Quoting

[mountainboo]

I am a mature student and have only recently gone back into education so please excuse my stupidity. When quoting from a piece of text ie: literature, do you use inverted commas? I know you do that for quoting speech. Also, do you quote the source? TIA

[Pigletion]

If quoting verbatim, then yes in inverted commas, though will usually be obvious from the context. Sometimes it is also italicised to show it is a direct quote. If just referencing a book, then no. In both cases you must reference the author otherwise it is plagiarism.

Hope that makes sense. There is usually a style/convention particular to your subject area and the thesis/essay etc. that you are writing.

[mountainboo]

Thanks Pigleton, I think that makes sense.

[saxy_jag]

Yes, you do, but if you're quoting a long block of text then you can indent that block and dispense with inverted commas (quotation marks) but do check with your tutor. Tutors have different preferences for formatting work and it's best to keep them on side by doing it how they like.

Re. referencing - you must ALWAYS reference the books or other sources you use. If you include a piece of information that you have found in a book, then you must reference it, whether or not you have used a quote. Some tutors/colleges like you to reference within the text, others prefer you to use footnotes or end notes.

The commonest form of referencing is the Harvard system, as follows(for books): Surname, First Name, Full Title of Book (usually in italics), Publisher, Place of Publication, Year of Publication, page no.

The first time you reference, you should put the full information as above. Thereafter you can just quote, eg., Surname, page no.

At then end of your work, you should give a full bibliography of all books used in your research.