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CES 101

Some Advice...

One of the best ways to get a feel for using quotes in an academic paper is to read scholarly writing. As you read scholarly articles in your field, pay attention to some of the techniques the authors use when citing; this will help you to get a feel for incorporating, citing, and paraphrasing.

  • Read over your work to make sure that in incorporating the quotation, the writing still makes sense to the reader (did you introduce the quote adequately?).

  • lf you feel like you can restate the information in your own words, try paraphrasing but remember to include a citation for the author and year of publication. Example: (Metcalf 2002)

  • lf you decide to quote directly, usually because you want to maintain the integrity of the author’s original words, or you feel that you could not restate the information in your own words, either lead into the quote, or incorporate the quote into your own writing. Anytime you cite directly, you will need to provide the author, year, and page number(s) either in the text leading up to the quote, or in parentheses following the quote.

 
Examples:
  • As Metcalf (2002) states: “His many faceted career can be problematic.” (99)

  • As the author states: “His many faceted career can be problematic.” (Metcalf 2002, 99)

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