Hi! It's been awhile. I need help with quotation titles.

[AteoAltruist]

Please help! I've finally found the courage and time to write again. My articles have fetched between 40 and 85 bucks (averaging 50ish), so I seem to have done okay in the past. The new system has me a bit perplexed, but I'll muddle through it. Here's where I really need help: quotation marks and capitalization of titles. I've always used quotation marks, and capitalized the title of the journal, or article (or whatever) I'm quoting. However, this devious editor suggested I'm doing it all wrong. For example:

Blah blah congressional report on e-cigarettes was issued, titled: "Gateway to Addiction? A Survey of Popular Electronic Cigarette Manufacturers and Targeted Marketing To Youth." The title was actually written in caps exactly as follows: "GATEWAY TO ADDICTION? A Survey of Popular Electronic..." However, feeling another rejection would destroy my confidence forever, I changed it. Should I have left it? Should I be using a comma instead of colon? It's never been a problem before...?? It's been submitted, but who knows if it'll fly.

So there's that, but I'm at a complete loss as to what is wrong with this one (other than its multiple rejections ).

...blah blah published in 2007, titled, “Time Out and Other Discipline Tools That Work.” In it, the authors note: “Time out won’t work if it is overused. If you use time out for every behavior problem, the effectiveness will lessen.” Obviously, the authors encourage us to blah blah blah.

Again, is it the colon? Inconsistency of a comma before the title, and colon before the text? Can someone point out where I'm making a mistake. Or is it possible that the editor missed the difference between the title and the text of the quoted article? In other words, HE'S the one who's got it wrong, right you guys?

Thanks in advance for any guidance anyone can give.

[Lysis]

All caps is probably a problem.

I got a rejection for making a title two sentences, so I would use a colon.

[AteoAltruist]

I may have botched that question. To clarify, these aren't the titles I'm using for my articles. They're titles of journals, or whatever publication I happen to be quoting IN my article.

The most problematic is this one. My article reads:

"...published in 2007, titled, 'Time Out and Other Discipline Tools That Work.' In it, the authors note: 'Time out won’t work if it is overused. If you use time out for every behavior problem, the effectiveness will lessen.' Obviously, the authors encourage us to blah blah blah."

The editor suggested I paraphrase if I'm misunderstanding the the rules for capitalizing quotes, but from what I can find, I capitalized correctly. The first quote is the article title, the second "Time out won't work if..." is just part of the body of the article I'm quoting from. Maybe I should just paraphrase, but I'd like to understand this to avoid future mistakes. (If, in fact, I've made a mistake at all.) I suspect the editor might have missed the fact that the "Time Out and Other Discipline Tools..." was the TITLE to the article I was quoting from. <shrug>

Thanks Lysis. You're one of the people who always seems willing to help out, and I find that noble and encouraging.

[Isabelnewth]

Hi, it's confusing and I have had loads of grammar rejections I didn't understand or agree with so don't take my word for it, but

For the first quote, the title one, I don't think there should be a colon or a comma, just nothing at all. As in: my dog, called 'Rover' rather than my dog, called, 'Rover.

For the second one, I think a comma before the quote would read better than a colon, because it's just a standard quote.

If the editor says the issue is capitals, I don't know what they mean...do they actually say that's the problem? I don't see how you can paraphrase the title of the work you are referring to. Maybe ask them to be more precise?

Good luck anyway and maybe wait for some more opinions!

[Lysis]

Oops, I did misunderstand.

I agree with Isabel. (Short and sweet. I'm a little tired.

[AteoAltruist]

I think I've figured out the problem. I now believe it was not capitalization of the title. Rather, it was the NON capitalization of sentences quoted. I don't know why I didn't spot this earlier, but I believe these are the offending parts of the quote:

“Time out won’t work if it is overused... blah blah” When a child of 4 or 5 is throwing a tantrum... and say, “Please sit here for 5 minutes.” Or, “Let me know when you've calmed down....”

I forgot to capitalize the words please, and let in the beginning of these two sentences. Hours spent (wasted, actually) trying to figure this out, and all the while I missed it by scanning right over the actual mistakes -- dozens of times. At least, I think this is the issue. It's a good lesson on proofreading, if nothing else. I should have caught this early.

I'll follow up if there's anything interesting.

Thanks for the input, though. I really appreciate you guys that take time to try and help people.

[Lysis]

Just a word of advice from the master of rejections (me). If rejections scare you off, you're not gonna have a good time here. Sometimes, I get like 5 in a row. Don't overthink it.

[AteoAltruist]

They're disheartening, I know, but I get your drift. Have the editors tightened things up? I seem to remember rejections for quirky little things that made it through in other articles. (Things I was unaware of, or I would have done it correctly every time.)

By the way, my concern with a 4th possible rejection is the editor getting frustrated, and telling me not to resubmit. I have confidence in the saleability of this piece, and want to avoid being told "forget it dude. Just write something else."

[Lysis]

There are the rumors that maybe there is a new editor or something. I don't know, but sometimes I do well and other times it's like I have to fix five in a row. Of course, it could jut be me getting sloppy!

I suppose there could always be a chance that the editor just says forget it. I haven't had that happen to me yet but I have gotten the overall "this is bad" type stuff and had to go over the whole article again.