How many times did you hear from your professors that all the borrowed information needs some proper citation? – Many times, that’s for sure. We can hear quotations someone said during a stage speech, in narrative literature and scientific publications, of course. In order to climb the wall of quality essay writing, you need not only to gather the material for creation but also be able to gracefully present the person whose thoughts you have decided to use in your story.
Some think that there is nothing difficult in putting the quote within a paper after several copy-pasted lines of text. However, that won’t make out any good to your text. The introduction of a quote in the text is a real art as you show the dialogue with a famous person from the past or present on the sheets of your thesis.
The Characteristic Features of the Quote in the Text
The role of the quotes in the expository text cannot be underestimated. There are several important functions which timely introduced quotes perform. Mind it before considering a thought to skip it.
- A quote is an excellent remedy against the writing block. When you look at the words of some author like Aristotle and put them in the text of yours, you acquire a large baggage of ideas which can be used further on.
- Quotes are necessary attributes of most writing styles and the thesis like any other scientific paper cannot be accepted without properly organized ones.
- It makes the writer look brainy. The quotes are usually added to the top list of informational material at a special section of the work. The amount of quotations reflects the quantity of inspiration material which was studied by you, demonstrating the labor committed to complete the assignment.
- A quote is characterized by many functions. Introduction quoting can be used as a hook that will attract the attention of the audience. When added to the thesis body, it will become some vital argument of a prominent researcher that will serve as a proof of your thoughts in the paper. In the conclusion, a brilliantly set quote will make a final culmination movement that will astonish the readers. Leave such an approach for all types of academic writing.
The discussion of quoting importance can go on and on. It is applied for supporting the ideas, demonstrating the quality of the research material, professional writing style and other features which describe the writer in a positive light. However, there is a direction to setting the citation depending on these most applied writing styles – APA and MLA. However, there are several other writing styles like Chicago and AMA styles, but they are not so popular when a quote is needed.
MLA Quote Usage
Modern Language Association (MLA) is among the most traditional writing styles. This manner demands the addition of the author’s personal information together with borrowed data page number. You don’t need to add the year of creation of the book like in the APA style while placing a quote. However, do not forget to provide this data in the front of a reference section of the thesis.
Regarding Short Quotations
When we are talking about short quotes in MLA format, we basically mean all quotes for less than four lines in a word doc or three lines minimum for poetry. While working on this, you should basically provide the quotes with the following elements:
- Double quotation symbols are recommended;
- Use the last name of the source material creator;
- State the page with information without “p” letter.
Basic Short Quote Adding Recommendations
While you are introducing the quoted material, there are some recommendations regarding the manner that will make the text look more appropriate and not plagiarized from another context.
- Make an introduction. A sudden start of a paragraph or a sentence with a quote looks really odd. You need to introduce the quote by presenting words which will connect the quoted material with overall narration canvas.
- The parentheses after the citation can be avoided if you mention the author at the beginning of the extract as if in direct uttering. However, do not forget about adding the page at the end of a citation.
- In some cases, you can present the quote and later add the commentaries which will describe some full portions of it for the personal investigation.
- The punctuation marks from the material to cite are always carried over without changes.
- For poetry “/” is used in order to avoid the beginning of the new lines in the thesis.
Regarding Long Prose Quotes
Everything that consists of over four typed lines can be considered a long prose quote. In this case, we should organize the quote as a separate block of text while avoiding the use of quotation marks. Mind that then, you are supposed to introduce this quoted paragraph with either introductory sentence or colon for readers’ better understanding of the material.
While you are finishing the quote, you can apply punctuation symbols, and after that, you can add the standard quoting data.
These means are applicable to a single quoted big block, but there are cases with several paragraphs. In this case, we are supposed to use block quotes and ellipses to emphasize the transition moments from one paragraph to another with an indentation at the first line of 0.25in.
Dealing with a Poem Quotation
If you are citing a large piece of poetry, there is a necessity to preserve an original formatting of the poem as there is also a deep sense hidden in the structure of the poetry.
Adding or Omitting the Word During Quotation
Sometimes, the reword or addition of the word to the quotation is vital for making the text suitable to the topic of your essay or when part of the quoted information is of a low importance.
Basically, it is advisable to use brackets with personal-added text at the spots where it is necessary, thus preserving the original look of the quoted material. When you cut out a part of the text from your work, you need to put ellipsis as if to point out that some part of the material was omitted on purpose.
The Quotation of the Internet Resources
This type of quoting is probably the most problematic one. The website or a blog does not have pages in a traditional sense. That is why while quoting the electronic source you need to state the name of the article, the publication date, and authors information. In some cases, it is required to state the name of the website where the article was originally presented. The same goes with movie quotation or a meaningful phrase that was introduced during the play.
American Psychological Association Quote Usage
APA or The Purdue OWL style of quoting is similar to the language association formatting – you still need the same data regarding the writer and the location of the utilized text and, in addition, add the year of creation. The letter “p” meaning page is present in this writing style.
Regarding Short Quotes
Short quotes are considered those extracts which count less than 40 words. You need to add a page number and the name of the writer with a date of creation.
- You surely can divide the citation into several parts – the creator’s data can be stated as a part of an overall text, while the numbers can be placed at the bottom of the quote.
- The entire quote goes in brackets after the quoted text as a single block.
Mind that the first option can enhance the dialog between the writer and the reader, while the second one is a stricter option.
Regarding Long Prose Quotes
Use a separate block of text for putting large pieces of text in APA format. ½ inch from the left side is recommended for the whole quoted text. Do not forget to utilize 2x space in the cited extract.
The information of the author is supposed to be placed at the end of the text. The creators’ data should be set at the right bottom of the cited text.
Paraphrasing the quotations
Even if you paraphrase the text that belongs to another person, you still need to add all the data regarding the original writer as this is still a result of some personal investigation and mental work; stealing of other people ideas is definitely not good. So even if the whole text was recreated so it became unrecognized the core idea and principles belong to the writer who put time and efforts into developing their thoughts.
Multiple Authors Citation
Citation of several authors is probably the easiest thing to perform in APA style. Just take the first two persons who participated in the creation of the work in alphabetical order and unite them with a “&” symbol and implement other necessary information.
The Internet Resources Quoting
The web quoting procedure is similar to MLA’s. You are required to get the original author’s data, publication time and state the number of the paragraph that was quoted. Basically, there is nothing difficult with Internet quotes. If anything seems to be unclear, ensure to approach cheap assignment writing services to get professional assistance with it.
Regardless of the writing style you perform, a proper quote means giving a credit to all those people who textually assisted you in writing and proving your ideas that are usually smashing along the wall of misunderstanding and numb words. This guide includes the basic rules of quoting, and there are many other peculiar cases which acquire additional writing skills and experience. However, you should never be afraid to discover new horizons to develop the writing skills which are the part of the world of science.
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