotation marks.
This is the method students are to use in assignments for this course when recounting personal experience. This limitation, however, does not apply when
presenting research material.
Below are samples of direct and indirect discourse which the student should
study to learn how to change from one form to the other.