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Saturday, April 20, 2013

Quick guide to using formal citations and quotations


Citation and Quotation


1.  Whenever you write something like, "Plato believes that . . . ", "Descartes must think . . . ", or "Aristotle presupposes this . . .", you must indicate by citation what text you think shows that Plato believes that or Aristotle presupposes this.  Sometimes, you may attribute an idea or belief to a writer, not because he or she plainly says it, but because doing so is the best interpretation of the text.  Still, you'll be citing the text that you believe is best explained by attributing to the author the idea you attribute to the author.

2.  A citation refers your reader to some other text.  So, think of a citation as providing directions to that other text.  Provide the information required to find it.  Typically, this includes the name of the author/s, the title of the book or article (and hence also the title of the book or journal volume the article is included in), and the page number.

3. Given a citation provides directions for your reader to find some other text, without some good reason, you should not cite something to which the reader lacks access.  Don't cite your lecture notes.  I don't have access to them.  Don't cite a lecture itself. It's gone, lost, once it's over, unless it was recorded.  Citing my lecture does not remove the responsibility you have for explaining and defending your ideas.

4. End-noting is evil. Use either parenthetical citations or footnotes.  If you're in doubt about how to use either system, you can learn about them in the handbook of the MLA (Modern Language Association).  Copies can be found in any library or at any campus bookstore.  I don't really care what particular system you use.  I just want the information I need to find the text you cited.

5. Citations to material on the internet--I hope there are very few if any in your papers--can be done by whatever system you may have learned. I will certainly need at least the url address.   If there's no author you can cite, it's probably material that's not worth citing.

6.  A quote represents exactly what someone said or wrote. If a quotation will occupy only two or three lines of your own text, then write the quotation into your own text, enclosed by quotation marks.   For example, I quote a single sentence of my own in this way. I wrote, "Citations to material on the internet--I hope there are very few if any in your papers--can be done by whatever system you may have learned."  A different convention is used if the quotation will run for more than two or three lines of your own text. For example, I quote myself again.

Whenever you write something like, "Plato believes that . . . ", "Socrates says . . .", "Descartes must think . . . ", or "Aristotle presupposes . . .", you must indicate by citation what text you think shows that Plato believes this or Kant says that.  Sometimes, you may attribute an idea or belief to a writer, not because he or she says it, but because doing so is the best interpretation of the text.

This "extended" quote is (i) introduced by indicating who said or wrote it, (ii) set off from my own text by double-spacing. (iii) Each line of the quote is indented five spaces from the left margin.  (iv) The entire quote is single-spaced, even if your own text is double-spaced.  (v) No quotation marks enclose the quote.

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