How to Put a Quote like a Pro

Publication Date: 07 Mar 2018
Author: Ben Parker

How to Become a Quote Master

When you enter the higher education, academic writing quoting enters the routine. In fact, the more you practice writing, the better your quoting skills develop. However, there’s a set of common rules to obey in order to succeed and a list of mistakes we recommend to avoid. Do you want to get an A+ on your research paper? Learn how to quote properly with us.

The Wrong Choice

Let’s begin with common mistakes students often tend to follow:

• Never quote for the sake of quoting. Picking a spontaneous quote won’t give extra credit nor for the grade, nor for your karma. It should be a deliberate decision, not a favorite quote from a celebrity.
• If you use some sources in your research, do not copy the data. Think of how to paraphrase some lines and just mention the source in the reference list. Giving all the acknowledgments of the sources won’t smooth the fact that 98% of the essay is quoting sources.
• Speaking of a research. Would you agree that a formal style of a research or argumentative essay differs from a narrative style of writing a lot? For sure. The same is true for quoting: whenever you are writing in the formal style, use only scholar sources. You can consult and refer to books, scientific journals, encyclopedia and official government institutions’ websites. Quotes from Mark Twain or Ernest Hemingway are not the ones you are expected to present in a regular research essay (unless it’s a research on their lives)

The Right Choice

• Use mark words to present a quote. It sounds much more interesting and appropriate to the reader when you introduce him or her to the information. Have a look:

The ecological situation in the country is now improving. According to ecology scientists from the Department of Ecology and Sustainable Development: “90 percents of the trash around the country is recyclable”.

Compare to
The ecological situation in the country is now improving. “90 percents of the trash around the country is recyclable”.

I am sure you like the first fragment better.

• Use the right citation style. There are two most spread forms: MLA and APA citation. Here is a brief description of each of them:

MLA citation – is usually used in Humanities. This is the format of giving credit to the source in the reference list and it includes author, the title of the source, title of the container, other contributors, version, number, publisher, publication date, and location. In-text citation implies only the name of the author and the year of publication in brackets. For instance: (McGee, 2012)

APA citation – is used for science and education to ease the understanding and the process of verification of the material. The rules of formatting depend on the source either book, eBook, an article from a journal with DOI or website citation. In-text you will come across the same (McGee,2012) format or if the citation is direct the page number is added. Example:  (McGee,2012, p. 5)