Paraphrasing, quotes and references

Another useful tip from Phil Arena, e-tutor.

Well, firstly, quotes should never constitute more than 10% of your total word count. In other words, use quotes sparingly; your aim should be to paraphrase as much as possible (put into your own words WITH a cited reference).

As for paraphrasing, here's what I suggest. Read a piece of writing, for example a chapter, page, paragraph or sentence and then 'close' the book. Then, imagine someone taps you on the shoulder and says, "Hey Joanna, what was that idea that you just read?...by the way, I love your shoes!". You then, write down, in your own words, the idea that you just read and then reference it. Make sure you don't change the intention of the author, but just put it in your own words.

For example,

The world, according to Grapevine (2004) had become much of an entanglement of vines, symbolically representing the bleeding of the earth.

Here, I have paraphrased an entire (fictitious) book, so I don't have to and can't put in page numbers.

Now, if you find a particularly 'juicy' quote or the quote is important in the context of what you want to say then you write the quote EXACTLY as it is written, in quotation marks AND include the citation that NOW INCLUDES a page number wherever possible.

For example,

Dean (2005, p. 1) stated, "Saddam Hussein was never a threat to the United States. He's a terrible person, but I don't think we in America go about the business of kicking every terrible person out of office."

You could do it in other ways such as,

Dean (2005) in an interview on NBC, stated, "Saddam Hussein was never a threat to the United States. He's a terrible person, but I don't think we in America go about the business of kicking every terrible person out of office." (p.1).

Incidentally, it's not the quote that gets you the marks, but rather, how you use it. In other words, the 'bit' you write after or before the quote.

For example,

Dean (2005) in an interview on NBC, stated, "Saddam Hussein was never a threat to the United States. He's a terrible person, but I don't think we in America go about the business of kicking every terrible person out of office." (p.1). Dean was adamant that it was now clear the people of the US have "figured out" that their president made a huge mistake, intentional or not, in invading Iraq and will have to face the consequences of his actions. I believe that this 'chipping away' of the lies that have governed the current US federal administration, will ultimately be its downfall.

(that last bit, was my input and thus is what will particularly 'impress' my marker).

OK......now, let's say that you have a quote that has a spelling error or a particularly sexist or discriminatory word or phrase. You MUST quote EXACTLY what you read/hear but you can indicate that it was NOT YOUR error.

Eg.

Smith (2001) described the contigency as "...bloody smelly wogs [sic] and they should be kept restrained..." (p.34).

Notice here that 'wogs' may be considered racist and so I've inserted [sic] which basically means this was the original author's use of words not mine!

Another example;

As Jeffries and Craig (2003) pointed out "John Allen and his wife [sic] were infected with the illness long before it became public..."(p.2).

Again, 'his wife' in this context, is considered sexist.

Also, notice my use of ellipsis. What's this? the THREE DOTS which indicate I have taken party of a sentence or longer piece of work. You can also use the ellipsis when you want to join two 'bits' from a long quote.

For example,

Jones had desribed Steve Irwin as a "...bloody good bloke...who will be missed..." (2007, p. 23).

An important point is this...the quote should always 'fit' in the structure of the sentence.

You do not write,

Peters (2004, p.3) was, "...it was an extraordinary feat of indurance...".

You should write,

Peters (2004, p.3) noted that "...it was an extraordinary feat of indurance...".