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I am currently writing an academic text and need to directly quote/cite text from a paper. What is best practice when I need to add a remark/note to the quote?

For instance, I would do it like this: The authors claim that "we do the best work ever in the area of CS (note: Computer Science)".

So in the above case the actually quoted text is "we do the best work ever in the area of CS", however, I want to add a note which explains the abbreviation "CS".

How should this be done?

Related questions:

How to add contextualizing text to a quotation?

How to indicate "Our remark"?

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beta
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2 Answers2

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Square brackets are commonly used to indicate insertions in quoted text. You wouldn't need to use the word "note", so just "... CS [computer science]".

thepunctuationguide.com sums it up quite nicely -- their first example is in many ways equivalent to your case.

Chris H
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  • thanks! just a minor additional question (breaking the rules here).. do you know what is best practice regarding styling direct quotes? should they be in italics and under quotation marks in the text or is it enough to just use quotation marks? I have seen both versions.. – beta Feb 12 '16 at 07:26
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    So long as you're clear what's your work and what's quoted, the academic standards are satisfied. Many writers use quotes for short online quotations and have a block quote style for quotes of several lines. There's no need to italicise quotes; in fact you may like to keep italics in reserve for emphasis (even within quotes, where you should specify whose emphasis). – Chris H Feb 12 '16 at 07:31
  • thepunctuationguide.com would be well advised to change its name to *apunctuationguide.com" because that's all it is, one of many. If you're writing for yourself, adopt a style manual that you like, but if you're writing for someone else (perhaps an editor or a professor), that person will likely dictate which style manual to use. – deadrat Feb 12 '16 at 10:19
  • @deadrat I'd never heard of it until looking for a source for this answer. Of the top 2 hits on my search it was the clearer. Link title modified though. And IME many destinations don't specify a style guide, then complain when they dislike the one you choose. – Chris H Feb 12 '16 at 16:29
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You say,

For instance, I would do it like this: The authors claim that "we do the best work ever in the area of CS (note: Computer Science)".

It's simple. Either quote it in direct speech or convert it to indirect. The above is a hotch-potch. It should be:

The authors claim that they do their best work ever in the area of CS.   [Indirect speech]

or

The authors claim, "we do the best work ever in the area of CS (note: Computer Science)."
                                [Direct speech]

Scott - Слава Україні
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Abhilaaj
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  • I'm afraid that would be considered plagiarism. If you include the original words, you must use quotation marks. If you don't want to just quote, you have to use your own words (i.e., you have to paraphrase the original sentence). – Yay Feb 12 '16 at 10:05
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    @Yay This is wrong. Plagiarism is representing others' words as your own. The issue is not direct or indirect speech, but rather attribution. If I had written the following sentence: FDR said that the only thing we had to fear is fear itself, no one would accuse me of stealing. – deadrat Feb 12 '16 at 10:23
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    @deadrat That may be true in informal contexts, but when writing a scientific paper you have to either quote (with quotation marks), or paraphrase. You cannot repeat the exact words without quotation marks even though you're clearly stating such idea isn't yours (so-and-so said...). Plagiarism isn't restricted to "representing others' words as your own." E.g., giving due credit to a source but failing to format a citation properly could get you expelled from your university. Plagiarism also includes repeating the same exact words without using quotation marks. – Yay Feb 12 '16 at 10:45
  • @deadrat By the way, FDR's quote wouldn't require quotation marks because it's common knowledge. The sentence at hand most certainly isn't. – Yay Feb 12 '16 at 10:48
  • @Yay The FDR sentence doesn't require quotes because it's in indirect discourse. This is different from attribution. If I tried to take credit for the words, I'd still be guilty of plagiarism. The fact that the quote is well known just means I would likely be caught. – deadrat Feb 12 '16 at 11:43
  • @Yay I'm sorry, but I don't know where you're getting this about direct quotes. I suppose that a university could demand a certain style concerning the repetition of exact words, and I suppose you could get in trouble for not following the style. But you cannot commit plagiarism if you actually credit the words and ideas of others no matter the format you've used. If that's not so, I'd like to hear about a case where merely failing to format a citation properly got someone expelled. – deadrat Feb 12 '16 at 11:47
  • @deadrat It's not about a university, but about a standardized citation style with a series of rules adopted by most scientific publications. I'm familiar with (and have always used) the APA format, but there are of course many other guides. However, as far as I know, none of them allows you to repeat someone else's exact wording without quotation marks, credited or not. Doing so would be improper quotation, and so would be deemed as plagiarism. Sure one is highly unlikely to get expelled because of improper quotation, but it techincally could since it's illegal. – Yay Feb 12 '16 at 12:20
  • @deadrat Actually, you are trying to take credit for the words. Not for the idea, but for the wording. The problem is that if you say X said that... without quotation marks there's no way the reader can know whether you are paraphrasing what X said or repeating their words through reported speech. So you would be taking advantage of, say, someone else's skill to word in a really nice and succint way a complicated concept by not saying those words aren't strictly yours. Again, such thing doesn't apply to widely known quotes as FDR's. – Yay Feb 12 '16 at 13:00
  • I disagree humbly. When you say X said and just convert direct speech to indirect, it is fine enough. – Abhilaaj Feb 12 '16 at 17:18
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    @Yay I'm afraid you're still confused. Plagiarism is misrepresenting the work of others as your own. The obvious case is appropriating someone else's words verbatim, but it's still plagiarism to paraphrase someone else's ideas in your words. It's a matter of a few minutes to find a university policy that gives the example of how to properly credit a paraphrased paragraph. Proper attribution is an absolute defense against plagiarism. English has a set of well-understood rules for mapping between indirect and direct discourse by changing tense, location, and person. – deadrat Feb 12 '16 at 23:53
  • @Yay Institutions may have rules embedded in their style guides that require direct quotation in preference to indirect. If that's true, please provide an example. In any case, properly-attributed violations of the style guide would not be grounds for an accusation of plagiarism. To be clear, improper quotation style isn't plagiarism per se. All plagiarism requires improper attribution. If you have a counterexample, please provide it. I don't know of any exception for "widely known" quotes. If you know of such a policy, please provide it. – deadrat Feb 13 '16 at 00:02
  • @Yay In the US, plagiarism is not a crime per se. That's because it's speech. The state might possibly make a criminal case if the plagiarist committed fraud, i.e, by obtaining something of value via some certificate or license that was granted in part through plagiarized work, but I have never heard of a case. – deadrat Feb 13 '16 at 00:08