How can I quote a source a 2nd time?

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KansasWriter

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Hi folks,

I have a thousand word article that I'm writing. I have a good source with many interesting quotes. I used this source at the beginning of the article and would like to use them again, further down the page. I'm having trouble 1) figuring out if this is professional and 2) figuring out the mechanics of how to do it. So let's say:

John Roberts, local fisherman, mentioned that well over two hundred cats became violently ill after sampling the cod.

Then later.

John Roberts believes government reports regarding the safety of cod are, at best, misleading.


But between those two sentences is information that needs to be there; I can't join the two sentences together. Is it all right for me to assume the reader remembers Roberts?

Thanks,
KW

ps: I am not actually writing about cod.
 

slcboston

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I've read lots of articles that do this... As long as you've introduced Roberts at some length, and made it clear who he is and why he's worth quoting, you should be fine using him again later on in the article. If he's important and quoted enough, you can even just use his last name.

On the other hand, if he's only good for that one quote, and then the second one, and isn't terribly important to the rest of it, I would recommend refreshing the reader's memory, esp if it's a longish article.
 

slcboston

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... for example, over at Variety there's a new article on Indy 4 that switches back and forth between Lucas, Ford, and Spielberg. :)
 

katiemac

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Within a thousand words, the readers will probably remember who you're talking about, but Birol's right that it depends on how you write it. You could probably even drop "John" on your second reference.
 
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