Using Quotations Effectively In A Research Paper

When writing a thesis or dissertation, you will have to quote extensively from the existing literature on the subject in order to support your argument and show that you understand and have taken into account any research has already been undertaken into your subject.
The Literature Review – usually the first chapter after the introduction – is the place where you will be quoting most extensively, although you will almost certainly be referring to works in other chapters as well.
Although it’s important to show your familiarity with the existing literature, be careful to quote judiciously. Keep the quotations as brief as possible to make the point, and don’t quote at all if you can paraphrase the argument more briefly. By expressing the idea in your own words, you are giving yourself the opportunity to demonstrate that you have understood and absorbed the argument.
Whatever you do, don’t just insert quotations and expect their relevance to be obvious to the reader. Introduce each quotation, and explain its significance.
According to Eggert and Wilkins (2004), “It is essential that the data be checked against a control sample.”
Or:
Eggert and Wilkins (2004) stress that “it is essential that the data be checked against a control sample.”
Short quotations
Short quotations of less than four lines or 40 words should be incorporated into the text between double quotation marks. Place all punctuation marks (commas, full points, colons, semicolons, exclamation marks, question marks) outside the quotation marks, except where they are part of the original quotation. In the first example below, the comma is not part of the original quotation; in the second, it is:
“The exception”, Bodmer (1997) states, “does not always prove the rule.”
“The exception, for once,” Bodmer (1997) states, “does not prove the rule.”
Block quotations
If you do need to quote at greater length, set the passage off as an indented block quotation. The general rule is that anything longer than four or five lines should be set as block quotes. APA style is more specific: anything more than 40 words should be a block quote, and it must be indented ? inch from the left.
Do not put quotation marks around a block quote – the indentation is sufficient to show that it is a quotation.
Omissions and contractions
In the interests of brevity, you can omit any clause or sentence from a quotation, as long as the passage still makes sense and the meaning of the original is not altered. Any omitted passages should be indicated with an ellipse (three dots, e.g….)
Sometimes you may need to supply an additional word or phrase for a quotation to make sense – most often when a necessary piece of information is supplied in an earlier sentence that you don’t want to quote. For example, instead of quoting the following in full –
“Williams was at pains to assert the importance of the research. He stated that the survey would yield significant data on the topic.”
You can shorten it thus:
“[Williams] stated that the survey would yield significant data.”
If you want to begin an excerpt in the middle of a sentence, however, you can start it with a capital letter. So, you may abbreviate the following –
“Whether good or bad, our experience of school may influence the rest of our lives,” she said.
Like this –
“Our experience of school may influence the rest of our lives,” she said.
There is no need to show this tiny change with small brackets, so don’t do this –
“[O]ur experience of school may influence the rest of our lives,” she said.
Quotations within quotations
Sometimes you will wish to quote a passage that itself contains a quotation. If you are using double quote marks around your main quotation, use single quotes for the quotation within –
Purkiss and Withers have asserted that “Ostrogorsky’s ‘ineluctable modality’ represents an early attempt to create a theoretical discourse in this field…”
Citation
Lastly – and crucially – all quotations, whether indirect incorporated, quoted verbatim in the text or set as block quotes, must of course be referenced. The format of the referencing will vary depending on which style you are using (e.g. APA, Harvard, MLHA), so consult the style sheet provided by your college or university.