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Integrating Direct Quotations into Your Writing

by acburton | Mar 21, 2024 | Resources for Students , Writing Resources

If you’ve ever had a professor ask you to “use quotes” or quote other texts in your writing before, you know that it’s no easy task. It can feel awkward sometimes to determine what parts of the text are worth quoting, as well as how to directly quote in your writing without sounding too formulaic or repetitive. Keep reading for some strategies on effectively using direct quotations in your next writing project!

Why do I need to know how to directly quote?

If you’ve seen our blog post on “Quoting Directly,” you know that using direct quotations (or “quotes”) in our writing can be useful for a variety of reasons. By quoting other credible, relevant sources in our own writing projects, we can provide more convincing evidence and reasoning for our own ideas. Direct quotations are a type of support we can provide for our own arguments and claims, as it demonstrates to our readers that other writers agree with what we have to say.

What are different ways to directly quote in my writing so that I don’t sound repetitive?

A common way to integrate “quotes” in our writing is with the use of a signal phrase , which is a short phrase that indicates to readers that the writer is about to introduce another source. For example, we often use the phrase “According to” as a common signal phrase for introducing quotations. However, if we were to use “According to” for every single quotation in our essays, our writing would start to sound awfully repetitive and potentially boring or uninteresting.

So, here are some different approaches you can take for integrating direct quotations to have more variety and style in your writing!

1. Use a signal phrase to introduce the quotation

The two most commonly used signal phrases only require a couple of words, primarily a verb and the author’s name:

• The introductory phrase: “According to (author’s name and/or title of source),”. e.g., “According to Ahmed,” or “According to Ulmer in Internet Invention ,”.

After a signal phrase, you can quote from the text directly. Here are some important reminders to keep in mind whenever you directly quote another source in your own writing:

•  Use quotation marks “ “ and copy the passage exactly as it appears in the original text. If there is a grammatical or spelling error in the original source, you can use [sic] to cue to your reader that you did not make the mistake and are intentionally quoting the source material (for more on using [sic] in direct quotations, see our post on Quoting Directly ).
• Long Quotations in MLA format
• Long Quotations in APA format

Note: You can also use a signal phrase after the direct quotation for more variety in your sentence structure and style. You’d follow the same rules, except the quotation would come first, followed by your ‘says’ verb and the author.

It is usually better to lead with the author’s name and a ‘says’ verb because this introduces where the quotation is coming from (ensuring your reader is not confused) and is written in active voice, which is more direct and concise.

Example According to Melissa Dahl, “[Cringe is] the intense visceral reaction produced by an awkward moment, an unpleasant kind of self-recognition where you suddenly see yourself through someone else’s eyes. It’s a forced moment of self-awareness, and it usually makes you cognizant of the disappointing fact that you aren’t measuring up to your own self-concept” (Wynn).

While this is a direct quotation attributed to author Melissa Dahl, the in-text citation is credited to (Wynn) because the writer found this quotation in an original source published by Natalie Wynn. If you directly quote an author or writer whose work is quoted by another source, you cite the source that “houses” the passage. In other words, you cite the author who introduced you to the work. You can still credit the original author by introducing them in your signal phrase, as shown in the example above, but make sure your in-text citation credits the source you found the passage in.

2. Summarize the main ideas of the quotation to create a framework for the quotation, then use a colon to present the quotation.

For this method, you would provide a concise overview of the main ideas from the passage you wish to quote as a way of contextualizing what the source is about. This provides a helpful framework for the reader to understand the purpose and meaning of your quote better.

Example In Rebecca Solnit’s Wanderlust: A History of Walking, she raises several theoretical and philosophical viewpoints concerning both the act of walking, or flânerie, and the walker, or flâneur. On escapism, Solnit posits: “In the city, one is alone because the world is made up of strangers, and to be a stranger surrounded by strangers, to walk along silently bearing one’s secrets and imagining those of the people one passes, is among the starkest of luxuries” (23).

3. Blend a shorter quotation into your own sentence structure

This is the best method to use if you have only a short passage, some key words, or a specific phrase you want to quote in your writing. For this method, you want to build your own original sentence that leads up to the key ideas in your short quotation to blend it together as one cohesive sentence.

Example Within a participatory culture, individuals are often gathered together as a community due to shared interest networks, like video games, in which “members believe that their contributions matter” and there is “some type of informal mentorship whereby what is known by the most experienced is passed along to novices” (Jenkins 7).

Practice in the Writing Center

For more support and guidance on directly quoting, make an appointment with us here at the Writing Center! We can help you integrate “quotes” into your writing projects effectively and with style so that your support is interesting and convincing to readers.

For further reading, check out these resources from the Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) International Association:

• Integrate Quotations in Writing, by Carla Mannix (2017)
• List of Reporting Verbs, from University of Technology Sydney

***Adapted from TESOL International Association Handout “Integrate Quotations in Writing” by Carla Mannix, Nov. 2017

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Resources on using in-text citations in APA style

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Resources on writing an APA style reference list, including citation formats

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Citation Guide

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Introduction to this Page

Paraphrasing, summarizing.

• Tools for Managing Citations
• Citation Season!

What This Page Covers

This page covers how to incorporate sources into your text through quoting, paraphrasing, and summarizing.

These guidelines will help you to avoid unintentional plagiarism. Any quote, paraphrase, or summary needs to be accompanied by an in-text citation that identifies what work you are referring to. This gives credit to the people you have learned from and shows the process of your work.

• Purdue OWL Guide to Quoting, Paraphrasing, and Summarizing Learn more from this Purdue OWL Guide, which includes a tool to help you check your text.

Tutorials from APA & MLA

The guidelines on this page apply to any citation style, though the different styles may have specific rules for some details like formatting a block quote. The following are helpful tutorials about incorporating sources directly from the APA and the MLA.

Direct Quotations and Paraphrases

Learn how to cite and format direct quotations in APA Style, including short quotations and block quotations; make and indicate changes to quotations; and cite paraphrased material.

Academic Writer // © 2023 American Psychological Association.

• Quoting and Paraphrasing in MLA Format This video course is all about quoting and paraphrasing sources in your paper! Learn rules of quoting and paraphrasing responsibly, and see examples of in-text citations in MLA format.

Definition of Quoting

When you quote a source, you reproduce or repeat a passage or phrase exactly and use quotation marks around the quoted text.

Quotes are exact duplicates of text. 

When to Quote

Style guides generally advise that you quote sparingly. A quote is a good idea in these situations:

• When the writing expresses a point extremely well
• When you want to comment on the author's choice of words

Tips for Quoting

• Only quote as much as you need to to communicate the information. 
• Look at a citation style guide to see how to format block quotes and in-text quotes.  
• If there is a spelling or other error in the text, copy the error and add sic  after the quote to denote that the error was in the text
• Omit words through using ellipsis marks (...)
• If you want to call attention to specific words in a quote, emphasize the words by using italics

Definition of Paraphrasing

When you paraphrase, you express the meaning of a written or spoken passage, or the words of an author or speaker using different words.

Paraphrasing is used when the detail of a passage is important, but the exact wording is not important. 

When to Paraphrase

Paraphrase when the details of a section of text are important. 

Tips for Paraphrasing

• Be careful not to borrow too many words from the original text. It's helpful to use synonyms.  
• Make sure to change the sentence structure of the original text.  
• If you're having a hard time paraphrasing, make sure you understand what is being said and can explain why it's relevant to your work.
• Imagine yourself explaining the idea to a friend verbally, and then write down what you would say. This can be a draft you revise later, if you need to.

Definition of Summarizing

When you summarize, you communicate the main ideas of what you have learned from a source, without including much detail.

When to Summarize

Summarize when there are long passages that have important main ideas. 

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Copyright ©7317-3761 by The Written Lab & The OWL at Rice and Purdue University. Select entitlement reserved. This physical allow not be publication, reproduced, broadcast, rewritten, or newly without permission. Use of this site constituted acceptance of our terms furthermore conditions for fair use. After Quotation Marks Pure SCREECH Purdue University.

Uses Quotation Marks

The primary function of quotation marks is to set switched and represent exact language (either spoken either written) that has die from somebody elsewhere. The quotation mark is also used to designate talk deeds in fiction and sometimes poetry. Since you will most often use them when working with outside sources, successful use of quotation marks is a practical defense counter accidental product and an excellent practise in academic honesty. The following rules of quotation mark use are the usual in the Uniform States, although it may breathe of occupy that usage laws on this punctuation do vary in other all. Use quotation marks to separator the quote from your own writing This could look like: Furthermore, it is open direct quotation marks not only the vocabulary.

The tracking covers the basic use of quotation marks. For details and immunities consult the separate sections of this guide.

Live Quotations

Direct quotations require incorporating another person's exact words into your own writing.

Although Mr. Johnson has seen unusual happenings on an farm, he stated that the spaceship "certainly takes and cake" when it comes to unexplainable activity. In-Text Citing Paraphrasing APA Citation Style, 7th Edition.

When quoting text with a spelling or grammar error, you should transcribe and error exactly to your own text. However, also insert the term slices in italics directly after the mistake, and enclose it in brackets. Sic lives from the Latin, and translates to "thus," "so," or "just as that." And word tells the lecturer that your quote be an exact reproduction about what you found, and who error is not your own.

Indirect Quotations

Indirect quotations will non exact languages but somewhat rephrasings or summaries starting another person's words. In like case, it is don necessary into use quotation marks. However, indirect quotations still require proper citations, and her will be committing plagiarism if you default to doing so. How and Paraphrasing Aforementioned Chicagoland Manual of Stylistic Guide.

Many creative struggle with when to use direct quotations versus indirect quotations. Use the following tips to guide you in your select.

Use direct quotations when the source material uses language that is particularly striking or notable. Do not rob create language of its power by alter it.

Employ an circuitous quotation (or paraphrase) when you merely need to summarize press incidents or details of the font.

Application direct quotations when the writer you will quoting has stamped a term unusual at herself or his research and really within your own paper.

When to use direct quotes versus indirect quotes the ultimately a choice you'll learn a sensing for with my. However, always try to have a perceive in why you've chosen your quote. In other words, never put quotes in your essay simply as your teacher says, "You must use quotes." Do not use a assets zuschrift for the quoted material is a fragment or only adenine.

Communication

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Citation Guide

• Citation Basics

Quoting, Paraphrasing, Summarizing & Patchwriting

Quotes, paraphrases, and summaries are different methods of incorporating other people's ideas and words into your research. You use quotes, paraphrases, and summaries to provide evidence of having researched your topic, which shows you have a thorough understanding of the topic you are discussing, and to show support for your arguments.

Below you will find specific information on each of these different methods of incorporating sources into your research including what they are and best practices for including them in your project.

Quoting is when you use the exact words of another person.

Using Quotes

• Quotes should be used sparingly in your research since they do not show that you have digested and understood the material or showcase your writing ability.  They only show that you've read information related to your topic.
• Quotes should only be used when the exact wording is important, or you are unable to paraphrase the author's words.
• It is best to integrate quotes into your sentences rather than use them as stand-alone sentences. (See the example below for how to incorporate a quote into your sentence.)
• Try not to quote an entire sentence, unless absolutely necessary.  Only quote the most important words or information.
• It is a good idea to  start or end a sentence containing a quote  with your own words to tie the quote back into your assignment. This shows you are applying the quote to support your own ideas and are adding value to the quote.
• Consider using a signal phrase to introduce your quote to the reader.

Formatting Quotes

Short quotations , usually those under 4 lines of text, are enclosed in quotation marks and include an in-text citation at the end. (Check the style guide assigned by your professor for information on formatting the citation correctly.)

Example: Graphic novels have educational and literary value and can be used in science classes to " engage students and support literacy skill development, " (Haroldson, p. 37).

Haroldson, Rachelle. “PICTURE THIS! The Versatility of Graphic Novels in Science Class.” Science Teacher , vol. 89, no. 2, Nov. 2021, p. 37-43. EBSCOhos t, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=cookie,cpid&custid=norwalk&db=sch&AN=153491142&site=eds-live .

Long quotations , usually those at or over 4 lines of text, are often called "block quotes" and have specific formatting that differs depending on the citation style being used.  Check the style guide assigned by your professor for direction on how to properly format a block quote.

(largely adapted from content on James Cook University Library " Writing Guide " licensed under a  Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International License  and with permission from  Purdue University Online Writing Lab )

Summarizing

Summarizing is when you take a large portion of the material (paragraphs, chapters, or the entire contents) and condense it down to the main points using your own words.  A summary is very short overview of the resource, or portion of the resource, focusing on the key concepts.

Using Summaries

• Summaries must be written entirely using  your own words
• Summaries should be used when you need to quickly introduce background information or another person's ideas into your work to provide context or help set-up your analysis for your reader
• Try not to use summaries as "stand-alone evidence". You should always try to provide your own commentary, opinions, and/or analysis on the content of the summary.

Formatting Summaries

There is no special formatting for including summaries in your writing, except that you must still include an in-text citation , citing where you got the information provided in the summary. (Check the style guide assigned by your professor for information on formatting the in-text citation correctly.)

Example: In her article, "Picture This!" Rachelle Haroldson discusses the benefits of using graphic novels in science classrooms and provides suggestions for teachers on how to incorporate them into their lessons (pp. 37-43).

(adapted from content on James Cook University Library " Writing Guide " licensed under a  Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International License )

Paraphrasing

Paraphrasing is when you restate a concept or passage from someone else using your own words. In addition to changing the words used, correct paraphrasing also changes the sentence structure. Unlike summaries, which are much condensed representations of the original work, paraphrases are typically similar in length to the original text. Paraphrases often include your own thoughts, interpretations, and understanding of the information being conveyed.

Using Paraphrases

• Shows that you've done research into your topic
• Shows understanding of the topic and source being cited, and adds value to the conversation surrounding the topic being discussed
• Provides supporting evidence for your arguments, adding credibility to your ideas and work
• Improves the flow of your paper, by retaining your own tone and voice rather than that of your sources
• It is not  simply swapping out words or phrases with synonyms, or reordering the phrases within the sentence (this is considered "patchwriting" and is a form of plagiarism - see the section on Patchwriting below for more information)
• Paraphrasing should be the most frequently utilized method of incorporating sources into your research since it shows a deeper understanding of the material and that you have developed your own thoughts on the topic
• When paraphrasing you should seek to include your own thoughts, interpretations, and/or analysis of the information being paraphrased

Formatting Paraphrases

There is no special formatting for including paraphrases in your writing, except that you must still include an in-text citation , citing where you got the information being paraphrased. (Check the style guide assigned by your professor for information on formatting the in-text citation correctly.)

Example: Haroldson suggests that science teachers incorporate graphic novels into their lessons because the pictorial format encourages student interest and therefore engagement in scientific concepts and supports literacy acquisition (pp. 37-38).

(adapted from content on James Cook University Library " Writing Guide " licensed under a  Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International License  and Academic Integrity ,  by Ulrike Kestler, licensed under a  Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License )

Patchwriting

Patchwriting is when you only change a few words or the sentence structure without incorporating your own ideas or voice in an attempt to paraphrase. Patchwriting mimics the language and structure of the original source and therefore cannot be considered a true paraphrase, which also requires your own thoughts and understanding of the content be included. As such, patchwriting is often an unintentional form of plagiarism.

Patchwriting vs. Paraphrasing

(from Academic Integrity , by Ulrike Kestler, licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License )

Patchwriting Example

Original Text

Graphic novels by their nature are intriguing. They are colorful, full of pictures, word bubbles, and funny sounds coming out of the characters’ mouths. Many recent publications are culturally diverse, offering traditionally underrepresented students the opportunity to see themselves in the texts and majority students the opportunity to connect with different characters and perspectives. (Haroldson, p. 39)

Source: Haroldson, Rachelle. “PICTURE THIS! The Versatility of Graphic Novels in Science Class.”  Science Teacher , vol. 89, no. 2, Nov. 2021, p. 37-43.  EBSCOhos t,  search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=cookie,cpid&custid=norwalk&db=sch&AN=153491142&site=eds-live .

Graphic novels are inherently captivating due to their vibrant visuals, use of illustrations, word bubbles, and sound effects. Many contemporary graphic novels embrace cultural diversity, providing traditionally marginalized students with a chance to identify with characters who resemble them, while also allowing students in majority groups to engage with diverse perspectives and characters (Haroldson, p. 39).

Graphic novels have a unique ability to capture student interest in scientific concepts due to their inherently entertaining method of conveying information through visual imagery. Moreover, these novels offer a valuable opportunity for students from traditionally underrepresented groups to identify with and relate to the characters and storylines presented within the narrative, making students more likely to engage with the material (Haroldson, p. 39).

Additional Resources

• Quoting, Paraphrasing, and Summarizing - Purdue OWL A guide from Purdue OWL explaining what quotes, paraphrases, and summaries are, what they're used for, and how to use them.
• The Writing Guide - James Cook University Library A guide detailing the research and writing process with an entire page dedicated to using sources appropriately.
• Reading and Writing with Sources PowerPoint - High School
• Reading and Writing with Sources PowerPoint - College
• Paraphrasing vs. Patchwriting from KPU's Academic Integrity eBook Explanation of the difference between paraphrasing and patchwriting with an example and activity to check your understanding.
• Paraphrasing vs. Patchwriting - Ch. 13 of CS 050 Academic Writing and Grammar eBook Chapter explaining the difference between paraphrasing and patchwriting with videos, examples, and activities to test your knowledge, by the Confederation College Communications Department and Paterson Library Commons.
• ‘Patchwriting’ is more common than plagiarism, just as dishonest, by Kelly McBride - Poynter (2012) A Poynter article discussing what patchwriting is, how common it is, the ethics of patchwriting and its implications, with a particular focus on its use in journalism.
• The Citation Project The Citation Project is a series of research studies on source use. Their purpose is to provide data and analyses that can help with educators’ questions about plagiarism, information literacy, and the teaching of source-based writing. more... less... By collecting data and replicating or adapting the methods of other studies to analyze it, ongoing Citation Project research builds on and extends the work of other scholars, generating deeper and more nuanced understanding of source-based writing. (description from website)
• Paraphrasing - Penn State Academic Integrity Tutorial A page on the Penn State Academic Integrity tutorial with information on correct and incorrect attempts at paraphrasing.
• How to Quote | Citing Quotes in APA, MLA & Chicago A Scribbr guide on using and citing quotes in academic writing, complete with examples, videos, and FAQs.
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• Last Updated: May 16, 2024 1:52 PM
• URL: https://library.ctstate.edu/citations

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About ASA Style

Research papers generally build on the work of previous writers and researchers.  When you write a paper and use the material of another author, you must document that source.  Documentation credits the author and publisher of the original work and provides the necessary information for readers to consult the same sources.  Documentation is generally in the form of a bibliography that is a list of works cited at the end of the paper.  

This guide is based on the style rules outlined in the American Sociological Association (ASA) Style Guide (4th edition, 2010).  The  ASA Style Guide  highlights and features guidelines for the most common situations encountered by authors and editors in the ASA journal publication process.  It is designed to serve as the authoritative reference for writing, submitting, editing, and copy editing manuscripts for ASA journals. 

American Sociological Association. 2010.  American Sociological Association Style Guide.  4th ed. Washington, DC: American Sociological Association.

General Tips

General information.

• All text should be 12-point font and double spaced.
• Margins should be at least 1 1/4 inches on all sides.
• Include a title page with the full title of the manuscript, authors' names and institutions (listed vertically if there are more than one), and a complete word count of the document (which includes footnotes and references).
• If an abstract is required, include it on a separate page. Abstracts should be 150-200 words. Keywords describing the paper can be included below the abstract.
• The paper itself should begin on a separate page.

In-text Citations

• Cite the author's last name and year of the publication.
• If the author's name is used in the text, put the date in parentheses.
• If the author's name is not in the text, enclose last name and year in parentheses.
• Indicate short quotes with quotation marks and longer (more than 40 words) quotes by starting a new, single-spaced paragraph.
• Cite the pages after the year of publication (2000:73).
• Your references should begin on a page titled References.
• All references should be double-spaced and use a hanging indent.
• All references should be in alphabetical order by first authors’ last names.
• Include first names for all authors, rather than initials, and list all authors of a work.
• For more than one work by the same author, always include the author's full name in each citation.
• Capitalize all words except prepositions such as of, between, through, unless these start a title.
• Capitalize only the first word in hyphenated compound words, unless the second word is a proper noun or adjective

Sources: OWL pages on formatting , in-text citations , and references .

Common examples

Book with one author..

Author's full name, inverted so that last name appears first. Year. Book Title in Title Caps and Italicized . Publishing City: Publisher.

Book with Two or More Authors

First author's full name, inverted so that last name appears first, subsequent authors' names, not inverted. Year. Book Title in Title Caps and Italicized . Publishing City: Publisher.

Electronic Book

Author's full name, inverted so that last name appears first. Year. Book Title in Title Caps and Italicized . Publishing City: Publisher.  Retrieval date including month, day, and year (link to ebook).

Scholarly Journal

Author's full name, inverted so that last name appears first. Year. “Article Title in Title Caps and in Quotes.” Journal Title in Title Caps and Italicized , Volume Number(Issue Number):page numbers of article.

e-Journal Articles with DOI

Author's full name, inverted so that last name appears first. Year. “Article Title in Title Caps and in Quotes.” Journal Title in Title Caps and Italicized Volume Number(Issue Number), page numbers of article: doi information.

Magazine or Newspaper

Author's full name, inverted so that last name appears first. Year. “Article Title in Title Caps and in Quotes,”  Journal Title in Title Caps and Italicized , Date Month and day, page numbers of article.

Website author. Date. "Title of the Webpage Cited in Caps and Quotes." Retrieval date including month, day, and year (link to the page).

Notes: When citing a retrieval date, wording should be: Retrieved January 1, 2001.

Sources taken from OWL's reference page .

Purdue OWL Resources for ASA Style

From OWL: "This resource covers American Sociological Association (ASA) style and includes information about manuscript formatting, in-text citations, formatting the references page, and accepted manuscript writing style. The bibliographical format described here is taken from the American Sociological Association (ASA) Style Guide , 5 th edition."

• Manuscript Formatting Includes detailed information on how to format your text, including information on title pages, spacing, font and margin sizes, page numbering, footers and headers, and more.
• In-text Citations Includes information on how to cite authors, when to use quotations, and how to cite for multiple or unknown authors.
• Reference Pages Includes information on how to construct a reference page, including detailed information on citing from books, journals, chapters, legislation, websites, dissertations, newspapers, and more.
• General Style Includes information on clarity, bias, acronyms, literature reviews, punctuation and more.

American Sociological Association Resources

• ASA Quick Tips for Students
• ASA Code of Ethics
• Preparation Checklist for ASA Manuscripts

Further Resources

Hardcopy at the Reference Desk

American Sociological Association. 2010.  American Sociological Association  Style Guide . 4th ed. Washington DC: American Sociological Association.  

Online Guide:

The OWL at Purdue University

These OWL resources will help you learn how to use the American Sociological Association (ASA) citation and format style. This section contains resources on in-text citation and the References page, as well as manuscript writing style.

​The Mansfield Library subscribes to RefWorks to make research and citation easier for you. RefWorks is a citation management tool that stores your electronic articles in one place for easy access, organization, citation and sharing. You can save web page content and metadata, create collections to organize or share documents and citations, and upload PDF and Office documents.

VIDEO - Learn how to use RefWorks by watching these short videos

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Inside or Outside? A Minilesson on Quotation Marks and More

• Resources & Preparation
• Instructional Plan
• Related Resources

Students often have difficulty knowing when to place a punctuation mark within quotation marks or outside them. It's not too surprising, since the rules shift depending on how the dialogue is used, and what is done can vary depending upon the country you're in. In this minilesson, students review the general rules on using quotation marks with other punctuation and work through a sample dialogue, keeping the conventions in mind. They then look closely at their own writing, mark the quotation marks they've used, consider how the conventions of punctuation apply, and make revisions to their work.

Featured Resources

Quotation Marks : Purdue OWL provides this resource covering the general rule of when and where to use quotation marks.

From Theory to Practice

By teaching students how to identify the conventions used in their own writing, self-editing activities help students become more responsible writers. The power is shifted from the "correcting" teacher to the writers, who are able to make their own corrections.

Constance Weaver argues in Grammar for Teachers (1979), "There seems to be little value in marking students' papers with 'corrections,' little value in teaching the conventions of mechanics apart from actual writing, and even less value in teaching grammar in order to instill these conventions" (64). Instead, learning about grammar, conventions, and text structures is most effective when student writers "learn through language." Jeff Wilhelm concurs in his brief "Undoing the Great Grammatical Scam!" (2001). Wilhelm explains, "If we want students to use language more correctly in their own writing and speaking, then we must teach them to do so in that meaning-producing situation that will co-produce and support that learning" (62).

Further Reading

Common Core Standards

This resource has been aligned to the Common Core State Standards for states in which they have been adopted. If a state does not appear in the drop-down, CCSS alignments are forthcoming.

State Standards

This lesson has been aligned to standards in the following states. If a state does not appear in the drop-down, standard alignments are not currently available for that state.

NCTE/IRA National Standards for the English Language Arts

• 3. Students apply a wide range of strategies to comprehend, interpret, evaluate, and appreciate texts. They draw on their prior experience, their interactions with other readers and writers, their knowledge of word meaning and of other texts, their word identification strategies, and their understanding of textual features (e.g., sound-letter correspondence, sentence structure, context, graphics).
• 4. Students adjust their use of spoken, written, and visual language (e.g., conventions, style, vocabulary) to communicate effectively with a variety of audiences and for different purposes.
• 6. Students apply knowledge of language structure, language conventions (e.g., spelling and punctuation), media techniques, figurative language, and genre to create, critique, and discuss print and nonprint texts.

Materials and Technology

• General rules on quotation marks and enclosing punctuation from your students' writing textbook or a similar resource
• Student-selected pieces of their own writing
• Overhead or computer-projected example of narrative for class demonstration

Preparation

• Before this lesson, students will have written a text of some sort that includes dialogue. You might use the lesson plan A Picture's Worth a Thousand Words: From Images to Detailed Narrative .
• Arrange for students to have their textbooks on hand, or provide the conventions on an overhead or on the board. Alternatively, you could use the online sheet, Quotation Marks , from the Purdue OWL.

Student Objectives

Students will

• explore conventions for using quotation marks and other punctuation marks in written dialogue.
• examine their own writing closely using a self-editing activity.
• work toward their own empowerment as writers by correcting their own writing.

Instruction & Activities

• Go over the general rules on using quotation marks with other punctuation marks. Pay particular attention to the rules governing whether periods, commas, semi-colons, question marks, exclamation points, and so forth go inside or outside the quotation marks.
• Read an overhead or computer-projected copy of the dialogue example with your class. Alternately, you can use a student example (with the student's permission, of course) or a passage from a book you've read recently as a class.
• Using the guidelines from your textbook, work through the example text to demonstrate how to punctuate the sentences.
• Ask students to choose a narrative or another piece of writing that includes dialogue to examine for their use of quotation marks.
• Have students go through their papers backwards (that is, from the last word of the text to the first), and underline or circle all the ending punctuation for dialogue.
• Once their text is marked, ask them to go through the text again, this time checking the punctuation in the circles to see if the conventions are being used. Ask students to revise as they go, moving or adding punctuation as necessary.
• Allow students to work at their own pace, using the instructions and their own text.
• Circulate through the room, helping any students who have questions or comments.
• Collect the highlighted draft with the revised draft.

Student Assessment / Reflections

• Kidwatching provides the perfect assessment for this activity. As you circulate throught the room, note which students understand the concepts and which need more practice. Provide on-the-spot help for any students who need more examples or instruction.
• More formal assessment of the use of quotation marks in the narrative, if you choose to include it, works best as a part of the assessment of the paper itself.
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3.4: Using Source Text: Quoting, Paraphrasing, and Summarizing

Learning objectives.

Once you have a collection of credible sources as part of a formal secondary research project such as a report, your next step is to build that report around those sources, using them as anchors of evidence around your own arguments. If you began with an hypothesis and you’re using the sources as evidence to support it, or if you realize that your hypothesis is wrong because all the credible sources you’ve found poked holes in it, you should at this point be able to draft a thesis—your whole point in a nutshell. From there, you can arrange your sources in an order that follows a logical sequence such as general to specific or advantages versus disadvantages. We will examine organizational structures in the next chapter ( Ch. 4 ) on drafting, but we are now going to focus on how to incorporate source material into usable evidence.

You essentially have four ways of using source material available to you, three of them involving text, and one media:

• Quoting text: copying the source’s exact words and marking them off with quotation marks
• Paraphrasing text: representing the source’s ideas in your own words (without quotation marks)
• Summarizing text: representing the source’s main ideas in your own words (without quotation marks)
• Reproducing media: embedding pictures, videos, audio, graphic elements, etc. into your document

In each case, acknowledging your source with a citation at the point of use and follow-up bibliographical reference at the end of your document (see §3.5 below) is essential to avoid a charge of plagiarism. Let’s now look at each of these in turn.

3.4.1: Quoting Sources

3.4.2: paraphrasing sources, 3.4.3: summarizing sources.

Quoting is the easiest way to use sources in a research document, but it also requires care in using it properly so that you don’t accidentally plagiarize, misquote, or overquote. At its simplest, quoting takes source text exactly as it is and puts quotation marks (“ ”) around that text to set it off from your own words. The following points represent conventions and best practices when quoting:

• You may have seen single quotation marks and think that they’re also acceptable to use, but that’s only true in the UK and some other Commonwealth countries, not in Canada; some European countries use << >> to set off quotations instead.
• Also use double quotation marks for putting a single word or two in “scare quotes” when you’re drawing attention to how people use certain words and phrases—again, not single quotation marks since there is no such thing as quotation marks “lite.”
• Use single quotation marks only for reported speech when you have a quotation within a quotation, as in, “The minister responded to say, ‘No comment at this time’ regarding the allegations of wrongdoing.”
• If no parenthetical citation follows immediately after the closing quotation marks, the sentence-ending period falls to the left of those closing quotation marks (between the final letter and the “99”); a common mistake is to place the period to the right of the closing quotation marks ( . . . wrongdoing”.).
• According to researchers Tblisky and Darion (2003), “. . .”
• As Vice President of Operations Rhonda Rendell has noted, “. . .”
• John Rucker, the first responder who pulled Mr. Warren from the wreckage, said that “. . .”
• Spokespersons Gloria and Tom Grady clarified the new regulations: “. . .”
• “. . . ,” confirmed the minister responsible for the initiative.
• “. . . ,” writes Eva Hess, “. . .”
• Quote purposefully: Quote only when the original wording is important. When we quote famous thinkers like Albert Einstein or Marshall McLuhan, we use their exact words because no one could say it better or more interestingly than they did. Also quote when you want your audience to see wording exactly as it appeared in the source text or as it was said in speech so that they can be sure that you’re not distorting the words as you might if you paraphrased instead. But if there’s nothing special about the original wording, then you’re better to paraphrase properly (see §3.4.2 below) than to quote.

Students frequently overuse direct quotation [when] taking notes, and as a result they overuse quotations in the final [research] paper. Probably only about 10% of your final manuscript should appear as directly quoted matter. Therefore, you should strive to limit the amount of exact transcribing of source materials while taking notes. (Lester, 1976, pp. 46-47)

• Don’t overquote: As the above source says, a good rule of thumb is that your completed document should contain no more than 10% quoted material. Much above that will look lazy because it appears that you’re getting quotation to write your document for you. Quote no more than a sentence or two at a time if you quote at all.
• To avoid introducing spelling mistakes or other transcription errors, best practice (if your source is electronic) is to highlight the text you want to quote, copy it (ctrl. + c), and paste it (ctrl. + v) into your document so that it matches the formatting of the rest of your document (i.e., with the same font type, size, etc.). To match the formatting, use the Paste Options drop-down menu that appears beside pasted text as soon as you drop it in and disappears as soon as you perform any operation other than clicking on the drop-down menu.
• Though many people mistakenly refer to parentheses ( ) as “brackets,” brackets are squared [ ] and are used mainly to indicate changes to quoted words, whereas parentheses follow the quotation and mark off the citation. If you were to clarify and streamline the final sentence of the block quotation a few points above, for instance, you could say something like: Lester (1976) recommended “limit[ing] the amount of exact transcribing . . . while taking notes” (p. 47). Here, the verb “limit” in the source text needs to be converted into its participle form (having an -ing ending) to follow the past-tense verb in the sentence framing the quotation grammatically. Sneakily adding the “ing” to “limit” without using brackets would be misquotation because “limiting” appears nowhere in the original.
• Notice that the ellipsis above is three spaced periods (not three stuck together, as in “…”) and that one doesn’t appear at the beginning of the quotation to represent the words in the original prior to “limit” nor at the end to represent source text following the quoted words (“… limit …”). Use the ellipsis only to show that you’re skipping over unnecessary words within a quotation.
• Be careful not to use brackets and ellipses in a way that distorts or obscures the meaning of the original text. For instance, omitting “Probably” and changing “should” to “[can]” in the Lester quotation above will turn his soft guideline into a hard rule, which are not the same.
• When you said in the class discussion forum, “No one cares about grammer, [ sic ] it dont [ sic ] really matter,” you tend to undermine your credibility on the topic with poor spelling and a comma splice.
• Capitalize as in the original, even if it seems strange to start a quotation with a capital (because it was the first word in the original) though it’s no longer the first word because it follows a signal phrase in your sentence. See the example in the point above, for instance.
• Quotation is a powerful tool in the arsenal of any writer needing to support a point with evidence. Capturing the source’s words exactly as they were written or spoken is an honest way of presenting research. For more on quotation, consult Purdue OWL ’s series of modules starting with the How to Use Quotation Marks page and ending with their Quotation Mark Exercise and Answers (2024).

Lester, J. D. (1976). Writing research papers: A complete guide (2nd ed.). Scott, Foresman.

Miller-Wilson, K. (2020, May 27). Examples of signal phrases and how to use them . YourDictionary. https://www.yourdictionary.com/articles/examples-signal-phrases

Purdue OWL. (2024). How to use quotation marks . Purdue University. https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/punctuation/quotation_marks/index.html

Paraphrasing or “indirect quotation” is putting source text in your own words and altering the sentence structure to avoid using the quotation marks required in direct quotation. Paraphrasing is the preferred way of using a source when the original wording isn’t important. This way, you can incorporate the source’s ideas so they’re stylistically consistent with the rest of your document and thus better tailored to the needs of your audience (presuming the original was tailored for a different audience with different needs). Also, paraphrasing a source into your own words proves your advanced understanding of the source text.

A paraphrase must faithfully represent the source text by containing the same ideas as in the original in about the same length. As a matter of good writing, however, you should try to streamline your paraphrase so that it tallies fewer words than the source passage while still preserving the original meaning. An accurate paraphrase of the Lester (1976) passage block-quoted in the section above, for instance, can reduce a five-line passage to three lines without losing or distorting any of the original points:

Lester (1976) advises against exceeding 10% quotation in your written work. Since students writing research reports often quote excessively because of copy-cut-and-paste note-taking, try to minimize using sources word for word (pp. 46-47).

Notice that using a few isolated words from the original (“research,” “students,” “10%”) is fine, but also that this paraphrase doesn’t repeat any two-word sequence from the original because it changes the order of the content details along with most of the words. Properly paraphrasing without distorting, slanting, adding to, or deleting ideas from the source passage takes skill. The stylistic versatility required to paraphrase can be especially challenging to EAL learners and native English users whose general writing skills are still developing.

A common mistake that students make when paraphrasing is to go only part way towards paraphrasing by substituting-out major words (nouns, verbs, and adjectives) here and there while leaving the source passage’s basic sentence structure intact. This inevitably leaves strings of words from the original untouched in the “paraphrased” version, which can be dangerous because including such direct quotation without quotation marks will be caught by the plagiarism-detecting software that college instructors use these days. Consider, for instance, the following botched attempt at a paraphrase of the Lester (1976) passage that substitutes words selectively (lazily):

Students often overuse quotations when taking notes, and thus overuse them in research reports. About 10% of your final paper should be direct quotation. You should thus attempt to reduce the exact copying of source materials while note taking (pp. 46-47).

Let’s look at the same botched paraphrasing attempt, but set it under the original Lester passage given above in §3.4.1 (in the point advising to “Block-quote sparingly if at all”) so that we can compare the two. We’ll colour the unchanged words red in the botched paraphrase to see exactly how unsuccessful the paraphraser was in rephrasing the original passage in their own words (given in blue):

As you can see, several strings of words from the original are left untouched because the writer didn’t go the distance in changing the structure of the original; the order in which the information is presented is the same, which means several connected words are left unchanged. The Originality Report from plagiarism-catching software such as Turnitin would indicate that the passage is 64% plagiarized because it retains 25 of the original words (out of 39 in this “paraphrase”) but without quotation marks around them. Correcting this by simply adding quotation marks around passages like “when taking notes, and” would be unacceptable because those words aren’t important enough on their own to warrant direct quotation. The fix would just be to paraphrase more thoroughly by altering the words and the order of information, as shown in the paraphrase a few paragraphs above, the block-quote that begins “Lester (1976) advises . . . .” But how do you go about doing this?

Paraphrase easily by breaking down the task into these seven steps:

• Read and re-read the source-text passage so that you thoroughly understand each point it makes. If it’s a long passage, you might want to break it up into digestible chunks. If you’re unsure of the meaning of any of the words, look them up in a dictionary; you can even just type the word into the Google search bar, hit Enter , and a definition will appear, along with results of other online dictionary pages that define the same word.
• Look away and get your mind off the target passage. Process some different information for a while (e.g., a few minutes of gaming or social media—but just a few!)
• Without looking back at the source text, repeat its main points as you understood them—not from memorizing the exact words, but as you would explain the same ideas in different words out loud to a friend.
• Still without looking back at the source text, jot down that spoken wording and tailor the language so that it’s stylistically appropriate for your audience; edit and proofread your written version to make it grammatically correct in a way that perhaps your spoken-word version wasn’t.
• Now compare your written paraphrase version to the original to ensure that:
• Deleting any of the original points
• Adding any points of your own
• Distorting any of the ideas so they mean something substantially different from those in the original, or even take on a different character because you use words that, say, put a positive spin on something neutral or negative in the original
• You haven’t repeated any two identical words from the original in a row
• If any two words from the original remain, go further in changing those expressions by using a thesaurus in combination with a dictionary. When you enter a word into a thesaurus, it gives you a list of synonyms, which are different words that mean the same thing as the word you enter into it.
• For instance, the noun party can mean a group that is involved in something serious (e.g., a third-party software company in a data-collection process), but the verb party means something you do on a wild Saturday night out with friends; it can also function as an adjective related to the verb (e.g., party trick , meaning a trick performed at a party).
• Whenever you see synonymous words listed in a thesaurus and they look like something you want to use but you don’t know what they mean exactly, always look them up to ensure that they mean what you hope they mean; if not, move on to the next synonym until you find one that captures the meaning you intend. Doing this can save your reader the confusion and you the embarrassment of obvious thesaurus-driven diction problems (poor word choices).
• Cite your source. Just because you didn’t put quotation marks around the words doesn’t mean that you don’t have to cite your source. For more on citing, see §3.5.2 below).

For more on paraphrasing, consult the Purdue OWL Paraphrase learning module, Exercise , and Possible Answers .

Purdue OWL. (2024). Paraphrase: Write it in your own words. Purdue University. https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/using_research/quoting_paraphrasing_and_summarizing/paraphrasing.html

Summarizing is one of the most important skills in communications because professionals of every kind must explain to non-expert customers, managers, and even co-workers the complex concepts on which they are experts, but in a way that those non-experts can understand. Adapting the message to such audiences requires brevity but also translating jargon-heavy technical details into plain, accessible language.

Summarizing is thus paraphrasing only the highlights of a source text or speech. Like paraphrasing, a summary is indirect quotation that re-casts the source in your own words; unlike a paraphrase, however, a summary is a fraction of the source length—anywhere from less than 1% to a quarter depending on the source length and length of the summary required. A summary can reduce a whole novel or film to a single-sentence blurb, for instance, or it could reduce a 50-word paragraph to a 15-word sentence. It can be as casual as a spoken run-down of a meeting your colleague was absent from and wanted to know what they missed, or an elevator pitch selling a project idea to a manager. It can also be as formal as a memo report on a conference you attended on behalf of your organization so your colleagues there can learn in a few minutes of reading the highlights of what you learned in a few days of attending the conference, saving them time and money.

Now, you may be wondering: “Summarizing is what generative AI like ChatGPT does especially well, so why do I have to bother learning how to do it myself? I ’ m just going to get AI to summarize things for me.” There are two problems with this objection, however. First, both paraphrasing and summarizing are necessary steps in the learning process. If you ’ re going to become an expert at anything, you must prove you know your subject by explaining it to someone assessing your true understanding, not just your ability to repeat things you memorized. Re-phrasing ideas in your own terms is how you prove true understanding, just like you would if you accurately translated what’s said in one language into another. Second, you won’t have time to get AI to summarize things for you when your job requires you to do this yourself on the spot with a message tailored to the needs of a particular audience. There’s nothing more frustrating than dealing with a chatbot that doesn’t seem to understand how to deliver exactly the information you require. This is why customers prefer dealing with knowledgeable human experts who quickly assess their needs and deliver on them. If your plan is to be a go-between for such customers and AI, their frustrations will be directed at you rather than at the technology, and you will make yourself easily disposable. Given how often you must prove your expertise on the job by summarizing what you know, it’s worth your while to get good at this essential skill.

The procedure for summarizing text to prove you understand its most important content is much like that of paraphrasing except it involves the extra step of pulling out highlights from the source. Altogether, this can be done in six steps, one of which includes the seven steps of paraphrasing, making this a twelve-step procedure:

• Determine how big your summary should be (according to your audience’s needs) so that you have a sense of how much material you should collect from the source.
• Read and re-read the source text so that you thoroughly understand it.
• Disregard detail such as supporting evidence and examples.
• If you have an electronic copy of the source, copy and paste the main points into your notes; for a print source that you can mark up, use a highlighter then transcribe those main points into your electronic notes.
• How many points you collect depends on how big your summary should be (according to audience needs).
• Paraphrase those main points following the seven-step procedure for paraphrasing outlined in §3.4.2 above.
• Edit your draft to make it coherent, clear, and especially concise.
• Ensure that your summary meets the needs of your audience and that your source is cited. Again, not having quotation marks around words doesn’t mean that you are off the hook for documenting your source(s).

Building a research assignment around a collection of summarized, paraphrased, and quoted passages from credible sources requires good organizational skills. We’ll focus more on this next step of the drafting process in the following chapter ( Ch. 4 ) , but basically it involves arranging your integrated research material in a coherent fashion, with main points up front and supporting points below proceeding in a logical sequence towards a convincing conclusion. Throughout this chapter, however, we’ve frequently encountered the requirement to document sources by citing and referencing, as in the last steps of both summarizing and paraphrasing indicated above. After reinforcing our quoting, paraphrasing, and summarizing skills, we can turn our focus on how to document sources.

Key Takeaway

• If you’ve already pulled out the main points as part of the previous exercise, practice including them as properly punctuated quotations in your document with smooth signal phrases introducing them.
• Paraphrase those same main-point sentences following the seven-step procedure outlined in §3.4.2 above. In other words, if Exercise 1 above was direct quotation, now try indirect quotation for each passage.
• Following the six-step procedure outlined in §3.4.3 above, summarize the entire source article, webpage, or whatever document you chose by reducing it to a single coherent paragraph of no more than 10 lines on your page.

Communication at Work Copyright © 2019 by Jordan Smith is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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• About Citation
• APA 7th Ed.
• MLA 9th Ed.
• Chicago 17th Ed.

In-text Citations

Formatting your asa paper.

This guide is a quick introduction to the American Sociological Association citation style. Be sure to consult the ASA Style Guide  for detailed standards and procedures. 

• Formatting in ASA (Purdue OWL)

Basic Format: (Last Name Year).

I'm using...

Direct Quotes

If you're quoting the exact words of someone else, introduce the quote with an in-text citation in parentheses. In ASA page numbers are included in the in-text citation after a colon with no space. Any sentence punctuation goes after the closing parenthesis.

• According to Shavers (2007:71), "Direct quote".
• Shavers (2007:71) found that "Direct quote".
• [Some other introduction] "Direct quote" (Shavers 2007:1021).

If you're directly quoting more than 40 words...

Use a blockquote . Block quotes don't need quotation marks, but are indented 1/2" as a visual cue of a citation.

Shavers (2007:1021) study found the following:

While research studies have established that socioeconomic status influences disease incidence, severity and access to healthcare, there has been relatively less study of the specific manner in which low SES influences receipt of quality care and consequent morbidity and mortality among patients with similar disease characteristics, particularly among those who have gained access to the healthcare system.

Toro Tip: Use direct quotes sparingly! Research cited in an ASA paper is focused more on the synthesis of findings from a variety of research studies, and less about the exact phrasing or argument of an individual.

Summarizing or Paraphrasing

Paraphrasing or summarizing the main findings or takeaways from a research article is the preferred method of citing sources in an ASA paper. Always include the last name of the author(s) and the year of the article, so your reader can find the full citation in the reference list.

According to Shavers (2007), limitations of studying socioeconomic status in research on health disparities include difficulties in collecting data on socioeconomic status and the complications of classifying women, children, and employment status, among others (p. 1016).

In-text citations differ depending on the number of authors listed for a work, and if there is a group author .

I'm citing a work with...

You only need the author's last name and the year with no quotation marks.

(Abrams 2018)

Connect both authors' last names with and and include the year.

(Wegener and Petty 1994)

3 or More Authors

If there are 3 authors...

In the first in-text citation: (Kernis, Cornell, and Sun 1993)

In subsequent citations: (Kernis et al. 1993)

If there are 4+ authors...

You only need the first author's name followed by et al. and the year. (Harris et al. 2018)

Basic Format: Author, First N., and First Name Last Name. Year of publication. "Title of Article." Title of Source Volume(Issue): page range.

I'm citing a...

Journal Article

• Author(s) [Last Name, First Name, Middle Initial., &. If there are more than 1 author, the other author names are not inverted and are separated by a comma].
• "Title of the Article" [Capitalized and in quotation marks].
• Title of the journal [Capitalized and in italics],
• Volume # of the journal
• Issue # (if any):
• Page range [xx-xx].
• DOI (Digital Object Identifier) (if any, there is usually a DOI if the article was published online first or not within a volume or issue)

Alba, Richard, and Philip Kasinitz. 2006. "Sophisticated Television, Sophisticated Stereotypes." Sociological Forum 5(6): 408-428.

News/Magazine Article

• Author(s) [Last Name, First Name., Middle Initial.]
• Year of Publication xxxx.
• "Title of the Article" Capitalized and in quotation marks.
• Title of the Newspaper or Publication [Capitalized and in italics],
• Month and day of publication if applicable,
• page range pp.
• URL Retrieved date (url).

Kennedy, Matt. 2018. "To Prevent Wildfires, PG&E Pre-emptively Cuts Power." NPR , Oct. 15, pp.15-18. Retrieved ( https://www.npr.org/2018/10/15/657468903/to-prevent-wildfires-pg-e-preemptively-cuts-power-to-thousands-in-california ).

Print Book or eBook

• Author(s) [Last Name, First Name].
• Title of the Book [Capitalized and in italics],
• City, State [Full name of city, abbreviation of state]:
• Publisher .

Lee, Harper. 1960. To Kill a Mockingbird , Philadelphia, PA: J. B. Lippincott & Co.

• URL Retrieved date (URL or subscription database).

Crouch, Ashley, and Carl Meurier. 2005. Vital Notes for Nurses: Health Assessment . Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publishing. Retrieved ( https://ebookcentral.proquest.com ).

Book Chapter with Editor(s)

• Author(s) of the chapter [Last Name, First Name, Middle Initial].
• "Title of the Chapter" [Capitalized and in quotation marks].
• Page range Pp. xxx-xxx in
• Title of the Book [Italicized],
• Editor(s) of the book edited by First Initial. Last Name.
• City, State of Publication [Full name of city, abbreviation of state]:

Preheim, Gertrude. (2008). "Clinical Scholar Model." Pp. 457-514 in Annual Review of Nursing Education , edited by M. H. Oermann. New York: Springer.

• Author or organization [Full name of organization].
• Year xxxx. [or n.d. for no date.]
• Title of page, section, or document [In quotation marks].
• URL Retrieved date (URL).

Center for Disease Control and Prevention. n.d. "Protect Yourself with Vaccination". Retrieved Feb. 4, 2019 ( https://www.cdc.gov/features/adultvaccinations/ ).

How do I make a hanging indent in Word?

1. Highlight the citaiton with your cursor. 

2. Right click. 

3. Select Paragraph .

4. Under Indentation, select Special and Hanging .

How can I save time formatting my paper? 

Microsoft Word and Google Docs have a Format Painter tool that will copy and apply basic formatting to any text! 

1. Highlight the formatting you want to apply. 

2. Select  Format Painter . 

3. Highlight the text you want to change. 

Note: If using the Format Painter on the Reference List, you'll need to go back and add italics. 

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