“that’s what the book said” -kryspin
Seeing as how your essays should contain quotes to prove your point, you’re going to need to know how to effectively work quotes into your text. There are many varieties to the standard MLA format, your school or professor or workplace will dictate the way quoting is handled.
This is going to cover:
- When to quote, how to quote
- what’s a quote? Why Quote?
- integration: making your quote fit smoothly
- how to alter a quote properly
- choosing a quote; best choice and lengths
- I will also post an example of quoting with MLA: allpoetry.com/Column/1434641
When to quote and how
Quoting is done anytime you take someone else’s words, ideas or intellectual and verbal properties. Whether it be from a book, an internet page, audio tape or class lecture. There are other times quoting is necessary but it all depends on the usage. Quoting needs to be done when you are taking someone’s words directly. The best examples of these are from research notes, books and the internet. In this lesson I will be quoting from textbooks used in my college program as examples and ways of proving how to quote. They may be a little more journalistic than you’ll encounter but it’s still an example nonetheless.
How to quote
Quoting is done by using “quotation marks” in standard SHORT quotes. Long quotes are done differently (I’ll get into that a little further on) and paraphrasing.
Direct Short quotes are:
- no more than 3-4 lines at most
- done by using “ ”
- directly taken from the text- nothing altered
- not commonly used phrases or expressions
Ie: “More commonly, writers share a fascination for technique, for discussing and dissecting approaches they like and dislike” (Canadian Reporter News Writing and Reporting, p106).
That was a direct quote from a book I own. It is just a stand alone quote. If I were writing a response or essay on anything to do with writing it could be worked in. Notice how the period does not appear until the parenthesis is closed. This is proper short quote formatting. In the parenthesis you have the book title and page number. In this case it’s because the book has multiple authors. If I continue to quote from that book all I’ll need to do is put the page number in the parenthesis. If my next quote is from another book, I need to write the author and page number in the parenthesis. This is done to differentiate authors and properly source my quote.
Ie:
Not only does the style of writing deviate from the popular standards of that time, but it was also described as “a new set of style that will never catch on nor be effective” (Sanderson, Theatrical writing explored, p543). Nichovich contradicts that point in his book by saying “the daring move forward while the copiers stand still” (Nichovich, Times of Theatrical Growth, p243).
If I had continue to quote from the Theatrical reading explored (btw those were made up authors for the examples), I would only have had to write (Sanderson, p878) for the next quote documentation.
The first time you quote an author or book you need to put the author, book title and then the number. Afterwards you can refer to the book or author, followed by the page number. Only first quotes need to have 3 pieces of information. It sounds tricky at first but makes sense as you fly with the writing.
Long quotes
Long quotes exceed the 4 line max, these are done differently. The quote is centered in your paragraph spacing, and sometimes italicized. The long quote spacing is different- italicized isn’t always mandatory. This depends on your teacher.
Note this should be paragraph centered but I can’t center. This long quote example is taken from the reading response I posted.
Ie:
Who in their right mind would just roll over and let the lives of their Union Members be destroyed? The chapter goes on to say how several took bribes, cheques and other forms of rewards for sitting instead of standing for their workers. For example:
Douglas Fraser of the United Auto Workers was so stupid that, when he was president of the union in the early eighties, he accepted a seat on the Chrysler Board of directors so he could be a ‘watchdog on the board’. While Fraser was watchdogging, on behalf of his union, Chrysler closed twenty factories and three parts depots, eventually firing more than 50 000 people! Remind me never to let this guy watch my house while I’m away
(Moore, page140).
Notice how the quote was introduced and then the colon appeared? When introducing a long quote, often times there must be : to seg way. Not all long quotes require the colon seg way but it is more often than not. When in doubt, just do it. I chose to italicize this example to show how the long quote is different. There are no quotation marks used in a long quote. Long quotes are directly taken from the source word for word but structured differently. Long quotes needn’t be an entire page. They just exceed 4 lines and run to a general max of 7 or so. Anything else that needs to be longer can be omitted. That and how to alter a quote will be covered after paraphrasing.
paraphrasing
Paraphrasing is taking the general idea and spoken word and changing the wording to your own words. Paraphrasing still needs to be documented and sourced, however there are no use of quotation marks and the wording is not a direct copy. Paraphrasing is:
-basically summarizing a point made
- rewording what the author said
- documented like all quotes, only without quotation marks
omitting text in quote
When you don’t need some of the bulk of the quote (say it’s 20 lines and there are about 10 you really need but there are other lines in the way unnecessary but relevant) you can omit those lines. Omission is done by using an ellipsis (ellipsis: ...). With the example of the long quote, I can’t really omit any of the quote- as it loses it’s effect and clarity. You can ellipsis in a mid length quote to shorten it from 4 sentences to perhaps 2. Be sure your quote still makes sense and is clear to other people!
altering quotes
Sometimes the quote starts with a capital letter, you can’t cap in the middle of your sentence just for the quote’s sake. That’s improper format. Sometimes you need to alter a word of verb tense for consistency and clarity- well it can be done. Here’s how:
“This will be altered for generations to come”
- say that’s the original quote. When working it into context you realize it can’t be capitalized
Therefore:
“[t]his will be altered for generations to come”
Note how the box parenthesis were used to alter the quote but still be direct. Anytime you must change something structural in a quote, you need to box mark it. If you need to make drastic changes you’re better off paraphrasing.
Why Quote? What’s a Quote?
Quote selections should support your argument or act as evidentiary support. Quotes are to make your point stronger, clearer and back up the statements made. Quotes are important in essays and various forms of writing, they are mandatory in Essays as you need to prove your point.
Integration; making your quotes work and fit
Deciding if the quote is appropriate can be done simply by asking a few questions and also looking at what you’re writing. Ask yourself:
- how is it relevant
- how much of it do I need (length)
- is it credible? Where did it come from?
Transitions and integration- fitting it smoothly
Quotes need to be worked into your sentence properly, not abruptly. This section is going to cover how to quote and how not to quote. Good journalism can be defined by a few adjectives such as “informed, knowledgeable, independent, in-depth, interpretative, investigative—and, occasionally, active” (The Canadian Reporter, News Writing and Reporting, introduction p 1). By being all of the aforementioned in the quote, this helps you select your quotes and be choosy with your information. The quote above was choppily prepared and poorly setup. Quotes shouldn’t be obvious or slap the reader out of their reading. You shouldn’t completely realize you’re reading a quote. It should fit and be smooth, just like any other writing.
Tips and tricks on integrating quotes
- transition! Setup and prepare. Don’t be too wordy
- punctuation is your friend
- using the author’s name or book name as a setup reference almost never fails. It’s effective and workable.
How to quote various sources
Here’s a real quick reference list of how to quote various sources. To be totally sure, confirm with MLA format notes, or your instructor.
When dealing with a single author book:
“blah blajuoajfoasdf” (author name, book title, page number).
Multi author book:
“askdnkasfkl” (book title, page number)
Internet page:
“asnfklamfkda” (site name, weblink, section).
Audio tapes/ videos:
“asdafafdaaf” (audio/ video author, tape name, section [if possible])
At the end of the essay, on a page of it’s own, you should have a WORKS CITED PAGE or bibliography. This will list the complete publication information of your sources in alphabetical order or order of appearance in quoting. You only need to write the book/ source once, even if you quote it more than once.
Hopefully this clarifies everything and makes quoting and documenting your sources much easier.
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