Quoting

Gillett, A, Hammond, A, and Martala, A.  2009.  Inside Track: Successful Academic Writing. Pearson Longman: London.

QUOTING

Citation

There are two ways in which you can refer to, or cite, another person's work: (I) by direct quotation or (II) by reporting (through summary or paraphrase). These will now be looked at in turn.

I.     DIRECT QUOTATION

Occasionally, you may want to quote the precise words of another author in your work. For example:

A further way of showing that a school is fully inclusive as suggested by Davies is when “schools will monitor the progress of boys and girls and where there is an attainment gap will put in intervention strategies to improve performance”.

                                                                                                           (Davies, 2006: 155)

If you choose to quote, keep the quotation as brief as possible and quote only when it is necessary. As a guide, try to use no more than three short quotes per page. You must always have a good reason for using a quote -- and feeling unable to change the words of the original is never a good reason. The emphasis should be on working with other people's ideas, not reproducing their words. Your piece of work should be a synthesis of information from sources, expressed in your own words, not a collection of quotations.

Reasons for using quotations:

a.       if you want to use another person's exact words because the language used in the quotation says what you want to say particularly well.

b.      when you need to support your points by:

1.       quoting evidence

2.       giving examples/illustrating

3.       adding the weight of authority.

Reasons for not using quotations:

a.       the information is well-known in your subject area

b.      the quote disagrees with your argument, unless you can prove it is wrong

c.       you cannot understand the meaning of the original source

d.      you are not able to summarise the original

e.      in order to make your points for you (use quotes to support your points)

f.        if the quotation repeats (rather than expands on) the point you have just made.

If you decide to use a quotation, you must be very careful to make it clear that the words or ideas that you are using are taken from another writer.

There are usually three items of information needed to acknowledge a quote within your assignment: author or authors' surname(s) only, year of publication and page number from which the quote was taken. The position of this information can vary as illustrated below:

Brassington and Pettitt (2006: 312) state that: 'The danger is, of course, that by trying to avoid challenging anyone linguistically, imagination is lost and the Eurobrand becomes the Eurobland.'

According to Brassington and Pettitt (2006), 'the danger is, of course, that by trying to avoid challenging anyone linguistically, imagination is lost and the Eurobrand becomes the Eurobland' (p. 312).

According to Brassington and Pettitt, 'The danger is, of course, that by trying to avoid challenging anyone linguistically, imagination is lost and the Eurobrand becomes the Eurobland' (2006: 312).

'The danger is, of course, that by trying to avoid challenging anyone linguistiically, imagination is lost and, the Eurobrand becomes the Eurobland' (Brassington and Pettitt, 2006: 312).

In all cases, on your reference list at the end of the essay you should write:

References

Brassington, F. and Pettitt, S. (2006) Principles of Marketing (4^th edn). Harlow: Pearson Education.

You may have noticed that when the authors are not in brackets, expressions such as 'according to' or 'X and Y state that ... ' are used to introduce the quotation. Quote marks (either' ...' or

" ...") are also used around the quoted text. Below are some useful expressions you can use in order to introduce quotes. 'X' stands for the author:

§  As X stated/states, ‘…’.

§  As X wrote/writes, '… '.

§  As X commented/comments, '…’.

§  As X observed/observes, '...'.

§  As X pointed/points out, '...'.

§  This example is given by X: '...'.

§  According to X, '...’.

§  X claims that, '…’.

§  X found that, ‘…’.

§  The opinion of X is that, '... '.

There are many other expressions which are linked to finding your own voice when writing academic texts. These will be explored further in the section of Expressing Your Own Voice.

To reiterate, when you are using a direct quotation of a single phrase or sentence, quotation marks should be used around the words, which must be quoted exactly as they are in the original. Remember to include the author, year of publication and page number of the quote.

There will be times when you may wish to omit some of the author's original words that are not relevant to your writing, or you may wish to insert material (additions or explanations) into a quotation.

Omitting words

In this case, use three dots ( ... ) to indicate where you have omitted words. If you omit any of the author's original words, make sure you do not change the meaning and the sentence remains grammatically correct.

'The danger is … that by trying to avoid challenging anyone linguistically, imagination is lost and the Eurobrand becomes the Eurobland' (Brassington and Pettitt, 2006: 312).

Inserting words

If you need to insert words into a quotation (usually to clarify meaning), use square brackets

[ ... ] around your inserted text.

'This [academic writing] is then further developed in their undergraduate study' (Martala, 2006: 40).

Quoted text within a quote

There may be times where the material quoted already contains a quotation. In this case, use double quotation marks for the original quotation (" ... ").

Cai (2008: 7) stated 'different persuasion theories operate well in certain contexts and are then combined in an "integrative framework" '.

Note that you may choose to adopt the convention of using double quotation marks for quotations and then use single quotation marks for the original quotation. This book, for example, uses single quotation marks and then double ones within them, as shown immediately above.

Long quotations

If the direct quotation is long -- more than two or three lines -- it should be indented as a separate paragraph with no quotation marks.

According to Keenan and Riches (2007: 114):

The Enterprise Act 2002 is designed to promote enterprise by minimising the effects of business failure. In this connection the Act differentiates between 'culpable' bankrupts who set out to run a business in a way that would mislead the public and other businesses and the 'non-culpable' bankrupt who for reasons beyond his or her control and despite best efforts has suffered business failure.

In all cases, on your reference list at the end of the essay you should state the full details as in the example below:

References

Keenan, D. and Riches, S. (2007) Business Law (8th edn). Harlow: Pearson Education.

EXERCISE 1: FINDING AND CORRECTING REFERENCING ERRORS

Find and correct the mistakes in the following quoted texts. There may be more than one mistake per exercise. You will need to use the reference list at the end of the activity to help you.

1.       School readiness is a term that refers to a child's ability to go to school ready to learn, having already gained... skills that will prepare them for class learning beforehand. (Davies, 2006: 47).

2.       'Biogeography is an important area of science and informs global environmental policy as well as local land management practice'. (Hilary S.C. Thomas 2008, p. 241).

3.       According to Mclaney and Atrill, 'the relevant/marginal cost approach deduces the minimum price for which the business can offer the product for sale'.

4.       In practice, airlines are major users of a relevant/marginal costing approach. McLaney.

5.       'Damage to the amygdala, a cluster of neurons located deep in the temporal lobe, affects emotional behaviour ...' (Martin, G.N., Carlson, N.R. and Buskist, W. Psychology. 3rd edn. london: Pearson Education. p. 157).

References:

Davies, S. (2006) The Essential Guide to Teaching. Harlow: Pearson Education.

McLaney, E. and Atrill, P. (2008) Accounting. An Introduction (4th edn). Harlow: Pearson Education. (Extracts are from page 420.)

Martin, G. N., Carlson, N.R. and Buskist, W. (2007) Psychology (3rd edn). Harlow: Pearson Education.

Thomas, H. S. C. (2008) 'Biogeographical concepts'. In J. Holden (ed.) Physical Geography and the Environment (2nd edn). pp. 153-92. Harlow: Pearson Education.

EXERCISE 2 THE MECHANICS OF QUOTING

Assume you used the following quotations in your essay and so need to cite them appropriately. Use the information below to do this.

1.        This quote can be found on page 197 of a book called ‘Psychology'. The book was written by three authors: Dr G. Neil Martin, Dr Neil R. Carlson and Dr William Buskist. This third edition was published in 2007 by Pearson Education, in London. 'One of the key features of the visual system is that it is organised hierarchically at the neural level'.

2.       The following quote is from a book written by Philip Kotler, Gary Armstrong, Veronica Wong and John Saunders. The title of the book is Principles of Marketing and this quote, which can be found on page 475, is from the fifth European edition published in 2008. The publishers are Pearson Education and the publishing place is Harlow. 'Market leaders can expand the market by developing new users, new uses and more usage of its products.'

3.       'Since 1999 LEAs have had specific duties to combat bullying. Schools must have anti-bullying policies and LEAs must ensure that their schools comply with their duties.' This quote was taken from a book written by Susan Davies and published in Harlow in 2006. The title of the book is 'The essential guide to teaching'. The publishers are Pearson Education. The quote was taken from page 269.

Multi-authored works

Where several authors have written a book or journal article then it is a widely used convention to cite the main author and then use et al. (short for the Latin term et alii meaning 'and others') rather than listing them all. Usually more than two or three authors listed are treated in this way. So, in point 2 of Exercise 2 you would write: Kotler et al.

II. REPORTING

This simply means reporting the other writer's ideas in your own words and the best method to use is summary. There are two main ways of showing that you have used another writer's ideas -- integral or non-integral -- depending on whether or not the name of the cited author occurs within the cited sentence or in brackets.

2.1. Integral (author as part of sentence)

According to Davies (2006) it is essential that pupils learn how to evaluate their strengths and weaknesses.

The importance of pupils learning how to evaluate their strengths and weaknesses was stressed by Davies (2006).

     2.2. Non-integral (author in brackets)

1.       Evidence from classroom learning (Davies, 2006) suggests that it is essential for pupils to learn how to evaluate their strengths and weaknesses.

2.       It is important that pupils learn how to evaluate their strengths and weaknesses (Davies, 2006).

      At the end of the essay, the reference list will state:

         Davies, S. (2006) The Essential Guide to Teaching. Harlow: Pearson Education.

2.3.    SUMMARISING

When you read texts for pleasure you are not usually expected to summarise them. However, in order to have sufficient material for you to work with when writing your assignments, you need to read a variety of texts and select information which is relevant to your work. Once you have identified suitable material, you need to make a number of adjustments before you can incorporate it into your assignment. A summary, which is basically a shortened version of a text, is one such adjustment. A summary should contain your chosen main points from the original text in a condensed manner. It should be written in your own words and the source must be acknowledged.

Notice how you can retell a text with which you are familiar. This could be a novel, magazine or newspaper article. What would you need to do if you were reading it out loud to a friend? You would probably find that you were reading the sentences word for word. If you put the text aside for half a day or so and then try to retell the content of the text without looking at it, you will notice that you cannot remember the text word for word, unless you have a photographic memory of course. Hopefully, you can remember the main points or sequence of the text and you can retell it in your own words. Which of these two ways of telling the story is more like a summary?

Try reading a text whose subject you are not familiar with. How easy did you find relating the original in your own words without referring back to the text?

Read the original text and the summary which follows and note down the differences between the two texts in the table below.

Original version

There are a number of ways of expressing the total amount of water in the oceans. Seawater covers 361 million square kilometres (361 x 10⁶ km²) which represents 71 % of the surface of the globe. The total volume of water is enormous: 1.37 thousand million cubic kilometres (1.37 x 10⁹ km³). Most of this water is contained in the three great oceans of the world: the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Oceans. (Holden, 2008: 57)

Summary

The surface of the earth comprises 71 % seawater, most of which can be found in the Indian, Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. (Shorter than the original)

2.3.1.     Points to help you summarise

1.  Make sure you understand the original text.

2.  Think about your purpose in using this text. What is your purpose in writing your

    summary?

§ Are you summarising to support your points? or

§ Are you summarising so you can criticise the work before you introduce your main points?

3.  Select the relevant information. This depends on your purpose.

4.  Find the important ideas (words and phrases) and mark them in some way or list

 them elsewhere.

§ Distinguish between main and subsidiary information.

§ Delete most details and examples, unimportant information, anecdotes, examples, illustrations, data, etc.

5.  Find synonyms or alternative phrases for those words (a thesaurus would help).

    You do not need to change specialised vocabulary.

6.  Change the structure of the text. This includes:

§ changing adjectives to adverbs and nouns to verbs

§ breaking up long sentences and combining short sentences

§ identifying the relationships between words and ideas and expressing them in a different way. (Be careful you do not change the meaning.)

7.  Once you have completed the above steps, you can begin to rewrite the main

 ideas in complete sentences combining your notes into a piece of continuous

 writing. Use conjunctions and adverbs such as 'therefore', 'however', 'although', 'since' to show the connections between the ideas.

8.  Check your work.

Tips to summarise

Make sure:

• your purpose is clear

• you have not copied any text (unless you are quoting)

• you do not misinterpret the original

• the length of your text is shorter

• the style of writing is your own

• you acknowledge other people's work.

EXERCISE 1

Read the following extract and the two summaries that follow it. Which text is a better summary and why? Remember to take into account the summarising points above.

Fossil fuel continues to be the main source of energy. Moreover, the developing world, which consists of about five sixths of humankind, will increase its population and its fossil fuel burning for many years after the rich countries have stabilised and decreased their dependency on fossil fuels. Some poor countries have neither fossil fuels nor any other supply of energy, and so cannot develop. Even fuel-wood is in short supply.

Nuclear power was developed enthusiastically by many countries in the 1950s, and 29 countries were running 437 nuclear power plants by 1998. Early optimism about development of an energy economy from nuclear fission faded following nuclear accidents and leakages such as Chernobyl in the USSR (now in the Russia Federation) in 1986. Many environmentalists believe that the risks that are inherent in nuclear fission are quite unacceptable. Power from nuclear fission is very expensive, once the costs of handling radioactive waste and decommissioning old power stations are taken into account. Despite all this, many governments are in favour of continuing and even expanding their nuclear power programmes, and for many it is the only practical way to reduce carbon emissions. (Holden, 2008: 612-13)

Summary 1

Currently, fossil fuel remains the main energy source and whereas rich countries will be in a position to turn to alternative forms of fuel in the future, developing countries will become more dependent on it. Alternative forms such as nuclear power seemed a likely alternative in the 1950s but its development in the 40 years that followed had some disastrous results. Although environmentalists view it as risky and expensive, certain governments are continuing to pursue nuclear power programmes and for many there are no other practical alternatives of reducing carbon emissions. (Holden, 2008)

Summary 2

Fossil fuel remains the main energy source. Rich countries will reduce their reliance on fossil fuel in the future, whereas developing countries which make up about five sixths of humankind will become more dependent on it. Some poor countries will not develop due to a lack of energy supplies as even fuel-wood is decreasing.

Nuclear power was exploited by many countries in the 1950s, and 29 countries were running 437 nuclear power plants by 1998. However nuclear accidents and leakages such as Chernobyl in the USSR in 1986 have led to a decrease in its development. This is further supported by environmentalists' views that the risks are too high in addition to the high cost of developing power from nuclear fission. In spite of the negative evidence, many governments are continuing and in certain cases expanding their nuclear power programmes. For many governments nuclear power is the only practical way to reduce carbon emissions. (Holden, 2008)

EXERCISE 2

Using the information provided in this chapter, summarise the following short text. Use the summarising tips to check your work.

Home detention curfews were introduced by the Crime and Disorder Act 1998. Prisoners sentenced to between three months' and four years' imprisonment can be released early (usually 60 days early) on a licence that includes a curfew condition. This requires the released prisoners to remain at a certain address at set times, during which period they will be subjected to electronic monitoring. Most curfews are set for 12 hours between 7 pm and 7 am. The person can be recalled to prison if there is a failure to comply with the conditions of the curfew condition or in order to protect the public from serious harm. Private contractors fit the tag to a person's ankle, install monitoring equipment which plugs into the telephone system in their home and connects with a central computer system, and notify breaches of curfew to the Prison Service. (143 words) (Elliott and Quinn, 2008: 413)

EXERCISE 3

Using the information on summarising, summarise the folllowing text. Use the summarising tips to check your work.

             Micturition, voiding and urination all refer to the process of emptying the urinary bladder. Urine collects in the bladder until pressure stimulates special sensory nerve endings in the bladder wall called stretch receptors. This occurs when the adult bladder contains 2500450 ml of urine. In children, a considerably smaller volume, 50-200 ml, stimulates these nerves.

   The stretch receptors transmit impulses to the spinal cord, specifically to the voiding reflex centre located at the level of the second to fourth sacral vertebrae, causing the internal sphincter to relax and stimUlating the urge to void. If the time and place are approopriate for urination, the conscious portion of the brain relaxes the external urethral sphincter muscle and urination takes place. If the time and place are inappropriate, the micturition reflex usually subsides until the bladder becomes more filled and the reflex is stimulated again.

             Voluntary control of urination is possible only if the nerves supplying the bladder and  

 urethra, the neural tracts of the cord and brain, and the motor area of the cerebrum are all intact. The individual must be able to sense that the bladder is full. Injury to any of these parts of the nervous system -- for example, by a cerebral haemorrhage or spinal cord injury above the level of the sacral region -- results in intermittent involuntary emptying of the bladder. Older adults whose cognition is impaired may not be aware of the need to urinate or able to respond to this urge by seeking toilet facilities. (248 words) (Kozier et aI., 2008: 489)

Taking into account the suggestions above, use your own reading material and summarise texts relevant to your assignments. Use the summarising tips to check your work.

2.4. PARAPHRASING

There may be times when you are writing when a summary of ideas is just not appropriate or relevant. You may wish to maintain a closer link with the original but you do not want to quote word for word. Paraphrasing is one solution. It is best to limit paraphrasing to short chunks of text. You need to change the words and the structure of the original but keep the meaning the same. Do remember that even when you paraphrase someone's work you must acknowledge it.

Notice the changes which have been made in the paraphrase extract of the following example:

Example Original

                The mere physical proximity of one person to another is a potent facilitator of        

                attraction (Martin et al., 2007: 757).

             Paraphrase

                 Attraction between two people is greatly influenced by their physical closeness

                 (Martin et al., 2007).

       Original

               X is a potent facilitator of Y.

Paraphrase

               Y is greatly influenced by X.

Original

                Of one person to another …

Paraphrase

                Between two people …

Original

               'Physical proximity' is the subject of the 'Attraction' is the subject of the sentence

        Paraphrase

               'Physical closeness is the subject of the 'Attraction' is the subject of the sentence

Paraphrasing the words of the original is not a particularly difficult task provided you understand the original text. Remember to use a thesaurus to help you find alternative vocabulary.

Points to help you paraphrase

1.       Make sure you understand the original text.

2.       Find the important ideas (words and phrases) and mark them in some way or list them elsewhere.

3.       Find synonyms or alternative phrases for those words (a thesaurus would help). You do not

       need to change specialised vocabulary.

4.       Change the structure of the text. This includes:

§  changing adjectives to adverbs and nouns to verbs

§  breaking up long sentences and combining short sentences

§  identifying the relationships between words and ideas and expressing them in a different way. (Be careful you do not change the meaning.)

5.       Once you have completed the above steps, you can begin to rewrite the main ideas in complete sentences combining your notes into a piece of continuous writing.

6.       Check your work.

Tips to paraphrase

Make sure:

• you have not copied any text

• the meaning is the same as the original

• the style of writing is your own

• your paraphrase is the same length as the original

• you acknowledge other people's work through appropriate referencing.

Remember that when paraphrasing you are actually trying to avoid overquoting in your work. Paraphrasing is the alternative to direct quoting. You will probably therefore only need to paraphrase short texts. When dealing with long paragraphs or indeed pages or chapters, summarising the main ideas in the text would be more appropriate.

Here are some additional expressions you can use to refer to someone's work that you are paraphrasing. They are equally useful for summarising text.

The work of X indicates that ...

The work of X reveals that ...

The work of X shows that ...

In an article by X, …

As X has indicated …

A study by X shows that ...

X has expressed a similar view…

X has drawn attention to the fact that ...

X reports that …

X notes that …

X concludes that ...

X argues that ...

X discovered that ...

Research by X suggests that ...

Once again, please refer to section Expressing Your Voice with reference to how these expressions can be included to help you find your voice in your written work.

EXERCISE 1

Read the following short text and the two examples of paraphrase which follow it. Which example is a better paraphrase and why? Remember to take into account the paraphrasing tips above.

Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder characterised by a severe decrease in eating. The literal meaning of the word 'anorexia' suggests a loss of appetite, but people with this disorder generally do not lose their appetite. (Martin et aI., 2007: 606)

Paraphrase 1

     An extreme reduction in food consumed by a person may indicate they have the

Eating disorder anorexia nervosa. Although the term 'anorexia' literally means losing

your appetite. (Martin et aI., 2007)

                Paraphrase 2

                   Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder indicated by an extreme reduction in eating.

                  'Anorexia' literally means a loss of appetite, but people with this disorder do not generally

                lose their hunger. (Martin et al., 2007)

                EXERCISE 2

Paraphrase the following texts. Use the paraphrasing tips to check your work.

Text 1

One study found worse outcomes among children adopted from an at-risk register than among those fostered or returned home. The explanation for this finding is not clear. Possibly the adoptive parents chosen were less thoroughly assessed than would have been the case if they had been offered more 'popular' children for whom the competition would have been greater. (Wilson et al., 2008: 502)

Text 2

The shift toward segmented marketing and the explosive developments in information and communications technology have had a dramatic impact on marketing communications. Just as mass marketing once gave rise to a new generation of mass-media communications, the shift towards targeted marketing and the changing communications environment are giving birth to a new marketing communications model. (Kotler et al., 2008: 693)

EXERCISE 3

Taking into account the suggestions above, use your own reading material and paraphrase short texts relevant to your assignments. Once again, use the paraphrasing tips to check your work.

2.5. SYNTHESISING

When reading for assignments, you are advised to read widely. Do not try to base your entire piece of work on one or two articles or books. You need to ensure that you have ample material to incorporate into your work. The previous two areas you have worked on are summarising and paraphrasing, which should help you cut down on superfluous quotes. They will also be useful in this third strategy - synthesising. A synthesis is a combination, usually a shortened version, of several texts made into one. Once you have selected relevant parts of your sources to work with, you can use your paraphrase and summary skills to write the information in your own words. The information from all sources has to fit together into one continuous text and the sources must be acknowledged and appropriately referenced.

All of the points provided in the earlier tips for summarising and paraphrasing are relevant when you synthesise with the addition of the tip below, which you should add to the summarising tips.

Tips to synthesize

Organise the information you have from summarising the different texts. You could give all similar ideas in different texts the same number or colour to help you group them together. You may find the information on planning and developing paragraphs at this stage.

Please note that synthesising material is insufficient in itself. In order for synthesis to become an academically well-written piece of work, you will need to refer to other sections in this book.

EXERCISE 1

Taking into account the suggestions above, use your own reading material and synthesise texts relevant to your assignments. Use the summarising and synthesising  tips to check your work.