To Use a Direct Quote, or Not Use a Direct Quote ... That is the Question
Though I have not had a chance to look at your first drafts yet, I wanted to address a problem that I often see in the papers I get for this and other classes: direct quotes. When writing a
paper, it is critical that you only use direct quotes very, very, very
sparingly. When I see a paper that is loaded with direct quotes, it
tells the reader that the writer was either unable or unwilling to translate
those ideas into their own words. When we take the time to convert the direct
quote into own own words, we tell the reader that we understand what
the author was saying so much so that we can say it in our own words.
When deciding whether or not to use a direct quote, take these thoughts into consideration:
1. Is this direct quote ABSOLUTELY necessary? In other words, has what the author said been written in such a way that is not worth duplicating or translating? If so, use the direct quote. (If the direct quote is very long, see if you can reduce it to whatever is absolutely necessary to make your point).
2. Is your direct quote moderately necessary? Don't use it as a direct quote - translate it.
3. Is your direct quote not at all necessary? Translate it, but also question why you are adding this to your paper at all.
You should also NEVER EVER EVER EVER EVER (I think you get the point) use a direct quote as your first sentence of the paper, as your last sentence of the paper, or as your thesis. There may be a few very rare exceptions to this statement, but that only tends to happen in a blue moon on a Tuesday on a warm winter's evening at 7:15pm. In other words, unless that direct quote is pure gold only in written form, it probably should not be used in those three instances.
Also, if your paper is using over 5% direct quote usage, you are using too many. Think of that percentage as a direct quote every other page or so - and certainly no more than one a page. Yes, these authors have great things to say, but as an academic writer, it is your job to translate those ideas into your own words. When we use more direct quotes than is necessary, you are telling the reader that you couldn't be bothered to translate these ideas into your own, and thus the reader should go and read the original piece and skip your own work. You have worked too hard to write these papers that the message you want to send to your reader is that you care about the work, you've thought long and hard about it, and you understand it enough to translate it into your own words.
My last tip of advice about direct quotes (and hopefully, if you've used a bunch of them, you're thinking about eliminating a good percentage of them if possible!) is to avoid ending a paragraph with one. If, by chance, a writer has said something that is just too great to be translated, and was said in such a way that, by re-configuring it, would lose some of its strength, and you include it into your paper, that's great! This does happen, and you should, in those circumstances, use the direct quote. However, you should always include a sentence afterwards that explains to the reader WHY you selected that quote, and what is its significance to your major point (aka thesis).
This is not to say you should not be citing authors in your piece - au contraire! Your piece should be filled with citations, showing the reader that you're able so synthesize many people's ideas into a coherent argument of your own. This is the objective of academic writing, and the more work you can pull from (as long as it makes sense and not just added as filler), the better!
As we get to the end of this blog posting about direct quotes, you may be getting the feeling that you should use them very sparingly. I do not write this to scare you into never using direct quotes, only that I've seen a lot of direct quote abuse in the years I've been teaching these classes. Because this is a writing intensive class, it is my job to help improve your academic writing, and reducing direct quote usage and following the few simple rules above when you absolutely must include that direct quote will make the reader's job easier to get to know what you, the author of the piece you have submitted, spent all of those hours trying to say.
After all, that is the main purpose of writing, to say the things that percolate in our minds, and convey them in a way that makes it clear to our readers that we want them to understand our thinking. When you do this in your own words, you're already off to a great start.
When deciding whether or not to use a direct quote, take these thoughts into consideration:
1. Is this direct quote ABSOLUTELY necessary? In other words, has what the author said been written in such a way that is not worth duplicating or translating? If so, use the direct quote. (If the direct quote is very long, see if you can reduce it to whatever is absolutely necessary to make your point).
2. Is your direct quote moderately necessary? Don't use it as a direct quote - translate it.
3. Is your direct quote not at all necessary? Translate it, but also question why you are adding this to your paper at all.
You should also NEVER EVER EVER EVER EVER (I think you get the point) use a direct quote as your first sentence of the paper, as your last sentence of the paper, or as your thesis. There may be a few very rare exceptions to this statement, but that only tends to happen in a blue moon on a Tuesday on a warm winter's evening at 7:15pm. In other words, unless that direct quote is pure gold only in written form, it probably should not be used in those three instances.
Also, if your paper is using over 5% direct quote usage, you are using too many. Think of that percentage as a direct quote every other page or so - and certainly no more than one a page. Yes, these authors have great things to say, but as an academic writer, it is your job to translate those ideas into your own words. When we use more direct quotes than is necessary, you are telling the reader that you couldn't be bothered to translate these ideas into your own, and thus the reader should go and read the original piece and skip your own work. You have worked too hard to write these papers that the message you want to send to your reader is that you care about the work, you've thought long and hard about it, and you understand it enough to translate it into your own words.
My last tip of advice about direct quotes (and hopefully, if you've used a bunch of them, you're thinking about eliminating a good percentage of them if possible!) is to avoid ending a paragraph with one. If, by chance, a writer has said something that is just too great to be translated, and was said in such a way that, by re-configuring it, would lose some of its strength, and you include it into your paper, that's great! This does happen, and you should, in those circumstances, use the direct quote. However, you should always include a sentence afterwards that explains to the reader WHY you selected that quote, and what is its significance to your major point (aka thesis).
This is not to say you should not be citing authors in your piece - au contraire! Your piece should be filled with citations, showing the reader that you're able so synthesize many people's ideas into a coherent argument of your own. This is the objective of academic writing, and the more work you can pull from (as long as it makes sense and not just added as filler), the better!
As we get to the end of this blog posting about direct quotes, you may be getting the feeling that you should use them very sparingly. I do not write this to scare you into never using direct quotes, only that I've seen a lot of direct quote abuse in the years I've been teaching these classes. Because this is a writing intensive class, it is my job to help improve your academic writing, and reducing direct quote usage and following the few simple rules above when you absolutely must include that direct quote will make the reader's job easier to get to know what you, the author of the piece you have submitted, spent all of those hours trying to say.
After all, that is the main purpose of writing, to say the things that percolate in our minds, and convey them in a way that makes it clear to our readers that we want them to understand our thinking. When you do this in your own words, you're already off to a great start.
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