Quoting vs. Paraphrasing:

Quoting vs. Paraphrasing

&

Accurately Citing Sources

Paraphrasing: putting the source material in your own words; this still requires an in-text citation. Use when:

• the source's ideas are important but not the language
• you could do a better or clearer job of structuring the language
• the source includes technical terms that would be confusing to your audience
• you want to lessen the amount of quoting in your paper (this may be done during the revision process).

Direct Quote: using exact language from a source in your writing. Use when:

• the language of the source is important to examine
• you want to avoid misleading your audience about information
• the source was written by an authority on the subject and provides an example of support or evidence
• the wording is unique or original and meaning would be lost if stated otherwise.

So, how do I decide whether to quote directly or paraphrase? Ask yourself the following:

• What's the purpose of my essay? Persuade? Inform? Entertain?
• What do I want the source material to do? Support a point? Bring up new ideas? Refute another point of view?
• How many direct quotes do I have? Do I have enough of my own language versus others'?

Whenever you use another source in your own writing, you must accurately cite it.

Usually, this is done by including an in-text citation (or parenthetical citation) which is placed at the end of the referenced material. However, there are a few exceptions.

• If you mention the source prior to embedding the quote or information, then no citation needed.
• For example:
• According to Roger Sipher, journalist for The New York Times, there is "little evidence that mandatory attendance laws increased the number of children in school."
• At this point, you've given your source credit prior to the quote.
• However, if your source has a page number, you would need to include one here.

(31).

Citing indirect sources:

There are also times when you might use evidence from a source that cites another source. This is fine, but when do, use the following format.

Susan Bardo explains that when Western media is integrated into developing societies "notions concerning body image begin to contradict the acceptable cultural norms" (qtd. in Smith 4).

stands for "quoted"

In this case, the direct source was Bardo, but it was accessed indirectly through another source: Smith.

Block Quotes:

• used when citing quotes that would longer than four lines in your paper
• are offset and not placed in quotation marks, unless quoting dialogue
• include the in-text citation at the end but after the period

Ex:

It is not until the falling action of The Hound of the Baskervilles that the hound actually appears:

A hound it was, an enormous coal-black hound, but not such a hound as mortal eyes have ever seen. Fire burst from its open mouth, its eyes glowed with a smouldering glare, its muzzle and hackles and dewlap were outlined in flickering flame. Never in the delirious dream of a disordered brain could anything more savage, more appalling, more hellish be conceived than that dark form and savage face which broke upon us out of the wall of fog. (Doyle 82)

• offset the block quote by indenting half an inch
• Don't indent the first line of the quote (this is why it's called "block" quote)