If you are writing a paper and have 1. sources to cite and/or 2. authors to quote, you have two good reasons why you'll want to return here:
because you don't want incomplete or inaccurate references to give you away. You know what happens if you don't care to cite the full source - or if you cite it inaccurately, don't you? To everybody, it simply means you've never read it! That's why we at QT™ consistently cite the exact title of the source, and the chapter and any minor unit(s), giving you the indispensable tool for double-checking your quotations before submitting your paper and potentially making a fool of yourself.
because you'll quickly find out what an invaluable resource the links below are: a resource for writing in general, but specifically for citing authors, bibiliographical sources, etc. So go on, use them. Just make sure you bookmark this page first!
Ahem... although our selection of quotations may be used to quickly find a reliable, fully referenced quotation on any topic of interest, it is actually not meant as an easy way out for lazybones. On the contrary, we hope it will encourage you to read more, eventually compiling your own "quotations treasury" from your readings! Because that's the best way to remarkably
Improve Your Conversation in Just 2 Easy Steps!
You don't have to read an awful lot to be able to liven up your writing and conversation with brilliant quotes, you know. In fact, it's not how much you read at all. It's only
what you read and
how you read.
And yes, it can be accomplished with a minimal investment of time and effort, in 2 easy steps:
Read a book. Just one single book, nothing more; say, Emerson's Essays. But here's
rule no. 1: don't borrow it - buy it! And here's why:
rule no. 2: don't just "read" it - take a pen and underline the thoughts you like, double-underline the important words, look them up in a dictionary when you don't understand them exactly, scribble your own comments in the margin! That's the best way if you want to memorize anything!
Now, the easier step, which is also the most important:
Re-read only the underlined parts; try to memorize the best passages, mark them with a highlighting pen and/or write them down. This step is crucial, so repeat it if needed. In the end, you will have at least two, three dozen great quotes you will now know by heart and be able to re-use whenever appropriate, all coming from a book you'll really master - so much so that you'll often remember the exact page! Then, keep returning to it from time to time (once a year will do), just to refresh your memory.
You already have some underlined and annotated books you're particularly fond of? Great - jump directly to Step 2, saving even more time and effort!
You don't? Or you do, but you want to expand on it? We'll be listing great books at bargain prices for you soon - just bookmark this page and come back in a while!
What's really good about this method is that each reader inevitably chooses and memorizes different passages, thus building an individual collection of quotes, a very personal anthology having almost no points in common with the usual selections that abound everywhere, including the Internet. This will give a note of freshness to your quotations, a freshness that could never be attained by re-quoting the same worn-out passages over and over again. You may have noticed some of that freshness while browsing through our categorized quotations.
And - last but not least - reading Emerson will make you a richer person per se.
Then, if you're satisfied with the results, take another book and repeat the process. This time, it could be Poe, or Whitman, or maybe Camille LaPaglia. Just remember: let it be a genuine work of wit, packed with sharp thoughts and captivating metaphors. Few books are. Novels, for example, are generally not a good choice. They may be fun to read, but they don't yield a whole lot of quotables per page (of course, there are exceptions: take Douglas Adams, for example). A hint: to easily find authors you'll want to read more of, navigate our categorized quotations!
But now, let me leave you to the:
Resources on Writing, Quoting, Proofreading, Expression and Verbal Skills
The following links are the fruit of countless hours of surfing and tiresome searching. Since all these sites are StriQTly SeleQTed™ and are definitely worth a visit, our comments are kept to a minimum. Just click on the links, you won't regret it.
Quoting Vs. Paraphrasing Vs. Summarizing
How do I cite my sources in a bibliography? Ohio University Library Services: Help Tips & Tutorials. Use the Right Style Manual! Major Printed Style Guides, Online Style Guides, Automated Bibliography-Makers, Other Printed Style Manuals. First and foremost: Read your assignment carefully to determine the citation style your instructor wants you to use. Don't get caught using APA citation style when your instructor wants you to use Turabian or the Chicago Manual of Style.
Citation Styles Online. A useful resource with links to: Columbia Online Style: MLA-Style Citations of Electronic Sources, Citation styles developed by Janice Walker (University of South Florida) and endorsed by the Alliance for Computers and Writing (ACW), Electronic styles: A Handbook for citing electronic information. APA and MLA citation formats developed by X. Li and Nancy Crane (University of Vermont), Yahoo! listings for "Internet Citation" with links to several online citation Web sites, Yahoo! listings for "Writing for the Web," a collection of sites with general advice about writing and publishing online.
Citing Websites. The University of St. Thomas (UST), St. Paul, Minnesota.
Punctuating and Formatting Quotations. Short Direct Prose, A Quotation of Four or More Typewritten Lines, A Quotation of Up to Three Lines of Poetry, A Quotation of More than Three Lines of Poetry, A Quotation Within a Quotation, Quoting Only a Portion of the Whole, Adding Your Own Clarification, Comment, or Correction, General Punctuation of Quotations. The University of Wisconsin-Madison Writing Center.
How to Use Quotes (Literacy Education Online), the Write Place, St Cloud State University. Direct and indirect quotations, when to use them, short vs. long quotations, etc.
Paraphrase: Write it in Your Own Words. The Purdue University Online Writing Lab.
Academic Writing: Quoting and Paraphrasing. Writer's Handbook at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Writing Center.
Quoting, Paraphrasing, and Summarizing. The Purdue University Online Writing Lab. What are the differences among quoting, paraphrasing, and summarizing? Why use quotations, paraphrases, and summaries? How to use quotations, paraphrases, and summaries. Sample essay for summarizing, paraphrasing, and quoting: "So That Nobody Has To Go To School If They Don't Want To" by Roger Sipher.
Summarizing. The University of Texas Learning Center. How to summarize a paragraph, an article, a complex article.
Plagiarism (Literacy Education Online), the Write Place, St Cloud State University. Don't put off your research and writing tasks until the last minute, because "procrastination can lead to panic, and panic can cause writers to use poor judgment with regard to plagiarism."
Avoiding Plagiarism (Purdue University OWL). A systematized, well presented do's and dont's handout. Also check out their Academic Integrity: A Guide for Students by Stephen Akers.
10 Big Myths (actually, 11) about copyright explained by Brad Templeton:
"If it doesn't have a copyright notice, it's not copyrighted."
"If I don't charge for it, it's not a violation."
"If it's posted to Usenet it's in the public domain."
"My posting was just fair use!"
"If you don't defend your copyright you lose it." -- "Somebody has that name copyrighted!"
"If I make up my own stories, but base them on another work, my new work belongs to me."
"They can't get me, defendants in court have powerful rights!"
"Oh, so copyright violation isn't a crime or anything?"
"It doesn't hurt anybody -- in fact it's free advertising."
"They e-mailed me a copy, so I can post it."
"So I can't ever reproduce anything?"
SPECIAL BONUS RESOURCE:Plagiarism Self-Test. Engineering Communication Centre @ The University of Toronto.
Proofreading and Grammar
Proofreading for Common Surface Errors: Spelling, Punctuation, and Grammar, produced by Writing Tutorial Services, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN. Rules and examples, taken primarily from The St. Martin's Handbook, 3rd ed., by Andrea Lunsford and Robert Connors.
SPECIAL BONUS RESOURCE:Grammar Safari (Intensive English Institute). How to search the Web for common and uncommon grammar structures.
Organizing Information
P-R-R: How to Read Your Textbook More Efficiently at the UT Austin Learning Center. The Preview - Read - Recall formula that, with practice, ensures thorough learning and facilitates later "re-learning".
Pre-Writing Strategies. English Works! at Gallaudet University, Washington, D.C. Organizing your thoughts and beginning to put the information you have on paper.
Essays The Structure of an Essay, Common Types of Essays (Argumentative, Comparison/Contrast, Definition, Descriptive, Narrative, Cause-Effect, Process Essay, Critical Essays). English Works! at Gallaudet University, Washington, D.C.
Essay writing guide. The Department of History, Faculty of Arts, Monash University. The purpose of essay writing, Who is an essay written for? Choosing and comprehending the question or topic, Coming up with an argument, Planning the draft, Writing the draft (introducing and developing the argument, using different kinds of evidence, concluding the argument), Writing clearly and effectively, Referencing (when to cite sources, forming a citation, citing different kinds of sources), Preparing a bibliography and an annotated bibliography, Format and presentation.
Writing Thesis/Support Essays. Occasions for Thesis/Support Essays, From Subject to Thesis, Stating Your Thesis, Supporting Your Thesis, Developing Your Paragraphs, Revising Your Thesis, Showing the Links, Introductions and Conclusions. Paradigm Online Writing Assistant.
The Argumentative Paper. Writing an argumentative paper: considering your audience, the main ingredients, thesis, context, reasons, objections, responses, ways to organize an argumentative paper.
Writing Argumentative Essays. Occasions for Argumentative Essays, Arguing in Context, Stating Your Proposition, Anticipating Opposition, Expanding Your Argument, Three Argumentative Appeals: Reason, Ethics, Emotion, Form: Tradition & Innovation, Arguing for Consensus. Paradigm Online Writing Assistant.
Writing for Specific Subjects: Behavioral/Social Sciences, Biology, Business, Film, History, Law, Literature, Philosophy, Technical Writing, Theses/Dissertations, Personal Statements for Applications. UT Austin Learning Center.
How to Write and Revise A Rough Draft. First reading: organization, Second reading: paragraphs and sentences, Third reading: content. UT Austin Learning Center.
The University of Victoria Writer's Guide. A complete resource with plenty of concise (and rather short) individual pages on various topics concerning writing. Planning, organizing and presenting essays (types of essays, getting started, outlining and organizing, getting it down, proofreading and presentation, research essays, exam essays, common problems, some sample essays), developing and ordering paragraphs (developing paragraphs, the functions of a paragraph, paragraph order, paragraph transitions), writing clear sentences (capitalization, hyphens, apostrophes, what to avoid, wordiness, the passive voice, common errors), choosing and using words (usage, a dictionary of usage, gender inclusive language, spelling), acknowledging your sources (general strategies, bibliographies, quoting, acknowledging sources - parenthetical citation, footnotes, citing books, articles and other sources, including Internet ones), literary and rhetorical terms by category (narrative genres, figures of speech and figures of thought, poetic tools), general literary terms listed alphabetically, preparing summaries, presenting arguments logically, the basics of grammar, a grammar glossary, marking symbols and grades.
University of Miami Tutorials. Student writing resources, guides & tutorials. Getting started advice for research paper writers.
OWL at Purdue University. General writing concerns, handouts, the Purdue Writing Lab, workshops. Revising, editing and proofreading. Types and genres of writing: writing a thesis statement, writing essay exams, writing about literature and fiction, etc. The site is renowned for its completeness.
Indiana University Resources for Writers. Citing sources, using evidence, how to write a thesis statement, paragraphs and topic sentences, personal statements and application letters, plagiarism and how to avoid it, taking an essay exam, using outlines, writing book reviews, resumes and cover letters.
SPECIAL BONUS RESOURCE:EssayEdge. An online admissions essay course where you can learn how to write a powerful essay, term paper, resume, CV, scholarship application, etc. - or simply have it written for you by the best professionals. While they charge for their service, they do answer questions for free.
Creative Ideas to Get You Going
Quotations @ About.com. An invaluable resource with great articles (e.g. How to KNOW Who Really Said It). A must.
Hung Up On Writing Papers? Writing a paper requires that you expend two different types of energy: creative and critical. Don't attempt to use both at the same time! Critically... organize your ideas. Creatively... get your ideas on paper. Critically... revise you rough draft. Type a final draft and turn it in! UT Austin Learning Center.
SPECIAL BONUS RESOURCE:Inspiration. A great site full of wisdom. A must.
SPECIAL BONUS RESOURCE:wp.cjb.net. Having that Windows blues again? Permanently running out of memory or resources? Outlook Express crashing time and again? Printer not responding? Our affiliate Windows troubleshooting and optimizing site might just have the right tip/solution!
P.S. If you discover any dead links, please be so kind as to notify us, so we can update/remove them! Thanks.
P.P.S. If you know a site that should be listed here, do not hesitate - contact us and let us know!
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An online admissions essay course where you can learn how to write a powerful essay, term paper, resume, CV, scholarship application, etc. - or simply have it written for you by the best professionals. While they charge for their service, they do answer questions for free.
