A direct or textual quotation is a way of including the words of another text literally into your own writing, that is, without making any changes. For example: “Paradigms are so pervasive and invisible that they are easily confused with truth” (Leonard, 2011, p. 33).
Textual quotations are often used in essays , theses, monographs , and all types of academic work, since they allow us to take ideas from other texts to discuss them or to reinforce our point of view.
When referring to someone else’s speech, there are certain formal markers that allow the reader to identify that they are reading words taken from other texts. In addition, the necessary information is provided so that it is possible to refer to the original source of the quote.
We must always explicitly state where a quote was taken from and differentiate our own opinion from that of others. Otherwise, we are guilty of plagiarism , a form of intellectual dishonesty that can lead to problems and penalties.
Please note:Both textual citations and the final bibliography of a text are usually prepared following standardized methodological models. The most widely used currently are APA (American Psychological Association) and MLA (Modern Language Association).
- See also: Bibliographic references
How to quote verbatim?
APA standards state that textual citations must include a parenthetical reference with the following information:
- Author’s last name. This is the first piece of information provided to identify the source text. In some cases, if the author was named before the quote or it’s clear from the context, this information can be omitted in parentheses.
- Year of publication of the text. This is particularly important if there are several cited texts by the same author, as they can be distinguished by year. If there is more than one from the same year, they are differentiated by adding a lowercase letter after the number and without spaces, starting with a ( for example: 2004a).
- Number of pages cited. They are usually preceded by the abbreviations or pp. (depending on whether it is one or more pages). If there are several consecutive pages, the first and last are cited, separated by a hyphen (e.g., pp. 12-16). If there is more than one page but they are discontinuous, commas are used (e.g., pp. 12, 16). Some texts are cited with paragraph numbers, but these are rare (e.g., § 32).
So a direct quote would be as follows:If we consider that “around one million insect species have been described and catalogued, but it is estimated that there are ten times more” (Deutsch, 2009, p. 135), it is clear that there is still much work to be done to obtain a complete inventory of the planet’s fauna.
Please note:The information included in parentheses in a textual citation should always refer to the bibliography, where the complete references for all texts can be found.
- It may be useful to you: Difference between reference, citation and bibliography
Types of textual citation
Depending on the length of the citations, they are differentiated:
- Short quotations (less than 40 words). These should be incorporated into the text without interrupting its flow or layout. They are enclosed in quotation marks (indicating the beginning and end of the quotation) and accompanied by a reference with the bibliographic information for the original text in parentheses, which is referenced in full in the bibliography.
- Long quotations (40 words or more)should be placed in a separate paragraph, separated from the left margin of the page with a larger indent than the body of the text and with a font one point smaller. In this case, quotation marks are not required. The corresponding bibliographic information should be included after the quotation.
In both citation formats, the elements can be placed in different orders, depending on whether the emphasis is on the author or the citation itself:
- Narrative or author-emphasized citation. For example:In this work we maintain, as Di Tullio (2003) states, that “linguistic identity comes from the mother tongue” (p. 29).
- Textual citation in parentheses or with emphasis on the content. For example:In this work we maintain that “linguistic identity comes from the mother tongue” (Di Tullio, 2003, p. 29).
Examples of textual citations
Examples of short textual quotations
- As we can see in Foucault’s research (2001), the notion of madness is an integral part of reason, given that “there is no civilization without madness” (p. 45).
- If we analyze French literature before the revolution, we will see that “illegal literature formed a world of its own, a special sector of the book trade” (Darnton, 2008, p. 51).
- In this sense, it is appropriate to turn to psychoanalysis: “The doctrine of being manifests itself as a result of the introjection [castration] of language in the individual” (Tournier, 2000, p. 13).
- This is what Elena Vinelli states in her prologue to the work, when she maintains that “it is the sociocultural construction of genders that differentiates feminine subjectivity from masculine subjectivity” (2000, p. 5), giving us an understanding of the feminist aspect that underlies Sara Gallardo’s novel.
- Not much more is to be expected from these investigations, then, except “the brief disappointment of finding the unexpected truth,” as Evers (2005, p. 12) states in his famous research diary.
Examples of long textual quotations
- Thus, we can read in Gallardo’s novel (2000):
But the women always come in groups. I hid and waited. Mauricia came by with her jug, and I dragged her along. Every day after that, she escaped to find me, trembling with fear of her husband, sometimes early and sometimes late, in that place I know. She lives with her husband in the house I built myself, to live with my wife, in the Norwegian gringo’s mission (p. 57).
- To this we should contrast the vision of the French author:
In universal religions, such as Christianity and Buddhism, dread and nausea prelude the escapes from a fiery spiritual life. However, this spiritual life, which is based on the reinforcement of the original prohibitions, nevertheless has the meaning of celebration (Bataille, 2001, p. 54).
- Writing constitutes a meeting and disagreement point between the most positive and most romantic perspectives on the literary subject. In this regard, Sontag’s (2000) distinction is useful:
This is the great difference between reading and writing. Reading is a vocation, a craft in which, with practice, one is destined to become increasingly skilled. As a writer, what one accumulates are, above all, uncertainties and anxieties (p. 7).
- This concept of “becoming” can be found scattered throughout the philosopher’s work. However, its clarification appears to be a complicated matter:
Becoming is never imitating, nor doing like, nor adapting to a model, whether that of justice or that of truth. There is never a term from which one starts, nor one arrives or must arrive. Nor are two terms interchangeable. The question “What is your life?” is particularly stupid, since as someone becomes, what they become changes as much as they do […]. No more binary machines: question-answer, masculine-feminine, human-animal, etc. (Deleuze, 1980, p. 6).
- In this same sense, in the correspondence between Sigmund Freud and Albert Einstein, it is possible to read the following:
You are much younger than I am, and I can hope that by the time you reach my age you will be counted among my “supporters.” Since I will not be around to see it, I can only anticipate that satisfaction now. You know what I am thinking now: “Proudly anticipating so high an honor, I now revel…” [This fragment is a quotation taken from Goethe’s Faust .] Cordially and with unwavering admiration and respect, Sigmund Freud (1932, p. 5)
Special signs
Textual citations may contain some of the following symbols, abbreviations or special characters:
- Brackets. The appearance of a text in brackets in the middle of a short or long quotation means that it is not part of the quotation, but belongs to the researcher, who is obliged to clarify or add something so that the quoted text can be understood correctly.
- or ibidem.This Latin expression means “right there” and is used in some reference systems to indicate to the reader that a direct quotation refers to the book cited immediately before it.
- cit.This Latin phrase means “cited work” and is used in cases where there is a single consulted text by an author who is cited multiple times, thus avoiding repeating bibliographical information and changing only the page number.
- Et al.This Latin abbreviation means “and others” and is used for works with a main author and numerous collaborators, too many to list in full. Therefore, the surname of the first author is cited and accompanied by this abbreviation.
- Ellipsis in parentheses (…) or brackets […].The appearance of these signs in the middle of a short or long quotation indicates to the reader that a part of the original text has been omitted in the quotation.
How is a direct quote different from a paraphrase?
Paraphrasing is a way of quoting someone else’s idea in a non-literal way. Unlike a direct quote, which is a borrowing from the original text that is not modified in any way, a paraphrase is a reinterpretation of someone else’s thought, expressed in the words of the author who borrowed it .
In this case, someone reads another author’s ideas and then explains them in their own terms. Paraphrasing is usually done to summarize what another person has expressed or to make it more understandable. As with direct quotations, the authorship of the original text should be respected by adding the appropriate citation. For example:
As has been said in numerous books on quantum physics, the absolute laws of the universe with which modern man tried to explore and understand it turn out to be much more flexible and relative (Einstein, 1960) than was supposed.
