What do you do once you want to incorporate a citation from one other supply into your personal content material, however the citation features a flaw in spelling, grammar, or the like, otherwise you need to use the citation selectively? How and whether or not you amend quoted materials relies on the content material and the context.
In a proper context, reminiscent of a scholarly or different authoritative nonfiction ebook, if supply materials is flawed, you might have a number of choices relying on the kind or extent of nonstandard content material. For a easy misspelling or grammatical error, observe the error with the interpolation [sic], italicizing the phrase, derived from Latin, meaning “so” or “thus” and signifies that the previous error is reproduced from the unique materials; the brackets needs to be styled in regular roman kind.
If errors are ubiquitous, or an out of date conference reminiscent of rampant capitalization is repeated, acknowledge that reality in a quick previous be aware within the textual content, a concise bracketed remark, or a footnote. These methods are additionally applicable to make clear that the author reproducing the citation doesn’t condone a controversial comment or an offensive time period or remark inside it.
What if a passage already contains ellipses and also you want to omit phrases or sentences? Distinguish between the unique ellipses and your personal, maybe by enclosing the ellipses you might have launched inside brackets and explaining in a previous be aware or in a footnote that this therapy signifies launched, versus unique, omissions. If the context doesn’t clarify that unique ellipses haven’t been launched, insert a bracketed be aware reminiscent of “[Ellipses in original],” however make use of this intrusive technique sparsely.
In such formal content material, quotations ought to protect spelling, capitalization, punctuation, and therapy reminiscent of italicization or full capitalization of a phrase. Nevertheless, if a complete sentence or passage initially appeared italicized or in all-caps, you may render it in friendlier kind and be aware in brackets how the fabric initially appeared. (Additionally, when introducing italics to emphasise a degree, observe that therapy with the be aware “[Emphasis added.]” Conversely, to make clear that the italics are unique, insert the be aware “[Italics in original.”)
The Chicago Manual of Style supports limited corrections or format changes such as the following:
1. Revision of quotation marks to conform to the prevailing style (such as changing single quotation marks, used in British English, to double quotation marks, standard in American English).
2. Revision of the first letter of the first word from uppercase to lowercase or vice versa as required to integrate the quotation with the preceding text. (It is not necessary to bracket a change in case except in legal writing or textual commentary.)
3. Insertion of terminal punctuation (a period, question mark, or exclamation point) or replacement of existing punctuation to integrate the quotation into the surrounding text.
4. Omission of superscript note indicators, such as numbers or asterisks, when the notes are not retained.
5. Isolated misspellings or typographical errors (but retain “mistakes” when they are deliberate, such as when imitating an illiterate attempt at writing, or when quoting from material written at a time when spelling was nonstandard).
6. Adjustment of indented or centered text to match formatting of the surrounding text.
In less formal contexts, you can employ silent correction, the strategy of simply editing the original material without comment. Writers must used sound judgment, however, in minimizing the alterations and refraining from altering the meaning or intent of the original content. Usually, silent correction should be employed only to correct misspellings or erroneous punctuation. If the grammar of the original material is poor or the material is otherwise problematic, it is probably better to paraphrase entirely or to directly quote only key phrases.
Also, exercise caution when reproducing heavily accented speech. Gonna, wanna, and similar lazy pronunciations need not be reproduced; doing so, or representing mispronunciations such as “nukular,” may be misinterpreted as condescending to the speaker. Silent correction is also appropriate for errors such as flustrated as a confusion of flustered and frustrated.