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Direct quotes

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Look at the second citation in the third paragraph of the Harvard sample essay. Why do you think the page number (p. 301) is included here?

For example, Bilton, Bonnett and Jones (1987) argue that increased rates of divorce do not necessarily indicate that families are now more unstable. It is possible, they claim, that there has always been a degree of marital instability, but that changes in the law have provided unhappily married couples with 'access to a legal solution to pre-existent marital problems' (p.301). Bilton et al. therefore believe that changes in divorce rates can best be explained in terms of changes in the legal system.

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As a rule, whenever you use a direct quote (using quotation marks or 'inverted commas') you should provide the page number to indicate exactly where the quote comes from. For indirect quotes (ie paraphrasing), the page number is optional.

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