Using Quotes & Documenting Sources

How to use Quotes

Although the techniques writers use to avoid plagiarism are easy to learn, many students want to take shortcuts.  But you should know that your essays will be evaluated for plagiarism, so use the following examples to help you be MLA compliant and avoid plagiarism.  Using this guide will help you create effective cited essays.

Quotes: Use the exact words, punctuation, and grammar from outside sources, or words of another person.  Borrowings need to be enclosed in quotation marks:

Quoted words need to be enclosed in “double quote marks,” just as

you see here.

*Notice that periods, as well as commas, go inside the quotes.  An outside source refers to words of another person or source, not your words/phrases/ideas.  Whenever you use a quote include parenthetical reference at the end of the sentence:

Whenever you use a quote, “include a parenthetical reference” at the end of the sentence, so that your reader can find the source on your works cited list (Tantalo par. 5). 

Notice that the period goes at the very end of the sentence, after the parenthesis.  The parenthesis contains the last name of the author and page number of the work (in this case a hypothetical work), which will then be listed alphabetically on your works cited list.

Sample entry:

Tantalo, D.  "Using Quotes and Documenting Sources."  AVC Online.  Antelope   

            Valley College.  Accessed 2 February, 2004.  <http://avconline.avc.edu/

            faculty/dtantalo/citing_sources.htm>

Summaries or paraphrases also need parenthetical references at the end of the sentence: (Refer to the original words * above) 

Sample summary:  

Quotes and sources must be acknowledged in all of my writing (Tantalo par. 5).

Sample paraphrase:  

The handout I received in this class states that I need to put double quotes around borrowed words and put the name of the author and page number of the source inside parenthesis after I use the quote (Tantalo 1).

Exercise: write a summary and a paraphrase of the paragraph below, then excerpt  a short quote and integrate it into a sentence. 

Course Policies:  This class maintains a no-excuses policy regarding non-participation, or missed assignments.  As an adult learner you may encounter personal responsibilities that distract you from college coursework.  However, personal responsibilities do not exempt you from coursework deadlines, participation, or attendance.  The Assignment and Reading Schedule will help you keep track of deadlines.  The instructor is not responsible for information you miss due to absence.  If you miss a class, get notes from a classmate.  Communicate with the instructor well ahead of assignment due dates if absence is unavoidable.

Parenthetical References

When borrowing quotes or ideas from another writer you need to be able to properly punctuate and document the source.  Borrowed ideas may take the form of quotes, paraphrases, or summaries, but each borrowing must be accurately referenced so that your reader can find the original source.  So each quote, paraphrase or summary must include a parenthetical reference that points the reader to a works cited list entry, one entry for each work you borrowed from.   Here is an example of such an entry, a paragraph from the work, and examples of how to use borrowed ideas:

Work Cited

Steinbeck, John.  Travels With Charlie: In Search of America.  New York: Penguin 

                Books, 1962. 

Original Paragraph: from page 209 of the edition above.

            It would be pleasant to be able to say of my travels with Charlie, “I went out to find the truth about my country and I found it.”  And the it would be such a simple matter to set down my findings and lean back comfortably with a fine sense of having discovered truths and taught them to my readers.  I wish it were that easy.  But what I carried in my head and deeper in my perceptions was a barrel of worms.  I discovered long ago in collecting and classifying marine animals that what I found was closely intermeshed with how I felt at the moment.  External reality has a way of being no so external after all. 

            This monster of a land, this mightiest of nations, this spawn of the future, turns out to be the macrocosm of microcosm me.  If an Englishman or a Frenchman or an Italian should travel my route, see what I saw, hear what I heard, their stored pictures would be not only different from mine but equally different from one another.  If other Americans reading this account should feel it true, that agreement would only mean that we are alike in our Americanness. 

Integrate Quotes—To properly use quotes in your own sentences, introduce the quote, quote the quote, then tell why the quote is important, cite the page number the quote comes from. 

Direct Quote:

Sample 1

When trying to write about what he learned from his travels, Steinbeck said that “external reality has a way of being not so external after all” (209).  

Sample 2

Explaining the difficulties of writing from memory, one writer said that his experiences were “closely intermeshed with how I felt at the moment” (Steinbeck 209).  The images the writer had stored up inside his memory were more a part of his emotional makeup than part of the outside world.

These examples show two forms of parenthetical references.  The first is used when you use the author’s name in your sentence, and the second is used when the author’s name is not used.  

Notice that in the second reference, Steinbeck lets you know how to find the corresponding entry on the works cited list. 

Direct Block Quote: use block quotes only when using quotes that would take up 3 or more lines of your essay text.  The example below shows a short quote for the sake of brevity:  

When writing about his travels, Steinbeck discovered that it wasn’t so simple as just writing it all down as it happened: 

           I wish it were that easy.  But what I carried in my head and 

           deeper in my perceptions was a barrel of worms (209). 

Steinbeck means that ideas, images, and things are all mixed up so that the writing process is more complicated that it first appears to be.   

Notice the use of the colon in the introductory phrase.  A colon signals that the introductory phrase could stand alone as a complete sentence.  If you introduce the quote with an incomplete sentence, you may have to use a semicolon, a comma, or no punctuation at all:

When writing about his travels, Steinbeck said, 

            I wish it were that easy.  But what I carried in my head and  

            deeper in my perceptions was a barrel of worms (209).  

This means that when one writes down one’s experiences, memories are all mixed up rather than well ordered.  

Paraphrase: reword the author’s original ideas, or put it in your own words.  A paraphrase will probably be longer than the original phrase: “what I carried in my head and deeper in my perceptions was a barrel of worms.”

Steinbeck tried to write down his experiences, but he found that the memories in his head were all muddled and mixed up like a container of squirming insects (209). 

Notice that even though the idea is in my own words, I have still used a parenthetical reference.  This is because you must give credit to ideas just as if you quoted the exact words.  The same is true for summarized material. 

Summary: the gist, or main idea of an original quote.  A summary will be very short and to the point:

Steinbeck discovered that memories were chaotic, not neat and orderly (209). 

Research Notes

          When conducting research, is it necessary that you take accurate notes on the sources you wish to use in your work.  Research notes can take several forms: summary, paraphrase, direct quotation, or a combination of these.  Whether you choose to use note cards, photocopies, or a plain old notebook for recording and organizing source material, you must be familiar with how to use sources in your own writing.  ALWAYS be sure to jot down the information you need for quoting and citing a source.  

NEVER copy and paste material from an Internet source unless you plan on citing the source in your paper.  If you cannot find the information you need for a works cited list entry, do not use the source.    

Paraphrasing, Summarizing & Quoting: Avoiding Plagiarism

Paraphrase—

          To paraphrase, you follow much more closely the author’s original presentation, but you restate it in your own words.  Paraphrase is most useful when you want to present or examine an author’s line of reasoning but don’t feel the entire original words merit direct quotation.  Paraphrasing may use different sentence structures and wording from the original passages, but may retain words that lack appropriate synonyms. 

Summary—

          To Summarize means you condense extended ideas, such as the main point of an argument, into a short sentence of your own words.  Summary is most useful when you want to record only the gist of an author’s idea without the background or supporting evidence.  Summaries take the kernel of an original idea and re-express it in a minimum of words.  Much like the thesis statement of your own essay, a summary provides a digest of a passage or chunk of text. 

Quote—

          To quote means you use another author’s ideas word for word (verbatim).  Use direct quotations when you used an author’s ideas as supporting evidence or illustration of your own analysis or argument.  Quotations are the exact words or phrases used by another author to express ideas. 

To avoid plagiarism, take the following precautions:

How to do an MLA Style Works Cited list of Internet sources                           

Simply typing the URL is not sufficient!  To cite electronic sources, use the same system for citing print sources.

1. Author
2. Title of work
3. Publication information: supply the same details as for a print source
4. Dates: posted, revised, updated, accessed
5. Uniform resource locator (URL): <http://www.etc/etc.htm>
6. Page: for electronic sources substitute paragraph number (par. 2) or (pars. 3-4) or section number (sec. 5)

Exercise: Below is list of electronic (Internet) sources.  Determine which sources are cited according to correct MLA style and which are not.  Access each website to obtain the necessary information and rewrite the incorrect entries in MLA style and arrange them in alphabetical order.  Create a correctly formatted works cited list.

History of the American West, 1860-1920.  25 July 2000.  Denver Public Library.  16 Oct. 2001.  <http://memory.loc.gov/anmem/award97/codhtml>.

http://www.english.uiuc.edu/baron/index.htm 

“Native American Food Guide.”  Health Finder.  16 July 2001.  America Online.  16 July 2001.  Keyword: Health.

Interview with Victor Payan.  San Diego Latino Film Festival.  Rikker, David.  1999.  20 Jan.  2002.  www.sdlatinofilm.com/video.htm.#Anchor-David-64709

www.writerspresence.com   (just think critically on this one)

NASA.JPL.  “Martian Meteorite.”  Views of the Solar System: Meteorids and Meteorites.  Ed.  Calvin J. Hamilton.  1999.  13 June 1999  <http:// spaceart.com/solar/engmeteor/htm#views>. 

Tantalo, D.  “Intro to the Essay.”  AVC Online.  9 May 2002.  <http://avconline. avc.edu/faculty/dtantalo/essayov.htm>

For a more detailed and comprehensive guide consult your Kirszner and Mandell Brief Handbook.