Quotes, Paraphrasing and Citations
There are three key ideas that you need to understand.
A quote, also known as a 'direct reference' is where you use the exact words of someone else to help to strengthen your argument.
Paraphrasing, also known as an 'indirect reference' is where you use someone else's idea or research, but you don't use their exact words.
Citations are the functional acknowledgement of a quote or paraphrase.
A quote, also known as a 'direct reference' is where you use the exact words of someone else to help to strengthen your argument.
Paraphrasing, also known as an 'indirect reference' is where you use someone else's idea or research, but you don't use their exact words.
Citations are the functional acknowledgement of a quote or paraphrase.
Quotes
These are used to strengthen your argument. This is known as 'corroboration'. They will typically be used to show the origins of your idea, or to show that the idea that you are expressing is also supported by experts.
To indicate that you are quoting, it is essential to use inverted commas.
An example would be: Benario explains the reason for Nero's reputation as one of the worst emperors: "The last of the dynasty, Nero, reigned more than than three times longer than Gaius, and the damage for which he was responsible was correspondingly greater" (Benario, 2006).
Another example is: It is clear that there were two phases of Nero's career, as is evidenced in the following: "The promise of his early years had been unfulfilled, and on his way to open absolutism and tyranny, Nero had incurred great hatred in the West' (Scullard, 1982, p321).
You'll notice in each one the use of a 'signpost' or introductory statement, which gives clear reason for the inclusion of the quote. You should not just 'drop in' a quote. We'll call this a 'parachute quote'. No-one knows why it is there, or what it's meant to be doing!
You should note that a usual condition of assessable essays is that they do not include quotes within the word limit.
You should not use quotes in place of your topic sentences or clincher sentences. In most situations, you should not use quotes in your introduction or conclusion.
What if the quote doesn't 'fit'?
If the wording of the quote doesn't work, you do have a couple of options.
One is to eliminate words. This cannot be used to change the meaning of the quote, but it can be used to remove excess detail or to fix a problem with matching the style of the quote with your essay.
An example of this is: It is clear that there were two phases of Nero's career, as is evidenced in the following: "The promise of his early years had been unfulfilled... Nero had incurred great hatred in the West' (Scullard, 1982, p321). The elipsis (...) represents where words have been removed.
The other option is to add a word or phrase. An example of this is:It is clear that there were two phases of Nero's career, as is evidenced in the following: "The promise of his early years had been unfulfilled (and as a consequence) Nero had incurred great hatred in the West' (Scullard, 1982, p321). The words in brackets show the additional words.
To indicate that you are quoting, it is essential to use inverted commas.
An example would be: Benario explains the reason for Nero's reputation as one of the worst emperors: "The last of the dynasty, Nero, reigned more than than three times longer than Gaius, and the damage for which he was responsible was correspondingly greater" (Benario, 2006).
Another example is: It is clear that there were two phases of Nero's career, as is evidenced in the following: "The promise of his early years had been unfulfilled, and on his way to open absolutism and tyranny, Nero had incurred great hatred in the West' (Scullard, 1982, p321).
You'll notice in each one the use of a 'signpost' or introductory statement, which gives clear reason for the inclusion of the quote. You should not just 'drop in' a quote. We'll call this a 'parachute quote'. No-one knows why it is there, or what it's meant to be doing!
You should note that a usual condition of assessable essays is that they do not include quotes within the word limit.
You should not use quotes in place of your topic sentences or clincher sentences. In most situations, you should not use quotes in your introduction or conclusion.
What if the quote doesn't 'fit'?
If the wording of the quote doesn't work, you do have a couple of options.
One is to eliminate words. This cannot be used to change the meaning of the quote, but it can be used to remove excess detail or to fix a problem with matching the style of the quote with your essay.
An example of this is: It is clear that there were two phases of Nero's career, as is evidenced in the following: "The promise of his early years had been unfulfilled... Nero had incurred great hatred in the West' (Scullard, 1982, p321). The elipsis (...) represents where words have been removed.
The other option is to add a word or phrase. An example of this is:It is clear that there were two phases of Nero's career, as is evidenced in the following: "The promise of his early years had been unfulfilled (and as a consequence) Nero had incurred great hatred in the West' (Scullard, 1982, p321). The words in brackets show the additional words.
Paraphrasing
It isn't always necessary to directly quote from a source. It is possible to convey the meaning whilst still using your own words. This can sometimes be a more succinct and effective way of corroborating the points made in your argument.
An example might be: Many historians believe that the Roman technology was superior when it came to water supply (Welch, 2001, p19; Ambrose, 2012; Jones, online). The words in brackets show the citation. This suggests that all of these authors offer a view which supports what the writer of this statement has said.
Another example: Whilst if is possible that John Howard knew about the falsehood behind the 'Children Overboard' situation ('PM', 2004), the Senate Select Inquiry did not find Howard had directly misled the public (Wikipedia, 2012).
An example might be: Many historians believe that the Roman technology was superior when it came to water supply (Welch, 2001, p19; Ambrose, 2012; Jones, online). The words in brackets show the citation. This suggests that all of these authors offer a view which supports what the writer of this statement has said.
Another example: Whilst if is possible that John Howard knew about the falsehood behind the 'Children Overboard' situation ('PM', 2004), the Senate Select Inquiry did not find Howard had directly misled the public (Wikipedia, 2012).