1. Quotations in Essays

2. When?
Use when you need to prove or bring substance to a point you are trying to make (think like a lawyer)
Readers should know exactly why a quote is there
It should contribute to your argument
If they are left guessing, you failed to integrate it properly
Introduce quote and relate it to your argument

3. How? Integrate the quote Never have a quote standing alone unexplained
They are like helium balloons, if you let go, they will fly away – like the balloon, the quotation must be held down by one of your own statements

4. Shorter Quotations
Fewer than four typed lines of prose or three lines of verse in your text
Enclose the quotation within double quotation marks
Provide the author and specific page citation (for Shakespeare, provide line numbers) in the text, and include a complete reference on the Works Cited page
Punctuation marks such as periods, commas, and semicolons should appear after the citation
Question marks and exclamation points should appear within the quotation marks if they are a part of the quoted passage but after the parenthetical citation if they are a part of your text.

5. Shorter Quotations: Examples
According to some, dreams express “profound aspects of personality” (Foulkes 184), though others disagree.
According to Foulkes’ study, dreams may express “profound aspects of personality” (184).
Is it possible that dreams may express “profound aspects of personality” (Foulkes 184).

6. Longer Quotations For quotations that exceed more than four lines…
Place quotations in a free-standing block of text and omit quotation marks
Start the quotation on a new line, with the entire quote indented one inch from the left margin; maintain double-spacing
Only indent the first line of the quotation by an additional quarter inch if you are citing multiple paragraphs
Your in-text citation should come after the closing punctuation mark. When quoting verse, maintain original line breaks.

7. Longer Quotations: Example
Nelly Dean treats Heathcliff poorly and dehumanizes him throughout her narration:
They entirely refused to have it in bed with them, or even in their
room, and I had no more sense, so, I put it on the landing of the
stairs, hoping it would be gone on the morrow. By chance, or else
attracted by hearing his voice, it crept to Mr. Earnshaw's door, and
there he found it on quitting his chamber. Inquiries were made as to
how it got there; I was obliged to confess, and in recompense for my
cowardice and inhumanity was sent out of the house. (Bronte 78)

8. Omitting Words in Quotations
If you omit a word or words from a quotation, you should indicate the deleted word or words by using ellipsis marks, which are three period (…) preceded and followed by a space.
Example:
In an essay on urban legends, Jan Harold Brunvand notes that "some individuals make a point of learning every recent rumor or tale and in a short time a lively exchange of details occurs" (78).

9. Integrating Quotes in Your Essay
Complete sentence
Introductory phrase
Seamless merging
Confetti quote

10. Complete Sentence
Introduce quotes with a complete sentence and a colon
Example:
In “Where I Lived, and What I Lived For,” Thoreau states directly his purpose for going into the woods: “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.” (77)
Thoreau ends his essay with a metaphor: “Time is but a stream I go fishing in.” (78)

11. Introductory Phrase
Use an introductory or explanatory phrase, separated from the quotation with a comma
Example:
In “Where I Lived, and What I Lived For,” Thoreau states directly his purpose for going into the woods when he says, “I went into the woods because I wished to live deliberately…”(78)
Thoreau suggests the consequences of making ourselves slaves to progress when he says, “We do not ride on the railroad; it rides upon us.” (78)

12. Seamless Merging
Make the quotation a part of your own sentence without any punctuation between your words and the quotation – seamless (use the ellipses)
Example:
In “Where I Lived, and What I Lived For,” Thoreau states directly his purpose for going into the woods when he says that he “…went into the woods because [he] wished to live deliberately…”(77)
Thoreau suggests the consequences of making ourselves slaves to progress when he says that “We do not ride on the railroad; it rides upon us.”

13. Confetti Quotes
Use short bits of quotes infused into your own statements
Example:
In “Where I Lived, and What I Lived For,” Thoreau states that his retreat to the woods around Walden Pond was motivated by his desire “to live deliberately” and to face only “the essential facts of life.”(77)