By Kimmie Brandon
Gawyn is uberly smart and simply awesome when it comes to the point where he can explain things to his fellow Gryffindors. I have caught him in the Chit Chat section, where he almost all of a sudden gave this super-great explanation of how to quote the right way, and because this is so awesome, I thought I�d share this with you, so you know how to do it right. Enjoy!
Quote, Gawyn Crossguard:
Alright, so say that for some very obvious reasons you want to quote me, and the statement you want to quote me on happens to be, "Hey, that's not fair. You can't tease me about something without telling me what you're teasing me about." You have to give me credit for saying it.
So, for argument's sake, let's say you found this quote on an internet magazine. There are certain ways to give credit to a person who says something in an internet magazine, website, online journal, as well as things in print, such as books, magazines, encyclopaedias, etc.
So your article may look something like this, if it's written in MLA format:
Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, "Hey, that's not fair. You can't tease me about something without telling me what you're teasing me about." (Crossguard) Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
Get it? Then at the end, you have to put the exact information about where you got my amazing quote from, so it would look something like this (keep in mind I made all of the information up off the top of my head):
Crossguard, Gawyn. "Gawyn and the Non-Sensical Things He Says." Gawyn's Being Stupid Yet Again 15 005 2007 121. 15 May 2007 <www.padshogwarts.com/gbsya>.
See? Easy as that, when you use this awesome website made just for helping dumb, MLA/APA-illiterate dorks like me.
Oh, and APA is a slightly different format.
So, how did I do with explaining? Did you like my example?
By Masi
I have a squirrel named Kitty. He adopted me last year when the squirrel army was trying to take over Hogwarts. He can speak human, but he sounds like Reepicheep, from the Narnia books by C.S. Lewis. It can really get on your nerves. He is a warrior and even has a cute little sword. He has a time with all the cats and dogs in Penshire; they love to chase him up on book cases and fireplace mantles. Poor little guy, I think they just want to play with him, but if their predatory nature comes out, he could end up supper.
Kitty was the smallest of the bunch and I saved him from a creature when he fell and he has clung to me ever since. I love him so much; He cuddles with me at night when the cats are on the prowl. I wouldn't trade him for anything in the world. He said he got the name Kitty because he was the smallest one in his family. His tribe ended up talking because a wizard from old days used them for spies in the first war with "You know who" and the wizard was killed so the spell was never taken off.
By M. Melone
It was my first night in Hogwarts, so what else could I do but venture out into the unknown? I was a Gryffindor, after all. My life is based on danger and taking risks. Bravery, courage, all that stuff, and according to that weird Sorting Hat, I'm the perfect candidate for this sort of thing. This venturing-into-the-dark-depths-of-the-Forbidden-Forest sort of thing. Merlin, I must have been crazy.
That place is a nightmare. Crawling with bugs of all sorts, but mostly spiders, covering the ground with their creepy hairy bodies, a sea of blackness swarming around my feet while I squirm and try not to scream. Because who knows what would have happened if I'd done that? Though it had only been my first day, I'd already heard all sorts of nightmarish tales about the Forest. Howling werewolves with foot-long teeth, unfriendly centaurs with bows and arrows, and even rumors of an uncontrollable giant? What was I thinking?
I'm never going back in there. It's terrible, horrible, every adjective you can find to describe the place of your worst dreams, your most tingle-down-the-spine, waking-up-in-the-middle-of-the-night-trembling sort of dream. I may have been sorted into Gryffindor, but I'm not so sure about that Hat. But of course, if you had to go in there, you wouldn't be very brave either, I'm sure.
By M. Melone
She looked around at all the books, all the towers of spines and the musty shelves, and knew she was home. A Ravenclaw indeed, with her love of learning, but she wasn't particular about the contents of her books. They could be about Arithmancy, Potions, Divination...she'd even read a trashy romance novel, if that was all they had. But she could tell that in this library, this huge Hogwarts library, she'd never have that problem.
She wandered the aisles as the quiet closed in around her, breathing in that ages old smell of books that never seems to quite seep out of the pages. It was no surprise that this was the first place she had searched out when she'd arrived, out of her element and surrounded by people she'd never met and probably would never get along with. None of them loved the library like she did, so how could they ever be her greatest of friends?
That librarian, that Madame Pince, she was a right old crone of a woman, but that didn't bother the little Ravenclaw girl. She could deal with her because the lure of the books was so much more powerful than the threat of an old woman with a glare and a sneer worthy of any good Slytherin. She was home now, this library. Forget the Common Room...she would spend all her spare time in this place.
By M. Melone
He was immediately entranced by the shelves and shelves of candy. The scents of millions of flavors filled the small, crowded room as he maneuvered to the nearest wall. This was Honeydukes, the candy shop he'd been hearing about for two whole years but had never set foot inside. But now he was a third year Hufflepuff and he could fully enjoy the greatness that was Hogsmeade for the first time.
He'd always been a lover of candy (what child wasn't), but this was candy on a whole new level for him. Fudge covered almost an entire wall on its own, but it was the candy of the Wizarding World that really caught his attention. Fizzing whizzbies, sugar quills, blood pops, even the cockroach clusters were snatched up into his greedy hands as he made his way around the shop. He'd be taking at least one of everything back to the Common Room today.
The Hufflepuff boy made his way to the cash register, his purchases bulging from the circle of arms and threatening to make a mad dive for the floor at any minute. He spilled them onto the counter and let the cashier and owner of Honeydukes ring them up, not caring about the cost. This was candy, after all, and no amount was too high when it came to the first true love of his life. But of course, he'd always come back for more on the next Hogsmeade weekend.