Generally speaking, there are three legal ways of using outside sources and information:
Direct quotation Paraphrasing Summarizing
Each of these three ways is used extensively in academic research. As a matter of fact, academic research requires the combined use of these three methods. If a research paper is written without using any outside ideas or information, that paper might be considered as deficient in academic value.
3. Treat the direct quotation as part of the sentence and punctuate accordingly if it is not introduced by a complete sentence:
Sample 2
• To Sinclair Lewis, ―Dreiser…more than any other man, marching alone, usually unappreciated, often hated, has cleared the trail from Victorian and Howellsian timidity and gentility in the American fiction to honesty, boldness and passion of life.‖
When we need to borrow a special term or expression that is a particular writer’s invention and carries special meaning;
When we need the original wording for the purpose of further discussion.
We should observe the following rules when using direct quotation:
1. Keep the quotation as brief as possible; 2. Be accurate. What appears between quotation marks should be exactly the same as the original. No word, punctuation, or even spelling should be charged; 3. Always indicate the source of the quotation;
6. The volume of direct quotations in any piece of academic writing should be kept within10～20﹪ of the total paper length. Too much quoted material may spoil the originality or style of the academic paper.
About quotation in the thesis
When we write an academic paper, we almost always need to borrow ideas, statistics, and previous research findings to strengthen our own ideas, to explain our own arguments, and to support our own evidence. Such practice not only fits our research into the larger picture of a particular field of research, but also lends a basis and persuasiveness to our arguments.
2. paraphrasing
解释性说明
I. The definition of paraphrasing
Paraphrasing means to restate the idea of a sentence or passage in a shorter or simpler form.
Academic writers employ paraphrasing to borrow ideas and previous research findings in the field of study.
– As X said… – As X stated… – As X mentioned… – As X insisted… – X said… – X later insisted… – X firmly believed…
As X reported… As X wrote… As X maintained… As X declared… X further stated… X continued…
When to use direct quotations
When the original wording expresses the idea so precisely and succinctly that we cannot improve on it;
When the direct quotation comes from an authority in a particular field and therefore strengthens our point of view;
How to use direct quotation
1. When we do quote, we should make every effort to work the direct quotation into our own statement so that it may become part of an organic whole. 2. Use a colon if our direct quotation is introduced by a complete sentence:
example1：
原文：University registration proceduresonce a nightmare of lists, lines, and paper strips-have been streamlined by using computers. 译文： Computers have lessened the pains of the process of university registration: it involves fewer lists, less waiting, and more efficiency.
Sample 1• S来自nclair Lewis, the first American Nobel Prize winner for literature in 1930, believed that Dreiser better deserved the prize: ― Dreiser…more than any other man, marching alone, usually unappreciated, often hated, has cleared the trail from Victorian and Howellsian timidity and gentility in the American fiction to honesty, boldness and passion of life.‖
The following expressions are often used to indicate the source of a direct quotation. It is often advisable to include when and where the person said so.
4. When the quotation is less than three lines, incorporate it in the flow of the paragraph with a pair of quotation marks. When the quotation is longer than three lines, use a separate and indented paragraph, without quotation marks, to indicate the quotation;
Direct Quotation:
A direct quotation is exactly the same as the original and must be put in quotation marks. Everything within the quotation marks, that is to say, not only the words but also the spelling, capitalization and interior punctuation, should be exactly the same as the original.
II. The flexibility exists in at least three different ways: