Referencing tips
Here is some additional information that will help you create accurate in-text references.
Changing a quotation
Quotations must be written accurately and cannot be altered in any way, unless you follow these procedures:
Ellipsis
Sometimes there are words, phrases and even sentences in quotations that are not relevant to your purpose. You can leave these out by substituting three spaced dots, known as points of ellipsis:
It has been claimed that ‘purchasing an expensive private school education is ... a social statement resonant with meaning’ (Kenway 1991:142).
(Original complete quotation: ‘purchasing an expensive private school education is, and always has been, a social statement resonant with meaning’.)
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Be careful to preserve grammatical sense when you do this. |
Square brackets
Sometimes you need to add information to a quotation so that it makes sense in the context of your essay. In this case you enclose the addition in square (never round) brackets:
As Malin (1990:318) states: ‘the autonomous and affiliative orientation of the Aboriginal students [in the 1996 study] was evident in their responses to classroom life’.
Because the extra information is in square brackets, your reader knows that these are your words. If you use round brackets to do this, your reader will think that these are Malin’s words.
Page numbers
Always give page numbers unless you are referring to an idea that is the theme of a whole work; then you need only refer to the author and date of publication:
In Teachers’ Work, Bob Connell (1985) discusses his team’s research in working and ruling class secondary schools which found that teachers are active in the construction of gender and class relations.
Single or double quotation marks?
Always use single quotation marks for quotations, and reserve double quotation marks for quotations within quotations:
Nelson (1994:24) argues that ‘Smith’s idea of "abandoning the phonics approach altogether" has had disastrous consequences’.
Marking special usage
Quotation marks are placed around words and phrases to show that the reader is conscious of using them in a special sense. Often they are used when using controversial, colloquial or slang words in a formal context:
Enhancing literacy will not be achieved by returning to a ‘back-to-basics’ approach.
The new zoning system will once again ‘rip-off’ students from disadvantaged backgrounds.
