do you quote yourself in a essay

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Academic Skills: Writing: Reusing Your Work and Citing Yourself

As you progress in your Walden program, you may find that you research and write about a topic more than once. This is typical as you engage with key concepts and specialize in your field of study. See the information and best practices on this page to ensure you follow APA citation guidelines and Walden policy if you plan to reuse past written work.

Your Published Writing

If you have published your writing outside of the Walden classroom—in a journal or even in a local newsletter or blog—and would like to reuse portions of it or refer to the findings or ideas in that work, you will need to cite yourself.

Follow APA’s guidelines for citing and referencing published works.

Your Previous Coursework

If you are considering reusing your previously submitted Walden coursework in a new course or term, review the following best practice and policy sections.

Best Practices for Reusing Work

During your studies at Walden, you may write on the same topic for a second, third, or fourth time; regardless, your writing should reflect new approaches and insights into that topic to demonstrate intellectual growth.
Your writing submitted for previous Walden courses will show up in the Turnitin Similarity Report when reused. Contact your faculty if you plan to reuse your work to avoid concerns about possible plagiarism. Additionally, you could cite your unpublished writing (see How to Cite Your Unpublished Work below).
Your faculty for your current course can guide you about whether reusing your previous writing seems appropriate for a particular assignment or writing task.

Walden University’s Policy on Reusing Work

The following comes from the Walden Student Code of Conduct :

Walden Students’ Use of Their Own Scholarly Work

Students may reuse their work without an expectation that previously awarded grades or credit will attach to the new assignment. Any work previously published by the student must be appropriately cited if reused.
Field Experience Exception: Any assignments or documentation submitted related to field experience (work, hours, client or patient logs, etc) must be new, current, accurate, and relate to clients or patients seen during the term and in direct reference to the assignment.

How to Cite Your Unpublished Work

Although not required in the policy above, in rare instances, you may need to or want to cite your unpublished Walden coursework.

If you cite or quote your previous work, treat yourself as the author and your own written document as the source. For example, if Marie Briggs wanted to cite a paper she wrote at Walden in 2022, her citation might look like this:

Briggs (2022) asserted that previous literature on the psychology of tightrope walkers was faulty in that it "presumed that risk-taking behaviors align neatly with certain personality traits or disorders" (p. 4).

And in the reference list:

Briggs, M. (2022). An analysis of personality theory [Unpublished manuscript]. Walden University.

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The Northwest Passage, or Why You Should Cite Yourself Only Sparingly (blog post)
To Cite Yourself or Not Cite Yourself (blog post)

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FAQ: How should I cite my own work?

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Last Updated: Aug 14, 2024 Views: 204679

If you want to re-use portions of a paper you wrote for a previous assignment or course, you need to take care to avoid self-plagiarism. The APA Manual (7th edition, p. 21) defines self-plagiarism as “the act of presenting one's own previously published work as original." This includes entire papers, and also slightly altered work. Self-plagiarism is a violation of SNHU’s Academic Honesty Policy ( Online Student Academic Integrity Policy This link opens in a new window , Campus Student Academic Integrity Policy This link opens in a new window ). To avoid self-plagiarism, you should request approval from your instructor to use portions of your prior work, and you also need to provide a proper citation within your paper.

If you are citing your own writing from a paper submitted for a previous course, then you would generally cite it as an unpublished manuscript. Here are specific examples of how it works in the three major citation styles:

Please check with your instructor to verify if you can use a previous work as it may violate academic integrity, honor codes, etc. If you are permitted to quote or paraphrase from earlier work, students should cite the work, following the unpublished work template (Section 10.8, p. 336). You can change “Unpublished manuscript” to “Unpublished paper” or another phrase.

Reference Page General Format

Author, A. A. (Year). Title of the work [Unpublished paper]. Department Name, University Name.

Reference Page Example

Fisher, J. D. (2021). This is the title of my paper [Unpublished paper]. English Department, Southern New Hampshire University.

In-Text Example

(Fisher, 2021)

According to the MLA Style site, authors should cite their work the same way they would cite any other source (book, article, etc.). In the text you can refer to yourself (e.g. "In my work...").

Works Cited General Format

Author Last name, Author First Name. "Title of Your Paper: Subtitle of Your Paper." Date. Name of the Course, Institution, Type of Work.

Works Cited Example

Lee, Cody. "My Student Paper: Why I Like This Subject a Lot." 9 Sept. 2021. New Media: Writing and Publishing, Southern New Hampshire University, student paper.

In-Text Citation Example

See the MLA Style pages Citing Your Own Work This link opens in a new window and How do I cite an unpublished student paper? This link opens in a new window for more information.

Chicago Style

Per the Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition), unpublished works such as theses and dissertations are cited like books, with the exception that titles of unpublished works appear in quotations, not italics. Also, the type of paper, the academic institution, and the date follow the title.

For published works, please consult the Chicago Style Table of Contents This link opens in a new window for the type of source and follow the formatting guidelines associated.

Bibliography General Format

Author Last Name, Author First Name. "Title of Paper." Essay, Southern New Hampshire University, Year.

Bibliography Example

Wendell, Richard. "This Is the Title of My Paper." Essay, Southern New Hampshire University, 2021.

Note Example

2. Richard Wendell, "This Is the Title of My Paper" (essay, Southern New Hampshire University, 2021), 4.

More Information

Citing Your Sources (Shapiro Library) research guide.

Further Help

This information is intended to be a guideline, not expert advice. Please be sure to speak to your professor about the appropriate way to cite sources in your class assignments and projects.

Campus Students

To access Academic Support, visit your Brightspace course and select “Tutoring and Mentoring” from the Academic Support pulldown menu.

Online Students

To access help with citations and more, visit the Academic Support via modules in Brightspace:

Academic Support Overview: Getting Help with your Schoolwork This link opens in a new window

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Self-Citation

Self-Citation Podcast

Self-citation transcript.

Greetings everyone. This is Kurtis Clements with another effective writing podcast. In this episode, I am going to shed some light on self-citation—that is, instances when one would want to cite him or herself in academic work in an effort to avoid plagiarism.

What’s this you ask? Students sometimes want to know if they can cite themselves in a paper or assignment they are working on—that is, they want to know if they can use content they’ve written for one class in another—and while this is a relatively uncommon practice—students aren’t, after all, experts in the fields in which they write papers—protocol exists.

Let’s say that you are working on a paper about cogs and wheels, a subject that you have written about in a couple of prior classes. In fact, you’ve discovered some terrific content about cogs and wheels and have even written several particularly strong paragraphs in a previous paper that you think will fit into your current assignment. You decide to copy and paste two full paragraphs from a previous paper into your new paper. Have you just committed plagiarism?

The answer: yes and no.

What? How can this be? Simply put, the topic of self-citation and plagiarism can be confusing, so let’s break it down. You plagiarize yourself when you reuse work that you have used elsewhere without making anyone aware of this reuse of old content. When you turn in a paper for a class, the expectation is that this work is original and created specifically for a given assignment. If it is not original, it is unethical, and in cases of copyright issues (that is, you are reusing old content not for a class but for publication), it’s illegal. You must not mislead your reader, editor, or professor.

Generally, you can use small portions of your previous work if you cite it properly. This is called self-citation. The citation is required because it must be clear that this work or writing exists somewhere else and that the words or ideas are not original to the current paper or production. If you quote or paraphrase your ideas from a previous paper, in APA, you would cite yourself as the primary author and the work as an unpublished paper. For this self-citation, you must include both an in-text and reference citation like you would for any other source in your paper.

Please take special note of what I said above: It’s ok to use small portions of your previous work. In most cases of university academic writing, “small portions” means a sentence or two. What?!

That’s right: If you do cite yourself—that is, if you use content that you wrote for a previous paper—do so rarely and reuse content sparingly. Why? You ask. Think of it this way: If you are choosing to cite your previous work, it should be because you want to build on an idea you came up with in a previous paper. You should not cite previous work in order to only write a new paper faster.

However, with that said, the real question to think about is should you be using your previous work to begin with? To quote yourself does not lend credibility to your paper unless you are a known and published scholar in the field about which you are writing. Most students don’t fall into this category. Therefore, it is better for the validity of the paper and for student learning to avoid citing yourself unless you truly have an important idea of yours to build upon from a previous paper. Make sense? I am not saying don’t use your own content from a previous paper, but I am saying do so purposefully.

In order to cite yourself, if you decide it is appropriate for your paper, you can either refer to yourself in the third person, Clements (2013) stated, for example, or, if the assignment allows for a more casual personal reference, you could write, “As I discussed in a previous paper. . .” Again, you would include both an in-text and reference citation like you would for any other source in your paper.

One word of caution: You do not want to cite yourself citing someone else. If you want to reuse a quotation or a source from a previous paper, you need to cite that original source again. For example, let’s say you found a scholarly, peer-reviewed resource from an expert in the field, a Dr. Pickle, and you quoted Dr. Pickle in a paper. If you want to reuse that quote, don’t cite yourself, cite Dr. Pickle, who is the expert. This might mean that you have to go find that article again, but it is a best practice to cite—as best as one can—only original sources.

One final reminder: Keep in mind that if you choose self-citation, you should do so to build upon your ideas from a previous paper, not simply reuse the same content in another context. Got it? Good. Oh, I would be remiss if I didn’t also say that when citing yourself, it is wise to consult the course syllabus and/or your professor beforehand just to make sure citing yourself will be ok.

In closing, I want to give special thanks to Melody Pickle, yes the Dr. Pickle from the example; she is real and an expert and her help on this script has been significant.

Happy writing, everyone!

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APA (7th Edition) Referencing Guide

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How do I cite my own work?

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How you cite your own work depends on what it is, and whether or not it has been published.

Published work

If you are citing a published work, you cite it as per normal for the work (e.g., photograph, book chapter, etc). For the citation (both in-text and in the reference list) you refer to yourself by name just as you would any other author. When discussing your work in-text, the general convention is to talk about yourself in the third person, but make it clear that it is your own work you are discussion:

Previous research undertaken by this author has shown... (Bloggs, 2018).

But it may be appropriate to refer to yourself using first person pronouns, particularly if you are writing a reflective piece, so check with your lecturer.

In my previous research I found... (Bloggs, 2018)

Unpublished work

If the work can be found or sourced online by the public, it is informally published and should be treated as a web page. If it cannot be found by the public and can only be accessed by people who have been given access to the private link or sent a copy in person, then it is an unpublished work.

Photographs, illustrations, art

Unpublished photographs and works of art created for the assignment (or appearing only in the assignment/paper and no where else) are not cited - so they do not have a formal in-text citation or an entry in the reference list. Treat it as a figure, and add any necessary details in the Note section under the image.

Add "Own work" to the image if you feel it needs to be made clear that this is an image you created yourself.

Hong Kong before 2019/2020

Note . Photograph of Hong Kong taken in early 2000s. Own work.

If you are using your own image for an illustration in a PowerPoint presentation, you don't have to cite it, but you can put "Own work" on or under the image somewhere unobtrusive if you wish to avoid confusion.

When referring to your own artistic work in text, you need to make it clear that you are talking about your own work, but you do not cite it.

Previous assignments

Assignments submitted for other subjects are regarded as unpublished manuscripts, and are cited as such.

Reference list:

Bloggs, J. (2020). Lancelot does not deserve your love: Critiquing the "heroes" of Arthurian legends [Unpublished assignment submitted for EL1006]. James Cook University.

(Bloggs, 2020).

However, your past assignments are not usually considered to be a scholarly source, and most lectures do not want you to cite your previous assessment . You should only refer to past assignment work if you have been explicitly asked to do so (e.g. for a reflective assignment).

It would be much better to update your research and conclusions from the past assignment (and use new words to express your thoughts) than to refer to it or cite it.

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URL: https://libguides.jcu.edu.au/apa

How should authors cite their own work?

Note: This post relates to content in the eighth edition of the MLA Handbook . For up-to-date guidance, see the ninth edition of the MLA Handbook .

In the works-cited list, authors should cite their own work the same way they would cite any other source. The entry should begin with the name of the author or authors, followed by the title of the work and any publication details.

In their prose, the authors may refer to themselves with pronouns (e.g., In my work . . . or In our own research . . . ).

For parenthetical citations, authors have two options, as shown in the examples below, which are adapted from the Style Center post “ Reading Is Not One Thing .” They may include their names in the parentheses, as shown in the first example, so that the citation clearly keys to the source in the works-cited list, or they may omit their names, as shown in the second example, since the authorship is understood.

These findings match what we found in our own research on students’ reading behaviors (Del Principe and Ihara, “‘I’”). or These findings match what we found in our own research on students’ reading behaviors (“‘I’”). Work Cited Del Principe, Annie, and Rachel Ihara. “‘I Bought the Book and I Didn’t Need It’: What Reading Looks Like at an Urban Community College.” Teaching English in the Two-Year College , vol. 43, no. 3, 2016, pp. 229–46.

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Answered By: Laurie Bastien Last Updated: Aug 27, 2020 Views: 1365

If you are using information from a previous paper you've written or from a project you've completed in a past assignment or class, it is appropriate to self-cite in order to avoid self-plagiarism. To cite or quote from a previous work you've created, follow examples for citing an unpublished work.

On a related note, please review school policies on reusing work and contact your instructor with any questions. Links to school policies are also below.

Links & Files

Academic Writer: Sample of an Unpublished Manuscript Citation
Student Conduct: Coursework Resubmission Policy
Purdue Global Student Coursework Resubmission, Repurposing, and Reworking Policy Resource

Unpublished or Informally Published Reference

Learn how to format references for unpublished or informally published works, including unpublished manuscripts, manuscripts submitted for publication, and self-archived work.

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How to Cite Yourself

Posted on December 22, 2021 December 22, 2021

You already know that it’s unethical and, in some cases, illegal to use another person’s work without giving them credit. Plagiarism is intellectual theft, whether you’re a professional writer or a student. But did you also know that it’s possible to plagiarize yourself?

Like other forms of plagiarism, self-plagiarism can cause severe problems for you professionally and academically if you’re not careful. Here’s everything you need to know about citing yourself so you can avoid unintentionally plagiarizing yourself.

Why Self-Citations Are Important

There are several reasons why it’s essential to self-cite when referencing your prior work. If that previous work is published, for example, then quoting from it without proper citation could be a violation of your publishing agreement.

Even if your work is unpublished, it’s inappropriate to reuse prior work without proper citation and identification. If you’re a student, reusing work from a previous assignment without doing any new work deprives you of the learning opportunity, and it may also be a violation of your high school or college’s academic integrity policy.

There’s not much difference between citing your work and citing someone else’s work in most style guides. As a general rule, you cite your previous work in the same way you cite a similar work by another author.

Let’s say you wrote and published a novel. Under most style guides, if you wanted to quote or reference a novel you wrote, you would cite it in the same format as you would cite a novel by anyone else. Likewise, if you wanted to reference a research paper you wrote, you would cite it using the same format as a research paper completed by someone else.

Published vs. Unpublished Work

Whether you’re a content creator getting paid for a piece of work or a student submitting a paper for high school or college credit, you must cite every piece you reference—including published, scholarly sources as well as unpublished works. This is true whether you’re citing your own work or someone else’s.

However, this issue comes up more often when it comes to your own work simply because you’re more likely to possess your own unpublished work than another person’s. However, the American Psychological Association (APA) Style Guide and the Modern Language Association (MLA) Style Guide differ somewhat in handling citations to unpublished work.

How do you determine whether your work is published or unpublished? In most cases, it’s pretty straightforward. If your work has appeared in an anthology, journal, or otherwise been made public, it’s a published work. If it hasn’t appeared anywhere and is solely in your possession, then it’s an unpublished work.

Things get a little fuzzier when you consider the work that you’ve shared online. If you’ve posted it somewhere that it can be accessed by the general public, like an online forum, then it’s been informally published and should be cited as a website.

On the other hand, a private document that can only be accessed by people you authorize using a private link is generally considered unpublished. Unless a stranger could access it without your authorization, your own private work is unpublished.

Under the APA Style Guide, a published work is always cited the same way, whether it’s your own or someone else’s. If the work you are citing is published, cite it as you would a similar publication by another author, even if it’s your own.

However, if you cite your unpublished work, the APA citation style requires you to specify that the work is unpublished. In addition, if you created the work for a particular purpose, you must state that purpose in the citation.

Published Research Paper – Walter Wombat, a researcher, previously published a research paper in a wildlife journal. Now Walter wants to cite that study in a new paper. He will cite it in the same way as he would another researcher’s published study:

Last Name, First Name (Year of publication). Title of study. Title of Journal, volume number(issue number), page numbers. http://webaddress.com

Wombat, Walter (2018). Wombats in the wild: a study. Wildlife Journal, 47(3), 48-63. http://wombatstudies.org

Unpublished Assignment – Walter also wants to cite a previous assignment from his graduate school coursework in the new research study. Under the APA Style Guide, to cite to an unpublished student assignment, Walter must also identify that the study is unpublished, as well as its purpose:

Last Name, First Name (Year authored). Title of study [Unpublished study submitted for course]. University Name.

Wombat, Walter (2020). Wombat teeth grow forever [Unpublished study submitted for Biology 1001]. Marsupial University.

If Walter also cited other sources in his unpublished study, then he must also cite those sources in the reference list of his new work.

Other examples – Citation styles for different types of sources can be found in the complete 7th edition APA Style Guide at the Purdue OWL website.

As the APA Style Guide, the rules for citing your own published work are the same as citing someone else’s under the MLA Style Guide. A published work is cited the same way, whether you’re self-citing or citing someone else’s work.

The MLA Style Guide doesn’t explicitly require you to identify an unpublished manuscript or unpublished paper in the reference list. However, you still must identify the origin of an unpublished document, such as the collection where it’s housed or the reason for its creation.

There are plenty of unpublished documents available in public and private museums and personal collections around the world. Your unpublished work is most likely either from your personal collection or submitted for a high school or university assignment.

Published Research Paper – Walter Wombat is writing an article for a popular science magazine and wants to reference a study he published previously in a peer-reviewed science journal. He will cite it in the same way as if he were citing another person’s published study:

Last Name, First Name. “Title of Article.” Title of Journal, Volume, Issue, Year, pages.

Wombat, Walter. “Wombats in the Wild.” Wildlife Journal, 47, 3, 2018, 48-63.

Unpublished Assignment – Suzie Scholar is writing a reflective piece on her growth as a writer for a college assignment. In it, she wants to reference a piece she wrote for an assignment in high school. While she doesn’t have to specify that the piece is unpublished, Suzie does have to identify its source:

Last Name, First Name. “Paper Title.” Date authored. Class, School, assignment type.

Scholar, Suzie. “My Final Paper.” 1 May 2010. 12th Grade English, Wisdom High School, student paper.

Other Examples – You can find citation formats for different types of sources in the complete MLA Style Guide at the Purdue OWL website.

Avoiding Self-Plagiarism

To avoid self-plagiarism under any style guide, you must cite all of your sources using in-text citations and a list of works cited. This is true whether you’re citing your own work or someone else’s.

One way to ensure that you’re not accidentally committing self-plagiarism or any other kind of plagiarism is to use a plagiarism checker like Quetext. If you’ve unintentionally quoted or paraphrased from a source without citing it, a good plagiarism checker will flag it for you so you can cite it appropriately.

Quetext’s plagiarism checker takes this one step further by automatically generating the appropriate citation for you, making it easy to avoid unintentional plagiarism.

Sign Up for Quetext Today!

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Citing Your Own Work

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Have you ever been given an assignment and thought, “I’ve written a paper like this before…”? If yes, then you might’ve considered re-using content from that previous paper for your new one. If it’s still relevant and the result of your own work, so why not?

Doing so, however, should be treated with extreme caution, and if done incorrectly can lead to something called “self-plagiarism.” Let’s review how you can self-plagiarism when using work you’ve written before for a new assignment.

What is self plagiarism?

Self-plagiarism is defined as incorrectly citing (or not citing) a piece of your own work in another work you are writing.

There are a few different types of self-plagiarism:

Word-for-word

The most common type of self-plagiarism occurs is when you copy word-for-word a paper you have already written and insert it into a new assignment. If you take any direct material from an old paper of yours, you must create a citation for the older paper. This applies even when your assignments are for different instructors or courses.

Salami-slicing

Another type of self-plagiarism is known as, “salami-slicing,” happens when the author of a study separates aspects of the study and publishes it in more than one publication, depending on what the goal of each published article is. Salami-slicing is considered unethical since it doesn’t present a whole, complete presentation of a research study. Segmenting the data into many “slices” could lead to misinterpretations.

Perhaps the most well-known outcome of self-plagiarism is “copyright infringement.” This is when an author publishes work that is copyrighted, only for that writer to take that copyrighted material and publish it elsewhere without citing the original work. Even if the writer was the original author of the copyrighted material, proper referencing to the original is still needed.

How to avoid self-plagiarism

There are a few simple steps a writer can take to avoid committing self-plagiarism:

Conduct further research

If a new paper assignment you’ve been given is similar to one you have already written, consider conducting further research on the topic. Doing this may open up new concepts and avenues of writing that you had not considered before.

Consult your old class notes

Instead of copying directly from your old paper, check any old notes or outlines that you created for that class and try to come up with unique ideas to write about, or perhaps a slightly different angle than the one you previously chose.

Cite your previous work

If you wish to use an older paper you have written on a topic as a source for a new paper, you can cite yourself, just as you would cite any other source you use in your research. Here is how you would do this in some of the most popular citation formats:

Harvard referencing style:

Your Last Name, First Initial. (Year) ‘Title of your paper’. School Name. Unpublished essay.

Harvard example:

Lu, P. (2017) ‘George Washington in early American paintings’. Southern New Hampshire University. Unpublished essay.

APA citation format :

Your Last Name, First Initial. (Year). Title of paper. Unpublished manuscript, University Name.

APA example:

Lu, P. (2017). George Washington in early American paintings. Unpublished manuscript, Southern New Hampshire University.

MLA citation format:

Your Last Name, Your First Name. “Title of Your Paper .” Year written. Your School’s Name, unpublished paper.

MLA example:

Lu, Patricia. “George Washington in Early American Paintings .” 2017. Southern New Hampshire U, unpublished paper.

Looking for more styles or citing guides? Visit Cite This For Me to access a Chicago citation generator , a guide on how to do an in-text citation , an example of an annotated bibliography , and more!

Rambling Academic

Nuts and bolts of research. Plus some rambling.

How to Cite Yourself

In my last post, I offered some guidelines on choosing citations. The very first guideline was to avoid conflicts of interest, which generally refers to citing yourself (but also applies to your close collaborators). Now, I’m going to describe how to cite yourself. I’m not changing my mind on this topic, but I believe that there are scenarios when self-citations are justified. Here, I’m going to list when it’s ok to cite yourself and how you should do it.

To re-iterate, by default you shouldn’t cite your own work, since this creates a conflict of interest. Readers (especially reviewers!) will legitimately ask if you’re citing yourself just to pad your citation count. Of course, your intent is probably not that malicious. Consider these two more innocent (but still not great) reasons:

You want to build your credibility . What better way to establish that you know what you’re talking about if you’ve already written on the subject?
You know your work . You’re most likely to cite the papers that you know best. Whose work do you know better than your own?

Nevertheless, you should apply greater scrutiny to citing your work than citing anyone else.

Valid Reasons to Cite Yourself

Here is my list of valid reasons to self-cite, in decreasing order of legitimacy:

You are re-using your own result . This could be an equation, algorithm, figure, system model, or anything else concrete that would be blatant self-plagiarism if you didn’t cite it.
Your new work is a direct continuation of your previous work . By direct, I don’t mean just on the same topic, but an extension of the earlier work. For example, this could be the journal version of a conference paper, or a paper that addresses the weaknesses that were identified in the earlier work.
You are repeating an argument that you already made . Let’s say you made a non-trivial assumption in an earlier paper and you gave a detailed justification. If you need to make the same assumption in a new paper, then you should be able to cite the earlier work without needing to repeat all of the details.
You need to avoid confusion . If you have similar previous work, and a reader might be legitimately confused about how the novelty in the new paper, then you should cite and clarify the differences. You need to be very careful in this case and not just use this as an opportunity to promote your own work.

How to Cite Yourself

Ok, let’s say that you have a legitimate reason to cite yourself. Fortunately, that was the hard part. But you should still make a self-citation professional.

Make it clear that you’re self-citing . Don’t make it appear that you’re actually citing someone else, or bury your self-citation in the middle of a long group of references; I’ve seen both of these and it doesn’t appear professional. Disclose what you did. Besides, if the citation is legitimate, then you are building your credibility.
Stay modest . It’s one thing to acknowledge your previous contributions, but another to promote it like an advertisement. Avoid subjective language. You can claim to be the first to have done something, but to say how amazing it was is probably too far. Leave the accolades to other authors.

Here are some quick examples that make it clear that you’re self-citing and avoid subjective language:

In our previous work in [XX], we established that [DESCRIBE RELEVANT CONTRIBUTIONS]. Here, we now consider that [DESCRIBE WHAT THIS PAPER ADDS TO THOSE CONTRIBUTIONS] We are studying the system model that we introduced in [XX], where [SUMMARIZE MODEL WITH NECESSARY DETAILS] We previously solved this equation as [XX, Eq. YY] (then re-write the equation) As in [XX], we will assume that [ASSUMPTION WITH BRIEF MOTIVATION] Summary

That’s all that I have to say on self-citations. I think that the natural tendency is to include as many self-citations as you can, but it’s important to resist that urge to maintain academic integrity. If you have legitimately objective reasons, then I believe that you can credibly cite your own work.

Published by adam

My name is Adam Noel. I'm an Associate Professor in Engineering at the University of Warwick in Coventry, UK. View all posts by adam

What is self-plagiarism? How do I cite myself?

What is self-plagiarism?

" Self-plagiarism is the practice of presenting one's own previously published work as though it were new." (The APA Publication Manual, 6th ed. p. 170)
Generally, students are not supposed to turn in old assignments or papers for new assignments.

The instances in which you may need to cite yourself:

You are repeating something you wrote in a work you had published .
You are repeating something you wrote in a work that you have not formally published, but that you have submitted for a class.

In the first scenario, it is rather obvious that you should cite something that has been published somewhere, even if it was something that you wrote yourself.

The second scenario is less obvious. In situations where you want to re-use some of your old material for a new paper, cite yourself as if you are the author of an "unpublished manuscript." However, students are generally not to turn in old assignment material for new assignments.

But if, in a very rare instance, you need to cite yourself it would look something like this:

Smith, J. (2019). Title of Paper. Unpublished manuscript, Baker College.

To find information about APA citation, visit the APA Help guide.

Thank you for using ASK US. For more information, please contact your Baker librarians .

Last Updated Feb 17, 2021
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How can I cite myself?

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Answered By: Paul Lai Last Updated: Jul 17, 2023 Views: 63677

Walden and APA allow for certain circumstances where you may need to cite yourself in your text. However, reusing your own work without proper citation can be considered self-plagiarism.

Self-citation format

If you find a circumstance in which you need to cite yourself, you will want to be sure to use the following reference entry format, referring to your coursework as an unpublished manuscript and giving the university name in your reference entry:

Grammer, R. (2013). APA’s hidden secrets to a better writing life [Unpublished manuscript]. Walden University.

Then, your in-text citation would include the author's (your) surname and the year of publication, just like other in-text citations.

To reuse work for a different purpose

Get your instructor's approval (generally reused work is not accepted).

See the Walden University Student Handbook Code of Conduct on students’ misuse of their own scholarly work.

To reuse work that builds on itself

Use each incremental section of your work (those sections that are building toward your doctoral capstone study) to build on itself.

Check with your faculty member if you are uncertain whether or not you should be reusing work.

Additional Resources:

For more tips, see the Writing Center's webpage on citing yourself .

Further Questions?

Would you like a current or future assignment to be reviewed by the Writing Center? If so please visit the Writing Center's Paper Reviews webpage and make an appointment with us!

Do you have other general writing questions? Ask OASIS !

Other questions about your doctoral capstone or the form and style review? Email the form and style editors at [email protected] .

Want to peruse other writing resources? Go to the Writing Center’s home page .

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A direct quotation reproduces words verbatim from another work or from your own previously published work. It is best to paraphrase sources rather than directly quoting them because paraphrasing allows you to fit material to the context of your paper and writing style.

Use direct quotations rather than paraphrasing:

when reproducing an exact definition (see Section 6.22 of the Publication Manual ),
when an author has said something memorably or succinctly, or
when you want to respond to exact wording (e.g., something someone said).

Instructors, programs, editors, and publishers may establish limits on the use of direct quotations. Consult your instructor or editor if you are concerned that you may have too much quoted material in your paper.

This page addresses how to format short quotations and block quotations. Additional information is available about how to:

include page numbers for quotations
cite quotations from material without page numbers
cite quotations that include errors
indicate changes to quotations
present quotations from research participants

Quotations are covered in the seventh edition APA Style manuals in the Publication Manual Sections 8.25 to 8.35 and the Concise Guide Sections 8.25 to 8.34

Related handout

In-Text Citation Checklist (PDF, 227KB)

Short quotations (fewer than 40 words)

For quotations of fewer than 40 words, add quotation marks around the words and incorporate the quote into your own text—there is no additional formatting needed. Do not insert an ellipsis at the beginning and/or end of a quotation unless the original source includes an ellipsis.

Effective teams can be difficult to describe because “high performance along one domain does not translate to high performance along another” (Ervin et al., 2018, p. 470).

For a direct quotation, always include a full citation ( parenthetical or narrative ) in the same sentence as the quotation, including the page number (or other location information, e.g., paragraph number).

Place a parenthetical citation either immediately after the quotation or at the end of the sentence.
For a narrative citation, include the author and year in the sentence and then place the page number or other location information in parentheses after the quotation.
If the quotation precedes the narrative citation, put the page number or location information after the year and a comma.
If the citation appears at the end of a sentence, put the end punctuation after the closing parenthesis for the citation.
If the quotation includes citations, see Section 8.32 of the Publication Manual .
If the quotation includes material already in quotation marks, see Section 8.33 of the Publication Manual .
Place periods and commas within closing single or double quotation marks. Place other punctuation marks inside quotation marks only when they are part of the quoted material.

Block quotations (40 words or more)

Format quotations of 40 words or more as block quotations:

Do not use quotation marks to enclose a block quotation.
Start a block quotation on a new line and indent the whole block 0.5 in. from the left margin.
Double-space the entire block quotation.
Do not add extra space before or after it.
If there are additional paragraphs within the quotation, indent the first line of each subsequent paragraph an additional 0.5 in. See an example in Section 8.27 of the Publication Manual .
Either (a) cite the source in parentheses after the quotation’s final punctuation or (b) cite the author and year in the narrative before the quotation and place only the page number in parentheses after the quotation’s final punctuation.
Do not add a period after the closing parenthesis in either case.

Block quotation with parenthetical citation:

Researchers have studied how people talk to themselves:

Inner speech is a paradoxical phenomenon. It is an experience that is central to many people’s everyday lives, and yet it presents considerable challenges to any effort to study it scientifically. Nevertheless, a wide range of methodologies and approaches have combined to shed light on the subjective experience of inner speech and its cognitive and neural underpinnings. (Alderson-Day & Fernyhough, 2015, p. 957)

Block quotation with narrative citation:

Flores et al. (2018) described how they addressed potential researcher bias when working with an intersectional community of transgender people of color:

Everyone on the research team belonged to a stigmatized group but also held privileged identities. Throughout the research process, we attended to the ways in which our privileged and oppressed identities may have influenced the research process, findings, and presentation of results. (p. 311)

Quoting and integrating sources into your paper

In any study of a subject, people engage in a “conversation” of sorts, where they read or listen to others’ ideas, consider them with their own viewpoints, and then develop their own stance. It is important in this “conversation” to acknowledge when we use someone else’s words or ideas. If we didn’t come up with it ourselves, we need to tell our readers who did come up with it.

It is important to draw on the work of experts to formulate your own ideas. Quoting and paraphrasing the work of authors engaged in writing about your topic adds expert support to your argument and thesis statement. You are contributing to a scholarly conversation with scholars who are experts on your topic with your writing. This is the difference between a scholarly research paper and any other paper: you must include your own voice in your analysis and ideas alongside scholars or experts.

All your sources must relate to your thesis, or central argument, whether they are in agreement or not. It is a good idea to address all sides of the argument or thesis to make your stance stronger. There are two main ways to incorporate sources into your research paper.

Quoting is when you use the exact words from a source. You will need to put quotation marks around the words that are not your own and cite where they came from. For example:

“It wasn’t really a tune, but from the first note the beast’s eyes began to droop . . . Slowly the dog’s growls ceased – it tottered on its paws and fell to its knees, then it slumped to the ground, fast asleep” (Rowling 275).

Follow these guidelines when opting to cite a passage:

Choose to quote passages that seem especially well phrased or are unique to the author or subject matter.
Be selective in your quotations. Avoid over-quoting. You also don’t have to quote an entire passage. Use ellipses (. . .) to indicate omitted words. Check with your professor for their ideal length of quotations – some professors place word limits on how much of a sentence or paragraph you should quote.
Before or after quoting a passage, include an explanation in which you interpret the significance of the quote for the reader. Avoid “hanging quotes” that have no context or introduction. It is better to err on the side of your reader not understanding your point until you spell it out for them, rather than assume readers will follow your thought process exactly.
If you are having trouble paraphrasing (putting something into your own words), that may be a sign that you should quote it.
Shorter quotes are generally incorporated into the flow of a sentence while longer quotes may be set off in “blocks.” Check your citation handbook for quoting guidelines.

Paraphrasing is when you state the ideas from another source in your own words . Even when you use your own words, if the ideas or facts came from another source, you need to cite where they came from. Quotation marks are not used. For example:

With the simple music of the flute, Harry lulled the dog to sleep (Rowling 275).

Follow these guidelines when opting to paraphrase a passage:

Don’t take a passage and change a word here or there. You must write out the idea in your own words. Simply changing a few words from the original source or restating the information exactly using different words is considered plagiarism .
Read the passage, reflect upon it, and restate it in a way that is meaningful to you within the context of your paper . You are using this to back up a point you are making, so your paraphrased content should be tailored to that point specifically.
After reading the passage that you want to paraphrase, look away from it, and imagine explaining the main point to another person.
After paraphrasing the passage, go back and compare it to the original. Are there any phrases that have come directly from the original source? If so, you should rephrase it or put the original in quotation marks. If you cannot state an idea in your own words, you should use the direct quotation.

A summary is similar to paraphrasing, but used in cases where you are trying to give an overview of many ideas. As in paraphrasing, quotation marks are not used, but a citation is still necessary. For example:

Through a combination of skill and their invisibility cloak, Harry, Ron, and Hermione slipped through Hogwarts to the dog’s room and down through the trapdoor within (Rowling 271-77).

Important guidelines

When integrating a source into your paper, remember to use these three important components:

Introductory phrase to the source material : mention the author, date, or any other relevant information when introducing a quote or paraphrase.
Source material : a direct quote, paraphrase, or summary with proper citation.
Analysis of source material : your response, interpretations, or arguments regarding the source material should introduce or follow it. When incorporating source material into your paper, relate your source and analysis back to your original thesis.

Ideally, papers will contain a good balance of direct quotations, paraphrasing and your own thoughts. Too much reliance on quotations and paraphrasing can make it seem like you are only using the work of others and have no original thoughts on the topic.

Always properly cite an author’s original idea, whether you have directly quoted or paraphrased it. If you have questions about how to cite properly in your chosen citation style, browse these citation guides . You can also review our guide to understanding plagiarism .

University Writing Center

The University of Nevada, Reno Writing Center provides helpful guidance on quoting and paraphrasing and explains how to make sure your paraphrasing does not veer into plagiarism. If you have any questions about quoting or paraphrasing, or need help at any point in the writing process, schedule an appointment with the Writing Center.

Works Cited

Rowling, J.K. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. A.A. Levine Books, 1998.

Do I Need Quotation Marks When I Quote Myself?

Quotes can be a great addition to many forms of writing. It would definitely be useful to know when they work well and when quotation marks might be needed. This article will explore whether you need quotation marks when you quote yourself.

You need quotation marks when you quote yourself in an essay paper or other formal written piece. The subject of the quote is irrelevant to the need for quotation marks. They should always be used to show that you are plucking information from some point in the past.

Let’s say that you included the following phrase in your essay:

There were times when this was needed.

Now, let’s say you’ve written another few hundred words, and you’ve realized that you can link back to something you said in a previous section. Even though you were the one that said it, it’s still appropriate to use quotes like so:

I mentioned, “there were times when this was needed.”

This only applies to direct quotes that take the words exactly as written. If you use an indirect quote (meaning you change some of the wording), quotation marks aren’t required:

I mentioned that there were times when we needed it.

How to Properly Quote Yourself in a Sentence

If you want to quote yourself in a sentence properly, it makes sense to include a starting phrase. Something like “I said” or “I mentioned” works better informally. Formally, you’ll want to introduce it smoothly into a sentence without much extra “baggage” in your writing.

Informally, you can generally use introductory phrases like “I said:”

I said, “We could always change the way that we do these things.”
I mentioned, “someone has got to pay for these changes.” I stand by that thought even now.
In my introduction, I said,” there were a few things to discuss here.” I believe I’ve discussed that all now.
We said, “she couldn’t have done this alone,” and we were right about that.
I told you, “it is going to get more difficult than you realize,” but you didn’t want to believe me, did you?

Formally, it’s better to make the quote seem to flow into the sentence:

“There are times that will be difficult” to us, and it shows because of how things might look.
It is best that “we do not change the way we do these things” to make sure that everything works out well.
“It’s getting easier,” and it will continue to progress as long as we all work together on what matters.
I thought she needed “space to get this done alone,” but I guess I was wrong about that.
It was easy to “notice the differences in the projects” because of how much work was put into them.

You can also use introductory phrases in formal writing, but many people prefer to make their quotes flow.

Is It OK to Quote Yourself?

There is no reason why you cannot quote yourself. It is always possible to refer to a previous passage in your writing or relate back to something you said. It works both formally and informally, though it’s more common in essays or formally written papers.

You’ll often be instructed to quote yourself if you refer back to something you said. It’s also a great way to show an examiner that you are paying attention to the things you are writing.

Some people will forget some of the earlier words in their essay, meaning they won’t be able to link back to them in a meaningful way. If you can not only link back to them but quote what you said as well, then you are allowing your essay to come full circle.

The best essays are the ones that are written in a way that links back to themselves from beginning to end.

Is Quoting Yourself Arrogant?

It is not arrogant to quote yourself. In fact, it’s a useful tool that many people use when they are quoting something that they previously said. It might come across as slightly more arrogant informally because it’s not common that you would ever use quotation marks.

Formally, you’re almost expected to be able to use quotation marks correctly. Therefore, there is nothing wrong with quoting yourself when relating back to something you have previously said.

You may also like: Do You Use Quotation Marks Around Nicknames? (Examples) Do You Use Quotation Marks for Thoughts? (Helpful Examples)

Martin holds a Master’s degree in Finance and International Business. He has six years of experience in professional communication with clients, executives, and colleagues. Furthermore, he has teaching experience from Aarhus University. Martin has been featured as an expert in communication and teaching on Forbes and Shopify. Read more about Martin here .

How to Punctuate Quotes in a List (Comma Placement)
Footnotes Before or After Punctuation? (Comma and Period)
Much needed or Much-needed? (Hyphen Rule Explained)
“Well written” or “Well-written”? Learn If “Well written” Is Hyphenated

Chicago Footnote Referencing - Theology students: Citing yourself and AI

Chicago Style Rules
Journal articles
Newspaper/Magazines
Dictionaries/Encyclopaedias
Primary Sources
Interviews/Emails/Personal Communication
Lecture notes/tutorial material
Conference papers
Audiovisual media
Citing yourself and AI

Citing Yourself

In very rare cases you might need to quote a short section (no more than 2 sentences) of an assignment you have previously submitted. if this is the case, you should treat the quotation as you would any other source and correctly cite it.* you may also wish to refer to something you have published..

Note: if you have a required number of texts for a Bibliography, your own work does not contribute to this requirement.

First name Family Name, "Title of Essay or Summary of Essay Question" (UNIT CODE Essay, Morling College, Year of assignment).

Bibliography

Family Name, First name. "Title of Essay or Summary of Essay Question." UNIT CODE Essay, Morling College, Year of assignment.

*If you are using EndNote, you will need to create a citation for material that is not formally published. Use “Thesis” as your Reference Type and fill in the appropriate Fields:

Title (this could be the Assignment Question or a summary of the question)
University (this will most likely be Morling College but could be another institution)
Thesis Type (include the Unit Code [e.g. OT001] and the type of assignment [Essay, Reflection, Tutorial Paper, Book review etc.])

Citing AI-Generated Content

When citing information generated with the assistance of AI tools (such as ChatGPT, Smart Copy), be transparent about the involvement of AI in the work: provide credit to the source just as you would with other types of information.

For student papers and research articles, cite contributions from AI-generated tools in footnote form. You can also make reference in the body of your assignment text. You will need to include:

the creator of the content (e.g., ChatGPT, Smart Copy)
the text prompt you used to generate the content in quotation marks (if you included the prompt in the body of your text, you are not required to repeat the prompt in the footnote)
the organization or developer that created the tool (e.g., OpenAI, Unbounce)
the date the content was generated
if you have edited the AI-generated text, indicate this in either your footnote or the body of your text

At present (June 2023), the Chicago Manual of Style instructs you to cite content created by AI generative tools in the text of your assignment and/or in footnote form only (not in your bibliography).

In the case of ChatGPT, the URL provided within the footnote should be the unique URL created by a request to share the conversation that you had, including all of your requests and all of the ChatGPT response. If you initiated more than one conversation thread, the unique URL for each conversation thread should be provided.

If you obtained AI-enabled editorial assistance through a platform that does not provide the option of creating a URL to share a log of your interaction(s) with the site, you should still acknowledge your use of the application via a footnote at an appropriate point in the assignment, and retain a copy of the pre-edited draft of the assignment that you can provide, if requested, for comparison purposes.

In some cases, it may be appropriate to include a transcript of an AI chat or prompt situation in an appendix. If you are not sure about using AI in an assignment, please contact your lecturer.

Use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) in assignments Guidelines on using AI-generated content in assignments.

Originator of the communication, medium, Day Month, Year: URL [where available]

1 OpenAI's ChatGPT AI language model, responses to questions from author, 28 June, 2023: https://chat.openai.com/share/c2f86c07-43a9-4326-ac9e-a95d9834568b

The following recipe for vegetarian pakoras was generated by OpenAI’s ChatGPT, June 2, 2023.

When asked to list three key marketing strategies for websites, Unbounce’s AI-generator, Smart Copy, indicated that the use of SEO, understanding user experience, and social media engagement were all important methods (edited for style and content).

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Last Updated: Jul 24, 2024 3:36 PM
URL: https://morlingcollege.libguides.com/chicagoreferencing

The Writing Center • University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

What this handout is about

Used effectively, quotations can provide important pieces of evidence and lend fresh voices and perspectives to your narrative. Used ineffectively, however, quotations can clutter your text and interrupt the flow of your argument. This handout will help you decide when and how to quote like a pro.

When should I quote?

Use quotations at strategically selected moments. You have probably been told by teachers to provide as much evidence as possible in support of your thesis. But packing your paper with quotations will not necessarily strengthen your argument. The majority of your paper should still be your original ideas in your own words (after all, it’s your paper). And quotations are only one type of evidence: well-balanced papers may also make use of paraphrases, data, and statistics. The types of evidence you use will depend in part on the conventions of the discipline or audience for which you are writing. For example, papers analyzing literature may rely heavily on direct quotations of the text, while papers in the social sciences may have more paraphrasing, data, and statistics than quotations.

Discussing specific arguments or ideas

Sometimes, in order to have a clear, accurate discussion of the ideas of others, you need to quote those ideas word for word. Suppose you want to challenge the following statement made by John Doe, a well-known historian:

“At the beginning of World War Two, almost all Americans assumed the war would end quickly.”

If it is especially important that you formulate a counterargument to this claim, then you might wish to quote the part of the statement that you find questionable and establish a dialogue between yourself and John Doe:

Historian John Doe has argued that in 1941 “almost all Americans assumed the war would end quickly” (Doe 223). Yet during the first six months of U.S. involvement, the wives and mothers of soldiers often noted in their diaries their fear that the war would drag on for years.

Giving added emphasis to a particularly authoritative source on your topic.

There will be times when you want to highlight the words of a particularly important and authoritative source on your topic. For example, suppose you were writing an essay about the differences between the lives of male and female slaves in the U.S. South. One of your most provocative sources is a narrative written by a former slave, Harriet Jacobs. It would then be appropriate to quote some of Jacobs’s words:

Harriet Jacobs, a former slave from North Carolina, published an autobiographical slave narrative in 1861. She exposed the hardships of both male and female slaves but ultimately concluded that “slavery is terrible for men; but it is far more terrible for women.”

In this particular example, Jacobs is providing a crucial first-hand perspective on slavery. Thus, her words deserve more exposure than a paraphrase could provide.

Jacobs is quoted in Harriet A. Jacobs, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, ed. Jean Fagan Yellin (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1987).

Analyzing how others use language.

This scenario is probably most common in literature and linguistics courses, but you might also find yourself writing about the use of language in history and social science classes. If the use of language is your primary topic, then you will obviously need to quote users of that language.

Examples of topics that might require the frequent use of quotations include:

Southern colloquial expressions in William Faulkner’s Light in August

Ms. and the creation of a language of female empowerment

A comparison of three British poets and their use of rhyme

Spicing up your prose.

In order to lend variety to your prose, you may wish to quote a source with particularly vivid language. All quotations, however, must closely relate to your topic and arguments. Do not insert a quotation solely for its literary merits.

One example of a quotation that adds flair:

President Calvin Coolidge’s tendency to fall asleep became legendary. As H. L. Mencken commented in the American Mercury in 1933, “Nero fiddled, but Coolidge only snored.”

How do I set up and follow up a quotation?

Once you’ve carefully selected the quotations that you want to use, your next job is to weave those quotations into your text. The words that precede and follow a quotation are just as important as the quotation itself. You can think of each quote as the filling in a sandwich: it may be tasty on its own, but it’s messy to eat without some bread on either side of it. Your words can serve as the “bread” that helps readers digest each quote easily. Below are four guidelines for setting up and following up quotations.

In illustrating these four steps, we’ll use as our example, Franklin Roosevelt’s famous quotation, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”

1. Provide context for each quotation.

Do not rely on quotations to tell your story for you. It is your responsibility to provide your reader with context for the quotation. The context should set the basic scene for when, possibly where, and under what circumstances the quotation was spoken or written. So, in providing context for our above example, you might write:

When Franklin Roosevelt gave his inaugural speech on March 4, 1933, he addressed a nation weakened and demoralized by economic depression.

2. Attribute each quotation to its source.

Tell your reader who is speaking. Here is a good test: try reading your text aloud. Could your reader determine without looking at your paper where your quotations begin? If not, you need to attribute the quote more noticeably.

Avoid getting into the “they said” attribution rut! There are many other ways to attribute quotes besides this construction. Here are a few alternative verbs, usually followed by “that”:

add	remark	exclaim
announce	reply	state
comment	respond	estimate
write	point out	predict
argue	suggest	propose
declare	criticize	proclaim
note	complain	opine
observe	think	note

Different reporting verbs are preferred by different disciplines, so pay special attention to these in your disciplinary reading. If you’re unfamiliar with the meanings of any of these words or others you find in your reading, consult a dictionary before using them.

3. Explain the significance of the quotation.

Once you’ve inserted your quotation, along with its context and attribution, don’t stop! Your reader still needs your assessment of why the quotation holds significance for your paper. Using our Roosevelt example, if you were writing a paper on the first one-hundred days of FDR’s administration, you might follow the quotation by linking it to that topic:

With that message of hope and confidence, the new president set the stage for his next one-hundred days in office and helped restore the faith of the American people in their government.

4. Provide a citation for the quotation.

All quotations, just like all paraphrases, require a formal citation. For more details about particular citation formats, see the UNC Libraries citation tutorial . In general, you should remember one rule of thumb: Place the parenthetical reference or footnote/endnote number after—not within—the closed quotation mark.

Roosevelt declared, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself” (Roosevelt, Public Papers, 11).

Roosevelt declared, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”1

How do I embed a quotation into a sentence?

In general, avoid leaving quotes as sentences unto themselves. Even if you have provided some context for the quote, a quote standing alone can disrupt your flow. Take a look at this example:

Hamlet denies Rosencrantz’s claim that thwarted ambition caused his depression. “I could be bounded in a nutshell and count myself a king of infinite space” (Hamlet 2.2).

Standing by itself, the quote’s connection to the preceding sentence is unclear. There are several ways to incorporate a quote more smoothly:

Lead into the quote with a colon.

Hamlet denies Rosencrantz’s claim that thwarted ambition caused his depression: “I could be bounded in a nutshell and count myself a king of infinite space” (Hamlet 2.2).

The colon announces that a quote will follow to provide evidence for the sentence’s claim.

Introduce or conclude the quote by attributing it to the speaker. If your attribution precedes the quote, you will need to use a comma after the verb.

Hamlet denies Rosencrantz’s claim that thwarted ambition caused his depression. He states, “I could be bounded in a nutshell and count myself a king of infinite space” (Hamlet 2.2).

When faced with a twelve-foot mountain troll, Ron gathers his courage, shouting, “Wingardium Leviosa!” (Rowling, p. 176).

The Pirate King sees an element of regality in their impoverished and dishonest life. “It is, it is a glorious thing/To be a pirate king,” he declares (Pirates of Penzance, 1983).

Interrupt the quote with an attribution to the speaker. Again, you will need to use a comma after the verb, as well as a comma leading into the attribution.

“There is nothing either good or bad,” Hamlet argues, “but thinking makes it so” (Hamlet 2.2).

“And death shall be no more,” Donne writes, “Death thou shalt die” (“Death, Be Not Proud,” l. 14).

Dividing the quote may highlight a particular nuance of the quote’s meaning. In the first example, the division calls attention to the two parts of Hamlet’s claim. The first phrase states that nothing is inherently good or bad; the second phrase suggests that our perspective causes things to become good or bad. In the second example, the isolation of “Death thou shalt die” at the end of the sentence draws a reader’s attention to that phrase in particular. As you decide whether or not you want to break up a quote, you should consider the shift in emphasis that the division might create.

Use the words of the quote grammatically within your own sentence.

When Hamlet tells Rosencrantz that he “could be bounded in a nutshell and count [him]self a king of infinite space” (Hamlet 2.2), he implies that thwarted ambition did not cause his depression.

Ultimately, death holds no power over Donne since in the afterlife, “death shall be no more” (“Death, Be Not Proud,” l. 14).

Note that when you use “that” after the verb that introduces the quote, you no longer need a comma.

The Pirate King argues that “it is, it is a glorious thing/to be a pirate king” (Pirates of Penzance, 1983).

How much should I quote?

As few words as possible. Remember, your paper should primarily contain your own words, so quote only the most pithy and memorable parts of sources. Here are guidelines for selecting quoted material judiciously:

Excerpt fragments.

Sometimes, you should quote short fragments, rather than whole sentences. Suppose you interviewed Jane Doe about her reaction to John F. Kennedy’s assassination. She commented:

“I couldn’t believe it. It was just unreal and so sad. It was just unbelievable. I had never experienced such denial. I don’t know why I felt so strongly. Perhaps it was because JFK was more to me than a president. He represented the hopes of young people everywhere.”

You could quote all of Jane’s comments, but her first three sentences are fairly redundant. You might instead want to quote Jane when she arrives at the ultimate reason for her strong emotions:

Jane Doe grappled with grief and disbelief. She had viewed JFK, not just as a national figurehead, but as someone who “represented the hopes of young people everywhere.”

Excerpt those fragments carefully!

Quoting the words of others carries a big responsibility. Misquoting misrepresents the ideas of others. Here’s a classic example of a misquote:

John Adams has often been quoted as having said: “This would be the best of all possible worlds if there were no religion in it.”

John Adams did, in fact, write the above words. But if you see those words in context, the meaning changes entirely. Here’s the rest of the quotation:

Twenty times, in the course of my late reading, have I been on the point of breaking out, ‘this would be the best of all possible worlds, if there were no religion in it!!!!’ But in this exclamation, I should have been as fanatical as Bryant or Cleverly. Without religion, this world would be something not fit to be mentioned in public company—I mean hell.

As you can see from this example, context matters!

This example is from Paul F. Boller, Jr. and John George, They Never Said It: A Book of Fake Quotes, Misquotes, and Misleading Attributions (Oxford University Press, 1989).

Use block quotations sparingly.

There may be times when you need to quote long passages. However, you should use block quotations only when you fear that omitting any words will destroy the integrity of the passage. If that passage exceeds four lines (some sources say five), then set it off as a block quotation.

Be sure you are handling block quotes correctly in papers for different academic disciplines–check the index of the citation style guide you are using. Here are a few general tips for setting off your block quotations:

Set up a block quotation with your own words followed by a colon.
Indent. You normally indent 4-5 spaces for the start of a paragraph. When setting up a block quotation, indent the entire paragraph once from the left-hand margin.
Single space or double space within the block quotation, depending on the style guidelines of your discipline (MLA, CSE, APA, Chicago, etc.).
Do not use quotation marks at the beginning or end of the block quote—the indentation is what indicates that it’s a quote.
Place parenthetical citation according to your style guide (usually after the period following the last sentence of the quote).
Follow up a block quotation with your own words.

So, using the above example from John Adams, here’s how you might include a block quotation:

After reading several doctrinally rigid tracts, John Adams recalled the zealous ranting of his former teacher, Joseph Cleverly, and minister, Lemuel Bryant. He expressed his ambivalence toward religion in an 1817 letter to Thomas Jefferson:

Adams clearly appreciated religion, even if he often questioned its promotion.

How do I combine quotation marks with other punctuation marks?

It can be confusing when you start combining quotation marks with other punctuation marks. You should consult a style manual for complicated situations, but the following two rules apply to most cases:

Keep periods and commas within quotation marks.

So, for example:

According to Professor Poe, werewolves “represent anxiety about the separation between human and animal,” and werewolf movies often “interrogate those boundaries.”

In the above example, both the comma and period were enclosed in the quotation marks. The main exception to this rule involves the use of internal citations, which always precede the last period of the sentence. For example:

According to Professor Poe, werewolves “represent anxiety about the separation between human and animal,” and werewolf movies often “interrogate those boundaries” (Poe 167).

Note, however, that the period remains inside the quotation marks when your citation style involves superscript footnotes or endnotes. For example:

According to Professor Poe, werewolves “represent anxiety about the separation between human and animal,” and werewolf movies often “interrogate those boundaries.” 2

Place all other punctuation marks (colons, semicolons, exclamation marks, question marks) outside the quotation marks, except when they were part of the original quotation.

Take a look at the following examples:

I couldn’t believe it when my friend passed me a note in the cafe saying the management “started charging $15 per hour for parking”!

The coach yelled, “Run!”

In the first example, the author placed the exclamation point outside the quotation mark because she added it herself to emphasize the outrageous nature of the parking price change. The original note had not included an exclamation mark. In the second example, the exclamation mark remains within the quotation mark because it is indicating the excited tone in which the coach yelled the command. Thus, the exclamation mark is considered to be part of the original quotation.

How do I indicate quotations within quotations?

If you are quoting a passage that contains a quotation, then you use single quotation marks for the internal quotation. Quite rarely, you quote a passage that has a quotation within a quotation. In that rare instance, you would use double quotation marks for the second internal quotation.

Here’s an example of a quotation within a quotation:

In “The Emperor’s New Clothes,” Hans Christian Andersen wrote, “‘But the Emperor has nothing on at all!’ cried a little child.”

Remember to consult your style guide to determine how to properly cite a quote within a quote.

When do I use those three dots ( . . . )?

Whenever you want to leave out material from within a quotation, you need to use an ellipsis, which is a series of three periods, each of which should be preceded and followed by a space. So, an ellipsis in this sentence would look like . . . this. There are a few rules to follow when using ellipses:

Be sure that you don’t fundamentally change the meaning of the quotation by omitting material.

Take a look at the following example:

“The Writing Center is located on the UNC campus and serves the entire UNC community.”

“The Writing Center . . . serves the entire UNC community.”

The reader’s understanding of the Writing Center’s mission to serve the UNC community is not affected by omitting the information about its location.

Do not use ellipses at the beginning or ending of quotations, unless it’s important for the reader to know that the quotation was truncated.

For example, using the above example, you would NOT need an ellipsis in either of these situations:

“The Writing Center is located on the UNC campus . . .”

The Writing Center ” . . . serves the entire UNC community.”

Use punctuation marks in combination with ellipses when removing material from the end of sentences or clauses.

For example, if you take material from the end of a sentence, keep the period in as usual.

“The boys ran to school, forgetting their lunches and books. Even though they were out of breath, they made it on time.”

“The boys ran to school. . . . Even though they were out of breath, they made it on time.”

Likewise, if you excerpt material at the end of clause that ends in a comma, retain the comma.

“The red car came to a screeching halt that was heard by nearby pedestrians, but no one was hurt.”

“The red car came to a screeching halt . . . , but no one was hurt.”

Is it ever okay to insert my own words or change words in a quotation?

Sometimes it is necessary for clarity and flow to alter a word or words within a quotation. You should make such changes rarely. In order to alert your reader to the changes you’ve made, you should always bracket the altered words. Here are a few examples of situations when you might need brackets:

Changing verb tense or pronouns in order to be consistent with the rest of the sentence.

Suppose you were quoting a woman who, when asked about her experiences immigrating to the United States, commented “nobody understood me.” You might write:

Esther Hansen felt that when she came to the United States “nobody understood [her].”

In the above example, you’ve changed “me” to “her” in order to keep the entire passage in third person. However, you could avoid the need for this change by simply rephrasing:

“Nobody understood me,” recalled Danish immigrant Esther Hansen.

Including supplemental information that your reader needs in order to understand the quotation.

For example, if you were quoting someone’s nickname, you might want to let your reader know the full name of that person in brackets.

“The principal of the school told Billy [William Smith] that his contract would be terminated.”

Similarly, if a quotation referenced an event with which the reader might be unfamiliar, you could identify that event in brackets.

“We completely revised our political strategies after the strike [of 1934].”

Indicating the use of nonstandard grammar or spelling.

In rare situations, you may quote from a text that has nonstandard grammar, spelling, or word choice. In such cases, you may want to insert [sic], which means “thus” or “so” in Latin. Using [sic] alerts your reader to the fact that this nonstandard language is not the result of a typo on your part. Always italicize “sic” and enclose it in brackets. There is no need to put a period at the end. Here’s an example of when you might use [sic]:

Twelve-year-old Betsy Smith wrote in her diary, “Father is afraid that he will be guilty of beach [sic] of contract.”

Here [sic] indicates that the original author wrote “beach of contract,” not breach of contract, which is the accepted terminology.

Do not overuse brackets!

For example, it is not necessary to bracket capitalization changes that you make at the beginning of sentences. For example, suppose you were going to use part of this quotation:

“The colors scintillated curiously over a hard carapace, and the beetle’s tiny antennae made gentle waving motions as though saying hello.”

If you wanted to begin a sentence with an excerpt from the middle of this quotation, there would be no need to bracket your capitalization changes.

“The beetle’s tiny antennae made gentle waving motions as though saying hello,” said Dr. Grace Farley, remembering a defining moment on her journey to becoming an entomologist.

Not: “[T]he beetle’s tiny antennae made gentle waving motions as though saying hello,” said Dr. Grace Farley, remembering a defining moment on her journey to becoming an entomologist.

Works consulted

We consulted these works while writing this handout. This is not a comprehensive list of resources on the handout’s topic, and we encourage you to do your own research to find additional publications. Please do not use this list as a model for the format of your own reference list, as it may not match the citation style you are using. For guidance on formatting citations, please see the UNC Libraries citation tutorial . We revise these tips periodically and welcome feedback.

Barzun, Jacques, and Henry F. Graff. 2012. The Modern Researcher , 6th ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.

Booth, Wayne C., Gregory G. Colomb, Joseph M. Williams, Joseph Bizup, and William T. FitzGerald. 2016. The Craft of Research , 4th ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Gibaldi, Joseph. 2009. MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers , 7th ed. New York: The Modern Language Association of America.

Turabian, Kate. 2018. A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, Dissertations , 9th ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

You may reproduce it for non-commercial use if you use the entire handout and attribute the source: The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

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Academic Writing

How to Put a Quote in an Essay

Last Updated: November 28, 2022 References

This article was co-authored by Christopher Taylor, PhD and by wikiHow staff writer, Danielle Blinka, MA, MPA . Christopher Taylor is an Adjunct Assistant Professor of English at Austin Community College in Texas. He received his PhD in English Literature and Medieval Studies from the University of Texas at Austin in 2014. There are 11 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been viewed 2,657,364 times.

Using a direct quote in your essay is a great way to support your ideas with concrete evidence, which you need to support your thesis. To select a good quote , look for a passage that supports your argument and is open to analysis. Then, incorporate that quote into your essay, and make sure you properly cite it based on the style guide you’re using.

Sample Quotes

Incorporating a Short Quote

Step 1 Incorporate short direct quotes into a sentence.

For instance, let's say this is the quote you want to use: "The brown leaves symbolize the death of their relationship, while the green buds suggest new opportunities will soon unfold."
If you just type that sentence into your essay and put quotes around it, your reader will be disoriented. Instead, you could incorporate it into a sentence like this: "The imagery in the story mirrors what's happening in Lia's love life, as 'The brown leaves symbolize the death of their relationship, while the green buds suggest new opportunities will soon unfold.'"

"Critic Alex Li says, 'The frequent references to the color blue are used to suggest that the family is struggling to cope with the loss of their matriarch.'"
"According to McKinney’s research, 'Adults who do yoga at least three times a week have lower blood pressure, better sleeping patterns, and fewer everyday frustrations.'"
"Based on several recent studies, people are more likely to sit on the park benches when they're shaded by trees."

You still need to use quotation marks even if you're only quoting a few words.
If you're in doubt, it's best to be cautious and use quotes.

For example, let’s say you used the quote, “According to McKinney’s research, ‘Adults who do yoga at least three times a week have lower blood pressure, better sleeping patterns, and fewer everyday frustrations.’” Your commentary might read, “This shows that yoga can have a positive impact on people’s health, so incorporating it into the workplace can help improve employee health outcomes. Since yoga makes employees healthier, they’ll likely have reduced insurance costs.”

When you use a paraphrase, you still need to provide commentary that links the paraphrased material back to your thesis and ideas.

Using a Long Quote

Step 1 Introduce a long direct quote, then set it off in a block.

The reader will recognize that the material is a direct quote because it's set off from the rest of the text. That's why you don't need to use quotation marks. However, you will include your citation at the bottom.

Step 2 Write an introductory lead-in to tell the reader what the quote is about.

"In The Things They Carried , the items carried by soldiers in the Vietnam war are used to both characterize them and burden the readers with the weight they are carrying: The things they carried were largely determined by necessity. Among the necessities or near-necessities were P-38 can openers, pocket knives, heat tabs, wristwatches, dog tags, mosquito repellent, chewing gum, candy cigarettes, salt tablets, packets of Kool-Aid, lighters, matches, sewing kits, Military Payment Certificates, C rations, and two or three canteens of water." (O'Brien 2)

Variation: When you're citing two or more paragraphs, you must use block quotes, even if the passage you want to quote is less than four lines long. You should indent the first line of each paragraph an extra quarter inch. Then, use ellipses (…) at the end of one paragraph to transition to the next.

Step 3 Indent the block quote by .5 inches (1.3 cm) from the left margin.

Your block quote will use the same spacing as the rest of your paper, which will likely be double-spacing.

Step 4 Use an ellipsis to omit a word or words from a direct quote.

For example, “According to Li, “Rosa is the first sister to pick a rose because she’s the only one who’s begun to move on after their mother’s death” might become “According to Li, “Rosa is the first sister to pick a rose because she’s … begun to move on after their mother’s death.”
Don’t eliminate words to change the meaning of the original text. For instance, it’s not appropriate to use an ellipsis to change “plants did not grow faster when exposed to poetry” to “plants did … grow faster when exposed to poetry.”

Step 5 Put brackets around words you need to add to a quote for clarification.

For example, let’s say you want to use the quote, “All of them experienced a more relaxed, calmer disposition after doing yoga for 6 months.” This doesn’t tell the reader who you’re talking about. You could use brackets to say, “All of [the teachers in the study] experienced a more relaxed, calmer disposition after doing yoga for 6 months.”
However, if you know the study is talking about teachers, you couldn’t use brackets to say, “All of [society experiences] a more relaxed, calmer disposition after doing yoga for 6 months.”

Step 6 Provide commentary after a quote to explain how it supports your ideas.

If you don't explain your quote well, then it's not helping your ideas. You can't expect the reader to connect the quote back to your thesis for you.

Step 7 Paraphrase the quote to condense it to 1 or 2 sentences, if you can.

For instance, you may prefer to use a long block quote to present a passage from a literary work that demonstrates the author's style. However, let's say you were using a journal article to provide a critic's perspective on an author's work. You may not need to directly quote an entire paragraph word-for-word to get their point across. Instead, use a paraphrase.

Tip: If you’re unsure about a quote, ask yourself, “Can I paraphrase this in more concise language and not lose any support for my argument?” If the answer is yes, a quote is not necessary.

Citing Your Quote

An MLA citation will look like this: (Lopez 24)
For sources with multiple authors, separate their names with the word “and:” (Anderson and Smith 55-56) or (Taylor, Gomez, and Austin 89)
If you use the author’s name in your lead-in to the quote, you just need to provide the year in parentheses: According to Luz Lopez, “the green grass symbolizes a fresh start for Lia (24).”

An APA citation for a direct quote looks like this: (Ronan, 2019, p. 10)
If you’re citing multiple authors, separate their names with the word “and:” (Cruz, Hanks, and Simmons, 2019, p. 85)
If you incorporated the author’s name into your lead-in, you can just give the year and page number: Based on Ronan’s (2019, p. 10) analysis, “coffee breaks improve productivity.”

Step 3 Use the author’s last name, date, and page number for Chicago Style.

For instance, a Chicago Style citation will look like this: (Alexander 2019, 125)
If you’re quoting a source with multiple authors, separate them with the word “and:” (Pattinson, Stewart, and Green 2019, 175)
If you already incorporated the author’s name into your quote, then you can just provide the year and page number: According to Alexander, “the smell of roses increases feelings of happiness” (2019, 125).

Step 4 Prepare a Works Cited or References page.

For MLA, you'd cite an article like this: Lopez, Luz. "A Fresh Blossom: Imagery in 'Her Darkest Sunshine.'" Journal of Stories , vol. 2, no. 5, 2019, p. 15-22. [17] X Trustworthy Source Purdue Online Writing Lab Trusted resource for writing and citation guidelines Go to source
In APA, you'd cite an article like this: Lopez, Luz. (2019). A Fresh Blossom: Imagery in "Her Darkest Sunshine." Journal of Stories , 2(5), 15-22. [18] X Trustworthy Source Purdue Online Writing Lab Trusted resource for writing and citation guidelines Go to source
For Chicago Style, your article citation would look like this: Lopez, Luz. "A Fresh Blossom: Imagery in 'Her Darkest Sunshine.'" Journal of Stories 2 no. 4 (2019): 15-22. [19] X Trustworthy Source Purdue Online Writing Lab Trusted resource for writing and citation guidelines Go to source

Selecting a Quote

Step 1 Select a quote that backs up the argument you’re making.

Tip: Quotes are most effective when the original language of the person or text you’re quoting is worth repeating word-for-word.

Step 2 Make sure the quote is something you can analyze.

If you’re struggling to explain the quote or link it back to your argument, then it’s likely not a good idea to include it in your essay.

Step 3 Avoid using too many direct quotes in your paper.

Paraphrases and summaries work just like a direct quote, except that you don’t need to put quotation marks around them because you’re using your own words to restate ideas. However, you still need to cite the sources you used.

Community Q&A

Always cite your quotes properly. If you don't, it is considered plagiarism. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0

↑ https://www.ursinus.edu/live/files/1160-integrating-quotespdf
↑ https://lsa.umich.edu/sweetland/undergraduates/writing-guides/how-do-i-incorporate-quotes-.html
↑ https://helpfulprofessor.com/quotes/
↑ https://advice.writing.utoronto.ca/using-sources/quotations/
↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/mla_style/mla_formatting_and_style_guide/mla_formatting_quotations.html
↑ https://guides.libraries.psu.edu/apaquickguide/intext
↑ https://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide/citation-guide-2.html
↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/mla_style/mla_formatting_and_style_guide/mla_formatting_and_style_guide.html
↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_formatting_and_style_guide/reference_list_articles_in_periodicals.html
↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/chicago_manual_17th_edition/cmos_formatting_and_style_guide/periodicals.html
↑ https://writingcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/quotations/

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Frequently asked questions

How do i cite a quote in academic writing.

Every time you quote a source , you must include a correctly formatted in-text citation . This looks slightly different depending on the citation style .

For example, a direct quote in APA is cited like this: “This is a quote” (Streefkerk, 2020, p. 5).

Every in-text citation should also correspond to a full reference at the end of your paper.

Frequently asked questions: Citing sources

A scientific citation style is a system of source citation that is used in scientific disciplines. Some commonly used scientific citation styles are:

Chicago author-date , CSE , and Harvard , used across various sciences
ACS , used in chemistry
AMA , NLM , and Vancouver , used in medicine and related disciplines
AAA , APA , and ASA , commonly used in the social sciences

There are many different citation styles used across different academic disciplines, but they fall into three basic approaches to citation:

Parenthetical citations : Including identifying details of the source in parentheses —usually the author’s last name and the publication date, plus a page number if available ( author-date ). The publication date is occasionally omitted ( author-page ).
Numerical citations: Including a number in brackets or superscript, corresponding to an entry in your numbered reference list.
Note citations: Including a full citation in a footnote or endnote , which is indicated in the text with a superscript number or symbol.

A source annotation in an annotated bibliography fulfills a similar purpose to an abstract : they’re both intended to summarize the approach and key points of a source.

However, an annotation may also evaluate the source , discussing the validity and effectiveness of its arguments. Even if your annotation is purely descriptive , you may have a different perspective on the source from the author and highlight different key points.

You should never just copy text from the abstract for your annotation, as doing so constitutes plagiarism .

Most academics agree that you shouldn’t cite Wikipedia as a source in your academic writing , and universities often have rules against doing so.

This is partly because of concerns about its reliability, and partly because it’s a tertiary source. Tertiary sources are things like encyclopedias and databases that collect information from other sources rather than presenting their own evidence or analysis. Usually, only primary and secondary sources are cited in academic papers.

A Wikipedia citation usually includes the title of the article, “Wikipedia” and/or “Wikimedia Foundation,” the date the article was last updated, and the URL.

In APA Style , you’ll give the URL of the current revision of the article so that you’re sure the reader accesses the same version as you.

There’s some disagreement about whether Wikipedia can be considered a reliable source . Because it can be edited by anyone, many people argue that it’s easy for misleading information to be added to an article without the reader knowing.

Others argue that because Wikipedia articles cite their sources , and because they are worked on by so many editors, misinformation is generally removed quickly.

However, most universities state that you shouldn’t cite Wikipedia in your writing.

Hanging indents are used in reference lists in various citation styles to allow the reader to easily distinguish between entries.

You should apply a hanging indent to your reference entries in APA , MLA , and Chicago style.

A hanging indent is used to indent all lines of a paragraph except the first.

When you create a hanging indent, the first line of the paragraph starts at the border. Each subsequent line is indented 0.5 inches (1.27 cm).

APA and MLA style both use parenthetical in-text citations to cite sources and include a full list of references at the end, but they differ in other ways:

APA in-text citations include the author name, date, and page number (Taylor, 2018, p. 23), while MLA in-text citations include only the author name and page number (Taylor 23).
The APA reference list is titled “References,” while MLA’s version is called “ Works Cited .”
The reference entries differ in terms of formatting and order of information.
APA requires a title page , while MLA requires a header instead.

A parenthetical citation in Chicago author-date style includes the author’s last name, the publication date, and, if applicable, the relevant page number or page range in parentheses . Include a comma after the year, but not after the author’s name.

For example: (Swan 2003, 6)

To automatically generate accurate Chicago references, you can use Scribbr’s free Chicago reference generator .

APA Style distinguishes between parenthetical and narrative citations.

In parenthetical citations , you include all relevant source information in parentheses at the end of the sentence or clause: “Parts of the human body reflect the principles of tensegrity (Levin, 2002).”

In narrative citations , you include the author’s name in the text itself, followed by the publication date in parentheses: “Levin (2002) argues that parts of the human body reflect the principles of tensegrity.”

In a parenthetical citation in MLA style , include the author’s last name and the relevant page number or range in parentheses .

For example: (Eliot 21)

A parenthetical citation gives credit in parentheses to a source that you’re quoting or paraphrasing . It provides relevant information such as the author’s name, the publication date, and the page number(s) cited.

How you use parenthetical citations will depend on your chosen citation style . It will also depend on the type of source you are citing and the number of authors.

APA does not permit the use of ibid. This is because APA in-text citations are parenthetical and there’s no need to shorten them further.

Ibid. may be used in Chicago footnotes or endnotes .

Write “Ibid.” alone when you are citing the same page number and source as the previous citation.

When you are citing the same source, but a different page number, use ibid. followed by a comma and the relevant page number(s). For example:

Ibid., 40–42.

Only use ibid . if you are directing the reader to a previous full citation of a source .

Ibid. only refers to the previous citation. Therefore, you should only use ibid. directly after a citation that you want to repeat.

Ibid. is an abbreviation of the Latin “ibidem,” meaning “in the same place.” Ibid. is used in citations to direct the reader to the previous source.

Signal phrases can be used in various ways and can be placed at the beginning, middle, or end of a sentence.

To use signal phrases effectively, include:

The name of the scholar(s) or study you’re referencing
An attributive tag such as “according to” or “argues that”
The quote or idea you want to include

Different citation styles require you to use specific verb tenses when using signal phrases.

APA Style requires you to use the past or present perfect tense when using signal phrases.
MLA and Chicago requires you to use the present tense when using signal phrases.

Signal phrases allow you to give credit for an idea or quote to its author or originator. This helps you to:

Establish the credentials of your sources
Display your depth of reading and understanding of the field
Position your own work in relation to other scholars
Avoid plagiarism

A signal phrase is a group of words that ascribes a quote or idea to an outside source.

Signal phrases distinguish the cited idea or argument from your own writing and introduce important information including the source of the material that you are quoting , paraphrasing , or summarizing . For example:

“ Cognitive psychologist Steven Pinker (1994) insists that humans possess an innate faculty for comprehending grammar.”

If you’re quoting from a text that paraphrases or summarizes other sources and cites them in parentheses , APA and Chicago both recommend retaining the citations as part of the quote. However, MLA recommends omitting citations within a quote:

APA: Smith states that “the literature on this topic (Jones, 2015; Sill, 2019; Paulson, 2020) shows no clear consensus” (Smith, 2019, p. 4).
MLA: Smith states that “the literature on this topic shows no clear consensus” (Smith, 2019, p. 4).

Footnote or endnote numbers that appear within quoted text should be omitted in all styles.

If you want to cite an indirect source (one you’ve only seen quoted in another source), either locate the original source or use the phrase “as cited in” in your citation.

In scientific subjects, the information itself is more important than how it was expressed, so quoting should generally be kept to a minimum. In the arts and humanities, however, well-chosen quotes are often essential to a good paper.

In social sciences, it varies. If your research is mainly quantitative , you won’t include many quotes, but if it’s more qualitative , you may need to quote from the data you collected .

As a general guideline, quotes should take up no more than 5–10% of your paper. If in doubt, check with your instructor or supervisor how much quoting is appropriate in your field.

To present information from other sources in academic writing , it’s best to paraphrase in most cases. This shows that you’ve understood the ideas you’re discussing and incorporates them into your text smoothly.

It’s appropriate to quote when:

Changing the phrasing would distort the meaning of the original text
You want to discuss the author’s language choices (e.g., in literary analysis )
You’re presenting a precise definition
You’re looking in depth at a specific claim

To paraphrase effectively, don’t just take the original sentence and swap out some of the words for synonyms. Instead, try:

Reformulating the sentence (e.g., change active to passive , or start from a different point)
Combining information from multiple sentences into one
Leaving out information from the original that isn’t relevant to your point
Using synonyms where they don’t distort the meaning

The main point is to ensure you don’t just copy the structure of the original text, but instead reformulate the idea in your own words.

“ Et al. ” is an abbreviation of the Latin term “et alia,” which means “and others.” It’s used in source citations to save space when there are too many authors to name them all.

Guidelines for using “et al.” differ depending on the citation style you’re following:

To insert endnotes in Microsoft Word, follow the steps below:

Click on the spot in the text where you want the endnote to show up.
In the “References” tab at the top, select “Insert Endnote.”
Type whatever text you want into the endnote.

If you need to change the type of notes used in a Word document from footnotes to endnotes , or the other way around, follow these steps:

Open the “References” tab, and click the arrow in the bottom-right corner of the “Footnotes” section.
In the pop-up window, click on “Convert…”
Choose the option you need, and click “OK.”

To insert a footnote automatically in a Word document:

Click on the point in the text where the footnote should appear
Select the “References” tab at the top and then click on “Insert Footnote”
Type the text you want into the footnote that appears at the bottom of the page

Footnotes are notes indicated in your text with numbers and placed at the bottom of the page. They’re used to provide:

Citations (e.g., in Chicago notes and bibliography )
Additional information that would disrupt the flow of the main text

Be sparing in your use of footnotes (other than citation footnotes), and consider whether the information you’re adding is relevant for the reader.

Footnotes appear at the bottom of the page they refer to. This is convenient for the reader but may cause your text to look cluttered if there are a lot of footnotes.

Endnotes appear all together at the end of the whole text. This may be less convenient for the reader but reduces clutter.

Both footnotes and endnotes are used in the same way: to cite sources or add extra information. You should usually choose one or the other to use in your text, not both.

An in-text citation is an acknowledgement you include in your text whenever you quote or paraphrase a source. It usually gives the author’s last name, the year of publication, and the page number of the relevant text. In-text citations allow the reader to look up the full source information in your reference list and see your sources for themselves.

If you are reusing content or data you used in a previous assignment, make sure to cite yourself. You can cite yourself just as you would cite any other source: simply follow the directions for that source type in the citation style you are using.

Keep in mind that reusing your previous work can be considered self-plagiarism , so make sure you ask your professor or consult your university’s handbook before doing so.

A credible source should pass the CRAAP test and follow these guidelines:

The information should be up to date and current.
The author and publication should be a trusted authority on the subject you are researching.
The sources the author cited should be easy to find, clear, and unbiased.
For a web source, the URL and layout should signify that it is trustworthy.

Peer review is a process of evaluating submissions to an academic journal. Utilizing rigorous criteria, a panel of reviewers in the same subject area decide whether to accept each submission for publication. For this reason, academic journals are often considered among the most credible sources you can use in a research project– provided that the journal itself is trustworthy and well-regarded.

Academic dishonesty can be intentional or unintentional, ranging from something as simple as claiming to have read something you didn’t to copying your neighbor’s answers on an exam.

You can commit academic dishonesty with the best of intentions, such as helping a friend cheat on a paper. Severe academic dishonesty can include buying a pre-written essay or the answers to a multiple-choice test, or falsifying a medical emergency to avoid taking a final exam.

Academic dishonesty refers to deceitful or misleading behavior in an academic setting. Academic dishonesty can occur intentionally or unintentionally, and varies in severity.

It can encompass paying for a pre-written essay, cheating on an exam, or committing plagiarism . It can also include helping others cheat, copying a friend’s homework answers, or even pretending to be sick to miss an exam.

Academic dishonesty doesn’t just occur in a classroom setting, but also in research and other academic-adjacent fields.

To apply a hanging indent to your reference list or Works Cited list in Word or Google Docs, follow the steps below.

Microsoft Word:

Highlight the whole list and right click to open the Paragraph options.
Under Indentation > Special , choose Hanging from the dropdown menu.
Set the indent to 0.5 inches or 1.27cm.

Google Docs:

Highlight the whole list and click on Format > Align and indent > Indentation options .
Under Special indent , choose Hanging from the dropdown menu.

When the hanging indent is applied, for each reference, every line except the first is indented. This helps the reader see where one entry ends and the next begins.

For a published interview (whether in video , audio, or print form ), you should always include a citation , just as you would for any other source.

For an interview you conducted yourself , formally or informally, you often don’t need a citation and can just refer to it in the text or in a footnote , since the reader won’t be able to look them up anyway. MLA , however, still recommends including citations for your own interviews.

The main elements included in a newspaper interview citation across APA , MLA , and Chicago style are the names of the interviewer and interviewee, the interview title, the publication date, the name of the newspaper, and a URL (for online sources).

The information is presented differently in different citation styles. One key difference is that APA advises listing the interviewer in the author position, while MLA and Chicago advise listing the interviewee first.

The elements included in a newspaper article citation across APA , MLA , and Chicago style are the author name, the article title, the publication date, the newspaper name, and the URL if the article was accessed online .

In APA and MLA, the page numbers of the article appear in place of the URL if the article was accessed in print. No page numbers are used in Chicago newspaper citations.

Untitled sources (e.g. some images ) are usually cited using a short descriptive text in place of the title. In APA Style , this description appears in brackets: [Chair of stained oak]. In MLA and Chicago styles, no brackets are used: Chair of stained oak.

For social media posts, which are usually untitled, quote the initial words of the post in place of the title: the first 160 characters in Chicago , or the first 20 words in APA . E.g. Biden, J. [@JoeBiden]. “The American Rescue Plan means a $7,000 check for a single mom of four. It means more support to safely.”

MLA recommends quoting the full post for something short like a tweet, and just describing the post if it’s longer.

The main elements included in image citations across APA , MLA , and Chicago style are the name of the image’s creator, the image title, the year (or more precise date) of publication, and details of the container in which the image was found (e.g. a museum, book , website ).

In APA and Chicago style, it’s standard to also include a description of the image’s format (e.g. “Photograph” or “Oil on canvas”). This sort of information may be included in MLA too, but is not mandatory.

The main elements included in a lecture citation across APA , MLA , and Chicago style are the name of the speaker, the lecture title, the date it took place, the course or event it was part of, and the institution it took place at.

For transcripts or recordings of lectures/speeches, other details like the URL, the name of the book or website , and the length of the recording may be included instead of information about the event and institution.

The main elements included in a YouTube video citation across APA , MLA , and Chicago style are the name of the author/uploader, the title of the video, the publication date, and the URL.

The format in which this information appears is different for each style.

All styles also recommend using timestamps as a locator in the in-text citation or Chicago footnote .

Each annotation in an annotated bibliography is usually between 50 and 200 words long. Longer annotations may be divided into paragraphs .

The content of the annotation varies according to your assignment. An annotation can be descriptive, meaning it just describes the source objectively; evaluative, meaning it assesses its usefulness; or reflective, meaning it explains how the source will be used in your own research .

Any credible sources on your topic can be included in an annotated bibliography . The exact sources you cover will vary depending on the assignment, but you should usually focus on collecting journal articles and scholarly books . When in doubt, utilize the CRAAP test !

An annotated bibliography is an assignment where you collect sources on a specific topic and write an annotation for each source. An annotation is a short text that describes and sometimes evaluates the source.

The elements included in journal article citations across APA , MLA , and Chicago style are the name(s) of the author(s), the title of the article, the year of publication, the name of the journal, the volume and issue numbers, the page range of the article, and, when accessed online, the DOI or URL.

In MLA and Chicago style, you also include the specific month or season of publication alongside the year, when this information is available.

In APA , MLA , and Chicago style citations for sources that don’t list a specific author (e.g. many websites ), you can usually list the organization responsible for the source as the author.

If the organization is the same as the website or publisher, you shouldn’t repeat it twice in your reference:

In APA and Chicago, omit the website or publisher name later in the reference.
In MLA, omit the author element at the start of the reference, and cite the source title instead.

If there’s no appropriate organization to list as author, you will usually have to begin the citation and reference entry with the title of the source instead.

The main elements included in website citations across APA , MLA , and Chicago style are the author, the date of publication, the page title, the website name, and the URL. The information is presented differently in each style.

When you want to cite a specific passage in a source without page numbers (e.g. an e-book or website ), all the main citation styles recommend using an alternate locator in your in-text citation . You might use a heading or chapter number, e.g. (Smith, 2016, ch. 1)

In APA Style , you can count the paragraph numbers in a text to identify a location by paragraph number. MLA and Chicago recommend that you only use paragraph numbers if they’re explicitly marked in the text.

For audiovisual sources (e.g. videos ), all styles recommend using a timestamp to show a specific point in the video when relevant.

The abbreviation “ et al. ” (Latin for “and others”) is used to shorten citations of sources with multiple authors.

“Et al.” is used in APA in-text citations of sources with 3+ authors, e.g. (Smith et al., 2019). It is not used in APA reference entries .

Use “et al.” for 3+ authors in MLA in-text citations and Works Cited entries.

Use “et al.” for 4+ authors in a Chicago in-text citation , and for 10+ authors in a Chicago bibliography entry.

Check if your university or course guidelines specify which citation style to use. If the choice is left up to you, consider which style is most commonly used in your field.

APA Style is the most popular citation style, widely used in the social and behavioral sciences.
MLA style is the second most popular, used mainly in the humanities.
Chicago notes and bibliography style is also popular in the humanities, especially history.
Chicago author-date style tends to be used in the sciences.

Other more specialized styles exist for certain fields, such as Bluebook and OSCOLA for law.

The most important thing is to choose one style and use it consistently throughout your text.

The main elements included in all book citations across APA , MLA , and Chicago style are the author, the title, the year of publication, and the name of the publisher. A page number is also included in in-text citations to highlight the specific passage cited.

In Chicago style and in the 6th edition of APA Style , the location of the publisher is also included, e.g. London: Penguin.

A block quote is a long quote formatted as a separate “block” of text. Instead of using quotation marks , you place the quote on a new line, and indent the entire quote to mark it apart from your own words.

The rules for when to apply block quote formatting depend on the citation style:

APA block quotes are 40 words or longer.
MLA block quotes are more than 4 lines of prose or 3 lines of poetry.
Chicago block quotes are longer than 100 words.

In academic writing , there are three main situations where quoting is the best choice:

To analyze the author’s language (e.g., in a literary analysis essay )
To give evidence from primary sources
To accurately present a precise definition or argument

Don’t overuse quotes; your own voice should be dominant. If you just want to provide information from a source, it’s usually better to paraphrase or summarize .

A quote is an exact copy of someone else’s words, usually enclosed in quotation marks and credited to the original author or speaker.

The DOI is usually clearly visible when you open a journal article on an academic database. It is often listed near the publication date, and includes “doi.org” or “DOI:”. If the database has a “cite this article” button, this should also produce a citation with the DOI included.

If you can’t find the DOI, you can search on Crossref using information like the author, the article title, and the journal name.

A DOI is a unique identifier for a digital document. DOIs are important in academic citation because they are more permanent than URLs, ensuring that your reader can reliably locate the source.

Journal articles and ebooks can often be found on multiple different websites and databases. The URL of the page where an article is hosted can be changed or removed over time, but a DOI is linked to the specific document and never changes.

When a book’s chapters are written by different authors, you should cite the specific chapter you are referring to.

When all the chapters are written by the same author (or group of authors), you should usually cite the entire book, but some styles include exceptions to this.

In APA Style , single-author books should always be cited as a whole, even if you only quote or paraphrase from one chapter.
In MLA Style , if a single-author book is a collection of stand-alone works (e.g. short stories ), you should cite the individual work.
In Chicago Style , you may choose to cite a single chapter of a single-author book if you feel it is more appropriate than citing the whole book.

Articles in newspapers and magazines can be primary or secondary depending on the focus of your research.

In historical studies, old articles are used as primary sources that give direct evidence about the time period. In social and communication studies, articles are used as primary sources to analyze language and social relations (for example, by conducting content analysis or discourse analysis ).

If you are not analyzing the article itself, but only using it for background information or facts about your topic, then the article is a secondary source.

A fictional movie is usually a primary source. A documentary can be either primary or secondary depending on the context.

If you are directly analyzing some aspect of the movie itself – for example, the cinematography, narrative techniques, or social context – the movie is a primary source.

If you use the movie for background information or analysis about your topic – for example, to learn about a historical event or a scientific discovery – the movie is a secondary source.

Whether it’s primary or secondary, always properly cite the movie in the citation style you are using. Learn how to create an MLA movie citation or an APA movie citation .

To determine if a source is primary or secondary, ask yourself:

Was the source created by someone directly involved in the events you’re studying (primary), or by another researcher (secondary)?
Does the source provide original information (primary), or does it summarize information from other sources (secondary)?
Are you directly analyzing the source itself (primary), or only using it for background information (secondary)?

Some types of source are nearly always primary: works of art and literature, raw statistical data, official documents and records, and personal communications (e.g. letters, interviews ). If you use one of these in your research, it is probably a primary source.

Primary sources are often considered the most credible in terms of providing evidence for your argument, as they give you direct evidence of what you are researching. However, it’s up to you to ensure the information they provide is reliable and accurate.

Always make sure to properly cite your sources to avoid plagiarism .

Common examples of secondary sources include academic books, journal articles , reviews, essays , and textbooks.

Anything that summarizes, evaluates or interprets primary sources can be a secondary source. If a source gives you an overview of background information or presents another researcher’s ideas on your topic, it is probably a secondary source.

Common examples of primary sources include interview transcripts , photographs, novels, paintings, films, historical documents, and official statistics.

Anything you directly analyze or use as first-hand evidence can be a primary source, including qualitative or quantitative data that you collected yourself.

The Scribbr Citation Generator is developed using the open-source Citation Style Language (CSL) project and Frank Bennett’s citeproc-js . It’s the same technology used by dozens of other popular citation tools, including Mendeley and Zotero.

You can find all the citation styles and locales used in the Scribbr Citation Generator in our publicly accessible repository on Github .

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Do I need quote marks when I quote myself? [closed]

Hello language lovers,

English isn't my first language and I would like to know if I need to use quotation marks when I quote something I said in the past.

quotation-marks

1 Can you give an example of what you mean? For example, are you trying to say something like this: "Remember that time I asked, 'Do i need quote marks when i quote myself?'" – Jake Regier Commented Jul 28, 2015 at 17:46
Lets get those i in the titles to I's. – Neil Meyer Commented Jul 28, 2015 at 17:58
Exactly @JakeRegier ! so you would put single quotes instead of doubles ? – Bastien Bastiens Commented Jul 28, 2015 at 21:55
1 No, because I was hypothetically quoting you. You would write it like this: Remember that time I asked, "Do i need quote marks when i quote myself?" (No italics necessary.) The reason I originally enclosed the quotation in single quotation marks is because it is a quotation within a quotation . – Jake Regier Commented Jul 28, 2015 at 22:05

3 Answers 3

Yes. The subject of the quote doesn't have any bearing on whether or not to use quote marks. You should use quotation marks when you are quoting someone word-for-word, like this:

I said, "You should do it."

You don't have to use them with indirect quotes like this:

I said that he should do it.

Generally, when you quote someone else, you use quotation marks to indicate that those are the exact words of the speaker. (Otherwise, it might be considered plagiarism in academic circles.)

But when you recall what you said, you would normally say it as follows:

That was back in 1990. You said you were getting married in December. And, I wished you all the best. We went our separate ways. - No quotation marks here, whosoever!

I said: "All the best!" - Direct speech

Or you may write: Here's what I said: "All the best!"

1 Generally when you use quotation marks it’s to indicate that these words are an exact transcription of what was said regardless of who said them. – Jim Commented Jul 28, 2015 at 20:36

Yes - after all, you are part of the conversation.

She asked me, 'How are you?' and I replied, 'Good, thank you.'

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged quotes quotations quotation-marks or ask your own question .

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Quoting Yourself

I am editing a book for a writer who has quotes at the beginning of each chapter. The first chapter has a quote of her own. It's weird, but it's what she wants. Do I just treat it like the other quotes with her own name after it?

Is this something people do in their own books?

1 Agreed, it's weird. Yes, I'd treat it like other quotes. I haven't seen other people do this in their own books. – rajah9 Commented Apr 30, 2019 at 21:23
1 This isn't really a matter of the nuts and bolts of the English language, though. I think this belongs better on Writers, whose community is far more accustomed to editing and publishing practice. – Andrew Leach Commented Apr 30, 2019 at 21:26
2 Welcome to Writing.SE Elizabeth. I see you didn't actually join us, you just got your question migrated. But I hope you will join and participate. We get some questions about professional editing and we'd love your input. You can also ask other writing questions or answer things on any topic. Please check out our tour and help center . – Cyn Commented Apr 30, 2019 at 22:54
Is this quoted directly from some other writing from the author, or is this something newly written that the author wants formatted as a quote? – David K Commented May 1, 2019 at 13:04

2 Answers 2

You have two choices:

Write it up in the same style as the other quotes but don't give an attribution. It is common enough for writers to put something poetic or otherwise different from the main chapter text in the beginning of a chapter.
Give a full citation, including the name of the work it came from. If it's unpublished, then it's just the author writing the book. If it's been published before, then it's reasonable to say where it came from. I don't think it will look strange if it's a quote from another one of her books.

The third choice is to do it however she chooses and just let the publisher deal with it (if she's not self-publishing). I think either of those options will work. The one thing I would not do is to attribute the quote to the author without saying where it is from. That would be really odd.

2 A downside to writing it without an attribution is that, if the quotes in all other chapters are attributed to someone, readers may think that this one was simply forgotten. – David K Commented May 1, 2019 at 13:07
@DavidK Very true. It really depends on the context. – Cyn Commented May 1, 2019 at 14:35

to quote the great ashleylee..... "a quote from oneself is to cite one's own words.. which begs the question how is the opening sentence different from the rest of the book which requires quotation when the rest of the book doesn't"

quoting yourself makes no sense.

2 It can make sense in certain contexts like academic or scientific papers, where self-plagiarism is a potentially serious issue. – nick012000 Commented May 1, 2019 at 5:19
@nick012000: that's citation.. not quotation. – ashleylee Commented May 1, 2019 at 13:54
You can quote yourself, then add in your citation. – nick012000 Commented May 1, 2019 at 22:34
+1 for the sass of this answer – Liquid Commented May 6, 2019 at 9:42

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Reusing Your Work and Citing Yourself
Do you ever wish you could just ask a Librarian a question or receive a personalized response? At the Walden Library you can email a Librarian through our Ask a Librarian email service. ... If you cite or quote your previous work, treat yourself as the author and your own written document as the source. For example, if Marie Briggs wanted to ...
How should I cite my own work?
The APA Manual (7th edition, p. 21) defines self-plagiarism as "the act of presenting one's own previously published work as original." This includes entire papers, and also slightly altered work. Self-plagiarism is a violation of SNHU's Academic Honesty Policy ( Online Student Academic Integrity Policy , Campus Student Academic Integrity ...
Self-Citation
Generally, you can use small portions of your previous work if you cite it properly. This is called self-citation. The citation is required because it must be clear that this work or writing exists somewhere else and that the words or ideas are not original to the current paper or production. If you quote or paraphrase your ideas from a ...
Library Guides: APA (7th Edition) Referencing Guide: Own Work
Published work. If you are citing a published work, you cite it as per normal for the work (e.g., photograph, book chapter, etc). For the citation (both in-text and in the reference list) you refer to yourself by name just as you would any other author. When discussing your work in-text, the general convention is to talk about yourself in the ...
How should authors cite their own work?
The entry should begin with the name of the author or authors, followed by the title of the work and any publication details. In their prose, the authors may refer to themselves with pronouns (e.g., In my work . . . or In our own research . . . ). For parenthetical citations, authors have two options, as shown in the examples below, which are ...
When do I need to cite myself?
If you are reusing content or data you used in a previous assignment, make sure to cite yourself. You can cite yourself just as you would cite any other source: simply follow the directions for that source type in the citation style you are using. Keep in mind that reusing your previous work can be considered self-plagiarism, so make sure you ...
How do I cite myself in APA format?
If you are using information from a previous paper you've written or from a project you've completed in a past assignment or class, it is appropriate to self-cite in order to avoid self-plagiarism. To cite or quote from a previous work you've created, follow examples for citing an unpublished work. On a related note, please review school ...
How to Cite Yourself
How to Cite Yourself. There's not much difference between citing your work and citing someone else's work in most style guides. As a general rule, you cite your previous work in the same way you cite a similar work by another author. Let's say you wrote and published a novel. Under most style guides, if you wanted to quote or reference a ...
Citing Your Own Work
Self-plagiarism is defined as incorrectly citing (or not citing) a piece of your own work in another work you are writing. There are a few different types of self-plagiarism: Word-for-word. The most common type of self-plagiarism occurs is when you copy word-for-word a paper you have already written and insert it into a new assignment.
How to Cite Yourself
Stay modest. It's one thing to acknowledge your previous contributions, but another to promote it like an advertisement. Avoid subjective language. You can claim to be the first to have done something, but to say how amazing it was is probably too far. Leave the accolades to other authors.
What is self-plagiarism? How do I cite myself?
What is self-plagiarism? "Self-plagiarism is the practice of presenting one's own previously published work as though it were new." (The APA Publication Manual, 6th ed. p. 170) Generally, students are not supposed to turn in old assignments or papers for new assignments. The instances in which you may need to cite yourself:
How can I cite myself?
If you find a circumstance in which you need to cite yourself, you will want to be sure to use the following reference entry format, referring to your coursework as an unpublished manuscript and giving the university name in your reference entry: Grammer, R. (2013). APA's hidden secrets to a better writing life [Unpublished manuscript ...
Quotations
when an author has said something memorably or succinctly, or. when you want to respond to exact wording (e.g., something someone said). Instructors, programs, editors, and publishers may establish limits on the use of direct quotations. Consult your instructor or editor if you are concerned that you may have too much quoted material in your paper.
How to Quote in an Essay: A Step-by-Step Guide with Examples
Here are some tips to effectively accomplish this: 1. Provide context and analysis: Introduce the quote by briefly explaining the background or the source; Analyze the quote by breaking it down and examining its key elements; Discuss the implications or interpretations of the quote within the context of your topic. 2.
Quoting and integrating sources into your paper
Important guidelines. When integrating a source into your paper, remember to use these three important components: Introductory phrase to the source material: mention the author, date, or any other relevant information when introducing a quote or paraphrase. Source material: a direct quote, paraphrase, or summary with proper citation.
Do I Need Quotation Marks When I Quote Myself?
You need quotation marks when you quote yourself in an essay paper or other formal written piece. The subject of the quote is irrelevant to the need for quotation marks. They should always be used to show that you are plucking information from some point in the past. Let's say that you included the following phrase in your essay:
Do I Need Quotation Marks When I Quote Myself?
Use single quotation marks ('…') when quoting within a quote, i.e., while using a quote that already has double quotation marks ("…"). Introduce the quote with a signal phrase, such as "As I mentioned earlier" or "In a previous work, I argued that," to make it clear that the subsequent quote is from your own writing.
Citing yourself and AI
You may also wish to refer to something you have published. Note: if you have a required number of texts for a Bibliography, your own work does not contribute to this requirement. Footnote. First name Family Name, "Title of Essay or Summary of Essay Question" (UNIT CODE Essay, Morling College, Year of assignment). Bibliography. Family Name ...
Quotations
What this handout is about. Used effectively, quotations can provide important pieces of evidence and lend fresh voices and perspectives to your narrative. Used ineffectively, however, quotations can clutter your text and interrupt the flow of your argument. This handout will help you decide when and how to quote like a pro.
How to Put a Quote in an Essay (with Pictures)
If you use the author's name in your lead-in to the quote, you just need to provide the year in parentheses: According to Luz Lopez, "the green grass symbolizes a fresh start for Lia (24).". 2. Include the author's last name, the year, and the page number for APA format. Write the author's name, then put a comma.
How do I cite a quote in academic writing?
If you're quoting from a text that paraphrases or summarizes other sources and cites them in parentheses, APA and Chicago both recommend retaining the citations as part of the quote. However, MLA recommends omitting citations within a quote: APA: Smith states that "the literature on this topic (Jones, 2015; Sill, 2019; Paulson, 2020) shows no clear consensus" (Smith, 2019, p. 4).
quotations
5. Yes. The subject of the quote doesn't have any bearing on whether or not to use quote marks. You should use quotation marks when you are quoting someone word-for-word, like this: I said, "You should do it." You don't have to use them with indirect quotes like this: I said that he should do it. Share.
citations
I don't think it will look strange if it's a quote from another one of her books. The third choice is to do it however she chooses and just let the publisher deal with it (if she's not self-publishing). I think either of those options will work. The one thing I would not do is to attribute the quote to the author without saying where it is from.

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FAQ: How should I cite my own work?

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