QUOTATIONS: (all according to MLA Handbook for Writers of ...



QUOTATIONS

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. The accuracy of quotations in research writing is extremely important. You must reproduce the original sources exactly. Pay close attention to the use of parenthesis, quotation marks, page numbers, and punctuation.

If a quotation runs no more than four lines...put it in quotation marks and incorporate into the text:

"It was the best of times. It was the worst of times," wrote Charles Dickens (1).

You need not always reproduce complete sentences. Sometimes you may want to quote just a word or phrase as part of your sentence:

For Charles Dickens the eighteenth century was both "the best of times" and "the worst of times" (1).

If a quotation runs to more than four lines in your paper, set it off from your text by beginning a new line, indenting one inch (or ten spaces) from the left margin, and typing it double-spaced, without adding quotation marks. A colon generally introduces a quotation displayed in this way.

At the conclusion of Lord of the Flies, Ralph and the other boys realize the horror of their actions:

The tears began to flow and sobs shook him. He gave himself up to them now for the first time on the island; great, shuddering spasms of grief that seemed to wrench his whole body. His voice rose under the black smoke before the burning wreckage of the island; and infected by that emotion, the other little boys began to shake and sob too. (186)

ELLIPSIS

Whenever you wish to omit a word, a phrase, a sentence, or more from a quoted passage, be sure what you do write enables the reader to understand what the original quotation meant.

For an ellipsis within a sentence, use three periods with a space before each and a space after the last ( . . . ).

In surveying various responses to plagues in the Middle Ages, Barbara W. Tuchman writes, "Medical thinking . . . stressed air as the communicator of disease, ignoring sanitation or visible carriers" (101-02).

If the ellipsis comes at the end of the quote, use three periods with a space before each, and place the sentence period after the final parenthesis.

In surveying responses to plagues in the Middle Ages, Barbara W. Tuchman writes, "Medical thinking, trapped in the theory of astral influences, stressed air as the communicator of disease . . . " (101-02).

(From MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, sixth edition)

CITING SOURCES IN THE TEXT

The list of works cited at the end of your research paper plays an important role in your acknowledgment of sources but the list itself does not provide sufficiently detailed and precise documentation. You must show your readers what you got from each source and where in the work you found the material. You do this by using a parenthetical acknowledgement in the paper wherever you use another's words, facts, or ideas. This will also allow the reader to go back to the Works Cited page and find the complete publication. Look at the examples below and pay close attention to the use of parenthesis, quotation marks, page numbers, and punctuation.

Medieval Europe was a place of "raids, pillages, slavery, and extortion" (Townsend 10).

• This indicates that the quotation comes from page 10 of a work by Townsend.

You could also say:

Townsend tells us that Medieval Europe was a place of "raids, pillages, slavery, and extortion” (10-11).

• This tells us the quote was on two pages.

OR you could say:

Townsend says Medieval Europe was filled with crime (10), while Jones disagrees.

References in the text must clearly point to specific sources in the list of works cited.

For a typical works cited entry, which begins with the author's name, you only need to give the author's name to identify the work.

• If your works cited list contains more than one author with the same last name, add the first initial: (A. Townsend 10)

• If two or more names begin the entry, give the last name of each person listed : (Townsend, Smith, and Green 10)

• If the work has more than three authors follow the form of your works cited entry: ( Townsend et al. 10-13)

• If the work is listed by title, use the title: ("Mark Twain" 37-38)

• If the work is a movie: ("Snowy Owl")

• If the work is a newspaper or magazine article: ("The Success of an Author")

• If the work is from the internet: ( "Mark Twain")

Basically, you use the first part of your entry in the works cited page, unless there is more than one entry that begin the same way. Then you would add more information. If you have a page number include it; if not, you do not need to write that. If unsure, ask.

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