Helping Research writing for student & professional researchers Research Writing
How to quote in a research paper? Quotations and paraphrasing are two ways in which you can introduce a source in your research. Quotations are used primarily when the source explicitly explains what the researcher likes to say. The researcher uses a quote in a research when any changes made by paraphrasing the source would not be effective. This means that a quote in a research paper has a vital role but its use should be limited to where paraphrasing is not worth to do.
The are two important considerations in adding quotations in research: first one is related to how to write quotation in research; and second is related to how to cite quotations in research. The rules for writing a quotation in research is same among different systems of research citation. The rules for citing quotations are some what different among different citation systems.
How to write a quotation in research
The first and the most basic rule in writing a quotation is that you have to copy word to word the same material that you have read from the original author. The quotations can be a sentence or it can a long paragraph, the length of the quotation depends on how long you want to write it. The only consideration in deciding about the length of the quote is that it should be of value to your research. You should not add lengthy quotations when there is no need to do so. Write as long a quote as it meets the requirement of your research.
You have to cite the author’s last name, year of publication and page number in the text along with the quotation. The quotation marks should make the quotation well recognizable from your own words. In online sources where page number is not present you can write paragraph number or else omit it.
The quotation should be accurate and it should follow the wording, grammar, and punctuation of the actual writing. Check the actual source for each quotation to make sure there is not any mistake in copying the source.
Both in MLA and APA citations you should write a small quote that is less than 4 sentences long with in quotation marks. A short quote can appear within your own text but only separated by single or double quotation marks. On the other hand a long quotation should appear separately as a block that is indented from left. A long quote that is written separately as a block does not need a quotation mark. When there are more than one paragraphs to quote you can write the first paragraph half inch indented from the left, the first line of the second paragraph can be indented 1/4 inch more to show that it is a new paragraph.
How to cite a quotation in research
The citation of a quotation is done in the similar manner as the citation of paraphrasing. The in-text citation may include the author last name, year of publication, and page number. The reference list should provide a full citation of the source including all the publication information as well.
The use of long quotations in your work may need permission from the author or the owner of the work. In most cases in every copyright protected work a fair use of the work is allowed without taking permission from the author or publisher. The use of material more than that may require permission the author is responsible of asking permission and showing the proof of permission in the manuscript. The copyright permission of the use of a long quotation can be provided in the research paper as a footnote.
References
- Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. (2010).6th Edition. American Psychological Association: Washington D. C. 170-174
- “MLA Formatting Quotations”. Purdue Online Writing Lab.Purdue University.https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/mla_style/mla_formatting_and_style_guide/mla_formatting_quotations.html
