BUILDING RESEARCH SKILLS: REFERENCING Using indirect and direct quotes in your research paper

REMEMBER As soon as you identify a good resource, record the bibliographic information needed. Later, you will likely want to use easybib.com or other on-line citation generator. In the meantime, you MUST record where each quote or paraphrase is coming from for your in-text citations.

How Are Quotes Integrated Into Your Project?

Short Quotations Single words, phrases, or complete sentences Under 4 lines of text Set in quotation marks May be set within the sentence or paragraph Hint  Place quotes in different places (at the beginning, in the middle or at the end of a sentence) to make your project interesting

Within a Sentence Example: Hobbits are creatures of comfort and although they live in the ground they do not live in a “nasty, dirty wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell” (Tolkien 3).

Within the Paragraph Example: Blah blah blah. “One Ring to rule them all; one ring to find them” (Tolkien 66). Blah blah blah.

Long Quotations Very specific format: More than 4 typed lines Set in a block: Double spaced Indented ten spaces on both left and right margins No quotation marks

Note the Formatting: Blah blah blah blah: Titanic, the largest vessel in the world when she entered service in 1912, was neither the finest nor the most technically advanced of her day. Size, seldom an indication that something is better, was the only record she held. The ships that Titanic, and her slightly older sister Olympic, were designed to compete with were the Cunard liners Lusitania and Mauretania, which entered service in 1907. (Louden-Brown 35) Blah blah blah double blah.

Telling the Reader Where the Quote is from

Parenthetical Referencing Refers to complete citation  Works Cited/Bibliography at the end Format: Last name of the author plus page(s) Key word in title if no author In brackets immediately after quote or illustration Watch the placement of the period Short quote PR = before period Long quote PR = after period

A Few More Details More than one source of information by the same author? Mention an identifying key word found in the title. Blah blah blah: Gandalf had hardly spoken these words, when there came a great noise: a rolling Boom that seemed to come from depths far below, and to tremble in the stone at their feet. (Tolkien Fellowship 424)

Using A Signal Phrase Note that you do not need to include the author’s name in the Parenthetical Reference if it is used in your sentence: According to Smith in his 1912 account “the ship hit an iceberg” (123). I emailed the Woodshole Institute and they confirmed that “the ship hit an iceberg” (Smith 125).

Paraphrasing Put information in your own words to reduce the number of quotes in your work. Be sure to add the author’s name and page number(s) to indicate where the information is from – just like when you are quoting. Example: A single ring will control everyone (Tolkien 66).

Use Quotes Sparingly Aim to have your paper be only about 10% quotations Use when the author says it best, otherwise, paraphrase and give credit!

TO SUM IT ALL UP! Keep track of all sources for your Works Cited. Pick up a worksheet in the Library. Be careful of how you format each type of quote – watch your punctuation. Use quotations sparingly, and integrate them into your own words as much as possible. Do not forget to analyze or provide commentary on each quote. You can’t leave your quotes to do all your work for you!