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ENGL 1301 Cagle

DIRECT AND INDIRECT QUOTES

Create an in-text citation whenever you use a direct or indirect quote.

Direct quotes: when you copy/paste the exact words from a source. Put quotation marks around the quote to show it is direct. 

Texting is very common in almost every environment, including the college classroom. Two researchers report finding that “the vast majority of participants (97.5%) reported at least occasional use of a cell phone to text while in class” (Olmsted and Terry 188).
 

Indirect quotes: when you summarize or paraphrase a source in your own words. Even though you’re using your own words, you must cite the source to give credit to the original idea.

This is an example of paraphrase of the direct quote above:

Texting is very common in almost every environment, including the college classroom. In a 2014 study of undergraduates, researchers found that nearly all of the students surveyed had used their cell phones to text at some point during class (Olmsted and Terry 188).

PARENTHESES VS. SIGNAL PHRASES

There are two ways to create an in-text citation: with parentheses or in a signal phrase. 

Parentheses: Put the author(s) and page number of the quote together in parentheses at the end of the quote​:

Texting is very common in almost every environment, including the college classroom. Two researchers report finding that “the vast majority of participants (97.5%) reported at least occasional use of a cell phone to text while in class” (Olmsted and Terry 188).

 

Signal phrase: Write the author(s) in the text of the sentence (using a "signal phrase") and put the page number in parentheses at the end of the quote: 

Texting is very common in almost every environment, including the college classroom. In a 2014 study of undergraduates, Olmsted and Terry found that nearly all of the students surveyed had used their cell phones to text at some point during class (188).