In This Chapter
Academic writing is well sourced writing, and academic writers draw from and include sources in their writing to provide concrete, clear, and compelling evidence for their arguments.
We have already seen how writers can use summary in their writing to provide context for an academic conversation or to provide a brief, accurate overview of a source. In addition to summary, academic writers also use quotation and paraphrase to integrate their research into their writing. Writers use summary, quote, and paraphrase to support their points and to persuade their readers.
Your college instructors will not expect you to be an expert on the topic of of any essay or writing assignment you may complete. Instead, they expect that you will rely on research–especially secondary sources such as books, articles, and websites– to inform your writing. They will expect you to present your research in the form of quotes and paraphrases.
This chapter will discuss the form of source integration that you are likely already familiar with: quotation. The next chapter will discuss a more advanced form of source integration also necessary for college-level writing: paraphrase.
For complete information about quoting and citing in MLA Format, consult the Purdue OWL Website
What Is a Quotation?
A quotation is a direct restatement of the exact words from the original source. Any time you use three or more words as they appeared in the original source, you should treat it as a quote.
Features of Integrated Quotations
Quotes Are Exact Replications
Quotations must replicate the source material exactly. Writers must not make any changes to the wording, spelling, or phrasing of the original source.
Sometimes, in order to smoothly integrate quoted material into your paper, you may need to remove a word or add a word to make the quote make sense. If you make any change to quoted material, it must be formatted correctly using an ellipsis (for words removed) or brackets (for words added).
Any added emphasis on words within the quote must be noted as well.
Quotes Must Be Introduced
When using a quotation to support an argument, writers must first introduce the source of the quotation to their reader. This is especially true the first time a source is used in a text. Writers should never simply drop in a quote without providing clear context for where that quotation came from.
Quotes Must Be Notated with Quotation Marks
This feature may seem obvious, but all quoted material must be noted with quotation marks. Be sure to use the double quotation mark on your keyboard and not the single apostrophe. Place all punctuation inside the quotation marks.
Quotes Must Be Analyzed and Explained
Just as writers should not drop quotes into their essays without carefully introducing them, writers must also analyze or explain the quote’s importance. Once you have completed the quote, it is important to write back to the quotation and explain to your own reader why the evidence is importa