Do you get confused over how to quote from sources in your papers? Here’s our ultimate guide to quoting using Harvard referencing!
Short Quotes
Usually when you are quoting from sources in your paper, you will quote just a few words and try to insert them into a sentence. For example:
Smith suggests that ‘environmental degradation is a direct result of human action’ (1997, p.24).
Note that when using an in-text reference you will need to provide the year of the work and, if relevant, the page number in brackets (always outside the quote marks and before the full stop). If you have not mentioned the name of the author, your citation would look like this:
It has also been suggested that ‘environmental degradation is a direct result of human action’ (Smith, 1997, p.24)
You do not need to add a colon or dash before the beginning of the quote. Errors like this are very common in papers so make sure you get yours proofread before submitting!
Quotes of 50 Words or More
Sometimes you might wish to use a longer quotation to show an author’s viewpoint more comprehensively. If the quote is over 50 words long, you should make sure it is indented and enclosed within quotation marks, like so:
“Outside the UK, the BBC World Service has provided services by direct broadcasting and re-transmission contracts by sound radio since the inauguration of the BBC Empire Service in December 1932, and more recently by television and online. Though sharing some of the facilities of the domestic services, particularly for news and current affairs output, the World Service has a separate Managing Director, and its operating costs have historically been funded mainly by direct grants from the UK government. These grants were determined independently of the domestic licence fee. A recent spending review has announced plans for the funding for the world service to be drawn from the domestic licence fee”. (Jones, 1967, p.27)
Note that, generally, single quote marks are used for short quotes incorporated into your sentence and double quote marks are used for longer quotes which are separated from the main body of your text.