Lecture
A special form of factual material is quotations, which are organically woven into the text of a scholarly work, forming an integral part of the material being analysed. They are used in order to convey the idea of the author of the primary source without distortion, to identify viewpoints when comparing different points of view, etc. Quotations serve as a necessary support for the author of the work in the process of analysing and synthesizing information. Proceeding from their content, one can build a system of convincing evidence necessary for an objective characterization of the phenomenon under review. Quotations can also be used to confirm individual judgments made by the degree candidate.
Alongside direct quotation, one often resorts to paraphrasing the text of the primary source. In this case too, the possibility of distorting the meaning is not excluded, so the text of the paraphrase must be carefully checked against the primary source.
Quotations should be cited to support one's own arguments by referring to an authoritative source, or for a critical review of a given printed work. Academic etiquette requires the quoted text to be reproduced exactly, for the slightest abridgement of the cited excerpt may distort the meaning that its author put into it.
The general requirements for quotation are as follows:
1. The text of the quotation is enclosed in quotation marks and given in the grammatical form in which it appears in the source, preserving the peculiarities of the author's spelling. Scientific terms proposed by other authors are not enclosed in quotation marks, except in cases of obvious polemic. In such cases the expression "so-called" is used.
The quotation must be complete, without arbitrary abridgement of the quoted text and without distortion of the author's idea. The omission of words, sentences, or paragraphs when quoting is permitted without distorting the quoted text and is indicated by an ellipsis. It is placed anywhere in the quotation (at the beginning, in the middle, at the end). If a punctuation mark stood before or after the omitted text, it is not retained.
When quoting, each quotation must be accompanied by a reference to the source, the bibliographic description of which must be given in accordance with the requirements of bibliographic standards: "If someone else's material is used without a reference to the author and the source of borrowing, the scholarly work is withdrawn from consideration, regardless of the stage it has reached, without the right to a repeat defence."
In indirect quotation (in paraphrasing, in presenting the thoughts of other authors in one's own words), which allows for a considerable saving of text, one should be extremely precise in conveying the author's thoughts and correct in evaluating what is being presented, giving the corresponding references to the source.
Quotation should be neither excessive nor insufficient, since both lower the level of a scholarly work: excessive quotation creates the impression that the work is a compilation, while insufficient quotation, when it is necessary to cite quotations from the sources used, or at least to reference them, lowers the scholarly value of what is presented in the work.
If it is necessary to express the attitude of the author of the scholarly work to individual words or ideas of the quoted text, an exclamation mark or a question mark, enclosed in round brackets, is placed after them.
If the author of the scholarly work, in citing a quotation, highlights certain words in it, this must be specially noted, i.e. a full stop is placed after the explanatory text, then the initials of the author of the work are indicated, and the whole text is enclosed in round brackets.
If a quotation fully reproduces a sentence of the quoted text, it begins with a capital letter in all cases except one - when this quotation constitutes part of a sentence of the author of the scholarly work.
If a quotation reproduces only part of a sentence of the quoted text, an ellipsis is placed after the opening quotation marks. Two variants of formatting quotations are possible here:
- the quotation begins with a capital letter if the quoted text follows a full stop, for example:
G.V. Plekhanov himself once noted: "Every change in the relations of production is a change in the relations existing between people".
- the quotation begins with a lower-case letter if the quotation is inserted into the middle of the author's sentence incompletely (the first words are omitted), for example:
S.I. Vavilov demanded "...by all means to spare humanity from reading bad, unnecessary books".
References in the text to the number of a figure, table, page, or chapter are written in abbreviated form and without the "No." sign, for example: fig.3, tab.4, p.34, ch.2. If the words in question are not accompanied by a serial number, they should be written out in full in the text, without abbreviations, for example "it can be seen from the figure that...", "the table shows that..." etc.
A reference in the text to a separate section of the work that does not fit into the flow of the given sentence is enclosed in round brackets, with the abbreviation "see." placed before it.
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