Quotes



Using Quotes in MLA

When you quote, you must repeat word for word what someone else has said or written. Quotation marks must be placed around any borrowed material, which must be effectively worked into your own writing. The incorporation of the quoted material should not interfere with the readability of your writing. Quote only memorable words, phrases, or sentences. The first time you refer to an author, include his/her full name and credentials to give your quote more authority. For any subsequent reference, include only the author’s last name. Use punctuation and capitalization according to the models in following examples.

Original: “The point is simple: failure in competition is not to be identified with losing per se but rather with performing below reasonable expectations. Only when one could reasonably have expected to win does losing mean failing.”

Richard W. Eggerman “Competition as a Mixed Good” p. 338

Word or Phrase: If you include only a word or phrase into your sentence, follow this model.

Eggerman defines failure as “performing below reasonable expectations” (338).

Sentence: If you are quoting an entire sentence, follow one of these models.

Eggerman states that “only when one could reasonably have expected to win does losing mean failing” (338).

According to Eggerman, “Only when one could reasonably have expected to win does

losing mean failing” (338).

One author notes an important point in competition: “only when one could reasonably have expected to win does losing mean failing” (Eggerman 338).

Note: When an author’s last name is not stated in the sentence, it must be included in the

parenthetical citation.

Note: When the quote is incorporated into your own sentence with a word like that or because, do not capitalize the first word unless it is a proper noun. Capitalize the first word of the quote if your words act only as an introductory element.

Block Quotes: Borrowed material of more than four typed lines must be set off (block quoted) from the text, using ten spaces. No quotation marks are required because the block quoting signifies that it is quoted material. Only use quotation marks if they are included in the original text. In this case, single quotation marks would become double.

Howe remarks on America’s lack of concern for the past:

It suffers from the provincialism of the contemporary, veering wildly from fashion to fashion, each touted by the media and then quickly dismissed. But the past is the substance out of which the present has been formed, and to let it slip away from us is to acquiesce in the thinness that characterizes so much of our culture. (498)

A new sentence would begin here, at the original margin.

Note: The right margin does not change, nor does the double spacing.

Quote Within a Quote: Single quotation marks indicate a quote within a quote.

Original: I grew up with the conviction that what Georg Lukacs calls “the classical heritage of mankind” is a precious legacy. Howe p. 496

New: Howe grew up believing “that what Georg Lukacs calls ‘the classical heritage of mankind’ is a precious legacy” (Howe 496).

Works Cited: In order to document borrowed material properly, you must indicate the source of your information in your bibliography. Below is a sample citation for an article in an edited book. Look up more documentation guidelines in an MLA style manual or a handbook.

Works Cited

Howe, Irving. “The Value of the Canon.” The Informed Argument. Ed. Robert K. Miller. 5th ed.

Orlando: Harcourt Brace College Publishers, 1998. 493-504. Print.

Ellipsis: Use an ellipsis to indicate to the reader that material has been omitted from the middle or end of borrowed material.

---Use three dots (. . .) in the middle of a sentence to indicate that part of the same sentence has been omitted.

Eggerman believes that “the point is simple: failure in competition . . . [means] performing below reasonable expectations” (338).

Note: Brackets indicate that you have altered the original by adding a word or some words that were not in the original passage. In the example above, “means” was an added word, so it is bracketed.

---Follow this model if you omit information from the end of a sentence.

Eggerman believes that “the point is simple: failure in competition is not to be identified

with losing. . .”

---Use four dots (. . . .) in the middle of a quote to indicate that the end of one sentence has been omitted and another one has begun.

Eggerman believes that “the point is simple. . . . Only when one could reasonably have

expected to win does losing mean failing” (338).

Practice Your Quoting Skills

To complete this exercise, use an essay in the text which you have already read.

1. Incorporate a word or a phrase into a sentence of your own.

2. Quote a sentence, presenting it in two different ways.

3. Quote information, omitting the middle of a sentence (i.e. use ellipses).

4. Quote information, omitting the end of a sentence (i.e. use ellipses).

5. Write a bibliographic entry (MLA style) for the essay.

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