Session 3: Academic Writing Dealing with Responses, Paraphrases,

Summaries, and Quotation

Learning Outcomes

On completion of this session, you will be able to:

1. Distinguish between descriptive and critical academic writing

2. Grasp fundamental principles and techniques related to various aspects relating to academic writing.

3. Adopt good practices when undertaking academic writing

What is Descriptive Writing?

This type of writing describes something, is fact-based, but does not go into more depth. Some
examples of descriptive writing are:

• A summary of a sequence of events

• A description of an experiment or research project

• A description of a piece of literature or art 

• The background or context of an essay or case study

• An account of the biographical details of a key figure in the discipline

• Facts and figures about an issue

What is Critical Writing?

Critical writing is more complex than descriptive writing, involving more discussion, analysis and
evaluation. This is where you will demonstrate your involvement in an academic debate. Some
Characteristics of critical writing are:

• An evaluation of the arguments and evidence other writers and recognition of their limitations.

• Open-minded and objective enquiry into a specific problem, considering alternative

approaches. 

• A clear presentation of reasons and evidence to dispute a particular finding.

• Recognition of the limitations in your own evidence, argument, and conclusion

• Applying caution and humility when challenging established positions. For example, using
tentative phrases such as ‘It could be argued that...’; or ‘An alternative viewpoint might suggest
that...’.
The Difference between Descriptive Writing and Critical Writing

 Descriptive writing is relatively simple and describes the situation as it stands. Rather than
analysing, discussing or developing an argument, it merely sets the background within
which an argument can be developed. Descriptive writing presents, but does not
transform, information; it reports ideas without taking them forward in any way. An
assignment using only descriptive writing would therefore gain few marks.

Critical writing, on the other hand, participates in the academic debate. Critical writers
undertake challenge and risk to appraise the evidence and arguments of others, and join
in with their own. 

To write critically, you will need to:

• appraise the quality of the evidence and arguments that you have read;

• identify the main aspects, both positive and negative, and be prepared to comment on
them;
 decide how relevant and useful they will be to your debate; and

• find ways to weave these arguments into your own work.

It can be easy to fall into the trap of using too many words from your word limit writing
descriptively, leaving less room for critical writing. Critical writing requires greater skill and
so is rewarded with higher marks.

Use Descriptive Writing for:

• Introducing a topic;

• Presenting facts and providing information;

• Describing an event, process or situation; or

• Summarising information.

Use Critical Writing for:

• Organising and evaluating evidence;

• Comparing and weighing-up alternative viewpoints;

• Analysing the outcome of research or experiments;

• Making links between different approaches, topics or fields;

• Forming arguments; or

• Making Judgements and drawing conclusions.

Writing Critically
Find your Academic Voice

By engaging in critical writing, you are developing your own academic voice and should aim to
demonstrate:

• “healthy scepticism … but not cynicism 

• confidence … but not ‘cockiness’ or arrogance 

• judgement which is critical … but not dismissive 

• opinions … without being opinionated

careful evaluation of published work … not serial shooting at random targets

• being ‘fair’: assessing fairly the strengths and weaknesses of other people’s ideas and writing …
without prejudice 

• making judgements on the basis of considerable thought and all the available evidence … as
opposed to assertions without reason.” (Wellington et al, 2005 p.84)

Writing A Response Essay

Reaction or response papers are usually requested by lecturers so that you'll consider carefully
what you think or feel about something you've read. The following guidelines are intended to be
used for reacting to a reading although they could easily be used for reactions to films too. Read
whatever you've been asked to respond to, and while reading, think about the following
questions.

 How do you feel about what you are reading?

 What do you agree or disagree with?
 Can you identify with the situation?
 What would be the best way to evaluate the story?

Keeping your responses to these questions in mind, follow the following prewriting steps.

Prewriting for Your Reaction/ Response Paper

The following statements could be used in a reaction/response paper. Complete as many

statements as possible, from the list below, about what you just read.
My Reaction to What I Just Read Is That . . .

 I think that
 I see that
 I feel that
 It seems that
 In my opinion,
 Because
 A good quote is
 In addition,
 For example,
 Moreover,
 However,
 Consequently,
 Finally,
 In conclusion,

What you've done in completing these statements is written a very rough reaction/response
paper. Now it needs to be organized. Move ahead to the next section.

Organizing Your Reaction Paper

A reaction/response paper has an introduction, a body, and a conclusion.

 The introduction should contain all the basic information in one or two paragraphs.

This sentence should give the title, author, and publication you

Sentence 1:
read.

Sentence 2, 3, and
These sentences give a brief summary of what you read (nutshell)
sometimes 4:

This sentence is your thesis statement. You agree, disagree,

Sentence 5:
identify, or evaluate.

 Your introduction should include a concise, one sentence, focused thesis. This is the
focused statement of your reaction/response. More information on thesis statements is
available.
 The body should contain paragraphs that provide support for your thesis. Each paragraph
should contain one idea. Topic sentences should support the thesis, and the final sentence
of each paragraph should lead into the next paragraph.

Topic Sentence

detail -- example --quotation --detail -- example -- quotation -- detail -- example -- quotation --

detail -- example --quotation

Summary Sentence
  You can structure your paragraphs in two ways:

Author

You

 OR

Author

in contrast to

You

 The conclusion can be a restatement of what you said in your paper. It also be a comment
which focuses your overall reaction. Finally, it can be a prediction of the effects of what
you're reacting to. Note: your conclusion should include no new information.

Summary

In summary, this section has covered prewriting and organizing strategies for reaction/response
papers.

 Prewriting
o Read the article and jot down ideas.
o How do you feel about what was said?
o Do you agree or disagree with the author?
o Have you had any applicable experience?
o Have you read or heard anything that applies to this what the writer said in the
article or book?
o Does the evidence in the article support the statements the writer made?
 Organizing
o Write the thesis statement first.
o Decide on the key points that will focus your ideas. These will be your topic
sentences.
o Develop your ideas by adding examples, quotations, and details to your
paragraphs.
o Make sure the last sentence of each paragraph leads into the next paragraph.
o Check your thesis and make sure the topic sentence of each paragraph supports it.

Paraphrasing in Academic Writing

Paraphrasing is when you take an author’s ideas and put them into your own words to restate the
information in a new way. It is an accepted scholarly practice and it is important for you to train
yourself to redraft other people’s ideas into your own words. Paraphrasing is a way to see
whether you have really understood what the author is saying. Examples include writing a
sentence into your own words, or a summary of authored information.
For a paraphrased citation in an assignment you need to cite the author and the year of
publication in brackets. For long and complex texts, include the page number / location
information to assist the reader to locate the relevant passage in the original text.

Original Text: Just as Sherlock Holmes investigates a case, psychologists must evaluate all the
available data before making a deduction, lest they jump to an erroneous conclusion on the basis
of insufficient evidence (Bram & Peebles, 2014, pp. 32–33).

Paraphrased: Bram and Peebles (2014) advocated for psychologists to evaluate all the available
data before making a deduction, just as Sherlock Holmes investigates a case, lest they jump to an
erroneous conclusion on the basis of insufficient evidence (pp. 32–33).

Some tips for learning how to paraphrase:

 Read the piece you want to paraphrase carefully, making sure you understand it.
 Cover it up and try to rewrite it in your own words, allowing yourself 2-3 keywords.
 Check your own work, changing any words or phrases that you have reproduced from the
original.
 Look for synonyms: different words with the same meaning.
 Change the sentence structure/the voice/the part of speech. Reduce a clause to a phrase.
 Link the paraphrased sentence smoothly into your own text.

Obviously, when we paraphrase, we cannot change the technical words, numbers, and so on,
used in the original source.

To conclude, when paraphrasing you must:

 Understand the original text.

 Change both words and sentence structure
 Cite correctly

Paragraphs and Academic Writing

You can use your paragraphs to enhance your critical writing by using a new paragraph to
separate descriptive writing and critical analysis. This technique makes it clear to the reader that
you are including both description and critical analysis. It also encourages you to produce the
necessary critical analysis in your writing; you will see right away if your descriptive paragraphs
are longer, or more frequent, than your critical paragraphs. 

Paragraph breaks allow your readers to pause and ensure they are still following your argument.
Overly long paragraphs call for readers to keep on track with too much information at one time;
they may have to re-read the material until they can be certain of your point.

Alternatively, you may wish to use the structure of your paragraphs to ensure that you include
critical writing alongside your descriptive writing. Your paragraphs might then follow the structure
below:
• introduce your point;

• make your point;

• add supporting evidence; and 

• present your critical analysis.

The skill of structuring paragraphs and building effective connections between them is one that
will allow you to develop and sustain a compelling argument in your written work. By setting out
your ideas and evidence with a natural flow, you will make your work much more readable. This
important technique will help you work towards higher levels of attainment in assignments and
help to improve the quality of your everyday writing.

Flow and connectivity allow the reader to follow the thread of the argument from one sentence
to the next and from one paragraph to the next.

Linking and Connections

 Tip for linking - Using 'This' Or 'It'

 There's a simple principle here - when you use 'this' or 'it' to sum up what was in the last
paragraph, don't leave the reader to work out what 'this' or 'it' was. Spell it out briefly.
This makes the link much clearer.

For example: 'Many right wing parties represented in the European Parliament raise objections
and vote against any proposed legislation on principle, regardless of the individual merits of the
legislation.'

 Don't Put: This is a major part of Conservative thinking.

 Do Put: This hostility to Europe is a major part of Conservative thinking.

Moving from one section to the next

 Before proceeding to examine X, it will be necessary to …

 Before employing these theories to examine X, it is necessary to …
 Turning now to the experimental evidence on …
 So far this paper/chapter has focussed on X. The following section will discuss …
 Having defined what is meant by X, I will now move on to discuss …
 This chapter follows on from the previous chapter, which (examined/laid out/outlined) X.

Moving from one section to the next whilst indicating addition, contrast or opposition

 This chapter has demonstrated that … It is now necessary to explain the course of …
 Having discussed how to construct X, the final section of this paper addresses ways of …
 This section has analysed the causes of X and has argued that … The next part of this paper
… In addition, it is important to ask …
 On the other hand, in spite of much new knowledge about the role of …
 However, this system also has a number of serious drawbacks.
 Despite this, little progress has been made in the …
Unity

A paragraph should discuss only one idea.

i.e. do not discuss advantages and disadvantages of a theory – split these parts of the argument
into two separate paragraphs.

 The opening sentence of paragraph should outline the main idea (topic sentence).
 Every supporting sentence should directly explain, refer back to, or build on the main idea.
 Use the final sentence to refer back to the topic sentence and/or lead into the following
paragraph.

The WEED Model

One of the easiest models for writing paragraphs is the WEED model (Godwin, 2009).
  W is for What. The first sentence of your paragraph should make it clear what subject you
are covering - the topic sentence.
 E is for Evidence. You need to support your views with quality research, and then
reference it.
 E is for Example. You should consider whether you need to provide examples to illustrate
your subject.
 D is for Do. This may be a summing up, or stating the implications of your evidence, e.g.
why the subject supports your argument. This is especially important if you've been asked
to critically analyse. Students often miss this last part out, but this shows your lecturer that
you understand what you've been reading and gains you extra marks!

Summarising and Academic Writing

When providing evidence in your academic assignments, it is important to be able to present
what you have read in your own words. As well as paraphrasing smaller parts of a text in order to
highlight definitions or details, it is also important to be able to summarise the key points of larger
texts in your own words.

Why is summarising important?

Summarising a text in your academic writing is important because it:

• provides evidence for your academic arguments, conclusions and evaluations

• gives an overview of the key points of a text

• shows your understanding of a text

• shows your awareness of the wider context of a topic or issue

How do I summarise a text?

When summarising a text, follow the steps below:

1. Read and understand your assignment brief –
highlight key terms that will help you understand what
you need to look for in your reading

2. Read the whole text and highlight key points

specifically related to your assignment brief

3. Take notes on the key points in your own words. You

do not need to change subject specific terminology
that is commonly used in your subject area or
specific names e.g.: study skills; The Faculty of
Health and Social Sciences

4. Check your notes against the original text to ensure

you have kept the same meaning

5. Go back to your assignment brief and select the most

relevant key points from your notes

6. Construct a short text (one or two sentences) in your

own words, based on the relevant key points you
selected from your notes. Remember to use an
academic style of writing and include a reference.

Worked example:
On the following page is an example of how a part of a text could be paraphrased and
how a text could be summarised, in order to highlight the differences between
summarising and paraphrasing.

Original Text:
Empirical research was carried out at the University of Bedfordshire and
investigated the impact of attending study skills classes parallel to subject courses.
The classes were run as part of a pilot scheme aimed at enhancing students’
academic skills and improving academic achievement. The programme for the
classes was created through collaboration between academic skills tutors from the
professional services department of the university and academic course tutors from
the faculty of Health and Social Sciences. This was based on previous research
indicating that study skills classes tend to be more effective in engaging students
when they are specifically related to their field of study (Brown 2010; Cook 2011).
The teaching of study skills was not embedded into the programme; rather students
signed up to the classes voluntarily and texts used for reading and note-taking
exercises were relevant to subjects covered within the core units of courses within
the faculty. Four classes were run each week with a capacity of thirty students per
class with a steady rate of attendance throughout. Overall, the results of student
questionnaires and interviews indicated a high rate of student satisfaction.
Likewise, academic course tutors reported an improvement in a high proportion of
students’ academic writing.

Jones, K. (2012) Implementing Study Skills Teaching in a Higher Education Setting.

Luton: University of Bedfordshire Press
Paraphrased
example:

Jones (2012) reported that, at the University of Bedfordshire,

academic skills tutors

and academic course tutors from The Faculty of Health and Social
Sciences collaborated to design and implement a study skills course
to be run on a weekly basis. The course was based on the subject-
specific needs of students and took into account topics being covered
Note:
in core units across the faculty in order to facilitate the
engagement of students on the course.
 Focus is on a part of the original text

 Describes in detail

 Words in yellow have been changed from the original text in order to show
understanding of the issues/topics being discussed

Words in blue have not been changed from the original text because they are
names or subject-specific terms

 Meaning has not been changed

 Similar in length to the original part of the text

 Can be used to highlight how a specific part of research has been carried out or
to explain a definition of a theme or framework
Summarised example:

Jones (2012) researched the introduction of study skills classes within the faculty
of Health and Social Sciences at the University of Bedfordshire and found
that this seemed to have a positive effect on academic achievement
Note:

•Focuses on the main/key points of the whole text: what happened? Where? What was found?

•Shorter than the original text

•Meaning has not been changed

•Does not describe in detail

•Can be used to show a range of research carried out or a number of perspectives on a specific
issue/topic

Quotation and Academic Writing

To quote is to reproduce what someone else has previously expressed. It is important to pay
attention to quotation rules, such as the necessity to give the exact wording of the source that is
being quoted and to identify the source.

As will be discussed here, quotations must also be contextualised, properly introduced and
identified.

Below, information is given about the following aspects of quoting:

 When to quote
 How to quote
 The use of quotation marks
 How to edit quotations
 Other uses of quotation marks in academic writing

Definition

Oxford English Dictionary

quote, verb. To reproduce or repeat a passage from (a book, author, etc.); to repeat a statement
by (a person); to give (a specified person, body, etc.) as the source of a statement.

quotation, noun. A passage quoted from a book, speech, or other source

Note that the slightly informal noun 'quote' is often used for 'quotation'.

When to quote

The prevalence of quotations differs between disciplines, and writers need to comply with the
conventions of their specific field.
When used, quotations should be smoothly integrated into the text. Writers need to make sure
that they do not quote too much and too often. A text with an excessive number of quotations is
not only difficult to read; in most cases it also comes across as lacking in originality.

Quotations are commonly used to clarify some aspect that is being discussed or to substantiate
a claim that is made in the text:

To clarify or define

A quotation can be used to define, describe or explain something that is being discussed:

Example:

Meerkats, the "foot-tall, slender-tailed, pointy-nosed" little animals that are also called suricates,
belong to the mongoose family (Usborne 2009, para. 1).

Here, the quotation was chosen because it so succinctly describes the animal referred to. The
quotation thus functions as a definition of the animal that is being introduced.

Example: Quoting in order to define something

In the extract below, from a PhD thesis from the LU Institute of Economic Research, a quotation
is used to define the meaning of a specific term. The writer has chosen to explain the term he
uses by quoting the definition given by the researcher who coined the term:

Major criticism was led by Alter (2003a; Alter, 2003b), who argued that although the IT artifact
was an important component of IS research, IS were best regarded as organizational work
systems supporting other organizational work systems. It was in the support of the IS work
system that it found its value, thus it is from this perspective that it should be studied (Alter,
2003a). Alter's term 'work system' refers to "a system in which human participants and/or
machines perform a business process using information, technology, and other resources to
produce products (and/or services) for internal or external customers" (Alter, 1999).

(Henningsson, 2008, p. 31)

To substantiate a claim

A quotation may also be used to support the claim that is being made:

Example:

Meerkats have become tremendously popular; The Independent claims that "Britain has gone
mad for these upstanding citizens of the Kalahari desert" (Usborne, 2009, para. 2).

To back up a statement (that the popularity of meerkats has increased), a quote from a well-
known newspaper is provided. The reputable source adds to the trustworthiness of the
statement, which itself is quite striking, thus adding to the effect; Britain is said to have "gone
mad" and the animals themselves are referred to as "upstanding citizens of the Kalahari desert".
Example: Quoting in order to substantiate a claim made by the writer

The following extract comes from a Master's thesis in Theology.

In the passage below, a quotation is used in order to back up and to substantiate the claim that is
being made by the writer.

Example:

Augustine is sometimes criticized for failing to properly distinguish God from the world in positing
God as the highest being, or as idipsum, thus inscribing himself within the Western tradition of
ontotheology.71 The Pseudo-Dionysius is then invoked as the one who overcomes ontotheology
by insisting with neo-Platonism that God must be beyond being. In my opinion this is mistaken
since it operates with too literalistic an understanding of the terms: pace Heidegger, it is not
enough to find the word "being" connected somehow to God to justify an accusation of
ontotheology.72 What is important is how the words are used and their intention. In the case of
Augustine it is clear that he preserves the Christian distinction between the Creator and the
world: "For every substance that is not God is a creature, and that is not a creature is God."73 In
fact, Augustine holds that properly speaking only God really is; God is not so much beyond being
as we are below it, created things do not quite attain to being.[...]

71 Marion, J.-L. (1991), God Without Being Hors-Texte, The University of Chicago Press, p. 73, 215,
note 50.

72 Marion, J.-L. (2001) De surcroît: études sur les phénomènes saturés, Presses Universitaires de
France, p. 175.

73 De Trin. 1.9

(Nordlander, 2008, p. 24)

How to quote

Since quotations by definition are exact renderings of what someone else has written, said or
otherwise expressed, they must be correctly reproduced. Furthermore, they must be
contextualised, properly introduced and identified.

Quotations must be contextualised

Writers must make sure to quote in a way that does not misrepresent the quoted text. To
contextualise a quotation means to frame it in a way that presents the correct situation and gives
the necessary information for the reader to understand the quoted piece. Since the reader cannot
be expected to know the exact context of the quotation, the writer must provide the reader with
this information in order to avoid misrepresentation and misunderstanding.
Quotations must be properly introduced

In order to be fully understood, quotations must be introduced. As stated above, the function of
quotations is often to exemplify or clarify something, and sometimes writers choose to show the
exact wording of a source for some other reason. In any case, the function of a quotation should
be that of illustrating the writer's argument; a quotation must never be the argument itself.
Therefore, quotations must be introduced, and, preferably, also commented on.

Quotations must never stand on their own in between the writer's sentences, but should be
merged into the writer's sentence in an appropriate manner, for instance by using reporting
verbs/phrases. There are various ways of doing this, and practices vary between disciplines and
reference styles.

Integrating references into the text

When references in the form of quotations or paraphrases are provided, they must be integrated
into the text, both language-wise and content-wise. As is further described in the AWELU text on
quoting, quotations (as well as paraphrases) must be contextualised, introduced and identified:

How to quote

Methods for this vary between disciplines, and as all writers of academic texts know, it takes
some practice to master the art of using references in a relevant and correct fashion.

A common way of introducing what someone else has said or written is to say "According to....".
Another way of identifying and introducing the source is to use what is called a reporting verb. As
the term indicates, this kind of verb reports what someone else has stated.

Writers need to choose a reporting verb that helps them to convey their intention in using the
reference.

In in-text references, the name of the author(s) cited will be provided in the running text:

(1) Smith (1983) argues that...

(2) Several studies show that... (Smith 1983, Jones 1998).

In such references, a linguistic device known as a reporting verb or reporting phrase can be used
to identify the author of the source in the text. As the term suggests, these verbs report what the
source states.

Depending on the effect desired, writers need to choose a suitable reporting verb. Common
reporting verbs are:

(3) show, present, argue, suggest, report, address, identify, describe, analyse, note, demonstrate,
criticise, compare, observe
Integral and non-integral citations

References can be integrated into the running text to different degrees. Sometimes, the terms
integral citation and non-integral citation are used to describe the nature of in-text citations.

Integral citations

In integral citations, the author of the source referred to is acknowledged in the running text.

Example: Integral citations

Integral citations

The following extract from Journal of Behavioral Medicine comes from an article about the
relation between anger and pain. After the quoted passage, we have extracted the reporting
verbs.

Example: For instance, Weber and colleagues (Weber 2004; Weber et al. 2004) suggest that
inhibited anger expression may be manifested as the result of three distinct ways of responding to
angry feelings: (1) cognitive restructuring, (2) rumination and (3) submission. The last two tactics
are defined by Weber as ineffective at reducing anger, and may map well onto the anger-in items
of the AEI. Linden and colleagues (Hogan and Linden 2004; Linden et al. 2003) have also identified
multiple empirically-distinct dimensions of anger-in. Results of factor analyses showed that anger
inhibition may appear as high levels of anger avoidance and anger diffusion, which appear akin to
cognitive restructuring and distraction, and as low levels of assertiveness. Their results also
pointed to rumination as closely related to anger inhibition. Further, Sukhodolsky et al. (2001)
acknowledge the close similarity of anger-in as defined by the AEI and rumination, but suggest
that the anger-in subscale tells only of whether a person inhibits anger expression. They argue
that the items of the anger-in subscale do not address well enough what happens to anger after it
has been suppressed. They submit that rumination may be a complementary process in which
anger is revisited, rehashed, and kept unresolved after overt expression is withheld.

(Burns, Quartana & Bruehl, 2008, p. 262)

Here, we have extracted the reporting phrases from this paragraph:

For instance, Weber and colleagues suggest that...

The last two tactics are defined by Weber as...

Linden and colleagues have also identified...

Results of factor analyses showed that...

Their results also pointed to...

Further, Sukhodolsky et al. acknowledge .... but suggest that...

(from Burns, Quartana & Bruehl, 2008, p. 262)

Non-integral citation

In non-integral citations, the author of the source referred to is only acknowledged through the
reference, not in the running text. Depending on the referency style, the citation will be given in a
note or in a parenthetical reference.

Example: Non-integral citations

Non-integral citations

As the following examples show, in non-integral citations, neither the works that are referred to,
nor the writers of these works, are introduced in the running text. All information is provided in
parenthetical references or notes:

Example 1

Below are the opening sentences of an article about nitrogen and phosphor levels in Swedish
forests:

In northern forest ecosystems nitrogen (N) is often considered to limit tree growth (Tamm, 1991).
The high N deposition caused by anthropogenic emissions may, however, lead to N saturation in
the forest ecosystems and thus N leaching (Aber et al., 1989), something which has already been
observed in central Europe (Gundersen et al., 2006).

(Akselsson, Westling, Alveteg, Thelin, Fransson & Hellsten, 2008, p. 284)

Example 2

Here is a passage from a doctoral thesis within the field of Social Work:

Despite the goals of and expectations placed on social work practice, very little is known about
the outcomes of social service interventions. This is true for both their effectiveness (Cederblad,
2005) and efficiency (Mossler, 2008). This has led some to advocate for evidence-based practice
(EBP) within the social services, spurring a wave of debate (see for example, Hansson, 2005;
Jergeby & Tengvald, 2005; Månsson, 2000, 2001, 2007; Pettersson & Johansson, 2001; Sandell,
2005; Tengvald, 2001a, 2001b).

(Olsson, 2008, p. 16)

Quotations must be identified

When a quotation is included in a written text, the source must be given. The correct procedure
for this depends on the reference style used.

What is a reference style?

A reference style is a set of guidelines for writers. The overall aim of reference styles is to increase
readability and clarity of the text, thereby avoiding misunderstandings.
Although different reference styles give more or less the same information to the reader, this
information is provided in different ways. For instance, in some styles source information is given
in the running text, whereas other reference styles rely on a note system. Most reference styles
have some kind of reference list containing all sources referred to.

Depending on the way in which they record sources, reference styles can be divided into three
main categories: documentary notes styles, parenthetical or author-date styles, and numbered
styles.

Different kinds of reference styles

Depending on the way in which they record sources, scholarly reference styles can be divided into
three main categories: documentary notes styles, parenthetical (or author-date) styles, and
numbered styles. Within each category there are several, slightly different reference styles.

The different categories are described below. For information about specific reference styles.
Writers themselves seldom choose which reference style to use; students need to comply with
the guidelines issued by their departments and those who write for publication will have to follow
the publisher's guidelines.

Some of the main reference systems. For more detailed and discipline-specific information,
writers will need to consult the style manual of the specific reference style.

It should also be noted that departments and publishers often adapt reference styles and that
guidelines therefore do differ in some respects.

 APA
 Documentary note style
 Harvard
 IEEE
 MLA
 Vancouver

Documentary note styles

In documentary note styles (documentary-note citation systems), references are given in

footnotes or endnotes. The notes are indicated by digits, which then recur with the full reference
at the bottom of the page (footnote) or after the entire text (endnote). The digit is usually placed
after the full stop ending the sentence to which the reference belongs.

Oxford and MHRA are documentary note reference styles.

The following example comes from an article about China during the Cultural Revolution in a
journal called Politics, Religion & Ideology.

Example:
When he launched his great pre-emptive stab at the spectre of revisionism in 1966, Mao did so by
playing the 'mass' card. China's Minister of Public Security, close to Mao at the time and speaking
about the so-called 'vanguard of the masses' – Beijing's Red Guards – told police officers in August
1966 not to:

say it is wrong of them to beat up bad persons: if in anger they beat someone to death then so be
it. If we say it is wrong then we'll be supporting bad persons. After all, bad persons are bad, so if
they're beaten to death it is no big deal!5

But who were the 'masses'? How could one tell them apart from what, in a different discursive
realm, would have been identified as the 'anti-masses'? Four months later, Kang Sheng – a
member of the Politburo Standing Committee described by his foreign biographers as Mao's 'evil
genius'6 – spelled out the heuristic rule-of-thumb to be employed to tell the apparent from the
real 'masses': 'Whoever opposes [CCP Vice-Chairman] Lin [Biao] or Chairman Mao is a counter-
revolutionary. They are not the masses, but the enemies of the masses'.7

[From endnote section of the article:]

5. Beijing shi huaxue gongyeju jiguan hongse xuanchuanzhan, ed. Wuchanjieji wenhua dageming
ziliao (Materials on the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution), 4 vols (Beijing, 1966), Vol. 2, p.192.

6. John Byron and Robert Pack, The Claws of the Dragon: Kang Sheng – The Evil Genius Behind
Mao – and His Legacy of Terror in People's China (New York: Simon & Shuster, 1992).

7. Shoudu dazhuan yuanxiao hongweibing daibiao dahui Zhengfa gongshe, ed., Zhongyang fuze
tongzhi guanyu wuchanjieji wenhua dagemingde jianghua (Speeches by Responsible Comrades
from the Centre on the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution), 2 vols (Beijing, 1967), Vol. 2, p.109.

(Schoenhals, 2008, pp. 4, 16-17)

Comment: References are indicated by superscripted numerals and the full references are then
given in endnotes. The numbered reference style used by this journal is presented on their
website:

Parenthetical styles or author-date styles

In parenthetical, or author-date styles, in-text references are given within parentheses before the
full stop of the sentence containing the reference.

APA, Harvard, and MLA are parenthetical reference styles.

The example below comes from an article in Advances in Cognitive Psychology about music
performance anxiety in young musicians.

Example:

Osborne and Kenny (2005a) also found that MPA [Music Performance Anxiety] was more
specifically related to social anxiety than trait anxiety with stronger positive correlations between
the MPAI-A and social phobia measures than MPAI-A and trait anxiety. Results on the Social
Phobia Anxiety Inventory for Children (SPAI-C; Beidel et al., 1998) indicated potentially higher
rates of social phobia diagnosis (between 6% and 21%) than those found in most adolescent
community samples (between 1% and 2%) (Anderson, Williams, McGee, & Silva, 1987; Essau,
Conradt, & Petermann, 1999; Kashani & Orvaschel, 1990; Maroon, 2003).

(Kenny & Osborne, 2006, p. 107)

Comment: The parenthetical reference system APA is used. Last names of authors of works
referred to plus their publication year are provided in parenthetical references. A list of
references, where full bibliographic details are given, is then supplied at the end of the article.
The author-date reference style used by this journal is presented on their website

Numbered styles

In numbered styles, sources are referred to with Arabic numbers within square brackets or in
superscript, and the references are listed in a numbered reference list after the text. References
are numbered in the order in which they first appear in the text.

Vancouver and IEEE are numbered styles.

The example below comes from the IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Circuits and Systems. It is the
opening of an article about loudspeakers for digital hearing aids.

Example:

Previous studies of anatomy, physiology, and psychophysics have contributed to a growing

curiosity about normal versus impaired auditory systems [1]–[3], attracting the benefits of hearing
aids for the hearing impaired [4], [5]. Approximately 28 million Americans have hearing
impairments. Hearing loss affects nearly 17 in 1 000 children under the age of 18, and the
incidence increases with age: nearly 314 in 1 000 people over age 65 have hearing loss. According
to recent statistics, however, 80% of those who could benefit from a hearing aid chose not to use
one. The reasons for the number of untreated cases include reluctance to recognize hearing loss
and common misconceptions about hearing aids, such as a social stigma to wearing them. People
find hearing aids inconvenient, and some accept that losing hearing capability is a part of aging,
known as presbycusis [6], [7].

[From References:]

[1] L. Squire, H. Schmolck, and S. M. Stark, "Impaired auditory recognition memory in amnesic
patients with medial temporal lobe lesions," Learning Memory, vol. 8, no. 5, pp. 252–256, 2001.

[2] C. Duncan, "Psychophysics and psychology hearing," Amer. J. Psychol., vol. 92, no. 2, pp. 377–
379, 1979.
[3] B. Moore, "Psychophysics of normal and impaired hearing," British Med. Bull., vol. 43, no. 4,
pp. 887–908, 1987.

[4] J. Dianne, "Hearing loss, speech, and hearing aids," J. Speech Hearing Res., vol. 36, pp. 228–
244, 1993.

[5] P. Kricos, S. Lesner, and S. Sandridge, "Expectations of older adults regarding the use of
hearing aids," J. Amer. Academy Audiol., vol. 2, pp. 129–134, 1991.

[6] G. Gates and J. Mills, "Presbycusis," Lancet, vol. 366, no. 9491, pp. 1111–1120, 2005.

[7] J. Cohen-Mansfield and J. Taylor, "Hearing aid use in nursing homes. Part 2: Barriers to
effective utilization of hearing aids," J. Amer. Med. Dir. Assoc., vol. 5, no. 5, pp. 289–296, 2004.

(Je, S-S, Rivas, F., Diaz, R. E., Kwon, J., Kim, J., Bakkaloglu, B., Kiaei, S. & Chae, J., 2009, pp. 348,
357)

Comment: References are provided in the form of Arabic digits within square brackets. The full
references are then listed (in the order in which they appear in the text) at the end of the article.
On the journal's website, instructions for authors are available. The reference style used in this
example is IEEE.

The use of quotation marks

The punctuation marks used to signal quotations are called inverted commas or quotation marks.
Depending on the font used, quotation marks are either vertical, as the ones used on this website,
or typographical (also known as curly quotation marks).

A Swedish perspective:

Note that in English writing, the typographical quotation marks look different from Swedish
quotation marks. If set to English language settings, MS Word will automatically format quotation
marks correctly:

‘quotation’ “quotation”

Single or double quotation marks?

To distinguish between quotations and quotations-within-quotations, either double quotation

marks are used for the quotation and single for the quotation-within-quotation, or vice versa.

British publishers tend to use single quotation marks for quotations, whereas North American
publishers usually favour double quotation marks. As mentioned previously, practices vary,
however; therefore, anyone writing for publication needs to check the preference of the
publisher. In either case, consistency within the text is vital.
Short quotation or long quotation?

When pieces of text are being quoted, this is indicated in different ways, depending on the length
of the quoted passage. Short quotations are fully integrated in the text, whereas long quotations
are set off from the running text in block quotations.

Block quotations do not have quotation marks; by setting the quotation off from the text the
writer indicates that the piece of text is a quotation. The left margin of the block quotation is
indented (sometimes the right margin, too), which means that it is not aligned with the rest of the
text. Note that if there is a quotation within the block quotation, that quotation-within-the-
quotation will keep its quotation marks.

What is defined as a 'long quotation' differs between references styles; for instance, APA draws
the limit at 40 words.

Example: Short quotation / long quotation

The quotations used for our examples below come from Barack Obama's inaugural speech, as
transcribed in The New York Times.

Short quotations are given within inverted commas in the running text, as in the following
sentence:

Example:

US President Barack Obama's inaugural speech opened in the following way: "My fellow citizens: I
stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust you have bestowed,
mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestors" (The New York Times Jan 20, 2009).

Long quotations are often set off from the running text into separate blocks of text, so-called
block quotations:

Example:

In his inaugural speech, US President Barack Obama referred to some of the challenges he was
facing:

That we are in the midst of crisis is now well understood. Our nation is at war against a far-
reaching network of violence and hatred. Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of
greed and irresponsibility on the part of some but also our collective failure to make hard choices
and prepare the nation for a new age. (The New York Times Jan 20, 2009).

How to edit quotations

Sometimes, writers wish to amend their quotation. That is possible, provided that the following is
taken into consideration. Note, too, that the intention of the quotation may not be
misrepresented or changed in any way.
The use of ellipsis

If it is not possible to fit the quoted passage into the sentence structure of the text you are
writing, or if the quoted passage is unnecessarily long, it is possible to make changes through the
use of square brackets. When something from the original passage is removed, we sometimes
talk about ellipsis.

Definition: Ellipsis

Ellipsis is a literary device that is used in narratives to omit some parts of a sentence or event,
which gives the reader a chance to fill the gaps while acting or reading it out. It is usually written
between the sentences as a series of three dots, like this: “…”

Three dots ... or square brackets and three dots [...] are used to show that words have been
excluded, and square brackets with words inserted are used to show what words have been
inserted or changed.

No changes must be made to an original text without this being indicated, and such square
brackets should only be used to clarify something in the quotation, for grammatical reasons, or to
shorten a text. No changes must be made that alter the ideas or the results that are expressed in
the original text.

As seen in the examples below, square brackets are used in different situations to edit quotations:

Example: Square brackets used to clarify/add information

Square brackets can be used for clarity, to add information that the writer considers to be
necessary for the understanding of the quotation.

The following example comes from an article in Victorian Literature and Culture. For reasons of
clarity, the writer has added a numeral to the name of the king who is mentioned in the piece of
text that she is quoting:

Example:

Cast off by her husband, the Prince Regent, and sent into exile in 1814, Queen Caroline had
returned to England in June 1820 to "demand her rights as Queen and to contest George [IV]'s
demands for divorce, and accusations of adultery" (Wood 149).

(Ledger, 2004, p. 578)

Example: Ellipsis used to abbreviate a long quotation

If the quoted text is too long, it is possible to shorten it with the help of an ellipsis. The writer
must indicate this with square brackets where a chunk of text has been removed.

In the example below, from the British Journal of Sociology of Education, a Swedish governmental
report is being quoted. The writer first introduces the quotation and then follows up with a
comment. The ellipsis in the quotation was probably inserted in order to cut down on the length
of the quotation.

Example:

Against this background, the report sees a number of crucial consequences for the way
'immigrant parents' bring up their children.

Swedish norms and values of raising children often invoke fear. […] Uncertainty regarding what
the consequences might be if they give in to their children's demands leads many parents to
strengthen and exaggerate the ideals of child-rearing that prevail in their home country. (SOU
1997b, 194ff)

Throughout, the report makes a categorical distinction between 'Swedes' and 'immigrants',
'Swedish' and 'un-Swedish', as if these categories were immutable, natural and self-evident.

(Dahlstedt, 2009, p. 199)

Example: Square brackets used to make the quotation fit into the running text

Square brackets containing words or morphemes can be used if the grammatical structure of the
quotation does not fit into the running text.

The following example has been taken from an article from Hispania. The article deals with a
novel called La sombra by the Spanish writer Benito Pérez Galdós. In the extract, the article writer
has used square brackets to accommodate the verb tense of the quotation:

Example:

La sombra evokes the classical British Gothic novel, which "concern[s] itself with psychological
problems, used to dramatize uncertainty and conflicts of the individual subject in relation to a
difficult social situation" (Jackson 97).

(López, 1998, p. 510)

Comment: López here quotes a critic called Jackson. In original, Jackson's statement about the
genre of the Gothic novel looks like this:

It is progressively turned inwards to concern itself with psychological problems, used to dramatize
uncertainty and conflicts of the individual subject in relation to a difficult social situation.
(Jackson, 1981, p. 97).

When quoting parts of this sentence, López thus had to change the verb form from 'concern' to
'concerns' in order to make the quotation fit with her text.

The use of emphasis

If the writer wishes to add emphasis to one or more words in the quotation, these words can be
italicised. The reference then has to be accompanied by a comment indicating this change.

Example: The use of emphasis in quotations

Note that different reference styles have different ways of indicating that an emphasis has been
added. The example below is written in APA Style. Other styles have slightly different ways of
indicating added emphasis; in MLA, for instance, the parenthetical reference would be the place
to indicate that emphasis has been added.

In Usborne's article on meerkats, these animals are described as almost-human: "They are the
little guys with big hearts [italics added] whose struggle for survival and fierce sense of family
loyalty not only fascinates scientists and seduces film-makers, but also offers a model of duty and
fortitude for us all" (2009, para. 2).

The use of [sic]

If there is a spelling mistake or any other error in the text that is quoted, the writer can point this
out by adding the word [sic] after the inaccurate word or phrase. By doing this, he or she shows
that the mistake is in the original text.

The Latin word 'sic,' which means 'thus,' is placed after the word to which the writer wishes to
draw the reader's attention. There is some variation between reference styles – some use italics
and square brackets, whereas other styles prefer non-italics and parenthesis.

A note of caution is in place here; it is not always necessary to reproduce the mistake of others.
As the Oxford Style Manual (2003) argues,

Often it is unfair and unnecessary to [...] draw attention to what may be no more than dittography
or printer's error: unless the mistake has textual significance, transmitting the content of the
quoted matter is usually more important than reproducing its original form, warts and all.

(Ritter, p. 192-193)

Note: "Dittography" means "Double writing; the unintentional repetition of a letter or word, or
series of letters or words, by a copyist" (Oxford English Dictionary).

Example: [sic] to mark mistake in quoted text

Mistake in original text

The example below comes from a book review. In order to illustrate what the book is about, the
reviewer quotes from the book.
Since there is an error ("economic reforms takes" instead of "economic reforms take") in the
passage that is being quoted, the reviewer has added [sic] after the error in the quotation. This
signals that the error exists in the original text, and that the reviewer is aware of it.

In this case, the mistake can be explained by poor proofreading; the reviewer actually states that
"it is hard to find flaws (other than editorial) in this carefully crafted and well-argued book"
(Falleti, 2006, p. 414).

Example:

In this book, Erik Wibbels explores the "federal collective action problem" (pp. 47, 62). Because in
federal countries national and regional leaders answer to different constituencies, their electoral
interests and preferences toward socially costly reforms might conflict. Market economic reforms
constitute one type of such measures. As Wibbels argues, in crisis-ridden federations, "economic
reforms takes [sic] on the quality of a public good requiring the individual regions to cooperate,
whereas it is more rational for each career-oriented politician to avoid the costs associated with
austerity" (p. 27).

(Falleti, 2006, p. 414)

Irregular spelling

Sometimes, writers wish to stress that the spelling used in old documents has not been wrongly
reproduced.

The quotation below is the opening sentence of an article from Health Education Research on
early-seventeenth-century views on the use of tobacco. The writer wants to make clear that the
book title does indeed look like this, although the spelling would be different today.

Example:

Late in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, a treatise against tobacco, entitled Work for Chimny-
Sweepers or A Warning for Tabacconists [sic], was published in London (Philaretes, 1602).

(Charlton, 2005, p. 101)

Comment: In essays or articles focusing on old texts, or text using unconventional spelling, [sic] is
usually not inserted, as the reader can be assumed to be familiar with spelling conventions of the
era or culture.

Other uses of quotation marks in academic writing

Quotation marks can be used to set off words from the text that the writer wishes to highlight:
Example:

'Wellies' is the short form for wellington boots, named after Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of
Wellington.

In some reference styles, quotations marks are used to indicate titles of articles, poems, songs,
and other forms of texts that form part of larger units.