7.12 The Main Part: About "Quotations"
To Quote or Not to Quote, That Is the Question!
Quotes are reproductions of the precise wording of somebody else’s text or statement. They are reproduced in ‘inverted commas’ or “quotation marks” to clearly identify WHICH passages or words are quoted. Hence, if we quote only parts of a passage, or we omit words within a quoted passage, or we make changes to clarify the passage, all of this needs to be clearly identified.
Original quote:
“The conclusion to be drawn from this is that the Community constitutes a new legal order of international law for the benefit of which the states have limited their sovereign rights, albeit within limited fields, and the subjects of which comprise not only Member States but also their nationals.” (from the seminal judgment of the European Court of Justice in Case 26/62 van Gend & Loos, 1963 ECR 1, paragraph 11).
It really does not make a lot of sense, if we merely reproduce the same text in our paper because the original is widely available, including online. In general, students should not expect to get credit for something that was actually done/written by someone else. Re-printing material that is easily accessible already, may look like you are trying to fill pages or impress with the elaborate language of other people! Thus, in most cases, the only justification for quoting something already written elsewhere is because we want to highlight or emphasize specific language or terms. We can do so in two ways, first by being selective, second by emphasizing in italics or boldface.
Using the quote:
‘In its seminal judgment van Gend & Loos about the difference between public international law on the one side and European Community or European Union law on the other side, the Court of Justice stated that “… the Community constitutes a new legal order of international law … the subjects of which comprise not only Member States but also their nationals.” (emphasis added)’
For further analysis on how and when to identify original sources see also Plagiarism and How to Avoid It below.
And a word about the quantity of your quotations: I recently had to read a doctoral dissertation of some 500 pages. The author was discussing an innovative new legislative instrument and, as such, the topic was valid. However, the author not only reproduced the entire document in an annex, which made some sense although it was also easily available on the internet. He also extensively and even repeatedly quoted lengthy passages in his main body of text whenever he discussed them. In the end, I am sure, that about 100 pages could have been eliminated from the dissertation because they were merely cut and paste of the legislative instrument and certain other documents. My distinctive feeling was that the author was trying to fill more pages to impress. The result, however, was quite the opposite.
Thus, use quotations sparingly and only where you want to highlight specific wording or where you have some other good reason to reproduce something that is not yours and for which you will get no credit.