Using Direct Quotations in Your Thesis or Dissertation
Whenever you quote the exact words of another author or speaker in your thesis or dissertation, it is essential that you quote those words with accuracy and observe with precision and consistency all appropriate scholarly techniques and editorial styles. Your university may provide you with guidelines specifying how you should quote and cite sources, or it may refer you to a specific style manual. If you have received such guidance, presenting and formatting any quotations you use exactly as you are directed will be a necessary aspect of producing a successful thesis or dissertation. If you have not, there are still basic practices that should be observed when quoting sources in all scholarly writing, and they will be expected regardless of whether you have been provided with more detailed guidelines or not.
Accuracy is vital when quoting the words of another author or speaker, so pay special attention when initially typing in quotations and take the time to check each one against its source when you proofread your work. Errors creep into quoted material with alarming frequency, so it is wise never to assume that quotations are correct. Remember that if you make errors in quoted material, you are not only compromising your work, but also misrepresenting the author you are quoting. Recording quotations inaccurately and arguing your case on the basis of erroneous information are unethical and unprofessional practices and they can certainly undermine the argument you hoped to support by using quotations.
Correct and consistent formatting is also essential when directly quoting sources. Your text must be presented in such a way that it is clear to the reader exactly which words are borrowed. When quotations are short and embedded in your main text, they should appear in the font size you are using for your own prose and must be enclosed in quotation marks. Single (‘’) or double (“”) quotation marks will work, but do check any guidelines provided by your university to be sure you are using the preferred format if there is one. The same type of quotation marks must be used for every embedded quotation. The other type can then be used for any quotations that appear within quoted material – double marks within single ones or single marks within double – and these, too, must be used consistently in every relevant instance.
If you are quoting longer prose passages or several lines of poetry, they can be displayed as block quotations, generally with indentation, at least on the left margin, and often in a slighter smaller font than your main text. In such cases, no quotation marks are necessary because the block format indicates which words are borrowed.
Whether you are using quotation marks or block quotation, remember that italic font is not a correct format for indicating quoted material in academic and scientific writing in the English language. Italics should therefore only be used when and where the author you are quoting used them, or when you wish to emphasise certain words within a quotation. In the latter case, the italics should be acknowledged as your own addition.
Every quotation you use should also be accompanied by a reference to its source. Methods and styles of referencing vary, so do make sure that you are using the kind of references recommended by your department. Whether your references are parenthetical, numerical or note based, always remember to include with every quotation a page number or other precise location specifying exactly where readers can find the borrowed text.
Why Our Editing and Proofreading Services?
At Proof-Reading-Service.com we offer the highest quality journal article editing, phd thesis editing and proofreading services via our large and extremely dedicated team of academic and scientific professionals. All of our proofreaders are native speakers of English who have earned their own postgraduate degrees, and their areas of specialisation cover such a wide range of disciplines that we are able to help our international clientele with research editing to improve and perfect all kinds of academic manuscripts for successful publication. Many of the carefully trained members of our expert editing and proofreading team work predominantly on articles intended for publication in scholarly journals, applying painstaking journal editing standards to ensure that the references and formatting used in each paper are in conformity with the journal’s instructions for authors and to correct any grammar, spelling, punctuation or simple typing errors. In this way, we enable our clients to report their research in the clear and accurate ways required to impress acquisitions proofreaders and achieve publication.
Our scientific proofreading services for the authors of a wide variety of scientific journal papers are especially popular, but we also offer manuscript proofreading services and have the experience and expertise to proofread and edit manuscripts in all scholarly disciplines, as well as beyond them. We have team members who specialise in medical proofreading services, and some of our experts dedicate their time exclusively to PhD proofreading and master’s proofreading, offering research students the opportunity to improve their use of formatting and language through the most exacting PhD thesis editing and dissertation proofreading practices. Whether you are preparing a conference paper for presentation, polishing a progress report to share with colleagues, or facing the daunting task of editing and perfecting any kind of scholarly document for publication, a qualified member of our professional team can provide invaluable assistance and give you greater confidence in your written work.
If you are in the process of preparing an article for an academic or scientific journal, or planning one for the near future, you may well be interested in a new book, Guide to Journal Publication, which is available on our Tips and Advice on Publishing Research in Journals website.
