In order to discover the meaning of the term textual quotation, we are going to know first what is the etymological origin of the two words that give it its shape:
-Quote is a term derived from Latin. Specifically, it comes from the Latin verb “citare”, which can be translated as “quote” or “boost”.
-Textual, on the other hand, also comes from Latin. In his case, it comes from “textualis” which means “just as it was said or written.” It is a Latin word that is made up of two different parts: the noun “textus”, which refers to the “set of words that shape a passage”, and the suffix “-al”, which is used to indicate “relative to”.
The notion of quotation has several uses. In this case we are interested in its meaning as a mention or a note that serves as proof of something that is indicated. Textual, on the other hand, is that of a text or in accordance with it.
A verbatim quotation, therefore, consists of the exact reproduction of an expression, which is inserted into one’s own speech. The main characteristic of the textual quotation is that its original formulation is maintained, unlike what happens with the paraphrase.
There are many reasons for being able to carry out the use of one or more verbatim citations. Thus, for example, they can be used to reinforce an idea, to start a debate, to mention the sources of a work, to expand a text, to clarify an idea…
That is, quotes are used to provide a reference context and as an additional source of data. It is also a disclosure mechanism for other authors. The way to include a verbatim quote obtained from a work protected by intellectual property rights is regulated by law to avoid plagiarism.
Thus, when a person includes a textual quotation from another individual in his own text, he must mention exactly where he extracted the expression in question, including the name of the author, the publication from which he took the phrase and other information. There are also limits that set how many words can be cited without falling into a simple copy.
In newspapers, magazines and websites, it is common to include verbatim quotes from the protagonists of the news. As in this case the quotations usually come from public statements or own interviews, the ways of including them in the own text are variable and not so rigid. In general, what is cited is published in quotation marks or in italics (italics).
In addition to all the above, we can establish that there are several types of textual citations such as the following:
-Short textual quotation, which is the one with less than 40 words. It is entered in the text with a double quotation mark.
-Long textual quotation, which is the one that has more than 40 words and is written without quotation marks and on a new line.
Not forgetting that there are also the short textual quotation with emphasis on the author, the short textual quotation with emphasis on the year or the short textual quotation with emphasis on the content.
The rules most widespread for a quote correctly and fair to the author follow the style APA, an acronym that comes from the English American Psychological Association (American Association of Psychology), which developed a standard used by the authors at the time to submit their work to be published in their magazines.
According to the American Psychological Association, the development of this standard took place to facilitate reading comprehension in social and behavioral science documents, and to make communication as clear as possible, without unnecessary elements that divert attention of the main ones.
The APA style establishes the use of parentheses in the text itself, unlike others that rely on footnotes in the text or document. The citation should include information about the author and the date of publication. There are two fundamental ways of making a verbatim quote following the guidelines of the APA, each one focused on the aspect we want to emphasize.
One of the two options is to emphasize the author, something very common when the text that we want to quote verbatim directly expresses their ideas or their position on a particular topic. The other is precisely to focus especially on the content, and in this case the author goes into the background. It is worth mentioning that the APA contemplates both the verbatim quote and the paraphrase.
When quoting verbatim, certain words or even entire phrases can be omitted if they are not considered necessary to reflect the main ideas of the content; If we make the decision to shorten the quote in this way, then we must replace the missing parts with an ellipsis. Regarding the reference data, it is necessary to indicate the last name of the author, the year in which the original text was published and, if it was a book or a magazine, the page number in which it was found.
In a textual quotation focused on the author whose length is less than 40 words, we can elaborate the following structure: Last name of the author (year) affirms: « quotation text, with possible omissions expressed in the form of (…) » (page number, in the format p. number). For example: Tanaka (2014) states: «This situation has always been like this, (…). I don’t think things are going to change »(p.105).
