Quotations & Citations

Monday October 8, 2012

     Today was a challenging day!  We started off talking about quotations.  Some things I already knew, such as to use a block quote is the quote is longer than three sentences or three lines on the page, but some things were new to me, such as using a colon before the block quote.  We were also told that you can either indent five or ten spaces when doing a block quote, but you have to pick one and use it throughout the paper; you can't use five spaces here and ten spaces there - things must all follow a pattern!  Then we talked about something that I have always found a bit strange: using brackets in quotations.  Brackets can be used for several different reasons, such as if the author of a paper is using a quote and has to add extra information to make the quote make sense, especially if it is kinda taken out of context.  For example, an author might write "They [Native Americans] were exposed to several life-threatening diseases after the first contact with Europeans."  An author can also put "(sic)" after a misspelled word in a quote to show the readers that the author knows that the word is spelled wrong and that it was not just a typo.  The order that a writer must remember when using quotes is:  punctuation mark, quote, footnote number. 
     We then moved on and talked about when to use footnotes.  I always thought that footnotes made a paper look funny because it seemed to me like they took up too much space on a page.  Since coming to Aurora University, I have learned that footnotes are a good thing!  The more footnotes, the better!  Especially because footnotes in Chicago Style are easier to use than MLA or APA.  Footnotes show that an author is experiences and well-read on the topic in which they are writing about.  It also shows that they are not afraid to use other people's work within their own and give them appropriate credit.  The six main times that footnoting should be used is:
1.)  writing an opinion
2.)  using a direct quote
3.)  using uncommon facts (common facts/knowledge do not need to be footnoted)
4.)  paraphrasing
5.)  summarizing a piece of work
6.)  borrowing ideas from someone else (either directly or indirectly)

     After discussing this we moved on to a footnoting exercise.  This was BRUTAL!!!!!  We were broken up into groups and then given seven different sources and were told to put them in the proper format for footnoting.  I thought that this was going to be easy and I started writing the information down, then Scott and Martha pointed out to me that I was doing the sources for a bibliography, not a footnote.  So, we work together as a group to guess what order we should put the information in.  After we did this, we were told to put the seven sources on the board.  Well, once all three groups did this we saw that everyone did it differently and no one was 100% correct.  After we failed at this, we were given five more sources to do the same thing with.  This activity was harder still because they were sources such as things from archives, speeches, and interviews.  I had absolutely no idea as to what order or what punctuation was supposed to be used!  Again, after all three groups put their answers on the board, no one had any correct.  The whole point to these exercises was to show us that footnoting is DIFFICULT!  We should always have our Chicago Style manuals in front of us when we are working on our papers so we can cite and footnote our sources properly.  This is as much for our own benefit as for the readers.  Sources need to be properly done in case someone wants to go back and check your research or start their own research using yours as a secondary source.  So not only is the information being correct is important, but so are the footnotes and bibliographies!!  I know that I will have a lot of trouble doing this, so I have two different Chicago Style manuals in my backpack with all my other Senior Seminar paper stuff!