Making direct quotes in an essay is a great way to back up your ideas with hard facts and to make your arguments come alive. However, if you want the work to have a professional look, then you need to know how to insert citations correctly, when using one of these two citation styles: that of the MLA (Modern Language Association) or that of the APA (American Psychological Association). And remember: a quote that doesn't include the original author's name is considered plagiarism. In addition to putting the quotes, you will need to add a reference page at the end of the essay. If you want to know how to insert a quote in a critical study, start reading the article from the first step.
Steps
Part 1 of 2: Quoting Using the MLA Style
The Modern Language Association (MLA) citation style requires you to cite the author's name and page number. If you are quoting a poem, then you will need to quote the lines of the poem instead of the page numbers. Unlike the style of the APA, it is not necessary to provide the year in which the passage of the quote was written within the text of the essay, although it will be necessary to do so on the reference page inserted at the end of the work you are writing.
Step 1. Make short quotes
In the style of the MLA, for short quotation, anything less than four typed lines of prose or three lines of poetry is considered. If you have a quote that meets these length requirements, then all you need to do is 1) enclose the quote in double quotes, 2) provide the author's last name, and 3) provide the page number. You can either enter the author's name before the citation or put it in parentheses after the citation. You can also write the page number at the end, without using "p" or anything else to indicate the page number.
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Make sure you make an introduction to the quote to be included in the text, because adding it is not enough without giving readers a proper orientation. Use a few words in the introduction and then enclose the quote in quotation marks. Then write the author's surname and page number in parentheses, inserting a period (or whatever punctuation you are using) at the end of the sentence. Here is an example:
According to some critics, literary fiction "died entirely in the 21st century" (Smith 200)
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You can also anticipate the author's name instead of putting it in parentheses at the end. Here's another way to do it:
Jones states that "People who read literary fiction have shown that they are able to sympathize with others more easily" (85)
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You can also make a brief introduction, put the quote and then comment on it a bit, more or less like this:
Many people believe that "Sport has no meaning" (Lane 50), while others disagree completely
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If there is a punctuation mark in the original quote, you shouldn't leave it out:
Harry Harrison, the protagonist, always starts his day by saying, "What a beautiful morning!" (Granger 12)
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If you are quoting a poem, then you can do so by writing the lines of the poem with a "/" to separate them, like so:
As Miller states, "There is nothing cuter / than seeing a cat sneeze" (11-12), and many cat lovers would claim this fact
Step 2. Make long quotes from prose passages
In MLA formatting, long quotes are known to be anything that has more than four lines of prose or three lines of poetry. If you have this need, then you will have to put the quote in independent blocks and not use quotes. You can give an introduction to the quote by writing a line of text and colon, indenting the first line of the quote by 2.5 cm to the left and using double spacing. You can end the quote with punctuation and then use the author's last name and page number in parentheses after the quote.
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Here is an example of how to introduce a long quote that forms a block paragraph:
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The story "The Things They Carried" lists the objects carried by soldiers in the Vietnam War both to highlight the characters and to load the reader with the weight of the objects carried:
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- The things they carried were largely determined by necessity. Among the necessities or almost necessities were can openers, pocket knives, small aluminum discs, wristwatches, identification tags, mosquito repellent, chewing gum, candy cigarettes, sodium tablets, freeze-dried drink packages, lighters, matches, sewing kit, military bills, C rations and two or three water bottles. (O'Brien, 2)
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- When citing two or more paragraphs, you will need to use bulk citations, even if each passage is less than four lines long. You should indent the first line of each paragraph 0.60 cm more. Use the ellipsis (…) at the end of a paragraph as a transition to the next.
Step 3. Quote a poem
In this case, it is advisable to keep the original formatting of the lines to convey the original meaning. Here's how you can do it:
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- Howard Nemerov describes his longing for a lost love in his poem "Storm Windows":
- This lonely afternoon of memories
- And missed desires, while the wintry rain
- (Unspeakable, the distance in the mind!)
- Runs on the standing windows and away. (14-18)
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Step 4. Add or omit words in quotes
It is also useful when you need to change the meaning of the quotation a bit to favor the context of the essay, or when you want to omit some information that is not relevant to your arguments. Here are some examples of how to insert the quote in both cases:
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Use square brackets ([and]) to "write" information that will help readers in the context of a quote:
Mary Hodges, a twentieth-century realist writer, once wrote: "Many women [who write short stories] feel somewhat inferior to novelists, but that shouldn't be the case" (88)
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Use the ellipsis (…) to omit all parts of a quote that are not necessary for your essay. Here is an example:
According to Smith, many Ivy League students "feel that teaching is not as ambitious a profession … as that of banking" (90)
Step 5. Make citations with multiple authors
If you want to insert a quote that has more than one author, then you will need to separate the names with commas and the conjunction "and". Here's what it will look like:
Many studies believe that MFA programs "are the biggest factor in helping new writers publish their work" (Clarke, Owen, & Kamoe 56)
Step 6. Make quotes from the Internet
It can be difficult to cite excerpts from the Internet, because page numbers are not available. It is always necessary, therefore, to try to find out as much information as possible, such as the author, the year or the name of the essay or article. Here are two examples:
- One online film critic said that Trust was "the single-most embarrassing film produced in Canada within the last decade" (Jenkins, "Blame Canada!").
- Rachel Seaton, wedding guru, stated in her highly esteemed blog that "Every woman is a bridezilla in spirit" (2012, "Godzilla in a Tux.").
Part 2 of 2: Making Quotes Using the APA Style
In the APA (American Psychological Association) citation style, you must provide the author's surname and page number, just as you would in MLA formatting, with the exception of the year. You can also use the "p." before writing the page numbers.
Step 1. Make short quotes
To make a short quote (under 40 words) with APA formatting, you simply need to include the author's last name, year and page number (with "p." To introduce them) somewhere in the quote. Here are some examples:
- According to McKinney (2012), "Yoga is the best way for Americans over 20 to relieve stress today" (p.54).
- McKinney found that, "100 adults who did yoga at least three times a week were found to have lower blood pressure, better sleep quality, and fewer daily frustrations" (2012, p.55).
- He also said, "Yoga is far more effective than running and cycling in terms of stress relief" (McKinney, 2012, p.60).
Step 2. Make long quotes
To make a long quote with APA formatting, you will need to put the quote in an independent block. You need to start the quote on a new line, indenting 1.20cm in the left margin, and then report the entire quote using the same margin. If the quote has more paragraphs, then you can indent the first line of the other paragraph by an additional 1.20 cm space on the new margin. Keep double spacing throughout the quote, putting parentheses after the final punctuation. The same rule applies to short quotes - you will need to mention the author, year and page somewhere, whether it's in the introduction or in the body of the quote. Here is an example:
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- McKinney's study (2011) found the following:
- High School English teachers who practiced 100 minutes of yoga a week over the course of a month were able to build better relationships with their students, feel more empathy towards students and co-workers, experience less stress giving grades and in doing other daily activities and even feel they are finding new perspectives of meaning in the novels they have been teaching for many years. (57-59).
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Step 3. Paraphrase the quotes
If you are paraphrasing a quote using the APA style, then it is appropriate to refer to the author and the year of publication, as well as the page number on which your presentation is based. Here's what you can do:
- McKinney believes that yoga is a form of therapy, both physical and mental (2012, p.99).
- According to McKinney, yoga should be compulsory in all public schools (2012, p.55).
Step 4. Make citations with multiple authors
If you expect a quote that has more than one author using the APA formatting, then you will simply have to use the ampersand (the "&" symbol) to combine the names of the two authors, in alphabetical order. Here is an example:
Eventually, it was found that “Students who watch television instead of reading develop insufficient linguistic property” (Hoffer & Grace, 2008, p.50)
Step 5. Make quotes from the Internet
When you quote from the Internet, you just have to do the best possible research to find the author's name, date and paragraph number, instead of the page. Here is an example:
- In his article, Smith wrote that "The world does not need another blog" (2012, paragraph 3).
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When you don't have the author's name, use the name of the article. If there is no date, write "n.d." instead of the date. As in this example:
Another study found that extra help after school was invaluable in student success (“Students and Tutoring”, n.d.)
