Instructor lights path to perfect quotes

BY ALEX BURNESS

Taylor Long was never the pickiest about quotes.

"I used to quote anything just to have a quote," the Indiana, Pa. native said. 

That was, of course, until she arrived at the journalism program at the National High School Institute. With a little guidance and practice reporting in the field, she soon saw the error of her ways. 

"It made me realize that I had to step up my reporting, and that quotes need to be stronger than I thought," she said.

Long was not alone. Sarah Mansur, of Clarendon Hills, Ill., used to think she could get good quotes anywhere, but quickly realized that sometimes "you have to do hours of reporting to get one good quote."

Instructor John Kupetz teaches cherubs the finer points of quotations.

"You have to ask the right question to get the right quote," Lauren Hitt, of Towson, Md., said.

But ask any cherub, and they'll tell you that the biggest reason for the development of their quoting skills was instructor John Kupetz. Since the late 1980s, Kupetz has been preaching the laws of quotes to cherubs, including when to quote directly, when to paraphrase, how to behave during an interview and how to handle sources who want to go "off the record."

"You have an ideal quote when somebody important says something important in a unique way," he said. "You want the quote to have a little pop."

Kupetz also said getting rid of extra words can help make quotes more concise, as long as it doesn't change the quote's meaning.

"Students don't realize that they can take things out of a quote like 'I think' and 'I believe,'" he said. "You can pull some of the excess baggage out of a quote and actually make it better."

Grace Hawkins, of Piedmont, Calif., said Kupetz's advice paid off. She knew when she got great quotes from her sources.

"You get this feeling, and it's like love at first sight, but with your ears," Hawkins said.

Emilia Barrosse, of Woodland Hills, Calif., said she is excited to what she learned about handling quotes home to her high school newspaper.

"Learning about quoting has been extremely important," Barrosse. "I'll definitely use everything I've learned about quotes, and I'll be a better reporter because of it."