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Quotes and attribution

Attribution

Also: attribute

Telling the reader who said or supplied a piece of information, so they can judge where it came from.

Attribution is the "she said", "according to the report", "police allege" that ties a claim to its source. It is not optional padding; it is how the reader weighs a fact and how you stay out of trouble. Unattributed claims read as your opinion, which is rarely what you want and sometimes what gets you sued.

Simon on this

Where Simon Townsend teaches this in the archive:

Related terms

Said

The plain attribution verb. Simon's rule: almost always use "said", because it disappears and lets the quote do the work.

Direct quote

A speaker's exact words, set inside quotation marks and credited to them. The most powerful tool a reporter has.

On the record

Information a source agrees you can publish and attribute to them by name. The default you should always aim for.