160 – You, your language and your material
way) to avoid running together what the authors of the sources do
with what you do.
Note, first, that a quotation is most often something that you
have performed. A quotation is not something written by the source
you are using. Hence, rather than write,
This quotation by Evans-Pritchard shows that loyalty among the Nuer
does not extend to the whole village,
you should write,
This quotation from Evans-Pritchard shows that . . .
The difference between ‘by’ and ‘from’ distinguishes between who
is responsible for the action of quoting and the person affected by
the action. You (the writer) are the person who is actually quoting,
whereas Evans-Pritchard is merely being used by you as a source you
are drawing from. If you find yourself vacillating between ‘by’ and
‘from’ as you write, try to sort out the position in terms such as these.
Here is a similar problem:
The Commission’s activity broadened to encompass other aspects of
urban renewal, as outlined by Coleman (1970) in section 3.1 above.
The best way to get this to say what, apparently, was intended is to
make it quite explicit who wrote section 3.1 above by using ‘I’ or ‘we’
and also to make it clear who is doing the outlining – I (the writer) or
Coleman. For example:
In section 3.1 above I outlined Coleman’s (1970) account of how the
Commission’s activity broadened to encompass other aspects of urban
renewal.
way) to avoid running together what the authors of the sources do
with what you do.
Note, first, that a quotation is most often something that you
have performed. A quotation is not something written by the source
you are using. Hence, rather than write,
This quotation by Evans-Pritchard shows that loyalty among the Nuer
does not extend to the whole village,
you should write,
This quotation from Evans-Pritchard shows that . . .
The difference between ‘by’ and ‘from’ distinguishes between who
is responsible for the action of quoting and the person affected by
the action. You (the writer) are the person who is actually quoting,
whereas Evans-Pritchard is merely being used by you as a source you
are drawing from. If you find yourself vacillating between ‘by’ and
‘from’ as you write, try to sort out the position in terms such as these.
Here is a similar problem:
The Commission’s activity broadened to encompass other aspects of
urban renewal, as outlined by Coleman (1970) in section 3.1 above.
The best way to get this to say what, apparently, was intended is to
make it quite explicit who wrote section 3.1 above by using ‘I’ or ‘we’
and also to make it clear who is doing the outlining – I (the writer) or
Coleman. For example:
In section 3.1 above I outlined Coleman’s (1970) account of how the
Commission’s activity broadened to encompass other aspects of urban
renewal.