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Harvard referencing: quoting in the text

Often it is better to paraphrase than to use direct quotes. This demonstrates that you have understood the meaning and context of what you have read. When you paraphrase a piece of work you must acknowledge the author(s).

Paraphrasing
Misunderstanding about how to handle information and pressure deadlines are the causes most frequently cited by students (Carroll, 2003).
If you use a direct quote from a book, article etc you must:

  • Use single quotation marks (double quotation marks are usually used for quoting direct speech)
  • State the page number
  • Have a separate, indented paragraph for quotes over two lines

Short quotation
Simpson (2002: p.6) declared that 'the explosive behaviour was unexpected'.

Long quotation
Boden (1998: p.72) states:

'In 1664 the most common female crime prosecuted at the Quarter Sessions was that of battering men. This would suggest that women were not the passive and obedient members of society that men would have liked to believe they were.'

Alternatively ...
'In 1664 the most common female crime prosecuted at the Quarter Sessions was that of battering men. This would suggest that women were not the passive and obedient members of society that men would have liked to believe they were.'
(Boden, 1998: p.72)
Alternatively ...

Part of the original text may be omitted from the quotation as long as three dots are used to indicate this.
Boden (1998: p.72) states:
'In 1664 the most common female crime prosecuted at the Quarter Sessions was that of battering men ... women beating or dominating a man was a particularly sensitive issue as it threatened the perpetuation of the patriarchal society ...'

Duplication of charts, diagrams, pictures and so on should be treated as direct quotes in that the author(s) should be acknowledged and page numbers shown, both in your text where the diagram is discussed or introduced, and after the caption you write for it.

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PILOT by Imperial College London, modified by Marion Kelt, Glasgow Caledonian University is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.