Formatting A Paper Using Mla Style (Page 2 of 4) in pdf

MLA Quotation Conventions

Quoting Prose

Note: If your paper only discusses one author, and the author’s name and title of the work are included in the intro

paragraph, you ONLY need the page number in the parenthetical citation. If your essay discusses multiple authors and

works, you MUST put the author’s last name and the page number in your parenthetical citation. [For website sources, just

include the author’s last name].

For prose quotations fewer than four lines, place quoted language in quotation marks and incorporate it into

your text (if your document requires parenthetical citation, place the page number in parentheses and a

period after the parentheses):

Fagles writes that “Odysseus has the talent necessary for the deceiver: he is a persuasive speaker” (37).

If a quotation ending with a question mark or an exclamation point concludes your sentence and requires a

parenthetical reference, retain the original punctuation within the quotation mark and follow with the

reference and the sentence period outside the quotation mark.

Dorothea Brooke responds to her sister: “What a wonderful little almanac you are, Celia!” (7).

Whether set off from the text or run into it, quoted material is usually preceded by a colon if the quotation

is formally introduced by an independent clause and by a comma or no punctuation if the quotation is an

integral part of the sentence structure.

Shelley held a bold view: “Poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the World” (794).

Shelly thought poets “the unacknowledged legislators of the World” (794).

“Poets,” according to Shelley, “are the unacknowledged legislators of the World” (794).

For longer quotations (more than four lines of your own paper), follow your quote introduction with a colon,

set the passage off from your text by starting a new line indented one inch, and do not add quotation marks

(parenthetical citation follows period):

God may favor a hero or a city, but if that favor threatens to create a

rupture between major powers, one of them may withdraw. Or they

may bargain, as Zeus does with Hera when he reluctantly consents

to let Troy fall. He consents, but with a proviso: never attempt to

thwart his fury. (42)

Ellipses

When a quotation is included within a larger sentence, do not use ellipsis points at the beginning or end of the

quoted material, even if the beginning or end of the original sentence has been omitted.

When you wish to omit a portion of the original quoted language, you must use ellipsis points (a sequence of

three spaced periods) to signal to the reader that you have edited the original.

Using ellipsis points in the middle of a sentence:

In his essay “A Hanging,” Orwell laments the “unspeakable wrongness” of taking the life of another human.

As the prisoner is marched to the gallows, Orwell reports, “All the organs of his body were working . . . all toiling

away in solemn foolery” (47).

These are general rules for using ellipses. Check with your teacher if you have additional questions.

Brackets [ ]

Brackets should be used sparingly. See

for additional

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