Reading around your subject will also help you understand how academics in your field write.ĭirect quotes are useful for defining or describing specific concepts, whereas paraphrasing or summarising information from other sources shows that you understand the content and general idea.
You should consult your course handbook, speak to your tutors and learn from your previous assignment feedback to explore how direct quotations are used on your course. History or Sociology students use quotes differently to Biology or Computing students, for example. You'll usually use them as an example of ideas in your assignment, but exactly how you use them varies depending on your discipline. There are various reasons to use direct quotations in academic writing.
