A citation is a direct quote from the original source. We need to think very carefully about using direct quotes, as over-reliance on quotes can lead to our own voice disappearing and the thread that holds our writing together becoming less clear.
The following are good examples of when to use a direct quote:
1. The writing style or turn of phrase of the source is unique. This might be due to the particular literary merits of the source or certain semantic aspects. For example, laws are often quoted directly and precisely, without changing the wording.
2. The source material is very significant or controversial. A source can be particularly authoritative, for example, reflecting the opinion of a head of state, a politician, or another recognised authority on a specific matter. Sometimes the sources represent a difference of opinions or are otherwise controversial. In this case, it is important to state who exactly said what and what words they used to do so.
3. It is important that the source remains unchanged for research reasons. This might be the case if communication is the topic of the research and discourse analysis is being carried out on the sub-texts of the communication.
4. Citations from data are used. These include e.g. data collected from interviews or texts written by the respondent on the free-form survey questions. Citations are written exactly as they are said in the interview or written down on the form.
Interviews and survey forms are referenced the same way as other sources. If the data in question is anonymized, codes are used. Codes should be as short and descriptive as possible. In the example written above, the code is H2, meaning Interviewee 2. When it comes to answers from forms, form numbers are used. These numbers can be made visible e.g. on Excel by giving the form the same number that Excel already has automatically created on the line where the content of the form is found. You need to however, from this number decrease the upmost line where the questions of the form are placed. If you were to remove or add something on the citation for clarity reasons, these exclusions and additions must be marked down clearly. See more about this below, on the section Exclusions and Additions.
If the cited text or speech is in a language that an equally educated individual is expected to understand based on their education, it can be written in the original language of the source. Other languages are translated into the same language as the actual body of text. In this case the translation will be written under the citation as a separate citation in the same form and it is clearly stated that it is the author's translation. This mention is put into brackets after the translation: (author's own translation.) If the citation in question were to be included in the body of text and it is not written in aforementioned common languages, it's adviced for clarity reasons to write the citation, correctly referenced, in your own words.
NB: The names of publications and other sources in this guide are for the most part translations of their Finnish counterparts (translated for this purpose only). Therefore it is not possible to find the publications by their names or other indications given here.
A citation can be embedded in the body text if the quoted text is no more than a sentence in length, and it is syntactically possible to do so. In this case, it is separated from the body with “quotation marks”.
If a direct quote is longer than one sentence or if it is otherwise more stylistically sensible to distinguish it from the body text, it is separated from the body by one line and indented by one tab. The line spacing is 1 for the quoted excerpt, whereas it is 1.5 for the body text. The source reference is entered directly alongside the quote.
NOTE: The format of this site does not allow for different line spacing or indentations. For this reason, the indents are indicated by bullet points in the examples. They are therefore not in any way replacing quotation marks and as such should not normally be used when using a quote.
Companies build their own brands, which, in turn, support the brand of the region, and then reflect on company's image. Among other things, the Finnish and regional brand has been identified as follows:
If some irrelevant parts of the original source text are left out for the sake of readability, the excluded text is indicated by a set of parentheses with two dashes placed between them.
If the quoted text needs clarification to become more understandable, the necessary additions are placed inside square brackets:
Sometimes you have to leave something out of a quoted section in order to preserve confidentiality and anonymity. This can be done by briefly inserting a description of the type of information has been removed for the aforementioned purpose.
We have decided that our sponsor partnership with [company X] will not be pursued because its activities do not meet our ethical quality standards (Interviewee 3).
More information on the use of quotation marks in sentences, especially in relation to using them alongside other punctuation marks, is available here.