Term paper – how to quote indirectly, please help?
Hello,
I have to write a paper for my geography class at school and I don't really understand how to cite.
I've created an outline for the topic and am gathering information for each point from various sources and paraphrasing it into my own words. So, the text is a bit scattered throughout, but everything remains consistent. How do I cite correctly? If I'm writing down several things, do I have to cite the source after each idea?
And besides, how do you cite internet sources in a term paper? You don't have pages, but information with subheadings. How do you indicate that you have taken it from there?
Please help me, I'm so confused. 🙁
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Okay, relax a bit. You're writing a school assignment, and most of the rules mentioned here apply to academic papers.
How much of your own ideas are expected depends on the question. "List" is really just naming one thing after another. "Describe" is already complete sentences. "Explain" or "interpret" requires a bit more thought.
In school, it's often sufficient to simply list your sources after your text. It's more accurate to add a footnote to each idea you've presented. Before you go to that trouble, just ask your teacher if a list of sources is sufficient.
The difference between a direct and indirect quote is that an indirect quote is written in your own words. You should avoid using the same words as the original author—otherwise, you would have to quote them directly.
An indirect quote is easiest when you summarize a larger piece of text in one or two sentences. It can be more difficult if you only want to convey a single statement – in this case, a direct quote of a sentence can often work better.
It's important to note that both direct and indirect quotations are quotations! Both must be clearly recognizable as quotations! With indirect quotations, it can sometimes be a bit tricky to separate the quotation from one's own train of thought. This must be done carefully to avoid plagiarism or putting ideas into another author's mouth that they never expressed—thus supporting one's own argument with a false source. This is one of the reasons why academic texts are often somewhat awkwardly worded.
Is knowledge such as definitions that appear in roughly the same way in multiple sources also a quotation in the sense of the respective source? And does a definition formulated in one's own words that comes from a source also have to be cited as an indirect quotation?
(There is no such thing as "paraphrasing." You either paraphrase or rewrite the text. Your chosen expression is, at best, a tautology.)
The way you treat sources is simply rewriting them in your own style; that is, you are (almost) committing plagiarism – apart from the fact that your approach is missing the most important element:
INTELLECTUAL PERFORMANCE!!
You quote indirectly by writing: I quote paraphrase… or by adding after a thought: (quoted paraphrase).
You quote directly by copying the original text word for word / letter for letter, which you of course put in quotation marks.
PS: You're having trouble with words. You probably mean "in accordance with the meaning" and not "sensual," which means something completely different ; – ))) (Google it).
Okay, but how am I supposed to contribute my own input to a topic like plate tectonics when it's a general topic? I can't compile anything of my own; I have to refer to sources to be able to present it accurately in my writing style. I would really appreciate it if you could explain this to me. I just need to present a topic, not address a problem.
Okay, difficult! It's a very specific topic, which naturally makes "intellectual input" difficult, if not impossible.
In this respect, it's easier for me when I give lectures almost every year at archaeology conferences, in which I weigh up the pros and cons, clarify my own opinion, analyze both positive and negative aspects of so-called specialist literature, and so on.
Sorry I can't help.
Well, what you have done (gathering information / adding sources as footnotes) would not, in my opinion, be considered hard work in the sense of your own intellectual contribution.
Maybe I'm the wrong person to contact.
When I wrote about "The Phenomenon of Time Design in Baroque Poetry", "Pros and Cons of the Olympic Games", "The Methodology of Time Levels in Raabe's Masterpiece 'Stopfkuchen'", "The Advantages of Freestyle Swimming as the FIRST Swimming Style to Learn" and other treatises/annual papers, I was/am moving on a completely different propaedeutic level, on which my own REFLECTION was/is in the foreground to 70-90%………………………….
So I guess I have to compile the information and write it in a separate continuous text, and then reference the source I used in the footnote with a note in the text? That would be my contribution in that sense, and would that be possible in this case? Sorry for the questions, but I don't want to ruin my pretty good grade in the subject.