Incorporating Block Quotations

Using Block Quotations Should be used to present uniquely expressed ideas which are lengthy. Should be used only to make or reinforce your point. Need to be incorporated into the flow of your paragraph and be embedded in your text.

Format in MLA Should be used when you have 4 or more lines of quoted text. Need to be introduced with a signal phrase or other introductory material. The quoted material should be 2 TABs or 10 spaces from the L-hand margin. The TABs are the punctuation—you don’t need to surround the quote by quotation marks. The text needs to be followed by a comment or other text which explains how what is said in the block quote supports your paragraph’s point.

Example of format According to John Gatto, it wasn’t until he realized James Bryant Conant’s influence on the current school system that the current problems made sense to him. This is because of the following: Without Conant, we would probably not have the same style and degree of standardized testing that we enjoy today, nor would we be blessed with gargantuan high schools that warehouse 2,000 to 4,000 students at a time. (Gatto 36) Clearly, Gatto... (add a comment to explain how the quoted material supports your topic sentence). time.

Changing things If you change text within any quotation, you need to show what you have done. Brackets [ ] show that you have changed text. Ellipses... show that you have left text out.

Changing things example According to John Gatto, it wasn’t until he realized James Bryant Conant’s influence on the current school system that the current problems made sense to him. This is because of the following: Without Conant, we would probably not have the same style... of standardized testing that we enjoy today, nor would we be blessed with gargantuan [and failing] high schools that warehouse 2,000 to 4,000 students at a time. (Gatto 36) Clearly, Gatto... (add a comment to explain how the quoted material supports your topic sentence).