Chapter 4 - Paraphrasing, Summarising and Quoting

4c: Quoting

Quoting is one way to borrow others' words and ideas to provide evidence and support your argument. A quote is a direct copy of words from the original source and it should be used sparingly to avoid plagiarism. There are two ways to quote someone's words: direct and indirect quoting.

(i)	Direct quoting
	e.g. Yang and Cheung (2003) argue, "… teaching grammar to ESL/EFL students may sometimes involve mechanical drills, but even drills should require students to think."
	In a direct quote, the words are exactly the same as they appear in the original source and the quoted part is put in quotation marks.
(ii)	Indirect quoting
	e.g. Yang and Cheung (2003) argue that teaching grammar to ESL/EFL students may sometimes involve mechanical drills and that even drills should require students to think.
	In an indirect quote, the writer's words are presented in another way without quotation marks. A change in the tense or sentence structure may be needed.
(iii)	Reporting verbs
	The reporting verb "argue" is used in the two examples above. Reporting verbs are used to introduce words of others and they indicate your stance on them. The following table provides a list of common reporting verbs:
	Functions	Examples
	agreeing	admit, agree, accept, acknowledge, recognise, support
	advising	advise, propose, recommend, suggest, urge
	arguing and persuading	advocate, argue, caution, convince, prove
	believing	assert, assume, believe, claim, insist, maintain
	concluding	conclude, infer
	disagreeing and questioning	challenge, debate, deny, disagree, doubt, oppose, question, refute, reject
	discussing	comment, discuss, explore
	emphasising	accentuate, emphasise, highlight, stress, warn
	evaluating and examining	analyse, assess, compare, contrast, evaluate, examine, investigate
	explaining and presenting	clarify, define, describe, explain, illustrate, mention, point out, present, remark, reveal, state

Notes:

Different reporting verbs are followed by different language forms/structures (e.g. bare infinitives, to-infinitives, gerunds, that-clauses).

Examples gerund
- UNESCO recommends using distant learning programmes and digital platforms to reach learners during school closures.
- UNESCO recommends (that) distant learning programmes and digital platforms (should) be used to reach learners during school closures.

Attention should be given to whether the reporting verbs are transitive (i.e. taking a direct object) or intransitive (i.e. not taking a direct object) when using them to quote or summarise others' views.

Examples:
- Chen (2010) opposes the introduction of capital punishment.
- Chen (2010) disagrees with the introduction of capital punishment.
Notes: The reporting verbs "opposes" and "disagrees" serve the same function, but the former is a transitive verb (i.e. a verb taking a direct object) and the latter is an intransitive verb (i.e. a verb not taking any object). The preposition "with" is, therefore, needed between the reporting verb "disagrees" and the object (i.e. the introduction of capital punishment).

Consult a dictionary if in doubt about the usage of the reporting verbs.

Answers

to take

Alternative way(s) to use the reporting verb:
Chan (2013) urges that the authority should take immediate action to stop the spread of the virus.

should adopt

Alternative way(s) to use the reporting verb:
"Brown (2000) suggests adopting the new assessment system.

argues for

Notes:
"Discuss", "advocate" and "emphasise" are all transitive verbs and no preposition is needed before the object.

if

Alternative way(s) to use the reporting verb:
> Li (2021) questions whether the test is valid.
> Li (2021) questions the validity of the test.

why

Alternative way(s) to use the reporting verb:
> Wong (2009) explains the reason why there is a need for reclamation.
> Wong (2009) explains (that) there is a need for reclamation.

4c: Quoting

Activity 4