Quoting

General Rules for Using Quotations

Including a phrase or sentence word-for-word from another source in your own writing is called quoting.  All direct quotes must be put in quotation marks.  Quotation marks signal the reader that you are not the original author of the text.  Providing a citation enables the reader to find the original source of the quotation.

• IR technology is "the wave of the future" (Mercier, 2005).
• As Brown (1998) plainly states, the city's progress will "wither and die on the vine" if action is not taken soon.

Direct quotes should only be used

1. to support your argument, and
2. when you cannot express the idea in your own words.

Quotes should not comprise the bulk of your paper.

You can add or remove text in a quotation where necessary to clarify idea. Use brackets [    ] to indicate what text has been added and elipses (. . .) in place of deleted text.

Quotations of four or more lines should begin on a new line with all lines of the paragraph indented on both sides. The citation is listed at the end of the passage.

When writing a resume, highlight computer and technical skills you posess. And it is never a good idea to inflate the skills section by listing skills you either do not have or have little experience with:

"If your computer skills are minimal, leave this fact out. If your skill levels vary greatly, consider using phrases such as 'proficient at,' 'experienced with,' and 'trained in' to differentiate your skill levels, unless you would prefer to hide this fact until you have an interview. The strategy can be risky, but in a marketplace that places such a high premium on computer proficiency, it might be necessary to get your foot in the door." (Gardella 2000, 28).

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Example

Here is an ORIGINAL1 passage:	Here is an INCORRECT quotation of the passage:
One way of handling a group interview is to answer each question by first addressing the questioner and then checking in (making eye contact) with each of the other panelists, ending your response by looking at the original questioner.	When interviewing with a committee, a good way to answer each question is by first addressing the questioner and then "checking in" (making eye contact) with the others (Gardella, 2000).

What makes this quotation plagiarism?

• Most of the text is taken verbatim from the original, yet only one phrase is placed in quotation marks.
• Words have been added to and omitted from the original text, but no brackets or elipses were used to indicate this.
• It might look like the writer was trying to paraphrase the original text and did not plagiarize because the source is cited. This would be true if the passage had been rephrased in the writer's own words; however, simply changing a few words in order to avoid quoting an entire passage is not an appropriate way to paraphrase and is considered plagiarism.

Here is the ORIGINAL passage again:	Here is a CORRECT quotation of the passage:
One way of handling a group interview is to answer each question by first addressing the questioner and then checking in (making eye contact) with each of the other panelists, ending your response by looking at the original questioner.	Many people are uncomfortable interviewing with a committee. One strategy for fielding questions from a group "is to answer each question by first addressing the questioner and then checking in ... with [the others]" (Gardella, 2000).

Why is this quotation acceptable?

• All text taken word-for-word from the original source is in quotation marks.
• Text that has been added appears in brackets, while text that was omitted is replaced with elipses.
• The portion of the original that was paraphrased is restated entirely in the writer's own words.

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