Direct Quotations
All direct quotations should be written exactly as printed in the source.
- Place all short quotations (i.e. less than three lines) in single inverted commas (quotation marks) (‘…’), in the body of your text.
- Longer quotations over 3 lines should be indented 10 spaces, and typed with single spacing between lines. Leave out the quotation marks in these block quotations.
- The author's name, year of publication and page number must be provided when quoting somebody else's text or texts. If the author’s name is not given, give the name of the organisation or title.
Short quotations of up to three lines
The full stop appears after the parentheses surrounding the reference, as in the examples below.
‘Although leaders more rarely use moral concepts, their speech includes issues which can be regarded as moral’ (Kujala, 2001: 188).
In the following example, part of the sentence is a direct quotation:
The correlation suggests that ‘companies that embrace diversity have a much higher chance of success’ (McKinsey & Company, 2019).
Longer quotations of more than three lines
Long quotes (i.e. more than three lines)
should be indented 10
spaces (1 tab) and should be typed in size 12 font using single-spacing. The
text need not be placed in quotation marks since the indentation of the text
emphasizes that it is a direct quote. Use long direct quotes sparingly to
maintain their impact in the text.
Research is a process that simultaneously demands imagination, creativity, discipline, and structure, and needs to be navigated strategically from start to finish. So in addition to knowing your own approach to knowledge, it is well worth considering a number of practicalities related to the process. In order for students to navigate a path through the research process, they need to: familiarize themselves with their institution/programme’s resources and requirements; get appropriately set-up; negotiate the advisory process; and manage their workload (O’Leary 2004: 18).
Modifying original text – removing text
The way you introduce a direct quotation in your text is important. The quotation must not interrupt the flow.
If you feel it is necessary for some reason to leave out part of a sentence because it is irrelevant and would make the quotation unnecessarily long, then you can use three dots ( … ) to indicate this. Keep in mind the sentence must still be grammatical.
Original text states:
‘Interestingly, millennials and post-millennials - who I prefer to call “upcoming generations” - are estimated to become 75 per cent of the workforce by 2030’. (Talbot, 2019: 32).
Modified text:
‘Interestingly, millennials and post-millennials (…) are estimated to become 75 per cent of the workforce by 2030’. (Talbot, 2019: 32).
Modifying original text - adding text
If you need to add something to a quotation to make the quotation more intelligible for example to further explain an abbreviation or a reference in the text, or for some other reason, enclose your addition in square brackets [ ].
‘All the languages of the south-west coast [of New Britain] are non-Austronesian, overlaid with a veneer of Austronesian’ (Jones, 1981: 71).
Modifying original text - spelling mistake
If the original text you are quoting contains a spelling mistake or other error, copy this in its original form. After the error, use the word [sic] in square brackets to indicate that, even though the word seems unlikely, it is what actually appeared in the original as in the example below:
‘Life in the last century was much harder then [sic] life today’ (Smith, 1983: 45).
There are various ways how you can present the direct quotations in your text. In all examples below, the date is identified in addition to the author in the sentence. In some cases you may wish to use the first name of the author if it clarifies the source.
As Weintraub (1999: 212) states/puts it/writes: ‘……’
As Weintraub states/puts it/writes: ‘…….’(1999: 212).
In his article Keith Ablow claims/notes/says/informs us/ shows us that ‘……’ (2002: 11).