Quotations are a great way to demonstrate a fact, idea, or other research point from a source. Yet unlike a simple paraphrase, quotations require a number of punctuation marks and formatting. The goal of these formatting rules is not to make using quotations harder, but to make it clear where your words end and words that are not your own begin. All of the following principles apply to both MPA and APA style, though in-text citation is obviously different (see bottom link).
The Basic Quotation
Your quotation goes in quotation marks with the source citation at the end of the sentence before the period.
One such woman was Catherine Maria Sedgwick, who “responding, like Cooper, to the call for a distinctly American literature,” began writing novels of strong women living in the early days of American settlement (Fetterley 491).
One such woman was Catherine Maria Sedgwick, who “responding, like Cooper, to the call for a distinctly American literature,” began writing novels of strong women living in the early days of American settlement (Fetterley 491).
If the sentence ends with the quotation, the period and source citation still go after the quotation.
However, Swift’s poem is different from prior works of the horror vacui genre, as the scandal is not knowing that Celia excretes bodily fluids, "but that she does it here in the very poem we are reading” (Baudot 644).
However, Swift’s poem is different from prior works of the horror vacui genre, as the scandal is not knowing that Celia excretes bodily fluids, "but that she does it here in the very poem we are reading” (Baudot 644).
If the quotation uses quotation marks, replace the internal quotation marks with apostrophes.
Gilbert concludes that “what that young grad student referred to as a 'societal judgment against Lawrence’ was most likely to have been shaped by theory and politics as well as (in a sadder way) by a culture in which very few ‘creative’ writers matter” (11).
Gilbert concludes that “what that young grad student referred to as a 'societal judgment against Lawrence’ was most likely to have been shaped by theory and politics as well as (in a sadder way) by a culture in which very few ‘creative’ writers matter” (11).
If the quotation is longer than four lines (about 75 words), create a block quote. For a block quote, create a new paragraph with a half-inch indent on both sides. You should not use quotation marks around the quotation of a block quote. After the quote is done, continue your paragraph without an indent.
D.H Lawrence has become notably absent in most high school and college curricula over the past forty years. Literary scholar Sandra M. Gilbert puts it best in her essay, “Lawrence in Question:”
D.H Lawrence has become notably absent in most high school and college curricula over the past forty years. Literary scholar Sandra M. Gilbert puts it best in her essay, “Lawrence in Question:”
Alas, I sense that D.H. Lawrence needs reclaiming, at least in the academy, is all too accurate. This year my own department interviewed a number of candidates for a position in the “field” of “twentieth-century British literature” and even among the finalists only a few could respond to serious questions about the author of what used to be considered those twentieth-century British masterpieces Sons and Lovers and Women in Love . . . . "Lawrence has disappeared off the map," observed one candidate. "Lawrence seemed interesting ine the sixties and seventies," explained the theorist, but nobody pays much attention to him anymore" (9).
Gilbert suspects this comes from the sexuality portrayed in Lawrence's novels. She infers that Lawrence's sexual content, which won him praise after World War Two by both the counterculture and the literati, has earned the ire of a new conservative academic establishment.
Poetry
When citing two or three lines of verse, treat it like a regular quotation but show line breaks separations with a / with a space on either side (// for a stanza break)
ORIGINAL TEXT:
If you can dream—and not make dreams your master; If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim; If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster And treat those two impostors just the same; If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools, Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken, And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools: |
QUOTED IN SENTENCE:
Kipling further pushes the idea of the stoic resilience when he advises, “If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster / And treat those two impostors just the same” (lines 11-12). |
When you are citing four lines or more of verse, create a block quote and replicate the poem in its entirety, including any line spacing and formatting
ORIGINAL TEXT:
i carry your heart with me(i carry it in my heart)i am never without it (anywhere i go you go,my dear;and whatever is done by only me is your doing,my darling) i fear no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i want no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true) and it’s you are whatever a moon has always meant and whatever a sun will always sing is you here is the deepest secret nobody knows (here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows higher than soul can hope or mind can hide) and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart) |
QUOTED IN ESSAY:
In "i carry my heart with me," cummings further plays with syntax in order to affect rhythm when he juxtaposes parentheticals with line breaks to create a fractious effect:
There is a regular pattern with the parenthetical responses and a regular pattern in the breaks. Depending on which aspect is emphasized in the reading--hitting at the line breaks verses hitting at the parentheticals-- an irregular pattern forms imitating two heartbeats out of sync.
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Drama
Just like poetry, when citing two or three lines of verse said by a single character, treat it like a regular quotation but show line breaks separations with a / with a space on either side.
ORIGINAL TEXT:
KATHERINA: No, sir; God forbid; but asham'd to kiss. PETRUCHIO: Why, then, let's home again. Come, sirrah, let's away. KATHERINA: Nay, I will give thee a kiss; now pray thee, love, stay. PETRUCHIO: Is not this well? Come, my sweet Kate: Better once than never, for never too late. Exeunt |
QUOTED IN ESSAY:
Petruchio’s next lines reinforce this notion of Kate's agency: “Is not this well? Come, my sweet Kate: / Better once than never, but never too late” (Shr. V.i.160-161). |
However, when citing lines of dialogue between characters, create a block quote and replicate the entire passage. Make sure to put character names in all caps with a colon at the start of the line.
ORIGINAL TEXT:
ORLANDO: Then love me, Rosalind. ROSALIND: Yes, faith, will I, Fridays and Saturdays, and all. ORLANDO: And wilt thou have me? ROSALIND: Ay, and twenty such. ORLANDO: What sayest thou? ROSALIND: Are you not good? ORLANDO: I hope so. ROSALIND: Why then, can one desire too much of a good thing? Come, sister, you shall be the priest, and marry us. Give me your hand, Orlando. What do you say, sister? ORLANDO: Pray thee, marry us. |
QUOTED IN ESSAY:
Shakespeare further uses euphemism as a weapon. Instead of using euphemism to flirt with Orlando, she mixes innuendo with her Ganymede disguise to disarm and bewilder Orlando:
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Similarly, citing soliloqies and monologues of over forty words/four lines requires a block quote.
ORIGINAL TEXT:
PRINCE HENRY I know you all, and will awhile uphold The unyoked humour of your idleness. Yet herein will I imitate the Sun, Who doth permit the base contagious clouds To smother up his beauty from the world, That, when he please again to be himself, Being wanted, he may be more wonder'd at, By breaking through the foul and ugly mists Of vapours that did seem to strangle him. If all the year were playing holidays, To sport would be as tedious as to work; But when they seldom come, they wish'd for come, And nothing pleaseth but rare accidents. |
QUOTED IN ESSAY:
Of the five sentences that compose Hal's monologue, the second one is the longest, encompassing seven lines of text and acting as a pivot from his carefree idle to realization of his future:
The reference to the Sun is a metaphor for kingship, as the Sun was considered king of the solar system; this is affirmed by the fact that Hal is the ‘son’ of the current king.
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Altering quotations (ellipsis, emphasis, brackets, and sic)
To remove a mid-sentence part of a quotation you don't want, use ellipses. While a normal ellipsis is three dots with no spaces in-between (indicating getting lost in thought or being interrupted), an ellipsis of omission requires spaces before and after each dot.
Doody argues that Swift did have female support, particularly Lady Mary , who did not rank Swift as a misogynist; on the contrary, "her Swift is meanly fond . . . of the company of women” (14).
Doody argues that Swift did have female support, particularly Lady Mary , who did not rank Swift as a misogynist; on the contrary, "her Swift is meanly fond . . . of the company of women” (14).
If the omission comes at the end of a sentence without a parenthetical citation, add a forth dot to indicate this.
Don Quixote has the “unique quality of being a fictional character whose ‘likeness’ most people readily recognize . . . . Take away the requisite props and most figures of world literature become unrecognizable. Yet even without his nag or his windmills or his chubby companion, Don Quixote is readily identified” (Weiger 3).
Don Quixote has the “unique quality of being a fictional character whose ‘likeness’ most people readily recognize . . . . Take away the requisite props and most figures of world literature become unrecognizable. Yet even without his nag or his windmills or his chubby companion, Don Quixote is readily identified” (Weiger 3).
You can italicize a word to add emphasis, but indicate this in a parenthetical saying emphasis added.
Lawrence starts with dissecting the idea of obscenity: “If a play shocks ten people in an audience, and doesn’t shock the remaining five hundred, then it is obscene to ten and innocuous to five hundred; hence, the play is not obscene, by majority” (646; emphasis added).
Lawrence starts with dissecting the idea of obscenity: “If a play shocks ten people in an audience, and doesn’t shock the remaining five hundred, then it is obscene to ten and innocuous to five hundred; hence, the play is not obscene, by majority” (646; emphasis added).
If a word is unclear, such as a pronoun without a referent, replace that word with a clearer word in brackets.
Both weddings are of economy and not love, and though both couples sire children, neither William nor Alice is truly happy with the arrangement. Alice’s mind "had endeavoured out from [left] its beautiful temple” (Sedgwick 12) and William tells Martha “that the affection I gave to her [Alice] could not be transferred to another,” contrasting Alice’s love as “sunshine and flowers in all the paths" with Martha's "steady love" (19).
Both weddings are of economy and not love, and though both couples sire children, neither William nor Alice is truly happy with the arrangement. Alice’s mind "had endeavoured out from [left] its beautiful temple” (Sedgwick 12) and William tells Martha “that the affection I gave to her [Alice] could not be transferred to another,” contrasting Alice’s love as “sunshine and flowers in all the paths" with Martha's "steady love" (19).
If the sentence is unclear because of missing words or outdated vocabulary and syntax, add the word sic (Latin for thus) in parenthesis directly after the quotation. If this happens at the end of the sentence, add it to the source citation.
Both Hope and Magawisca rebel because they subscribe to "an inner honoured liking justice" (sic) that trumps the law of Massachusetts and Pequod Law (Sedgwick 94). Hope takes "counsel only in her heart," believing that "the rights of innocence paramount to all other rights" (124; sic).
Both Hope and Magawisca rebel because they subscribe to "an inner honoured liking justice" (sic) that trumps the law of Massachusetts and Pequod Law (Sedgwick 94). Hope takes "counsel only in her heart," believing that "the rights of innocence paramount to all other rights" (124; sic).