When do you quote a source

With short quotations, place citations outside of closing quotation marks, followed by sentence punctuation period, question mark, comma, semi-colon, colon :.

Menand acknowledges that H. Place outside of closing quotation marks if the entire sentence containing the quotation is a question or exclamation:. According to Hertzberg , Dahl gives the U. Use ellipsis points. Within quotations, use square brackets [ ] not parentheses to add your own clarification, comment, or correction.

American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language 4th ed. Bazerman, C. The informed writer: Using sources in the disciplines 5th ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. Leki, I. Academic writing: Exploring processes and strategies 2nd ed.

New York: St. Spatt, B. Writing from sources 5th ed. The Writing Center has handouts explaining how to use many of the standard documentation systems. You may look at our general Web page on Documentation Systems, or you may check out any of the following specific Web pages.

This is an accordion element with a series of buttons that open and close related content panels. Incorporating Interview Data. Additional Resources for Grants and Proposal Writing. Writing Personal Statements for Ph. Planning and Writing Research Papers. Writing Annotated Bibliographies.

Creating Poster Presentations. Writing an Abstract for Your Research Paper. Writing a Review of Literature. U niversity of W isconsin —Madison. Download this Handout PDF College writing often involves integrating information from published sources into your own writing in order to add credibility and authority—this process is essential to research and the production of new knowledge. How to avoid plagiarism When using sources in your papers, you can avoid plagiarism by knowing what must be documented.

Information and Ideas Even if you use your own words, if you obtained the information or ideas you are presenting from a source, you must document the source. Common Knowledge? You do not need to cite a source for material considered common knowledge: General common knowledge is factual information considered to be in the public domain, such as birth and death dates of well-known figures, and generally accepted dates of military, political, literary, and other historical events.

Paraphrasing vs. Quoting — Explanation Should I paraphrase or quote? Explanation When you introduce facts that you have found in a source. Explanation When you paraphrase or summarize ideas, interpretations, or conclusions that you find in a source.

For more explanation, see Fair Paraphrase. When you introduce information that is not common knowledge or that may be considered common knowledge in your field, but the reader may not know it. For more information, see Common Knowledge. Explanation When you collaborate with others in producing knowledge.

When you quote two or more words verbatim, or even one word if it is used in a way that is unique to the source. When you introduce facts that you have found in a source. When you paraphrase or summarize ideas, interpretations, or conclusions that you find in a source. When you collaborate with others in producing knowledge. Only the work you have read should appear in the reference list at the end of the work. Although the results of the Bristol Sausage Survey have been described by one scholar as 'seriously misleading' Brown , p.

When making reference to the spoken words of someone other than the author recorded in a text, cite the name of the person and the name of the author, date and page reference of the work in which the quote or reference appears. In a recent interview Jones , p. An annotated bibliography is the same as a bibliography with one important difference: in an annotated bibliography, the bibliographic information is followed by a brief description of the content, quality, and usefulness of the source.

Footnotes are notes placed at the bottom of a page. They cite references or comment on a designated part of the text above it. For example, say you want to add an interesting comment to a sentence you have written, but the comment is not directly related to the argument of your paragraph. In this case, you could add the symbol for a footnote. Then, at the bottom of the page you could reprint the symbol and insert your comment. Here is an example:. When your reader comes across the footnote in the main text of your paper, he or she could look down at your comments right away, or else continue reading the paragraph and read your comments at the end.

Because this makes it convenient for your reader, most citation styles require that you use either footnotes or endnotes in your paper. Some, however, allow you to make parenthetical references author, date in the body of your work.

See our section on citation styles for more information. Footnotes are not just for interesting comments, however. Sometimes they simply refer to relevant sources -- they let your reader know where certain material came from or where they can look for other sources on the subject. To decide whether you should cite your sources in footnotes or in the body of your paper, you should ask your instructor or see our section on citation styles.

Whenever possible, put the footnote at the end of a sentence, immediately following the period or whatever punctuation mark completes that sentence. Skip two spaces after the footnote before you begin the next sentence. If you must include the footnote in the middle of a sentence for the sake of clarity, or because the sentence has more than one footnote try to avoid this!

Otherwise, put it right at the end of the most relevant word. If the footnote is not at the end of a sentence, skip only one space after it. The only real difference is placement -- footnotes appear at the bottom of the relevant page, while endnotes all appear at the end of your document. If you want your reader to read your notes right away, footnotes are more likely to get your reader's attention.

Endnotes, on the other hand, are less intrusive and will not interrupt the flow of your paper. Sometimes you may be asked to include these -- especially if you have used a parenthetical style of citation. A "works cited" page is a list of all the works from which you have borrowed material. Your reader may find this more convenient than footnotes or endnotes because he or she will not have to wade through all of the comments and other information in order to see the sources from which you drew your material.