Handling Quotations in Your Text
When you start a quotation in your paper, you will identify the author. If no author is given, you will use the title of the article. If the quotation is more than four keyboarded lines long, you will indent only the left margin one-inch from the left margin. If the quotation is four keyboarded lines long or less, you will put double quotation marks around the quoted material. Anytime you have a quote within a quotation, you will use single quotation marks or an apostrophe to set it off. At the end of quotations you will use parenthetical citations or documentations.
Whenever you wish to omit a word, phrase, a sentence, or more from a quoted passage, you must use ellipsis points. Place square brackets around the ellipsis points that you add. Leave a space before the second and third periods, but no space before the first or after the third ellipsis points.
MLA format follows the author-page method of citation. This means that the author’s last name and the page number(s) from which the quotation is taken must appear in the text, and a complete reference should appear in the Works Cited list. (See Works Cited Section for specific examples). The author’s name may appear either in the sentence itself or in parentheses following the quotation, but the page number(s) should always appear in the parentheses, not in the text of your sentence. THERE IS NO COMMA BETWEEN THE AUTHOR’S NAME AND THE PAGE NUMBER.
EXAMPLES:
Freud stated that “a dream is the fulfillment of a wish” (154).
Some argue that “a dream is the fulfillment of a wish” (Freud 154).
Emet has argued this extensively (127-136).
Although some medical ethicists claim that cloning will lead to designer children (Miller, R.), others note that the advantages for medical research outweigh this consideration (Miller, A.).
Lightenor has argued that computers are not useful tools for small children (“Computers and Children”). He has also acknowledged that early exposure to computer games does lead to small motor skill development in a child’s second and third year (“Hand-Eye Development”).
To indicate short quotations (fewer than four typed lines of prose or three lines of verses in poems) in your text, enclose the quotation within double quotation marks and incorporate it into the text. Provide the author and specific page citation (in the case of verse, provide line numbers) in the text, and include a complete reference in the Works Cited list. Punctuation marks such as periods, commas, and semicolons should appear after the parenthetical citation. Question marks and exclamation points should appear with the quotation marks if they are part of the quoted passage but after the parenthetical citation if they are a part of your text.
Example:
According to Foulkes’s study, dreams may express “profound aspects of personal development” (Foukles 15).
Place quotations longer than four typed lines in a free-standing block of typewritten lines, and omit quotation marks. Start the quotation on a new line, indented one inch from the left margin, and maintain double spacing. When quoting verse, maintain original line breaks. REMEMBER: No comma between author’s name and page number(s).
Example:
Ralph and the other boys finally realized the horror of their actions:
The tears began to flow and sobs shook him. He gave himself up to the authorities the first time on the island. With great shuddering spasms of grief that wrenched his entire body, his voice shook as he tried to speak. His voice rose under the black smoke from the campfire (Golding 186).
Nearly all research builds on previous research. In MLA documentation, you must acknowledge your sources by keying brief parenthetical citations in your text to an alphabetical list of Works Cited at the end of your paper.
Parenthetical citations or documentations tell readers that the information in the sentence was derived from a certain page(s) of a work by an author(s). If readers want more information about this source, they can go to the Works Cited section for additional information about the source.
Whenever you draw on another’s work, you MUST document your source by indicating what you borrowed—facts, opinions, statistics, or quotations—and where you borrowed it from. Even if you paraphrase the information, you MUST follow the information with a citation. Otherwise, you will be guilty of plagiarism.
Examples:
Author’s Name in Text
Tannen has argued this point (178-185).
Author’s Name in Reference—No comma between author’s name and page number(s)
This point has already been argued (Tannen 178-185).
Authors’ Names in Text
Others, like Jacobsen and Waugh (210-215), hold the opposite point of view.
Authors’ Names in Reference
Others hold the opposite point of view (e.g., Jacobsen and Waugh 210-215).
Author’s Name in Text
It may be true as Robertson maintains, that “in the appreciation of medieval art the attitude of the observer is of primary importance [ . . .]” (136).
Author’s Name in Reference
It may be true that “ in the appreciation of medieval art the attitude of the observer is of primary importance [ . . .]” (Robertson 136).