APA-2c: Using quotation marks around borrowed language

APA-2cUse quotation marks around borrowed language.

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When you use exact language from a source, you need to show that it is a quotation.

  • Quotation marks for direct quotations: P5-a

To indicate that you are using a source’s exact phrases or sentences, you must enclose them in quotation marks unless they have been set off from the text by indenting (see APA-3b). To omit the quotation marks is to claim—falsely—that the language is your own. Such an omission is plagiarism even if you have cited the source.

original source

In an effort to seek the causes of this disturbing trend, experts have pointed to a range of important potential contributors to the rise in childhood obesity that are unrelated to media: a reduction in physical education classes and after-school athletic programs, an increase in the availability of sodas and snacks in public schools, the growth in the number of fast-food outlets across the country, the trend toward “super-sizing” food portions in restaurants, and the increasing number of highly processed high-calorie and high-fat grocery products.

—Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, “The Role of Media in Childhood Obesity” (2004), p. 1

plagiarism

According to the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation (2004), experts have pointed to a range of important potential contributors to the rise in childhood obesity that are unrelated to media (p. 1).

borrowed language in quotation marks

According to the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation (2004), “experts have pointed to a range of important potential contributors to the rise in childhood obesity that are unrelated to media” (p. 1).

note: Quotation marks are not used when quoted sentences are set off from the text by indenting (see APA-3b).