ABNT direct and indirect citation: how to do it

Direct quotation is one that transcribes part of a work, with the author's words. When using this type of quote, we must put in parentheses the author's last name, year of publication of the work and page number (all separated by commas).

In addition to direct citation, there are two other types of citation:

indirect citation: is one that is based on a work, with our words. In this case, we indicate the author's last name and year of publication of the work (page number is optional).

citation citation: is the one mentioned in our text, without having access to the original text. Here we use the latin expression apud, which means “quoted by”.

Citations can be placed in the text or in footnotes and are mandatory in academic papers, as they give more credibility to your research.

ABNT standards

So let's get to the rules!

1. When in parentheses, the author's last name must be in capital letters.

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Examples of how to use the author's last name

2. direct quote

2.1. With up to three lines

Direct quotes that have up to three lines must be enclosed in double quotation marks. Single quotes are used to introduce quotes within a quote.

Example of direct citation with up to three lines

2.2. With more than three lines

Direct quotes that have more than three lines must be placed without quotation marks. In this case, the font used is smaller than the one in the document and must be indented 4 cm from the left margin.

Direct citation example with more than three lines

3. call system

The introduction of citations can be made using the numerical system or author-date.

3.1. Number system

This system is used to make explanatory notes.

Numbers must be enclosed in parentheses and can be placed exponentially or in the same direction as the rest of the document.

The numbering follows the same sequence throughout the document, that is, it does not start with each new page.

Remembering that when we use footnotes in our work, we do not use the numerical system so that the notes are not confused with the indications of the citations.

3.2. author-date system

This system is used to make citations in the text.

In case we do not have the authorship, we use the first word of the title of the work and add ellipses. Then we put in the date and page number, usually.

Example of citation by the so-called author-date system without authorship

Works starting with articles or monosyllables must be considered in the nomination.

Example of citation by the so-called author-date system without authorship (title started by monosyllable)

4. Deletes, comments and highlights

The deletions, comments and highlighting must be signaled as follows:

4.1.Deletions

When removing a part of a quote (deletion), we must use ellipses inside square brackets [...].

4.2. Comments

When adding a comment or adding something to a quote, we must use square brackets [ ].

4.3. Spotlight

When you want to emphasize a part of the quote, we must underline, bold or italicize that part. Here, we must indicate if the highlight is made by us (our emphasis) or if it is already part of the work (author's emphasis).