Missing: Uh, Well ...

Some of you used quotes where the interview subject stammered. Like here:

"So, uh, I met this guy who was moving to New York. He didn't want to take me, said I was too young, but I, uh, got him to change his mind."

You may find the information to be useful, but the "uh's" are awkward. You have options on how to handle this.

First, you can translate the quotes into paraphrases, like this:

She said she met a man who was moving to New York City who didn't want to take her because she was too young, but she convinced him to change his mind.

Or, you could use quote fragments to work around the "um's" like this:

She said she "met this guy who was moving to New York. He didn't want to take me, said I was too young," but she "got him to change his mind."

Having a poorly-constructed quote doesn't mean you have to use a poorly-constructed quote. Our goal is to provide clarity to the reader, and the best way to do that is via a quote so the reader can see the subject's actual words.

But in lieu of that, making sure the information is clear and concise will suffice, as long as it's contextually correct and factually accurate and properly attributed.