It's very simple; when you use someone else's words in your work, you have to show that they are not yours. You do this by:
- If the quote is 1-2 lines long - using quotation marks ("") to mark the start and end of the quote
- If the quote is 3-5 lines long - indenting the quote so that it stands out from the rest of the text
- Citing the source in-text and in your reference list.
When to use a direct quote:
- To show the reader exactly what the source says, so there's no possibility you've misunderstood what was said.
- You want to analyse/compare/criticise a particular quote or passage from another source.
- To provide direct evidence for, or proof of your own ideas or arguments.
- To provide a definition of a new or unfamiliar term or phrase.
- When the author's language is particularly memorable or well-written
- You find the author's language so clear and concise that you wouldn't be able to effectively make the same point by paraphrasing or summarising.
Consider the following sentence:
It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.
If you were to copy and paste the above sentence into your work, that would be plagiarism because those words are the opening sentence of Jane Austen's novel, Pride and Prejudice, so those words are Jane Austen's and not yours. Therefore you must:
- use quotation marks around those words - "It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife."
- provide an in-text citation after the closing quotation marks - "It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife." (Austen, 2003 p.1)
- include the citation in your reference list - Austen, J.(2003) Pride and prejudice. London: Penguin Books.
Now consider the following quote
"It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife. However little known the feelings or views of such a man may be on his first entering a neighbourhood, this truth is so well fixed in the minds of the surrounding families that he is considered as the rightful property of some one or other of their daughters."
That quote is three lines long, so you use block quotes...
Jane Austen starts her novel Pride and Prejudice with one of the most famous first sentences in a novel. It claims to assert a "universal truth"
It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife. However little known the feelings or views of such a man may be on his first entering a neighbourhood, this truth is so well fixed in the minds of the surrounding families that he is considered as the rightful property of some one or other of their daughters. (Austen, 2003 p.1)
However, the "universal" truth is only universal to a specific group of people: families with unmarried daughters, which means it's not very universal at all.
The longer quote stands out from the rest of the text because it's indented. You don't need to use quotation marks for block quotes.
Block quotes should be roughly 3-5 lines long and no longer.
Don't rely too much on direct quotes - you're writing about your own work, you're not submitting Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, or anything else, with a few annotations. Over-quoting is frowned upon and will lose you marks. As a rough guide, no more than 10% of your assignment should be direct quotes.
Summary
- If you use other people's words in your assignment, you must:
- enclose it in quotation marks if it's a line or two long or
- block quote it if it's three or more lines long
- All quotations must end with an in-text citation
- The citation must be included in your reference list
- Only around 10% of your assignment should consist of direct quotes
