MLA Introducing Quotes & formatting In-text Citations Merenda 2015 MLA Introducing Quotes & formatting In-text Citations

Tip #1 - Selection "While quotations are common and often effective in research papers, use them selectively. Quote only words, phrases, lines, and passages that are particularly interesting, vivid, unusual, or apt, and keep all quotations as brief as possible. Overquotation can bore your readers and might lead them to conclude that you are neither an original thinker nor a skillful writer" (MLA 56). Summarize this into two main ideas

Summary samples Be selective when choosing quotes. Keep them as short as possible.

Introducing short quotes Tip #2 Introducing short quotes

There are 3 Basic Methods

1) Full-sentence intro You can introduce a quote with a full sentence followed by a colon: Hawthorne emphasizes the prying character of Roger Chillingsworth early in the novel: "The eyes of the wrinkled scholar glowed so intensely upon her, that Hester Prynne clasped her hands over her heart, dreading lest he should read the secret there at once" (Hawthorne 76).

2 – Use a Signal Phrase You can also use a signal phrase plus a comma… Sample: According to J. K. Rowling, “We do not need magic to change the world, we carry all the power we need inside ourselves already: we have the power to imagine better” (Rowling). Similarly, you might try… Rowling says, “… Rowling writes, “… Rowling explains, “… There is not page number here because this came from a speech and a page number was not available.

3 – Embed into your own sentence One writer claims that “very few writers really know what they are doing until they've done it” (Lamott 23). Experts explain that “finding relevant quotations is only part of your job; you also need to present them in a way that makes their relevance and meaning clear” (Graff and Birkenstein 44). The third option we are practicing for introducing quotes is integrating them into a sentence of our own. One way to do this is by attaching them as a dependent clause after a subordinating conjunction like “that”—this discussion revealed students (as anticipated) need more work with sentence structure (simple vs compound vs complex sentences).

Tip #3: Parenthetical Citations and Punctuation Hawthorne emphasizes the prying character of Roger Chillingsworth early in the novel: “The eyes of the wrinkled scholar glowed so intensely upon her, that Hester Prynne clasped her hands over her heart, dreading lest he should read the secret there at once” (Hawthorne 76). Note the positions of the quotation marks, citation, and period at the end of the sentence. If the quotation ends with an exclamation point or question mark, that punctuation is included INSIDE the quotation mark. The period after the parenthetical reference is also retained.

Tip #4 – Block Quotes for Longer Passages Quoting a passage which is four lines or longer (in your text) requires offsetting that passage and indenting one inch (tab twice) from the left margin): It was so artistically done, and with so much fertility and gorgeous luxuriance of fancy, that it had all the effect of a last and fitting decoration to the apparel which she wore; and which was of a splendor in accordance with the taste of the age, but greatly beyond what was allowed by the sumptuary regulations of the colony. (Hawthorne 54) The offset quotation should be double-spaced. Note that there are no punctuation marks after the closing parenthesis in this case and there are no quotations marks around the text itself. Students were not asked to copy this full quote here—as the text itself, which is complex, is not the focus. The focus is the structure. Stude

Tip #5 - Pagination and Quotation Quoting a passage which spans two pages of the original text: . . . "read the secret there at once" (Hawthorne 76-77).

Tip #6 - Dialogue in Quotations If you quote something a character says, use double quotation marks on the outside ends of the quotation to indicate that you are quoting a portion of the text. Use single quotation marks inside the double quotation marks to indicate that someone is speaking. "'Thou art not my child!’" (Hawthorne 97). “ ‘Oh,’ mom nodded. ‘Well, apparently this boy has some sort of…, I guess there is something wrong with his face … or something like that’”(Palacio 87). After reading Julian’s letter, his grandma said,“‘I’m proud of you, Julian.’” (Palacio 394). If you cite a passage of dialogue which comprises four lines or more in your text, follow the rule for offset quotation, but remember to use double quotation marks at the beginning and end of the spoken portion to indicate that a character is speaking.

Tip #7 - Altering Quotations When you quote a passage, you may occasionally want to alter the original text by either deleting some or by supplying your own material to make the sentence grammatically sound or to provide some explanation.

Adding and Deleting Text Original: In a sky of iron the points of the Dipper hung like icicles and Orion flashed his cold fires. Altered: Wharton's depiction of the hardness of environment is especially apparent in her description of the “sky of iron [in which]. . .Orion flashes his cold fires.” Brackets are used to indicate your addition. Ellipsis points are used to indicate deleted text. Be sure to space between each ellipsis point.

Deletions Across Sentences If you quote from one sentence, skip over some text, and then quote from a later one, you need four ellipsis points to indicate that you've quoted material from two separate sentences: “The village lay under two feet of snow. . . .[and] the Dipper hung like icicles. . . .”

Tip #8 Indirect Quotes from informational text Sometimes you may have to use an indirect source. An indirect source is a source cited in another source. For such indirect quotations, use "qtd. in" to indicate the source you actually consulted. For example: Ravitch argues that high schools are pressured to act as "social service centers, and they don't do that well" (qtd. in Weisman 259).