HOW TO FORMAT QUOTATIONS

When the works of others are directly quoted in a paper, the quotations will be formatted differently depending on their length. Below are some basic guidelines for using quotations in the research paper or expository essay.

SHORT QUOTATIONS

Short quotations are those fewer than four typed lines of prose or three lines of verse. In the text, give the author and the specific page citation (in the case of poetic verse, provide line numbers). Punctuation marks such as periods, commas, and semicolons should appear after the parenthetical citation. Question marks and exclamation points should appear within the quotation marks if they are part of the quoted passage but after the parenthetical citation if they are a part of the text.

According to some, dreams express “profound aspects of personality” (Foulkes 184), though others disagree.

According to Foulkes’ study, dreams may express “profound aspects of personality” (184).

Is it possible that dreams may express “profound aspects of personality” (Foulkes 184)?

Poetic Sources
List the line numbers rather than page numbers in parenthetical citations. In the first citation use the word “lines” before the number. In subsequent citations, the word “lines” should be omitted. The end of lines must be indicated with a backslash (/) which is preceded and followed by a space to indicate a separation of lines.

The narrative quality of Mitsui’s pieces, “the youngest son, I left the family inside and stood / alone in the unplanted garden by a cherry tree / we had ground ourselves,” is vivid and personal (“My Father Died” lines 1-3).

Dramatic Sources
Use act, scene and line number, in that order, when citing plays in a parenthetical citation.

(Hamlet 3, 1, 56-89)

LONG QUOTATIONS

Quotations which require more than four typed lines should not be included in quotation marks and need to be separated from the body of the text. The long quotation is indented ten spaces from the left margin and double-spaced. The citation at the end of a long quotation follows the final punctuation of the quotation itself, thus differing from citations included within a text sentence. Poems and poetic plays being cited in this fashion must use the original line length of the work being cited.

My wife, Lilly, engineered a trade for me, driving away in my
mature ’92 Detroit 4 door and coming back a few hours later
with a glossy black Passport whose color reminded me of my
1955 high-school car that I nicknamed “Tar-Baby.” It had dual
pipes that you could hear on the other side of town.
(Mitsui, “Honda Passport” lines 1-9)

ADDING OR OMITTING WORDS IN QUOTATIONS

If a student adds a word or words in a quotation, brackets should be placed around the words to indicate that they are not part of the original text.

John Holmes, in an essay about character development, states: “Some writers who utilize internal conflict [for character development] create vivid renderings of realistic heroes” (99).

If a word or words are omitted from a quotation, the deleted word or words should be indicated by using ellipsis marks, which are three periods (…) preceded and followed by a space.

Essayist John Holmes states: “Some writers…create vivid renderings of realistic heroes” (99).