Direct quotation

How it is used

Used sparingly in most disciplines, usually when the exact wording matters, such as a definition or a striking phrase. In APA style, quotations of 40 words or more are set as block quotations without quotation marks. People often shorten it to quote.

Example sentences

1. Avoid long direct quotations in the literature review; paraphrase instead.

2. The direct quotation on page 12 needs a page number in the citation.

Common collocations

• use a direct quotation
• block quotation
• quotation marks
• short direct quotation

Related terms

• paraphraseTo express an author's idea in your own words and sentence structure while keeping the original meaning; the source still needs a citation.
• in-text citationA short reference inside the main text, such as (Yılmaz, 2021) or a number [3], that points the reader to the full entry in the reference list.
• plagiarismPresenting someone else's words, ideas or work as your own without properly acknowledging the source.
• citeTo mention a source, such as a book or article, in your writing to show where an idea, fact or quotation comes from.

More terms: Citing and Referencing

• citation
• reference list
• et al.
• APA style
• bibliography
• DOI
• reporting verb
• footnote
• reference manager
• Harvard referencing
• secondary citation
• ibid.