On quotation and citation
Terms related to quotation, their definitions
Citation is an essential part of a scientific work that reveals the relationship between scientific works, provides information on the contribution of the author’s work and the author’s examination of the topic, facilitates the identification of and search for information sources used, and helps to avoid plagiarism.
Quotation is an exact extract taken from one text and repeated in another text, which is usually written between commas or in a different font.
E.g.:
G. Hornby maintains that “the tendency for greater involvement of parents of younger children may be partly because younger children are more positive about their parents going into school.”
Or
G. Hornby maintains that the tendency for greater involvement of parents of younger children may be partly because younger children are more positive about their parents going into school.
Paraphrase is the reformulation of ideas of another author by replacing words and changing word order but not distorting the original meaning.
E.g.:
According to G. Hornby, parents of younger children participate more in their children’s education, since younger children are keener about their parents being involved in school life (Hornby, 2011).
Reference is a record indicating the source of the text. It can be placed in the text or at the bottom of the page.
E.g.:
“The tendency for greater involvement of parents of younger children may be partly because younger children are more positive about their parents going into school.” (Hornby, 2011).
Or
“The tendency for greater involvement of parents of younger children may be partly because younger children are more positive about their parents going into school.”1
_________________________
- Hornby G. Parental Involvement in Childhood Education: Building Effective School-Family Partnerships, New York, 2011, p. 16.
Bibliographic reference is a set of data necessary to identify and describe the source of information or its part.
E.g.:
Hornby, G. Parental Involvement in Childhood Education: Building Effective School-Family Partnerships. New York: Springer Science & Business Media, 2011.
Citation style is the order of the arrangement of elements of a bibliographic reference. Different citation styles are used in different fields of science, for example, American Psychological Association, i.e. APA style, is used in social sciences, whereas Chicago citation style is followed in humanities.
E.g.:
APA citation style:
Hornby, G. (2011). Parental Involvement in Childhood Education: Building Effective School-Family Partnerships. New York: Springer Science & Business Media.
Chicago citation style:
Hornby, Garry. Parental Involvement in Childhood Education: Building Effective School-Family Partnerships. New York: Springer Science & Business Media, 2011.
ISO 690:2010 citation style:
HORNBY, Garry. Parental Involvement in Childhood Education: Building Effective School-Family Partnerships. New York: Springer Science & Business Media, 2011. ISBN 978-1-4419-8378-7.
Basic principles of quotation:
- It is always necessary to provide information about sources that are quoted or paraphrased within the text by using references or a list of works cited.
- It should be quoted only to the extent that is necessary in order to avoid the overshadowing of the author’s thoughts by other authors’ thoughts and the text by other authors’ text.
The Law on the Copyright and Related Rights of the Republic of Lithuania stipulates the following:
Article 21. Quotation
- It shall be permitted … to reproduce … a relatively short passage of a literary and scientific work which has been lawfully published or made available to the public, both in the original and translated language, in the form of a quotation … in another work, provided that such use is in accordance with fair practice and to the extent required by the specific purpose.
Although no formal requirements for the length of a quotation have been set, following the general worldwide practice, quotes longer than 4 lines should be used only in exceptional cases and they should be distinguished in the text (by different fonts, italics or frames).
Quotations should be used sparsely and only if it is necessary. The number and volume of quotations should not exceed the needs of the aim of the quotation.
- It should be clear to the reader which ideas belong to the author of the work and which material has been taken from other sources.
- Quotations should be incorporated in the text purposefully and perform a particular function, e.g. to prove the author’s statement, to acknowledge the intellectual contribution of other authors, to criticize previous works, or to give the reader additional information.
- Only a publicly published work or work otherwise communicated to the public may be quoted (non-public lectures, prepared but not published works, unpublished or secret official documents, etc. cannot be quoted).
What citation styles should be used by university students and researchers?
- When writing qualification works (e.g. Bachelor’s, Master’s or other theses), students should follow the instructions given by the supervisor, the department or the faculty.
- When preparing publications, researchers should find out what system of bibliographic references is used by a particular periodical, the editorial board of the particular periodical, or the publishing house.
- In the absence of instructions on the rules of bibliographic references, we recommend using the international standard LST ISO 690:2010. Information and documentation. Guidelines for citation of bibliographic references and information sources.
Final theses at Vytautas Magnus University are prepared according to the following citation styles:
No. | Study field group name and code | Study field code and name | Citation style |
1. | Mathematical sciences (A) | A01 Mathematics | IEEE |
A02 Applied mathematics | IEEE | ||
2. | Computer science (B) | B01 Informatics | IEEE |
3. | Physical sciences | C04 Environmental sciences | APA |
4. | Life sciences (D) | D01 Biology | APA |
D04 Molecular biology | APA | ||
D06 Biochemistry | APA | ||
D07 Ecology | ISO 690 | ||
5. | Engineering sciences (E) | E03 Environmental engineering | APA |
E05 Civil engineering | APA | ||
E06 Mechanical engineering | APA | ||
E10 Production and manufacturing engineering | APA | ||
E13 Energy engineering | APA | ||
6. | Technological sciences (F) | F01 Minerals technology | ISO 690 |
F05 Biotechnology | ISO 690 | ||
7. | Agricultural sciences (I) | I01 Agriculture | ISO 690 |
I02 Agronomy | ISO 690 | ||
I03 Forestry and arboriculture | APA | ||
I06 Food and beverage studies | ISO 690 | ||
8. | Social sciences (J) | J01 Economics | APA |
J02 Political science | Chicago (notes and bibliography or author-date) | ||
J03 Sociology | APA | ||
J04 Social work | APA | ||
J05 Anthropology | Harvard | ||
J07 Psychology | APA | ||
J10 Communication | APA | ||
J12 Journalism | APA | ||
9. | Business and public management and Social sciences (L/J) | L07 Public administration and J02 Political science (study programme Public administration) | ISO 690 |
10. | Law (K) | K01 Law | Chicago |
11. | Business and public management (L) | L01 Business studies | APA |
L02 Management and studies | APA | ||
L03 Finance | APA | ||
L04 Accounting | APA | ||
L05 Marketing | APA | ||
L07 Public administration | APA; ISO 690 (study programme Administration of state institutions) | ||
12. | Educational sciences (M) | M01 Teachers training | APA |
M02 Education studies | APA | ||
13. | Humanities (N) | N01 Linguistics | Harvard; Chicago (notes and bibliography) |
N02 Literary studies | Harvardo | ||
N04 Philology by language | MLA; Harvard; Chicago (Turabian) (notes and bibliography) | ||
N06 Area studies | Harvard | ||
N08 History | Chicago (notes and bibliography) | ||
N10 Philosophy | Chicago | ||
N11 Theology | Chicago (author-date) | ||
N12 Heritage studies | Chicago (notes and bibliography) | ||
N13 Religious studies | APA | ||
N14 Cultural sStudies | Harvard | ||
N15 History and theory of arts | Chicago (notes and bibliography) | ||
14. | Art (P) | P03 Music | APA; Chicago (notes and bibliography) |
P07 Media art | Chicago (notes and bibliography) | ||
15. | Sport and exercise (R) | R01 Competitive sport | APA |
The sources:
- Harvey, G. (1998). Writing with sources: a guide for students. Indianapolis: Hackett.
- Lietuvos Respublikos autorių teisių ir gretutinių teisių įstatymas.