Incorporating the ideas of others into your paper is a key part of academic writing. Quotations help to make your own writing stronger, show that you have read widely and intelligently on your topic, and demonstrate that your arguments can be backed up with findings from other studies. Whenever you use someone else’s exact words, this is a direct quote; if you paraphrase or otherwise incorporate someone else’s ideas or findings without using their own words, it’s known as an indirect quote.
When incorporating direct quotes from others into your work, you will need to indicate the quotations clearly (via quotation marks or, particularly in the case of longer quotes, as a separate block of text), credit the original author (through an appropriate citation presented according to the style guidelines you are using), and copy the text verbatim (or indicate clearly where you have made changes, for example using ellipses or square brackets—see below).
Quotations should not be dropped into your text as stand-alone sentences. Good academic writing thoughtfully integrates quotes to support the argument and help your reader to understand why you are using the quote, and the relevance it has to your work.
In this post, we’ll use some text taken from Barbara M. Wildemuth’s Applications of Social Research Methods to Questions in Information and Library Science to show how to incorporate a quotation in three different ways.
Full grammatical integration into your sentence
If you just want to use shorter phrases from another source, grammatically integrating the quotation into your sentence is a good choice. If the quote does not quite fit your sentence grammatically, you can modify it to fit your sentence as long as you do not change the meaning. If you delete part of the text, you can show this using an ellipsis. If you change a word so that it fits grammatically, under most style guides you will signal this using square brackets.
Here is an example:
With respect to the research process, Wildemuth (2009, p. 11) stated that it is crucial to “define [an appropriate] research question.”
Integration through an introductory sentence
Another way to incorporate a quotation is to introduce it using a full sentence that describes or interprets the quotation.
Wildemuth (2009, p. 11) suggested that developing a research question is the key to a successful project: “Having a clear statement of your research question in hand allows you to design your study (including your overall strategy and your specific data collection procedures).”
Integration through a brief introduction
Finally, you can integrate a quotation by briefly introducing it. This puts the focus on the quotation rather than on your interpretation.
Wildemuth (2009, p. 11) wrote, “The first […] step in conducting a research study is to define your research question.”
However, your next sentence would probably need to make clear why this quotation is relevant to your context.
You can use the methods above to integrate quotations in any style (e.g., APA, Chicago, Harvard, etc.), but the citation format and location in the sentence will vary according to the style you are following.
One final note: Although quotations are vital for providing readers with evidence for the validity of your claim, it’s important to strike a balance between your own words and the words of others. Be thoughtful in deciding when to quote and when to paraphrase, making sure your voice comes through strongly in your paper. And when in doubt, send your paper to us. We’ll make sure quotations are appropriate, relevant, and have been cited adequately. We’ll also ensure the relevant style guide has been correctly applied.
Works Cited
Wildemuth, Barbara M. 2009. Applications of Social Research Methods to Questions in Information and Library Science. Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited.