Quoting
When you quote a source, you reproduce the language of that source exactly. Quoting is the best choice when the original wording is so eloquent or focused that something would be lost in changing it.
Select quotations carefully
Select a few quotations that express important points within your argument. Make sure that every word of quoted material is relevant to your argument—quotations that are unnecessarily long distract the reader from your ideas.
Introduce the context for a quotation
Let your readers know where your citation originated—who said or wrote it, why he or she is an authority, and where the citation can be found. Establishing that context clarifies the importance of the citation for the reader and, more often than not, will make the cited material more interesting and persuasive.
Awkward: Princes cannot always be moral. "And you have to understand this, that a prince, especially a new one, cannot observe all those things for which men are esteemed, being often forced, in order to maintain the state, to act contrary to faith, friendship, humanity, and religion" (Machiavelli 405) .
Revised: Machiavelli writes that, while leaders should try to be moral when possible, they are often required by circumstances to act in ways that are contrary to "faith, friendship, humanity, and religion" (Machiavelli 405).
Maintain control of the verb tense and sentence structure
If you quote someone else's words within your writing, you need to control the verb tense and sentence structure of your writing while still using the exact words of your source. Pay close attention to the verb tenses, subject-verb agreement, and noun-pronoun agreement when you incorporate a quote into your writing. If you need to, rewrite your sentence or use ellipses or brackets to alter the quotation.
Awkward: Machiavelli believed about princes, "and you have to understand this, that a prince, especially a new one, cannot observe all those things for which men are esteemed" (405).
Revised: Machiavelli did not believe that rulers should be immoral simply for the sake of immorality, but he did believe that practically minded political leaders did not have the luxury of observing "all those things for which men are esteemed" (405).
Use block style for long quotations
Block quotations are a good strategy for analyzing long passages from a text or for citing passages that are difficult to summarize and extremely important for your argument. However, you should use this strategy sparingly—only when the material is extremely important and there is no better way to incorporate it into your essay.
If you use a block quotation, introduce it clearly and then present the quotation indented (in MLA style, it should be ten spaces from the left margin; in APA style, five spaces). Here is an example of how a block quotation looks within an essay:
One of Machiavelli's most controversial points is that leaders must be willing to act in immoral ways when doing so will preserve the stability of their government:
A prince, especially a new one, cannot observe all those things for which men are esteemed, being often forced, in order to maintain the state, to act contrary to faith, friendship, humanity, and religion. Therefore it is necessary for him to have a mind ready to turn itself accordingly as the winds and variations of fortune force it, yet, as I have said above, not to diverge from the good if he can avoid doing so, but, if compelled, then to know how to set about it. (405)
See pp. 692-97 for more guidelines on how to use block quotations in MLA and APA styles.
Use ellipses ( . . . ) and brackets ([ ]) to indicate changes in a quotation
Occasionally, you will be able to create a very poignant short quote by using just the beginning phrases and ending phrases from a long paragraph. Or you might find that a word or two in the middle of a sentence would confuse your reader by referencing material in a section of the text that you are not quoting. In instances such as these, you may use ellipsis marks ( . . . ) to indicate the omission of words in quoted material.
If you need to change the text of a quotation, use brackets ([ ]) to indicate the altered text. You most commonly will use brackets to change the verb tense to make the quoted material compatible with your own syntax, so that you can use the quote in the middle of your sentence. Adding a phrase in brackets can also allow you to clarify a confusing term or substitute a noun for a pronoun.
For example, the extended block quote above from Machiavelli's The Prince could be effectively altered within an essay like this:
Machiavelli argued that it was "necessary for [a prince] to have a mind ready to turn itself accordingly as the winds and variations of fortune force it . . . not to diverge from the good if he can avoid doing so, but, if compelled, then to know how to set about it" (405).
Ellipses and brackets are acceptable when used to focus an argument or to clarify meaning, but they should never be used to change the meaning of the quotation or misrepresent the author's intent.
Paraphrasing
Paraphrase if you do not need to reproduce the exact wording of a source, but wish to restate its information. A paraphrase uses your own words and sentence structure, includes the source's main points and details, and is usually the same length as the original.
Indicate source
Whenever you use someone else's ideas, you need to credit them—even if the wording is entirely your own (as it must be in a paraphrase). For guidelines on documenting your sources in MLA and APA styles, see p. 692.
Use your own words and your own sentence structure
By definition, a paraphrase must be in your own words and your own structure. One common way of trying to get around this rule is the "half-baked paraphrase," which attempts to use slightly different words to reproduce the ideas in a source. The first paragraph below comes from Margaret Mead's essay "Warfare: An Invention—Not a Biological Necessity"; the second is an example of a half-baked paraphrase of the same passage:
Source: Warfare is just an invention known to the majority of human societies by which they permit their young men either to accumulate prestige or avenge their honor or acquire loot or wives or slaves or sago lands or cattle or appease the blood lust of their gods or the restless souls of the recently dead. It is just an invention, older and more widespread than the jury system, but none the less an invention. (500)
Improper paraphrase: According to Margaret Mead, war is only a discovery that most human cultures have in common, one that enables them to allow their youth to acquire honor or revenge or to get money, women, servants, property, or livestock or to placate their deities' desire for blood or the souls of those who have died recently. War is simply a discovery, one that has been around longer than trial by jury, but still a discovery. (500)
The second paragraph is far too close in sentence structure and wording to be a true paraphrase; the writer has not really used his own words. Here is an example of a proper paraphrase of the same passage:
Proper paraphrase: Margaret Mead argues persuasively that warfare is not an inevitable product of human nature. Rather, it was invented in most (not all) societies as an economic or religious tool, to permit young men in that society to become wealthy or worship appropriately. Although it is older and more common than many other inventions, like the jury system, it too was created for a purpose. (500)