Temasek Polytechnic Library Tutorial

QUOTING

= to repeat word-for-word what someone else has written or said.

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> Use quotations to:

support your ideas
disagree with someone else's ideas
compare and contrast different points of view
introduce an important or unique phrase used by the original author
use a passage that is best expressed by the original author
use an idea that is difficult to rephrase

> Watch out for:

Accuracy: do not misquote - double check the words, spelling, and punctuation.

> Accepted Use:

In-text quotations – quotations with less than 40 words can be used in your assignment by placing them in double quotation marks [“ ”]. If the original quotation already has double quotes, change these quotation marks to single quotes [ ‘ ’].

... you can drink while on antibiotics, because “it won’t decrease the effectiveness of the drug, cause ‘side effects,’ or make you more drunk”

Block quotations – if the quotation has more than 40 words, leave out the quotation marks and display the block quotation on a new line, indented 1 cm from the left margin.

Placeholder text. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Fusce posuere faucibus lorem. Morbi scelerisque leo nonummy enim. Vestibulum ante ipsum primis in faucibus orci luctus et ultrices posuere cubilia Curae; Proin laoreet quam non dui. Class aptent taciti sociosqu ad litora torquent per conubia nostra, per inceptos hymenaeos. Quisque pellentesque diam non nunc bibendum condimentum. Suspendisse potenti. Fusce pharetra facilisis orci. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Quisque at augue. Morbi pulvinar, sapien a scelerisque euismod, felis diam feugiat est, non vehicula felis risus eget pede.

For a quotation that contains more than one paragraph, indent an additional 1cm in the first sentence of each paragraph.

Placeholder text. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Fusce posuere faucibus lorem. Morbi scelerisque leo nonummy enim. Vestibulum ante ipsum primis in faucibus orci luctus et ultrices posuere cubilia Curae; Proin laoreet quam non dui. Class aptent taciti sociosqu ad litora torquent per conubia nostra, per inceptos hymenaeos. Quisque pellentesque diam non nunc bibendum condimentum. Suspendisse potenti. Fusce pharetra facilisis orci. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Quisque at augue. Morbi pulvinar, sapien a scelerisque euismod, felis diam feugiat est, non vehicula felis risus eget pede.

Placeholder text. Pellentesque facilisis justo sed lorem. Nunc mollis sem eget arcu. Maecenas ultrices. Pellentesque habitant morbi tristique senectus et netus et malesuada fames ac turpis egestas. Mauris magna arcu, iaculis ac, pharetra in, lobortis vitae, libero. Donec feugiat, mauris non porta euismod, lorem nulla rhoncus sem, vitae convallis quam sapien vitae mauris. Nulla mattis, enim eu placerat interdum, mauris velit rutrum dolor, eu vehicula magna est ut urna. Mauris in justo. Curabitur nec magna. Nunc dui. Vivamus tellus. Donec hendrerit elit vitae lorem. <<With thanks to Lorem ipsum. (n.d.). [Online]. Available: http://www.lipsum.com/>>

Omissions – show where you have left out words within a quotation by inserting three points (dots or full stops) […]; or 4 points [....] if it is at the end of the quoted sentence.

Smith reported that “laboratory findings ... were similar for both experiments.”

Insertion of a comment into a quotation – If there is a spelling, grammar or punctuation error in the quoted material, you can insert the expression sic (Latin for “thus”), in italic type in brackets immediately after the error. This tells the reader that it wasn't you who made the mistake but the original author.

Chua concluded that the “Singapore Bus Service cover [sic] a wider area….”