Quotations use an source material's exact wording. In general, quotations should be used less often than paraphrases. Quotations are best suited for instances such as: when the author's word choices are tied to the meaning of the sentence or when an author's words are crucial to your paper' argument. For more on the use of quotations vs. paraphrases, see The Concise St. Martin's Guide to Writing, page 423.
Key Points:
Source: Axelrod, Rise B. and Charles R. Cooper. The Concise St Martin's Guide to Writing, 8th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2018.
"Time and again, powerful and brilliant men and women have produced racist ideas in order to justify the racist policies of their era, in order to redirect blame for their era's racial disparities away from those policies and onto Black people." - Kendi, Ibram X. Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America. Nation Books, 2016. pg. 9
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"Time and again, powerful and brilliant men and women have produced racist ideas in order to justify the racist policies of their era, in order to redirect blame for their era's racial disparities away from those policies and onto Black people." (Kendi 9). This has both quotation marks and an in-text citation. |
Time and again, powerful and brilliant men and women have produced racist ideas in order to justify the racist policies of their era, in order to redirect blame for their era's racial disparities away from those policies and onto Black people. (Kendi 9). This is plagiarism. The direct quotation MUST be in quotation marks. Even with the citation this is still wrong. |
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According to Ibram X. Kendi, "powerful and brilliant men and women have produced racist ideas in order to justify the racist policies of their era, in order to redirect blame for their era's racial disparities away from those policies and onto Black people." (9). This has both quotation marks and an in-text citation. Because the author's name is in the sentence, the citation only needs to be the page number. |
According to Ibram X. Kendi, "powerful and brilliant men and women have produced racist ideas in order to justify the racist policies of their era, in order to redirect blame for their era's racial disparities away from those policies and onto Black people." Even with the quotation marks and the author's name you need a citation. |
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Kendi inverts the normal narrative, and argues that racist ideas are a result of policies created for economic and social gain, rather than vice versa. This allows a white society "to redirect blame for their era's racial disparities away from those policies and onto Black people." (9). The first part is reworded, the second part is an exact quote and is in quotation marks. |
Kendi argues that racist ideas are a result of policies created for economic and social gain, rather than vice versa. This allows a white society to redirect blame for their era's racial disparities away from those policies and onto Black people. This is Plagiarism. There are no quotation marks and no citation. |
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"[P]owerful and brilliant men and women have produced racist ideas in order to justify the racist policies of their era," Kendi argues, "in order to redirect blame for their era's racial disparities away from those policies and onto Black people." (Kendi 9). The quote is in quotation mark, changes made to the quote are marked by brackets, and there is a citation. |
"[P]owerful and brilliant men and women have produced racist ideas in order to justify the racist policies of their era," Kendi argues, in order to redirect blame for their era's racial disparities away from those policies and onto Black people. (Kendi 9). This is plagiarism. The first part is in quotation marks, but the second part must be, too. Omitting them indicates to the reader that these are your words, rather than the author's. |
