Square brackets and quotes

When using square brackets in quotes, I have a metaphor that they are like 'mouse footprints in the butter' (!).

Square brackets show where we have made changes to the author's original words to help a quote to sit well into our own narrative. They show where we have been. Where we have used square brackets, they indicate that we have:

• changed tense: chang[ing]
• cut out words: [...]
• dropped capitals: [r]evenue, or
• clarified meaning: [per week].

For example:

This shift in mental model doubled the "calls per hour and minutes on the phone per week [... and] [r]evenue quintupled: callers averaged $412 [per week] before meeting the scholarship recipient and more than $2000 afterward" (Grant, 2013, p. 207).

However, we do need to be extremely careful to use square brackets judiciously, so as not to change the original author's intent.

Sam

• Reference: Grant, A. (2013). Give and Take: A revolutionary approach to success. Penguin