Directly Quoting a Source 

When should I directly quote an author?

Writers make decisions about the sources they cite. Sometimes writers choose to paraphrase or summarize ideas from a source and other times writers will directly quote a source. So, when should a writer directly quote a source? The following reasons can help guide writers' decisions.

1.) The words (as they are written or spoken) are essential to the ideas in the paper.
2.) The quotation cannot be paraphrased without losing or altering meaning.
3.) The quotation provides an author's claim.
4.) The quotation provides an example or illustrates an idea being discussed in the paper.

How do writers directly quote a source?

When incorporating sources into original papers, writers will introduce the source, provide a quotation, and follow the quotation with a parenthtical citation. If the writer is working with only one source, the cited authors name does not need to appear in the parenthetical reference.

Example:

John Krakauer beleived that "Chris McCandless's musings on good and evil were more than a training technique; he took life's inequities to heart" (10).

When working with more than one source, a writer will need to introduce the cited author before the direct quotation or include the name of the cited author in the parenthetical reference.

Example:

Although there were some who criticized McCandless, others recognized great qualities in the young man. "Chris McCandless's musings on good and evil were more than a training technique; he took life's inequities to heart" (Krakauer 10).