Which of the following is the best advice about the use of direct quotations in a report? a. Beware of overusing quotations because you may appear as if you have no ideas of your own. b. Place the direct quotation in quotation marks, but change a few words to show you have your own ideas. c. If you use a direct quotation, don't dilute its impact by summarizing it or introducing it in your own words. d. Avoid using any direct quotations in a report.

The best advice is: a. Beware of overusing quotations because you may appear as if you have no ideas of your own.

Explanation:

If you use too many quotations, there is a risk of writing a paper that is a compilation of someonelse's work, and since the paper is yours it should include your own ideas backed up (if necessary) by the words of a relevant author. When teachers correct essays they are interested in seeing you in the paper, and not only other authors, because they have to give you a mark, they already know what Freud, Dessasure, Lacan, Einstein think.

Option B: not possible because you should never change what you include between inverted commas, these are there to show that you are writing someonelse's words, if you change them it would seem that your words are the author's words.

Option C: not possible because if you don't summarize or introduce a quotation with your own words, then your paper would be a comilation of someonelse's words. Of course, you should always be clever about what information is better to write with your own words and which one not.

Option D: not possible because it would be impossible to write a paper without quotes; quotations from other authors give reliability and credibility to your work.