To quote or not to quote?

Having decided that the research you have done is helpful in presenting your position, and that you want to cite a particular author, you still have to make a choice as to the best way of doing this. There are basically three issues to consider when using the work of other writers:

42 Ning Zhu, “Household Consumption and Personal Bankruptcy,” Journal of Legal Studies, Vol.40 (January 2011) 1-37.

43 Ulrich Sedelmeier. “After conditionality: post-accession compliance with EU law in East Central Europe” Journal of European Public Policy 15:6 Sept 2008: 806-825

44 Jacqueline Sanchez Taylor “Fake breasts and power: Gender, class and cosmetic surgery.” Women's Studies International Forum 35 (2012) 458–466.

45 Branco Milanovic. “Global Inequality: From Class to Location, from Proletarians to Migrants” Global Policy 3/2 (2012) 125-134

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• whether or not to quote a writer’s words

• how to paraphrase or summarize a writer’s words if you decide not to quote

• whether or not to use the writer’s name in your sentence, together with a reporting verb such as ‘notes’ or ‘suggests’ to distinguish their ideas from your own

These three issues will be dealt with in more detail below:

a) Using direct quotation

In general, when writers choose to quote rather than paraphrase, they usually do so because the language in the text is vivid, provocative, unusual, or because the exact wording is historically or legally important; and this could possibly be lost in a paraphrase or summary.

For example, Adrian Hyde-Price, in an article on Europeanization, wrote:

That great diplomatic virtuoso, Otto von Bismarck, once declared that: 'A statesman cannot create anything himself. He must wait and listen until he hears the steps of God sounding through events; then leap up and grasp the hem of his garment' (Taylor 1955: 115).⁴⁶

Clearly, Bismarck’s famous words are so poetic that to paraphrase them would lose a great deal. In this case how Bismarck said it is as important as what he said. Hyde-Price goes on immediately to quote someone equally famous but, as he admits, less poetic:

Henry Kissinger expressed the same idea more prosaically: 'The test of a statesman', he wrote, 'is his ability to recognize the real relationship of forces and to make this knowledge serve his ends' (Kissinger 1957: 325).

Finally, Hyde Price ends his article with his own conclusion about the ESDP, which he has been analyzing, showing how Bismarck’s words (which he repeats but partly paraphrases) are relevant to it.

The ESDP will undoubtedly continue to be 'shaped and shoved' by structural pressures, but its future will also depend very much on the ability of European leaders to hear God's footsteps sounding through events and 'then leap up and grasp the hem of his garment'.

Note how Hyde Price decides to paraphrase “the steps of God” on second mention but keeps the last phrase as in the original. He also takes the trouble to introduce both authors before he quotes them (see underlining).

We recommend you follow this strategy: don’t just throw in a naked quotation to do your work for you;

introduce the author by name, then tell us what they say.

How do you know when and how much to quote?

Research by Hyland⁴⁷ into the use of citation in research articles in both sciences and humanities suggests that quotations are relatively rare compared to summary or paraphrase. Hyland’s figures suggest that even in the humanities, only 8-12% of all citations involve quotation.⁴⁸ If your paper focuses on some primary source, such as a significant speech, an important manuscript, or some government document or legislation, you may need to quote more extensively from the original, explaining such matters as the content, tone, wording, and structure of that work. Secondary sources, however, such as critics who have commented on the primary source or experts in related fields, should be quoted much less frequently. Again, to maintain your own voice, if you quote someone, don’t just leave your reader to work out for themselves why you quoted that person;

follow up the quotation with a comment of your own which ties it into your argument.

How to incorporate quotation into your writing

Your department will be able to advise you on the exact techniques it requires for quotation and referencing.

Some basic guidelines are given here:

a) Always quote accurately.

46 Adrian Hyde-Price. 'Normative' power Europe: a realist critique. Journal of European Public Policy 13:2 March 2006, p.235-251 47 Hyland, 26.

48 This figure refers to quotations from secondary sources. The number of quotations you include from interviews conducted during fieldwork will depend on the topic.

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b) Enclose all quoted material in quotation marks (“ ”) and cite the exact source immediately after the quotation, even if you have mentioned this source earlier. If you need to quote longer passages (usually more than four lines⁴⁹), set the quotation off in an indented, single-spaced block (called a ‘block quotation’). If you do this, you should not also use quotation marks.

c) Sometimes, for clarity or length, you may need to alter or shorten a direct quotation in some way. If so, enclose any changed or added words in square brackets [ ], and indicate any deletions with three ellipsis points … . Be especially careful that any changes you make in a quotation do not alter its essential meaning. In addition, use these marks sparingly: too many brackets and ellipsis points make for difficult reading.

d) When you quote less than a full sentence, be careful to match the grammar of your own words to those of the quotation so that the two fit together as if they were one sentence. If you have to change the grammar of the original quotation, you should put any altered words in square brackets [ ].

b) Using paraphrase and summary

Usually, not all of the piece you want to quote may be relevant, or it may say what you want to say in a rather lengthy way. In such cases, it is usually a better idea to paraphrase or summarize the author’s words instead of quoting. Similarly, when you want to cite an author’s ideas but you feel that his or her argument would not benefit from the inclusion of the exact words, it is sensible to paraphrase or summarize. Secondary sources used to lend authority to your own voice should usually be paraphrased or summarized.

Summary and paraphrase are similar, in that both entail using your own words rather than those of the author;

however, while summary involves shortening the original and capturing the key ideas, paraphrasing usually means keeping the same length as the original idea but expressing it in other words.

i) Paraphrasing

When you want to include all the ideas of another author from a particular sentence or paragraph, but do not feel the need to include the author’s actual words, you will probably choose to paraphrase. In this sense, you are not changing the essential content, but rather rewording the original. There are a number of ways of approaching paraphrasing, but most techniques include the following three steps:

• Isolate the essential ideas in the text

• Restructure the sentences, changing the syntax and form of words

• Use close synonyms or related words where suitable ii) Summarizing

When you want to include only the main ideas from another author’s work, it will probably be appropriate to summarize the information. This normally happens when you want to include the main ideas from whole pages of another author’s work. As with paraphrasing, it is important that you use your own words in presenting information. This means that the techniques mentioned above can also be employed in summarizing. It is often helpful to take notes and then write a summary from your notes rather than from the original text.

As with quotation, indicating the sources of paraphrase and summary is important. Failure to cite sources for material that is not in quotation marks but that you could not have arrived at by yourself, even if you do it unintentionally, constitutes plagiarism. As you are carrying out research reading, it is helpful to add under any notes you make the exact source that they come from. If your notes are incomplete or your source is unclear, relocate the original to clarify the information. Resist the temptation to write your paper without adding any references to your reading and then put these in later at the editing stage; working in this way leaves you open to the danger of unintentional plagiarism.

49 The exact length of a quotation to be blocked may vary. Check with your department’s recommended citation guidelines.

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c) Using reporting verbs (integral citation)

You can refer to an author’s work in two ways: by integral or non-integral citation.⁵⁰ In integral citation, the author’s name is integrated in your sentence, usually with a reporting verb like ‘suggests’ or ‘argues’, while in non-integral citation it only appears in footnote or in parentheses. Especially if you are using a footnoting system, non-integral citation has the disadvantage that the original author is almost invisible in your text, therefore there is a greater risk of the reader confusing the author’s ideas with your comments and interpretations. Integral citation avoids this problem by giving prominence to the author’s name.

Compare these two examples:

Integral

Copeau ([1923] 1955) linked the fusion of audience and performance to the internal unity of the audience itself.⁵¹

Non-integral

The fusion of audience and performance is linked to the internal unity of the audience itself (Copeau [1923]

1955).

The addition of a reporting phrase also gives you the chance to tell the reader how you relate to this source. In the first example above, an adverb such as ‘rightly’ could be added to show the writer’s positive evaluation of the source - that the writer shares this opinion. Hyland’s research showed that in the humanities, around 50%

of citations used reporting verbs (ranging from 34% in Marketing to 67% in Philosophy), the most popular being suggest, argue, claim, note, point out, discuss, show and explain.⁵²