The amount of information available is phenomenal. Much of it is of little consequence; some is excellent. However you must use discretion and critical thinking to choose what is appropriate. Some criteria to use when evaluating a document will help.

1. Relevance: what's your thesis? What does the document under consideration have to do with it? Be sure to have a focus when you sit down to research.

   Relevance also has to do with audience. Using statistics for an audience who prefers anecdotal information is problematic.

2. Currency: information on the web is not static; thus, it is constantly being updated. If you are researching the gender issue in online computer use, don't use data that is over six months old. There are survey sites that are updated monthly, so using outdated material will skew your statistics.

   When using the sources from other media, including the library, let your topic inform currency. For example, up-to-date information is a must about bio-chemistry; however, when writing about Eliot's poems, reviews written ten or fifteen years ago would be appropriate.

3. Credibility: if you find a dynamite article that you feel is really necessary to your thesis, don't copy it and move on. Check out the author. Has she written any more articles? What are her credentials? Where is the article located?

   Also, be aware of the difference between primary and secondary sources. Secondary sources are comments, reviews, critiques upon another source. The primary source is the original poem, story, article, book, or research. Most of the time you will want to use the primary source in your research.

4. Objectivity: Look at your topic in variety of ways so that you can obtain a less subjective point-of-view. Check: encyclopedias, books, periodicals and other media. There are literally hundreds of journals, educational sites and information repositories just waiting for your perusal.

The second factor to consider is how to place the quotations you will use in the body of the text.

	If a quotation is less than three lines long, place it within the paragraph. For an example, click here. Make sure your punctuation for it follows this pattern, with the notation of your source within the sentence: "Quotation," (Author 3)--3, of course, indicating page number.
	If the quotation is over 3 ½ lines long, indent the whole passage five spaces from the margin. In this case, do not use quotation marks and make sure your notation of author and page number within parenthesis is placed outside the sentence.  Click here to see an example.
	Quotations should only be used to support your point-of-view; thus, write your essay first, then go back and embed the quotation within paragraphs. This means you should always have at least one sentence which leads into the quotation, and one leads out of it. The point is to have another person's thoughts and ideas flow smoothly with your own.
	Many verbs can be used to introduce summaries, paraphrases and quotations. Some are comments, describes, explains, reveals, proposes, reports, thinks, writes, considers, concludes, claims, contends, insists, admits, concedes, concurs, derides, laments, speculates, warns, etc.
	Use the proper punctuation when citing direct and indirect quotations. Click here to see how to punctuate quotations. Pay particular note to using "that." Doing so to indicate a quotation usually means you are not quoting exactly from the source but paraphrasing to a certain degree. Ex: Smith states that he was a loser (3). Smith states, "He was a loser" (3). (3 indicates page number)
	If you use an ellipsis (...) to conclude a sentence, which indicates that text has been left out from the source, you must include a period to end the sentence. Ex: Ortega believes,"You stick to it or .... Showing again how tenacity wins" (4).
	Make sure to cite your quotations on a Works Cited page.
	Though using citations can be very frustrating and detailed, it is imperative that you follow the forms mentioned, as exactness is the key to using and embedding quotations.