Quotations

Academic Writer

Quotations
One way in which you can supply evidence is to use a quotation. This means copying the actual words that somebody has used - a very precise and accurate method. However, it should not be used too frequently.
Note: If you are writing a short piece of, say, under 1000 words, your teacher will probably want to focus on your original work (particularly if you are being marked for language as well as content). In this situation it is perhaps better not to use quotations. If in doubt, check with your teacher.
EXAMPLE
Notice the way in which the author makes the quotation and then goes on to make a comment on it. ('A Responsive evaluator, then, identifies...) This is a very common way of incorporating a quotation into your text. Quotations do not typically stand alone. You make them a part of your text.

Responsive evaluation (Stake, 1977) "is responsive to the questions of non-specialist audiences" (Partlett & Hamilton, 1977:145). A Responsive evaluator, then, identifies the programme's stakeholders (those who have a vested interest in the programme), discovers their needs and expectations, and then designs an evaluation to fit within these parameters.

EXAMPLE

Systems engineers are problem definers, not just problem solvers. Roger Moore, founder and former head of the University of Birmingham systems and industrial engineering department notes that "too often engineers begin devising a solution without ever really knowing what the problem is." Society instills this problem solving strategy from a child's earliest days, he claims. "When a teacher asks a question of students, he or she expects that the students will answer the question" (Moore, 1995)

Academic Writer 2000