39
Table of Contents
Methods in Detail – 5
Adding Direct Quotations (Blue)
Use direct quotations if you want to save the exact wording of a text passage. With a single
mouse click you can transfer the text to Citavi. However, you should be careful with some
PDFs – see step 4.
Selecting Text and Creating a Direct Quotation
1.
Use the text selection tool to select the text you want to highlight:
2.
Click Direct quotation . The selected text is highlighted in blue and a knowledge item is created
on the Quotations, comments tab. The core statement is created automatically from the first
highlighted words.
3.
Edit the core statement. Enter categories, groups, keywords, and page numbers as needed.
4.
Double-check the quotation text. Sometimes you might need to make corrections. For example,
if you created a quotation out of several separate text passages, you'll need to insert ellipses for
the omitted text. If a quotation extended over two pages, you'll have an unnecessary line break.
From some PDFs the formatting (bold, italics) can't be imported. From others you might see
unnecessary hyphens. Make any necessary corrections in the quotation window. To open it, select
the direct quotation on the Quotations, Comments tab and click Open in window .
5.
Changes. Anytime you shorten the text of a quotation or make insertions, you should not change
the meaning of the quotation and you must designate your changes according to the conventions
of your academic discipline. Click Open in window to open the quotation in the quotation
window.
6.
Comments. If you want to add your own comments to a quotation, insert a new paragraph and
add the comment in brackets with your name or initials. To avoid any mix-up, we recommend
creating adding the comment as a separate knowledge item (see page 9 under adding a
comment).
When to use: The number of direct quotations you save depends on the text, but also on your text
analysis preferences. Citavi supports many different methods.
Some Citavi users only save direct quotations if they’re sure that they’ll want to use them in their
document. As a result, they’ll only save a limited number of these quotations in their projects. Instead,
they’ll rely more on indirect quotations, summaries, etc.
Other users save direct quotations almost exclusively. Later when writing their papers, they’ll decide if
they want to cite something word-for-word, use a paraphrase, or insert a simple reference.
35
Table of Contents
Methods in Detail – 6
Adding Indirect Quotations (Purple)
Use indirect quotations if you want to restate the main ideas of a text passage in your own
words. If you just want to refer to a text passage without having to formulate a paraphrase,
use the red highlighter (see page 4). If a text passage is a longer section or chapter, create
a summary instead (see page 7).
Select Text and Create an Indirect Quotation
1.
Use the text selection tool to select the text you want to highlight. The icon toolbar is
displayed:
2.
Click Indirect quotation . The selected text is highlighted in purple and a core statement
appears in the new quotation on the Quotations, Comments tab. Citavi generates the core
statement automatically using the first few words in the selection.
3.
If necessary, make changes to the core statement to better reflect your understanding of the text
passage. Enter categories, groups, keywords, and page numbers as needed.
4.
Enter a paraphrase of the original text in the Text box. If you use any terms or exact wording
from the original text, set it off in quotation marks.
5.
Comments. Indirect quotations should not change the original meaning of the text passage. Of
course, some interpretation is involved any time you restate the meaning of a text in your own
words. It can be a fine line between an „objective“ restatement and a „subjective“ comment. Try to
clearly distinguish between the two. If you want to add a comment to an indirect quotation, make
sure it’s readily distinguishable from the indirect quotation. For example, use a new paragraph and
place your text in square brackets with your initials. To make it even easier keep comments and
quotation separate, create a comment as a separate knowledge item and add it to the indirect
quotation. See Adding comments on page 9.
When to use: It makes sense to add indirect quotations when analyzing important texts whose
contents you later want to discuss in your paper more closely. Academic disciplines dealing with the
study of texts often use this method. Writers in these disciplines will often summarize the current state
of discussion and then extend it through their own contributions. Other disciplines tend to primarily
use short citations of thematically related sources (see page 4).
34
Table of Contents
Methods in Detail – 7
Adding Summaries (green)
Use summaries to reformulate the main ideas of a longer section of text, such as a chapter,
in your own words. If you want to paraphrase a shorter text passage, create an indirect
quotation (see page 6).
Selecting a Text Passage and Adding a Summary
1.
Use the text selection tool to select the text you want to highlight. If you want to summarize an
entire chapter or subchapter, you can simply select the heading. The icon toolbar is displayed:
2.
Click Summary . The selected text is highlighted in green, a green highlight appears in the
margin, and a core statement appears in the new summary on the Quotations, Comments tab.
Citavi generates the core statement automatically using the first few words in the selection.
3.
If necessary, make changes to the core statement to better reflect your understanding of the text
passage. Enter categories, groups, keywords, and page numbers as needed.
4.
Enter a summary for the original text in the Text box. If you use any terms or exact wording from
the original text, set it off in quotation marks.
5.
Margin and text highlights. When you’re done editing the summary, the text highlight will
disappear. Only the margin highlight will remain visible. When you hover over the margin
highlight, the text highlight will temporarily appear. Click the margin highlight to display the text
highlight.
When to use:
Most journal articles include abstracts containing a summary of the entire text (to
save abstracts, see
page 13). In this case, there’s not much of a need for you to come up with your
own summary. It’s a different case altogether for longer texts that you later might want to reference in
your paper. In any discipline that uses a great deal of text analysis, summaries have a similar
importance to indirect quotations (see
page 6). Summaries can also be useful if you are reading some
of the central texts in a discipline or are analyzing an author’s oeuvre.
34
Table of Contents
Methods in Detail – 8
Adding Comments (Orange)
Create a comment for a text passage if you want to save you own comments, evaluations,
or critical remarks on a text passage. If a text passage inspires a new idea, you can save it
as a comment. If an idea is not related to a text passage, you can use the thought
knowledge item instead. And if your comment involves a task (for example „These claims
sound a bit exaggerated. Verify.“) then you should create a task for the text passage (see
page 10).
Selecting a Text Passage and Adding a Comment
1.
Use the text selection tool to select the text you want to highlight. The icon toolbar is
displayed:
2.
Click Comment . The selected text is highlighted in orange, an orange highlight appears in the
margin, and a core statement appears in the new comment on the Quotations, Comments tab.
Citavi generates the core statement automatically using the first few words in the selection.
3.
If necessary, make changes to the core statement to better reflect your understanding of the text
passage. Enter categories, groups, keywords, and page numbers as needed.
4.
Write your comment in the Text box and add your name or initials if desired (see below).
6.
Margin and text highlights. When you’re done editing the comment, the text highlight will
disappear. Only the margin highlight will remain visible. When you hover over the margin
highlight, the text highlight will temporarily appear. Click the margin highlight to display the text
highlight.
When to use: Use comments to save you own thoughts on a text passage that you later want to
include in your paper. If you’re working on a project with others, make sure to add your name to the
comment so other members know it’s from you. The other group members can then add their own
comments with their own initials.
Alternatively...
If you already added a text passage as a quotation, etc. and want to comment on it, you
can add a comment to the knowledge item rather than to the text passage itself.
29
Table of Contents
Methods in Detail – 9
Adding a Comment to an Item (orange)
If you have already saved the text passage you want to comment on as a knowledge item,
you can add a comment to the knowledge item.
Adding a Comment to an Existing Knowledge Item
1.
On the Quotations, Comments tab, select the knowledge item that you want to add the comment
to.
2.
On the Quotations, Comments tab, click New
.
3.
On the dropdown menu, click Add comment to item. The quotation window opens. The core
statement, page range, categories, and groups are added automatically from the selected
knowledge item.
4.
Enter your comment in the Text box and click OK to close the window. On the Quotations,
comments tab a new comment appears underneath the corresponding knowledge item. To the
right of it you will see the broken link icon.
5.
Click the broken link , select the text passage in the PDF the comment is based on, and then
click the broken link again. The icon changes to the link icon to show that the link between
the comment and PDF has been established.
When to use: See usage notes on page 8.
You can add comments directly to a direct or indirect quotation (see page 5, no. 6, and page 6, no. 5).
The disadvantage is that you won't be able to see if a quotation has had a comment added to it in the
list of knowledge items. For this reason, we recommend saving standalone comments as described
here and on page 8.
29
Table of Contents
Methods in Detail – 10
Adding Tasks (Turquoise)
Sometimes you might read something that gives you an idea you want to pursue later on.
You can add tasks to text passages for this purpose:
Selecting Text and Assigning a Task
1.
Use the text selection tool to select the text you want to add a task to. The icon toolbar is
displayed:
2.
Click the Task
icon.
3.
Select a task from the menu. The selected text is highlighted in turquoise, a turquoise highlight
appears in the margin, and the new task appears on the Tasks & Locations tab.
4.
If you want to add additional information to the task (due date, priority, etc.), open the task
window by double-clicking the task.
Margin and text highlights. When you’re done editing the task, the text highlight will disappear.
Only the margin highlight will remain visible. When you hover over the margin highlight, the text
highlight will temporarily appear. When you click the margin highlight, Citavi will switch to the task
on the Tasks & Locations tab.
When to use: Four tasks related to text analysis are already predefined:
Discuss: If you want to discuss the thesis statement, findings, or conclusions of a paper or passage with
your team members or with your advisor. Examine and assess: If you find a claim in the text that you
doubt the accuracy of or want to double-check. Go through bibliography: If the bibliography likely
contains additional sources that you might want to add to Citavi (see Analyzing a Bibliography). Read:
A publication was cited either in the text or bibliography that you want to read.
You can also add your own tasks to the list of predefined tasks.
Documents you may be interested
Documents you may be interested
