Create a direct quote

Part of the quote is irrelevant to your pointOne would believe that if a student from Korea could lip-sync a song perfectly, they would know what it says. But as Fishman points out, although a great deal of international students “may be able to sing along to a new Madonna song does not mean they can hold a rudimentary conversation in English or even understand what Madonna is saying.” (Fishman, J. 1998. The new linguistic order. Foreign Policy. 113, 28)

Part of the quote is irrelevant to your pointOne would believe that if a student from Korea could lip-sync a song perfectly, they would know what it says. But as Fishman points out, although a great deal of international students “may be able to sing along to a new Madonna song does not mean they can hold a rudimentary conversation in English or even understand what Madonna is saying.” (Fishman, J. 1998. The new linguistic order. Foreign Policy. 113, 28)

Omit using ellipses (but don’t change the quote’s intention)One would believe that if a student from Korea could lip-sync a song perfectly, they would know what it says. But as Fishman points out, although a great deal of international students “may be able to sing along to a new Madonna song does not mean they can … understand what Madonna is saying.” (Fishman, J. 1998. The new linguistic order. Foreign Policy. 113, 28)

Omit using ellipses (but don’t change the quote’s intention)One would believe that if a student from Korea could lip-sync a song perfectly, they would know what it says. But as Fishman points out, although a great deal of international students “may be able to sing along to a new Madonna song does not mean they can hold a rudimentary conversation in English or even understand what Madonna is saying.” (Fishman, J. 1998. The new linguistic order. Foreign Policy. 113, 28)

Omit using ellipses (but don’t change the quote’s intention)One would believe that if a student from Korea could lip-sync a song perfectly, they would know what it says. But as Fishman points out, although a great deal of international students “may be able to sing along to a new Madonna song does not mean they can hold a rudimentary conversation in English … .” (Fishman, J. 1998. The new linguistic order. Foreign Policy. 113, 28)Words from the original

text have been omitted.

The end of my sentence, not the sentence in the

original text.

Create a direct quote using ellipses

What if my direct quote doesn’t exactly fit the grammar of my sentence?

Modify using brackets, but without a change in author’s intentionThe spread of English comes from a variety of sources, most notably like how it arrived at “Massachussettes the same way it did [at] Mumbai: on a British ship.” (Fishman, J. 1998. The new linguistic order. Foreign Policy. 113, 30)

Also, brackets can signify that you’ve replaced one word with another for clarityIn history, many lands have been colonised by a more powerful country: Spain, France, China, and Britain, for example. At some point, most became independent again. Some have kept the colonizer’s language as their own, but many have not. What is remarkable is that of the British colonies, the inhabitants who reverted back to their mother tongues have “at least recognized [English’s] utility.” (Fishman, J. 1998. The new linguistic order. Foreign Policy. 113, 30)

Create a direct quote from either of these two lines, using brackets to replace the unclear words or modify grammar

PROBLEM AREAS

ADDING QUOTATIONS

Original Text

1. Too obvious of an explanation“Just because a wide array of young people around the word may be able to sign along to a new Madonna song does not mean that they can hold a rudimentary conversation in English... .”1 This means that although individuals can sing along with their favourite English pop songs, they are not necessarily able to understand what they are saying.

2. Used out of contextIt is certain that students try to “hold a rudimentary conversation inEnglish” thanks to what they learn from listening to pop songs.2

When non-native speakers listen to Madonna or any other English-language music, the discussions they have with their friends aboutthe lyrics of the pop songs “promote the spread of regional languages.”3

3. Incongruous grammarWhen non-native speakers listen to Madonna or any other English-language music, “does not mean that they can hold a rudimentary conversation in English.”4

When non-native speakers listen to Madonna or any other English-language music, they “may be able to sing along…does not mean that they can hold a rudimentary conversation in English..”5