Quotations

Scholarly writing in the social sciences doesn't tend to employ as many quotations as humanities scholarship; social science scholarship more often cites rather than quotes. But quotations are acceptable and at times necessary. The follow the following formats:

　　Short quotations

　　Quotations of 40 words or fewer are woven into your text, enclosed in quotation marks. The parenthetical citation goes after the closing quotation mark, but before the final period, comma, or semicolon:

　　According to Rosecrance （1986）, the oldest theory of international relations is that"power rivalries cause war" （p. 44）.

　　If the quotation ends in a question and exclamation mark it's a bit more complicated. If the punctuation mark is part of the quotation it goes before the parenthetical; if it's your addition it goes after the parenthetical:

　　Writing in the mid-1980s Rosecrance saw an ascendant Japan. Looking back fifteen years later, would he still suggest that"it is the Japanese model that America may ultimately follow" （1986, p. xi）?

　　Page references must go in the parenthetical citation, but the author and year may either be woven into the text or put in the parenthetical: see below for more on this.

　　Long quotations

　　Quotations longer than 40 words are set off from the text, beginning on a new line indented a half-inch （or five spaces on a typewriter） from the left margin. Quotation marks are not used to mark the quotation. The quotation is double-spaced and put in the same font as the regular text, and there is no blank line before or after the quotation. If the quotation includes one or more full paragraphs, their first lines should be indented another half-inch. The parenthetical citation comes after the closing punctuation mark （note that this is different from the practice with short quotations）:

　　In his 1986 study, Rosecrance argued that traditional strategies of military expansion weren't as successful in the modern world as a trading strategy:

　　[A]fter 1945 . . . the threat of an all-out military conflict （including the use of nuclear and thermonuclear bombs） became catastrophic, and such wars as did occur took on a more limited character. The risks of trying to take new territory through military invasion mounted while the alternative of development through economic processes and trade heralded new rewards for a peaceful strategy. The shift toward an international trading world gained momentum and adherents while raising important questions about the traditional military and territorial orientation of Western and industrial states. （p. x）

　　Now we turn to detailed how-to's on APA citations and references.