7. Acknowledging Source Materials
At the
UniversitThe inclusion of references, quotations (citations, cite, quote)
and footnotes in academic work is an important part of your writing, particularly
in research work.
References and quotations should be included for the following two main reasons:
1. They
indicate to the reader the range, extent and nature of source materials you
have used to support or challenge the ideas discussed in your work. They show
you have read up on your subject area and are able to select appropriate materials.
2. They are an acknowledgement that parts of your work are derived from the
material of others and indicate how you have developed your particular approach.
Be careful to use borrowed material sparingly and selectively. The indiscriminate
use of quotations is as bad as a lack of them. You will certainly not make
a good impression by submitting work which is full of quotations.
7.1. Quotations
a) Indirect Quotations: Using Paraphrase
This is not the same as copying verbatim (exactly word for word) and without acknowledgement, but
• expressing the ideas of an author in you own words, to acknowledge another author’s ideas: extract and summarise important points.
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b) Direct Quotations:
• It may be desirable to quote the original author’s exact words: quotations also add colour and feeling to writing.
• But take care not to overwork the technique. It is not necessary to substantiate every assertion you make by strengthening it with a quotation. Choose quotations selectively and use them sparingly. Only quote
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• Presentation
1. Keep the quotation as brief as possible. A quotation may consist of a word, phrase, sentence, paragraph or longer expression from the text of another writer.
2. Quotations
are denoted by the use of double quotation marks «…». These
enclose all the words quoted:
e.g. There is general agreement that «Johnson’s invectives against
Scotland, in common conversation, were more in pleasantry and sport than real
and malignant».
e.g. Charlotte Square has been described as «one of the major achievements
in European civic architecture of the period».
3. The general rule is that a quotation should correspond precisely to the original regarding wording, spelling, capitalisation and punctuation.
4. Quotations should also read properly, i.e. the syntax of your sentence should be grammatically consistent with the quotation.
5. A quotation may be linked syntactically to a sentence without preceding punctuation and if required the first letter may be a lower-case, even if originally capitalised:
e.g.
Life in the New Town was vigorous since «a practice had long prevailed
in Edinburgh, of keeping a great deal of society, and entertaining a vast
circle of friends».
(In the original, the quotation starts: «A practice ... »)
6. The
first word of a quotation may be capitalised irrespective of the original,
when introduced by a colon:
e.g. Some have dismissed Craig’s New Town for being: «Merely two
squares joined by a straight central street flanked by others»
(In the original, «merely» is not capitalised.)
• Two general guidelines for prose quotations:
1. With
short quotations incorporate passages of not more than three lines directly
into your text, identified by double quotation marks:
e.g. Sacheverell Sitwell considers that «Wren had a greater colour sense
than any other of our architects».
e.g. «Europe,» writes A.J. Youngson in The Making of Classical
Edinburgh, «is full of beautiful cities».
(Note the underlining or italicisation of a book title in a quotation)
2. Longer
quotations (more than three lines) should separated as a separate paragraph
with no quotation marks. Set the quotation off from your text and indent from
the left margin. Introduce the passage with a colon but do not use quotation
marks:
e.g. In Boswell’s Life of Johnson we learn of Johnson’s views
concerning lectures:
Now, I cannot see that lectures can do so much good as reading the books from
which the lectures are taken. I know nothing that can be best taught by lectures,
except where experiments are to be shown. You may teach chemistry by lectures:
- You might teach making shoes by lectures!
c) Poetry
1. Incorporate
a single or whole line of quotation in your text within quotation marks:
e.g. In Goethe’s Faust, Mephistopheles remarks: «Joy follows woe,
woe after joy comes flying.»
2. Verse
quotations of two or more lines may be incorporated into the text, with quotation
marks, but indicate the end of a line by slashes (/):
e.g. William Morris’s Inscription for an Old Bed reveals a gentle humour:
«Night treadeth on day/And for worst or best/Right good is rest.»
3. In long quotations (more than three lines) separate the verse from the text, indented from the left margin. Retain the spatial arrangement of the original, but do not use quotation marks unless they appear in the original:
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e.g. We sense the pessimistic side of Samuel Johnson’s nature in his lines:
Condemn’d
to Hope’s delusive mine,
As on me toil from day to day,
By sudden blasts or show decline
Our social comforts drop away.
4. Occasionally
even longer quotations may be desirable. In such cases, you should be careful
to preserve the paragraphing of the original.
8.2. Signal Phases
Readers need to move your own words to the words of a source without feeling
a jolt With practice, you will learn to integrate information from sources
-quotations, summaries, and facts- smoothly into your own text. Here are some
guiding rules:
x
avoid dropping quotations into the text without warning
v provide clear signal phrases, usually including
the author's name, to prepare readers for quotation
1. To
avoid monotony, try to vary both the language and the placement of your signal
phrases:
e.g.
2. When your signal phrase includes a verb, choose one that is a appropriate in the context
Some common phrases that could be used include:
In an
article/a study by X, …
As X points out, …
X has expressed a similar view.
A study by X indicates that …
X has drawn attention to the fact that …
X claims that …
X found/discovered that …
Research by X suggests that …
X argues that …
The choice of a particular reporting verb will often indicate what sort of attitude you have about the idea or information you are reporting and its relative importance to the content of your paper:
•
point out: ‘a fact or a mistake, you tell someone about it or draw their
attention to it’ Critics point out that the prince should be paying
tax. ‘señalar’
• expressed a view/opinion
• indicate The first thing shows that the second is true; it is a sign
of that thing.
• draw attention to you are making them aware of it or make them think
about it. ‘llamar la atención sobre’ ‘destacó’
• claim
• find
• suggest ‘proponer’ you put forward something for someone
to think about.
• argue that something is true, you state it and give the reasons why
you think it is true.
+
• review give their opinion of a new book, programme… ‘reseñar’
• report If you report that something has happened you tell people about
it. informan de que ‘escriben’
• conclude it is true using the facts you know as a basis.
8.3. References
It is essential to acknowledge any material quoted directly or indirectly, making it clear from whom and where you have got the ideas you are discussing.
MLA Format: Author-date method
The surname
of the author may be given in parenthesis in the text together with the date
of publication of the work cited:
e.g.
In order
to distinguish between two or more publications by the same author, which
share the same year-date of publication, the style 1983a, 1983b may be used.
When a citation is to a specific part of a work (such as a page, table or
illustration) the same convention is used with the additional, appropriate
detail added:
e.g. Application of the integrating sphere (Stevens, 1969: 18) indicates...
When the author-date method is used, the references cited in the text are listed at the end of the work in alphabetical order by authors’ surnames (enlace Final Bibliography).
Author prominent citation.
e.g.: Brown (1983: 231) claims that a far more effective approach is…
This is author-prominent citation. Brown is the name of the author (always refer to the surname), and the information in brackets refers to the year and page number of the publication quoted.
The details of the publication should be presented in the bibliography at the end of your essay. It is useful but not essential to give page numbers.
Information prominent citation.
This is similar to reporting except that here the author’s names are given in brackets only and are not referred to directly in the text.
e.g. Several
researchers have testified to the limitations of this method (Koo, 1985; Manson,
1961; Watkins,1979).
e.g. A previous report (Blake, 1977) indicates the importance of such prior
knowledge.
Again, full details of the work of authors mentioned should be given in the bibliography.
MLA Format:
Footnotes.
8.4. Footnotes
Use:
Footnotes are a means of indicating to the reader:
(1) a
source from which a quotation has been taken;
(2) the origin of derived opinions or factual information;
(3) an authority whom you wish to cite in evidence for or against a particular
viewpoint or assertion;
(4) a qualification or amplification of a statement made in the text;
(5) a cross-reference from one part of the text to another;
(6) a formal acknowledgement.
Do not use footnotes for lengthy discussions, tabulated data, lists, and similar material; reserve such items for an appendix.
Layout:
• Numbering
1. The
point at which a footnote is introduced into the text is indicated by means
of an Arabic numeral (1, 2, 3, etc.).
2. Footnote numbers follow the section of the text to which they refer, in
strict numerical order.
3. Commence the first footnote with a figure one, placing it, and all such
other footnote numbers, a half-space above the line:
e.g. 'Anton Schindler records that by 1812 Beethoven’s hearing was severely impaired.'1
• Arrangement
1. They
may appear at the bottom of the page to which they refer, in which case they
are usually separated from the main text by a ruled line.
2. Alternatively, they may be found at the end of a piece of work (in a book,
this could be the end of the book). Normally such information placed at the
end of work is given the heading ‘Notes’. This convention is particularly
desirable if there is a large amount of additional material.
! Footnotes placed at the bottom of the page are easier for the reader to
consult but pose layout problems. Endnotes are easier to arrange but are necessarily
displaced from the point at which they occur in the text.
3. Footnote numbers are placed after punctuation, except a dash.
4. A series of footnotes may be made in a single sentence or paragraph, particularly
when it is required to cite references to the individual topics mentioned,
as, for example, in the following:
e.g. 'The year 1905 was epochal in the history of physics seeing major contribution
from Einstein concerning: the special theory of relativity;1 mass-energy equivalence;2
Brownian motion;3 and the photon theory of light.4'
Information footnotes:
Footnotes
can be used to amplify a passage in a text or to provide additional information.
They are marked in the text by an Arabic numeral and are listed sequentially
either at the foot of the page or collected together as endnotes. Additionally,
information footnotes may contain references as in the following examples:
e.g. 1A scholarly outline of Bruckner’s symphonic achievements is to
be found in Robert Simpson, Bruckner and the Symphony (London: British Broadcasting
Corporation, 1963).
2This account is largely based upon the views of Erwin Doenberg, The Life and Symphonies of Anton Bruckner (London: Barrie and Rockliff, 1960), pp. 24-25.
3Mark Girouard, in particular, shows how the country gentleman was able to make life more physically agreeable in his chapter, “Second Interlude: Early Country-House Technology”, Life in the English Country House (Harmondsworth, Middlessex: Penguin Books Ltd, 1980).
Cross-reference footnotes:
It is sometimes necessary to refer the reader from one part of the text to another by means of a cross-reference. A note in parenthesis achieves this, such as, (see p. 2 above) or, (see p.4 below). A footnote used to direct the reader to (say) an appendix takes the following form:
1For further detail, and a brief discussion of this point, see appendix 2.
Reference footnotes to previously cited works.
When a reference has been cited in a footnote, subsequent mentions to the same work may be given in abbreviated form. The second, and subsequent is made using the abbreviation ibid. (ibidem, ‘in the same place’). By way of illustration, three consecutive reference footnotes to the same work appear as follows:
1Kenneth
Clark, Civilisation: A Personal View (London: British Broadcasting Corporation,
1969; Paperback ed., 1971), p. 8
2Ibid., p. 92 3 Ibid., p. 218
Short
footnotes may be arranged across the page to save space as shown above.
