Quoting

If you intend to use a direct quotation, capture it carefully, copying by hand or pasting electronically. Reproduce the words, spelling, order, and punctuation exactly, even if they’re unusual. Put quotation marks around the material in your notes so you’ll remember that it’s a direct quotation.

RECORDING A GOOD QUOTATION

  1. Quote sparingly, selecting only strong passages that might add support and authority to your assertions.
  2. Mark the beginning and the ending with quotation marks.
  3. Carefully write out or copy and paste each quotation. Check your copy — word by word — for accuracy. Check capitals and punctuation.
  4. Record the page number where the quotation appears in the source. If it falls on two pages, note both; mark where the page turns.

Sometimes it doesn’t pay to copy a long quotation word for word. If you take out one or more irrelevant words, indicate the omission with an ellipsis mark (…). If you need to add wording, especially so that a selection makes sense, enclose your addition in brackets [like this].