3 ms·
What’s the proper way to quote someone who uses square brackets in what you are trying to quote? It seems as if this could get as thorny as the problem of escap
by leephillips 6y ago
What’s the proper way to quote someone who uses square brackets in what you are trying to quote? It seems as if this could get as thorny as the problem of escaping quote marks in quoted strings that besets programmers.
For example, in Scocca’s first specimen, how do we know he’s referring to the use of square brackets, or if the square brackets that appear are his own interpolation? The context makes it clear, but in other places it might not be.
- mojomark 6y agoI don't think it's thorny at all... If you're quoting a quote directly from a secondary source (like a 'news' article), and that quote has bracketed content, you should retain the bracketed interpretation and cite the secondary source (as the source of the quoteed material) along with the original source themself (as the source of the unbracketed material). If you suspect the interpretation isn't accurate, you will need to do some digging to either reach out to the reporter to obtain the recording of the original source, or just reach out to the original source themselves in order to hear the same information first hand (which is probably best any way since you could be able to discuss the interpetation with the source directly). If you don't have the time or will power to do all of that digging, then you're relegated to retaining the bracketed interpretated language and citing both the secondary and original sources since the quoted language is now a hybrid of ideas from both sources, delineated by brackets.