Quotation provides a link between the work in which it is used, and the work from which it was taken. The research described in this article extends work done by Kilgour and Feder (1992) on the frequency of direct quotations, looking at the use of incomplete sentence quotations (ISQs). Specifically, this research attempts to determine if (a) there are any patterns of usage in the parts of speech that are quoted in ISQs; (b) there are any patterns of usage in how the ISQs are incorporated into text; (c) there are any systematic differences in ISQ usage between four disciplinary areas; and (d) there are any systematic differences in ISQ usage between scholarly books and journals. Results showed no major differences in the numbers of ISQs in the different areas in books, but the journals formed two distinct groups, with the Arts and Humanities journals having many more ISQs than those in Social Science and Science and Technology. Nevertheless, the distribution of ISQs into the parts of speech was remarkably constant, with NPs and VPs making up about three quarters of the ISQs. Very few ISQs were marked with explicit cue words. © 1993 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.