49 Focusing on Quoting
Christina Frasier and Lisa Ford
Learning Objectives
- Identify when quotations are the appropriate method in capturing a source’s ideas.
- Differentiate between quoting in MLA and APA formats.
In general, it is best to use a quote when:
- The exact words of your source are important for the point you are trying to make. This is especially true if you are quoting technical language, terms, or very specific word choices.
- You want to highlight your agreement with the author’s words. If you agree with the point the author of the evidence makes and you like their exact words, use them as a quote.
- You want to highlight your disagreement with the author’s words. In other words, you may sometimes want to use a direct quote to indicate exactly what it is you disagree about. This might be particularly true when you are considering the antithetical positions in your research writing projects.
Tips for Quoting
- Introduce your quotes to your reader, especially on first reference.
- Explain the significance of the quote to your reader.
- Cite your quote properly according to the rules of style you are following in your essay.
- Quote when the exact words are important, when you want to highlight your agreement or your disagreement.
Quoting in MLA Style
Here’s the first BAD example, where the writer is trying to follow the rules of MLA style:
Example
There are many positive effects for advertising prescription drugs on television. “African-American physicians regard direct-to-consumer advertising of prescription medicines as one way to educate minority patients about needed treatment and healthcare options” (Wechsler).
This is a potentially good piece of information to support a research writer’s claim, but the researcher hasn’t done any of the necessary work to explain where this quote comes from or to explain why it is important for supporting her point. Rather, she has simply “dropped in” the quote, leaving the interpretation of its significance up to the reader.
Now consider this revised GOOD (or at least BETTER) example of how this quote might be better introduced into the essay:
Example
In her Pharmaceutical Executive article available through the Wilson Select Internet database, Jill Wechsler writes about one of the positive effects of advertising prescription drugs on television: “African-American physicians regard direct-to-consumer advertising of prescription medicines as one way to educate minority patients about needed treatment and healthcare options.”
In this revision, it’s much more clear what point the writer is trying to make with this evidence and where this evidence comes from.
In this particular example, the passage is from a traditional print journal called Pharmaceutical Executive. However, the writer needs to indicate that she actually found and read this article through Wilson Select, an Internet database which reproduces the “full text” of articles from periodicals without any graphics, charts, or page numbers. This is the reason why neither example has parenthetical citations with page numbers.
When you use a direct quote in your research, you need to the indicate page number of that direct quote or you need to indicate that the evidence has no specific page numbers. While it can be a bit awkward to indicate within the text how the writer found this information if it’s from the Internet, it’s important to do so on the first reference of a piece of evidence in your writing. When referring again to this piece of evidence, you can use just the last name of the writer. For example:
Example
Wechsler also reports on the positive effects of advertising prescription drugs on television. She writes…
Quoting in APA Style
Consider this BAD example in APA style, of what NOT to do when quoting evidence:
Example
“If the U.S. scallop fishery were a business, its management would surely be fired, because its revenues could readily be increased by at least 50 percent while its costs were being reduced by an equal percentage.” (Repetto, 2001, p. 84).
Again, this is a potentially valuable piece of evidence, but it simply isn’t clear what point the research writer is trying to make with it. Further, it doesn’t follow the preferred method of citation with APA style.
Here is a revision that is a GOOD or at least BETTER example:
Example
Repetto (2001) concludes that in the case of the scallop industry, those running the industry should be held responsible for not considering methods that would curtail the problems of over-fishing: “If the U.S. scallop fishery were a business, its management would surely be fired, because its revenues could readily be increased by at least 50 percent while its costs were being reduced by an equal percentage” (p. 84).
This revision is improved because the research writer has introduced and explained the point of the evidence with the addition of a clarifying sentence. It also follows the rules of APA style. Generally, APA style prefers that the research writer refer to the author only by last name followed immediately by the year of publication. Whenever possible, you should begin your citation with the author’s last name and the year of publication, and, in the case of a direct quote like this passage, the page number (including the “p.”) in parentheses at the end.
Because overall APA privileges paraphrasing rather than direct quotes, remember to ask your instructor for guidance on the amount of direct quotes in an APA essay.
Academic Writing I by Lisa Ford, CC BY 4.0