how do i use a quote in an essay

How to use Quotes in an Essay in 7 Simple Steps

Chris Drew (PhD)

Dr. Chris Drew is the founder of the Helpful Professor. He holds a PhD in education and has published over 20 articles in scholarly journals. He is the former editor of the Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education. [Image Descriptor: Photo of Chris]

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A quote can be an effective and powerful literary tool in an essay, but it needs to be done well. To use quotes in an essay, you need to make sure your quotes are short, backed up with explanations, and used rarely. The best essays use a maximum of 2 quotes for every 1500 words.

Rules for using quotes in essays:

Avoid Long Quotes.
Quotes should be less than 1 sentence long.
Match Quotes with Explanations and Examples.
Use Max. 2 Quotes for 1500 words.
Use page numbers when Citing Quotes.
Don’t Italicize Quotes.
Avoid quotes inside quotes.

Once you have mastered these quotation writing rules you’ll be on your way to growing your marks in your next paper.

How to use Quotes in an Essay

1. avoid long quotes.

There’s a simple rule to follow here: don’t use a quote that is longer than one line. In fact, four word quotes are usually best.

Long quotes in essays are red flags for teachers. It doesn’t matter if it is an amazing quote. Many, many teachers don’t like long quotes, so it’s best to avoid them.

Too many students provide quotes that take up half of a paragraph. This will lose you marks – big time.

If you follow my perfect paragraph formula , you know that most paragraphs should be about six sentences long, which comes out to about six or seven typed lines on paper. That means that your quote will be a maximum of one-sixth (1/6) of your paragraph. This leaves plenty of space for discussion in your own words.

One reason teachers don’t like long quotes is that they suck up your word count. It can start to look like you didn’t have enough to say, so you inserted quotes to pad out your essay. Even if this is only your teacher’s perception, it’s something that you need to be aware of.

Here’s an example of over-use of quotes in paragraphs:

Avoid Quotes that are Too Long

Children who grow up in poverty often end up being poor as adults. “Many adult Americans believe that hard work and drive are important factors on economic mobility. When statistics show that roughly 42% of children born into the bottom level of the income distribution will likely stay there (Isaacs, 2007), this Is a consequence of structural and social barriers.” (Mistry et al., 2016, p. 761). Therefore poverty in childhood needs to be addressed by the government.

This student made the fatal mistake of having the quote overtake the paragraph.

Simply put, don’t use a quote that is longer than one line long. Ever. It’s just too risky.

Personally, I like to use a 4-word quote in my essays. Four-word quotes are long enough to constitute an actual quote but short enough that I have to think about how I will fit that quote around my own writing. This forces me to write quotations that both show:

I have read the original source, but also:
I know how to paraphrase

2. Do not use a Quote to that takes up a full Sentence, Starts a Sentence, or Ends a Paragraph

These are three common but fatal mistakes.

Essay quotes that start sentences or end paragraphs make you appear passive.

If you use a quotation in an essay to start a sentence or end a paragraph, your teacher automatically thinks that your quote is replacing analysis, rather than supporting it.

You should instead start the sentence that contains the quote with your own writing. This makes it appear that you have an active voice .

Similarly, you should end a paragraph with your own analysis, not a quote.

Let’s look at some examples of quotes that start sentences and end paragraphs. These examples are poor examples of using quotes:

Avoid Quotes that Start Sentences The theorist Louis Malaguzzi was the founder of the Reggio Emilia Approach to Education. “Children have the ability to learn through play and exploration. Play helps children to learn about their surroundings” (Malaguzzi, 1949, p. 10). Play is better than learning through repetition of drills or reading. Play is good for all children.

Avoid Quotes that End Paragraphs Before Judith Butler gender was seen as being a binary linked to sex, men were masculine and women were feminine. Butler came up with this new idea that gender is just something society has made up over time. “Gender is a fluid concept” (Butler, 1990, p. 136).

Both these quotes are from essays that were shared with me by colleagues. My colleagues marked these students down for these quotes because of the quotes:

took up full sentences;
started sentences; and
were used to end paragraphs.

It didn’t appear as if the students were analyzing the quotes. Instead, the quotes were doing the talking for the students.

There are some easy strategies to use in order to make it appear that you are actively discussing and analyzing quotes.

One is that you should make sure the essay sentences with quotes in them don’t start with the quote . Here are some examples of how we can change the quotes:

Example 1: Start Quote Sentences with an Active Voice The theorist Louis Malaguzzi was the founder of the Reggio Emilia Approach to Education. According to Malaguzzi (1949, p. 10), “children have the ability to learn through play and exploration.” Here, Malaguzzi is highlighting how to play is linked to finding things out about the world. Play is important for children to develop. Play is better than learning through repetition of drills or reading. Play is good for all children.

Here, the sentence with the quote was amended so that the student has an active voice. They start the sentence with According to Malaguzzi, ….

Similarly, in the second example, we can also insert an active voice by ensuring that our quote sentence does not start with a quote:

Example 2: Start Quote Sentences with an Active Voice In 1990, Judith Butler revolutionized Feminist understandings of gender by arguing that “gender is a fluid concept” (p. 136). Before Butler’s 1990 book Gender Trouble , gender was seen as being a binary linked to sex. Men were masculine and women were feminine. Butler came up with this new idea that gender is just something society has made up over time.

In this example, the quote is not at the start of a sentence or end of a paragraph – tick!

How to Start Sentences containing Quotes using an Active Voice

According to Malaguzzi (1949, p. 10), “…”
Malaguzzi (1949, p. 10) argues that “…”
In 1949, Malaguzzi (p. 10) highlighted that “…”
The argument of Malaguzzi (1949, p. 10) that “…” provides compelling insight into the issue.

3. Match Quotes with Explanations and Examples

Earlier on, I stated that one key reason to use quotes in essays is so that you can analyze them.

Quotes shouldn’t stand alone as explanations. Quotes should be there to be analyzed, not to do the analysis.

Let’s look again at the quote used in Point 1:

Example: A Quote that is Too Long Children who grow up in poverty often end up being poor as adults. “Many adult Americans believe that hard work and drive are important factors in economic mobility. When statistics show that roughly 42% of children born into the bottom level of the income distribution will likely stay there (Isaacs, 2007), this Is a consequence of structural and social barriers.” (Mistry et al., 2016, p. 761). Therefore poverty in childhood needs to be addressed by the government.

This student has included the facts, figures, citations and key details in the quote. Essentially, this student has been lazy. They failed to paraphrase.

Instead, this student could have selected the most striking phrase from the quote and kept it. Then, the rest should be paraphrased. The most striking phrase in this quote was “[poverty] is a consequence of structural and social barriers.” (Mistry et al., 2016, p. 761).

So, take that one key phrase, then paraphrase the rest:

Example: Paraphrasing Long Quotes Children who grow up in poverty often end up being poor as adults. In their analysis, Mistry et al. (2016) highlight that there is a misconception in American society that hard work is enough to escape poverty. Instead, they argue, there is evidence that over 40% of people born in poverty remain in poverty. For Mistry et al. (2016, p. 761), this data shows that poverty is not a matter of being lazy alone, but more importantly “a consequence of structural and social barriers.” This implies that poverty in childhood needs to be addressed by the government.

To recap, quotes shouldn’t do the talking for you . Provide a brief quote in your essay, and then show you understand it with surrounding explanation and analysis.

4. Know how many Quotes to use in an Essay

There’s a simple rule for how many quotes should be in an essay.

Here’s a good rule to follow: one quote for every five paragraphs. A paragraph is usually 150 words long, so you’re looking at one quote in every 750 words, maximum .

To extrapolate that out, you’ll want a maximum of about:

2 quotes for a 1500-word paper;
3 quotes for a 2000-word paper;
4 quotes for a 3000-word paper.

That’s the maximum , not a target. There’s no harm in writing a paper that has absolutely zero quotes in it, so long as it’s still clear that you’ve closely read and paraphrased your readings.

The reason you don’t want to use more quotes than this in your essay is that teachers want to see you saying things in your own words. When you over-use quotes, it is a sign to your teacher that you don’t know how to paraphrase well.

5. Always use page numbers when Citing Quotes in Essays

One biggest problem with quotes are that many students don’t know how to cite quotes in essays.

Nearly every referencing format requires you to include a page number in your citation. This includes the three most common referencing formats: Harvard, APA, and MLA. All of them require you to provide page numbers with quotes.

Citing a Quote in Chicago Style – Include Page Numbers

Incorrect: “Gender is a fluid concept” (Butler 1990).
Correct: “Gender is a fluid concept” (Butler 1990, 136).

Citing a Quote in APA and Harvard Styles – Include Page Numbers

Incorrect: “Gender is a fluid concept” (Butler, 1990).
Correct: “Gender is a fluid concept” (Butler, 1990, p. 136).

Citing a Quote in MLA Style – Include Page Numbers

Incorrect: “Gender is a fluid concept” (Butler).
Correct: “Gender is a fluid concept” (Butler 136).

Including a page number in your quotation makes a huge difference when a marker is trying to determine how high your grade should be.

This is especially true when you’re already up in the higher marks range. These little editing points can mean the difference between placing first in the class and third. Don’t underestimate the importance of attention to detail.

6. Don’t Italicize Quotes

For some reason, students love to use italics for quotes. This is wrong in absolutely every major referencing format, yet it happens all the time.

I don’t know where this started, but please don’t do it. It looks sloppy, and teachers notice. A nice, clean, well-formatted essay should not contain these minor but not insignificant errors. If you want to be a top student, you need to pay attention to minor details.

7. Avoid quotes inside quotes

Have you ever found a great quote and thought, “I want to quote that quote!” Quoting a quote is a tempting thing to do, but not worth your while.

I’ll often see students write something like this:

Poor Quotation Example: Quotes Inside Quotes Rousseau “favored a civil religion because it would be more tolerant of diversity than Christianity. Indeed ‘no state has ever been founded without religion as its base’ (Rousseau, 1913: 180).” (Durkheim, 1947, p. 19).

Here, there are quotes on top of quotes. The student has quoted Durkheim quoting Rousseau. This quote has become a complete mess and hard to read. The minute something’s hard to read, it loses marks.

Here are two solutions:

Cite the original source. If you really want the Rousseau quote, just cite Rousseau. Stop messing around with quotes on top of quotes.
Learn the ‘as cited in’ method. Frankly, that method’s too complicated to discuss here. But if you google it, you’ll be able to teach yourself.

When Should I use Quotes in Essays?

1. to highlight an important statement.

One main reason to use quotes in essays is to emphasize a famous statement by a top thinker in your field.

The statement must be important. It can’t be just any random comment.

Here are some examples of when to use quotes in essays to emphasize the words of top thinkers:

The words of Stephen Hawking go a long way in Physics ;
The words of JK Rowling go a long way in Creative Writing ;
The words of Michel Foucault go a long way in Cultural Studies ;
The words of Jean Piaget go a long way in Education Studies .

2. To analyze an Important Statement.

Another reason to use quotes in essays is when you want to analyze a statement by a specific author. This author might not be famous, but they might have said something that requires unpacking and analyzing. You can provide a quote, then unpack it by explaining your interpretation of it in the following sentences.

Quotes usually need an explanation and example. You can unpack the quote by asking:

What did they mean,
Why is it relevant, and
Why did they say this?

You want to always follow up quotes by top thinkers or specific authors with discussion and analysis.

Quotes should be accompanied by:

Explanations of the quote;
Analysis of the ideas presented in the quote; or
Real-world examples that show you understand what the quote means.

Remember: A quote should be a stimulus for a discussion, not a replacement for discussion.

What Bad Quotes Look Like

Many teachers I have worked with don’t like when students use quotes in essays. In fact, some teachers absolutely hate essay quotes. The teachers I have met tend to hate these sorts of quotes:

When you use too many quotes.
When you use the wrong citation format.
When you don’t provide follow-up explanations of quotes.
When you used quotes because you don’t know how to paraphrase .

Be a minimalist when it comes to using quotes. Here are the seven approaches I recommend for using quotes in essays:

Avoid Long Quotes in Essays
Do not use a Quote that takes up a full Sentence, Starts a Sentence, or Ends a Paragraph
Match Quotes with Explanations and Examples
Use a Maximum of 2 Quotes for every 1500 words
Always use page numbers when Citing Quotes in Essays
Don’t Italicize Quotes
Avoid quotes inside quotes

Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd-2/ 25 Number Games for Kids (Free and Easy)
Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd-2/ 25 Word Games for Kids (Free and Easy)
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What this handout is about

Used effectively, quotations can provide important pieces of evidence and lend fresh voices and perspectives to your narrative. Used ineffectively, however, quotations can clutter your text and interrupt the flow of your argument. This handout will help you decide when and how to quote like a pro.

When should I quote?

Use quotations at strategically selected moments. You have probably been told by teachers to provide as much evidence as possible in support of your thesis. But packing your paper with quotations will not necessarily strengthen your argument. The majority of your paper should still be your original ideas in your own words (after all, it’s your paper). And quotations are only one type of evidence: well-balanced papers may also make use of paraphrases, data, and statistics. The types of evidence you use will depend in part on the conventions of the discipline or audience for which you are writing. For example, papers analyzing literature may rely heavily on direct quotations of the text, while papers in the social sciences may have more paraphrasing, data, and statistics than quotations.

Discussing specific arguments or ideas

Sometimes, in order to have a clear, accurate discussion of the ideas of others, you need to quote those ideas word for word. Suppose you want to challenge the following statement made by John Doe, a well-known historian:

“At the beginning of World War Two, almost all Americans assumed the war would end quickly.”

If it is especially important that you formulate a counterargument to this claim, then you might wish to quote the part of the statement that you find questionable and establish a dialogue between yourself and John Doe:

Historian John Doe has argued that in 1941 “almost all Americans assumed the war would end quickly” (Doe 223). Yet during the first six months of U.S. involvement, the wives and mothers of soldiers often noted in their diaries their fear that the war would drag on for years.

Giving added emphasis to a particularly authoritative source on your topic.

There will be times when you want to highlight the words of a particularly important and authoritative source on your topic. For example, suppose you were writing an essay about the differences between the lives of male and female slaves in the U.S. South. One of your most provocative sources is a narrative written by a former slave, Harriet Jacobs. It would then be appropriate to quote some of Jacobs’s words:

Harriet Jacobs, a former slave from North Carolina, published an autobiographical slave narrative in 1861. She exposed the hardships of both male and female slaves but ultimately concluded that “slavery is terrible for men; but it is far more terrible for women.”

In this particular example, Jacobs is providing a crucial first-hand perspective on slavery. Thus, her words deserve more exposure than a paraphrase could provide.

Jacobs is quoted in Harriet A. Jacobs, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, ed. Jean Fagan Yellin (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1987).

Analyzing how others use language.

This scenario is probably most common in literature and linguistics courses, but you might also find yourself writing about the use of language in history and social science classes. If the use of language is your primary topic, then you will obviously need to quote users of that language.

Examples of topics that might require the frequent use of quotations include:

Southern colloquial expressions in William Faulkner’s Light in August

Ms. and the creation of a language of female empowerment

A comparison of three British poets and their use of rhyme

Spicing up your prose.

In order to lend variety to your prose, you may wish to quote a source with particularly vivid language. All quotations, however, must closely relate to your topic and arguments. Do not insert a quotation solely for its literary merits.

One example of a quotation that adds flair:

President Calvin Coolidge’s tendency to fall asleep became legendary. As H. L. Mencken commented in the American Mercury in 1933, “Nero fiddled, but Coolidge only snored.”

How do I set up and follow up a quotation?

Once you’ve carefully selected the quotations that you want to use, your next job is to weave those quotations into your text. The words that precede and follow a quotation are just as important as the quotation itself. You can think of each quote as the filling in a sandwich: it may be tasty on its own, but it’s messy to eat without some bread on either side of it. Your words can serve as the “bread” that helps readers digest each quote easily. Below are four guidelines for setting up and following up quotations.

In illustrating these four steps, we’ll use as our example, Franklin Roosevelt’s famous quotation, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”

1. Provide context for each quotation.

Do not rely on quotations to tell your story for you. It is your responsibility to provide your reader with context for the quotation. The context should set the basic scene for when, possibly where, and under what circumstances the quotation was spoken or written. So, in providing context for our above example, you might write:

When Franklin Roosevelt gave his inaugural speech on March 4, 1933, he addressed a nation weakened and demoralized by economic depression.

2. Attribute each quotation to its source.

Tell your reader who is speaking. Here is a good test: try reading your text aloud. Could your reader determine without looking at your paper where your quotations begin? If not, you need to attribute the quote more noticeably.

Avoid getting into the “they said” attribution rut! There are many other ways to attribute quotes besides this construction. Here are a few alternative verbs, usually followed by “that”:

add	remark	exclaim
announce	reply	state
comment	respond	estimate
write	point out	predict
argue	suggest	propose
declare	criticize	proclaim
note	complain	opine
observe	think	note

Different reporting verbs are preferred by different disciplines, so pay special attention to these in your disciplinary reading. If you’re unfamiliar with the meanings of any of these words or others you find in your reading, consult a dictionary before using them.

3. Explain the significance of the quotation.

Once you’ve inserted your quotation, along with its context and attribution, don’t stop! Your reader still needs your assessment of why the quotation holds significance for your paper. Using our Roosevelt example, if you were writing a paper on the first one-hundred days of FDR’s administration, you might follow the quotation by linking it to that topic:

With that message of hope and confidence, the new president set the stage for his next one-hundred days in office and helped restore the faith of the American people in their government.

4. Provide a citation for the quotation.

All quotations, just like all paraphrases, require a formal citation. For more details about particular citation formats, see the UNC Libraries citation tutorial . In general, you should remember one rule of thumb: Place the parenthetical reference or footnote/endnote number after—not within—the closed quotation mark.

Roosevelt declared, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself” (Roosevelt, Public Papers, 11).

Roosevelt declared, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”1

How do I embed a quotation into a sentence?

In general, avoid leaving quotes as sentences unto themselves. Even if you have provided some context for the quote, a quote standing alone can disrupt your flow. Take a look at this example:

Hamlet denies Rosencrantz’s claim that thwarted ambition caused his depression. “I could be bounded in a nutshell and count myself a king of infinite space” (Hamlet 2.2).

Standing by itself, the quote’s connection to the preceding sentence is unclear. There are several ways to incorporate a quote more smoothly:

Lead into the quote with a colon.

Hamlet denies Rosencrantz’s claim that thwarted ambition caused his depression: “I could be bounded in a nutshell and count myself a king of infinite space” (Hamlet 2.2).

The colon announces that a quote will follow to provide evidence for the sentence’s claim.

Introduce or conclude the quote by attributing it to the speaker. If your attribution precedes the quote, you will need to use a comma after the verb.

Hamlet denies Rosencrantz’s claim that thwarted ambition caused his depression. He states, “I could be bounded in a nutshell and count myself a king of infinite space” (Hamlet 2.2).

When faced with a twelve-foot mountain troll, Ron gathers his courage, shouting, “Wingardium Leviosa!” (Rowling, p. 176).

The Pirate King sees an element of regality in their impoverished and dishonest life. “It is, it is a glorious thing/To be a pirate king,” he declares (Pirates of Penzance, 1983).

Interrupt the quote with an attribution to the speaker. Again, you will need to use a comma after the verb, as well as a comma leading into the attribution.

“There is nothing either good or bad,” Hamlet argues, “but thinking makes it so” (Hamlet 2.2).

“And death shall be no more,” Donne writes, “Death thou shalt die” (“Death, Be Not Proud,” l. 14).

Dividing the quote may highlight a particular nuance of the quote’s meaning. In the first example, the division calls attention to the two parts of Hamlet’s claim. The first phrase states that nothing is inherently good or bad; the second phrase suggests that our perspective causes things to become good or bad. In the second example, the isolation of “Death thou shalt die” at the end of the sentence draws a reader’s attention to that phrase in particular. As you decide whether or not you want to break up a quote, you should consider the shift in emphasis that the division might create.

Use the words of the quote grammatically within your own sentence.

When Hamlet tells Rosencrantz that he “could be bounded in a nutshell and count [him]self a king of infinite space” (Hamlet 2.2), he implies that thwarted ambition did not cause his depression.

Ultimately, death holds no power over Donne since in the afterlife, “death shall be no more” (“Death, Be Not Proud,” l. 14).

Note that when you use “that” after the verb that introduces the quote, you no longer need a comma.

The Pirate King argues that “it is, it is a glorious thing/to be a pirate king” (Pirates of Penzance, 1983).

How much should I quote?

As few words as possible. Remember, your paper should primarily contain your own words, so quote only the most pithy and memorable parts of sources. Here are guidelines for selecting quoted material judiciously:

Excerpt fragments.

Sometimes, you should quote short fragments, rather than whole sentences. Suppose you interviewed Jane Doe about her reaction to John F. Kennedy’s assassination. She commented:

“I couldn’t believe it. It was just unreal and so sad. It was just unbelievable. I had never experienced such denial. I don’t know why I felt so strongly. Perhaps it was because JFK was more to me than a president. He represented the hopes of young people everywhere.”

You could quote all of Jane’s comments, but her first three sentences are fairly redundant. You might instead want to quote Jane when she arrives at the ultimate reason for her strong emotions:

Jane Doe grappled with grief and disbelief. She had viewed JFK, not just as a national figurehead, but as someone who “represented the hopes of young people everywhere.”

Excerpt those fragments carefully!

Quoting the words of others carries a big responsibility. Misquoting misrepresents the ideas of others. Here’s a classic example of a misquote:

John Adams has often been quoted as having said: “This would be the best of all possible worlds if there were no religion in it.”

John Adams did, in fact, write the above words. But if you see those words in context, the meaning changes entirely. Here’s the rest of the quotation:

Twenty times, in the course of my late reading, have I been on the point of breaking out, ‘this would be the best of all possible worlds, if there were no religion in it!!!!’ But in this exclamation, I should have been as fanatical as Bryant or Cleverly. Without religion, this world would be something not fit to be mentioned in public company—I mean hell.

As you can see from this example, context matters!

This example is from Paul F. Boller, Jr. and John George, They Never Said It: A Book of Fake Quotes, Misquotes, and Misleading Attributions (Oxford University Press, 1989).

Use block quotations sparingly.

There may be times when you need to quote long passages. However, you should use block quotations only when you fear that omitting any words will destroy the integrity of the passage. If that passage exceeds four lines (some sources say five), then set it off as a block quotation.

Be sure you are handling block quotes correctly in papers for different academic disciplines–check the index of the citation style guide you are using. Here are a few general tips for setting off your block quotations:

Set up a block quotation with your own words followed by a colon.
Indent. You normally indent 4-5 spaces for the start of a paragraph. When setting up a block quotation, indent the entire paragraph once from the left-hand margin.
Single space or double space within the block quotation, depending on the style guidelines of your discipline (MLA, CSE, APA, Chicago, etc.).
Do not use quotation marks at the beginning or end of the block quote—the indentation is what indicates that it’s a quote.
Place parenthetical citation according to your style guide (usually after the period following the last sentence of the quote).
Follow up a block quotation with your own words.

So, using the above example from John Adams, here’s how you might include a block quotation:

After reading several doctrinally rigid tracts, John Adams recalled the zealous ranting of his former teacher, Joseph Cleverly, and minister, Lemuel Bryant. He expressed his ambivalence toward religion in an 1817 letter to Thomas Jefferson:

Adams clearly appreciated religion, even if he often questioned its promotion.

How do I combine quotation marks with other punctuation marks?

It can be confusing when you start combining quotation marks with other punctuation marks. You should consult a style manual for complicated situations, but the following two rules apply to most cases:

Keep periods and commas within quotation marks.

So, for example:

According to Professor Poe, werewolves “represent anxiety about the separation between human and animal,” and werewolf movies often “interrogate those boundaries.”

In the above example, both the comma and period were enclosed in the quotation marks. The main exception to this rule involves the use of internal citations, which always precede the last period of the sentence. For example:

According to Professor Poe, werewolves “represent anxiety about the separation between human and animal,” and werewolf movies often “interrogate those boundaries” (Poe 167).

Note, however, that the period remains inside the quotation marks when your citation style involves superscript footnotes or endnotes. For example:

According to Professor Poe, werewolves “represent anxiety about the separation between human and animal,” and werewolf movies often “interrogate those boundaries.” 2

Place all other punctuation marks (colons, semicolons, exclamation marks, question marks) outside the quotation marks, except when they were part of the original quotation.

Take a look at the following examples:

I couldn’t believe it when my friend passed me a note in the cafe saying the management “started charging $15 per hour for parking”!

The coach yelled, “Run!”

In the first example, the author placed the exclamation point outside the quotation mark because she added it herself to emphasize the outrageous nature of the parking price change. The original note had not included an exclamation mark. In the second example, the exclamation mark remains within the quotation mark because it is indicating the excited tone in which the coach yelled the command. Thus, the exclamation mark is considered to be part of the original quotation.

How do I indicate quotations within quotations?

If you are quoting a passage that contains a quotation, then you use single quotation marks for the internal quotation. Quite rarely, you quote a passage that has a quotation within a quotation. In that rare instance, you would use double quotation marks for the second internal quotation.

Here’s an example of a quotation within a quotation:

In “The Emperor’s New Clothes,” Hans Christian Andersen wrote, “‘But the Emperor has nothing on at all!’ cried a little child.”

Remember to consult your style guide to determine how to properly cite a quote within a quote.

When do I use those three dots ( . . . )?

Whenever you want to leave out material from within a quotation, you need to use an ellipsis, which is a series of three periods, each of which should be preceded and followed by a space. So, an ellipsis in this sentence would look like . . . this. There are a few rules to follow when using ellipses:

Be sure that you don’t fundamentally change the meaning of the quotation by omitting material.

Take a look at the following example:

“The Writing Center is located on the UNC campus and serves the entire UNC community.”

“The Writing Center . . . serves the entire UNC community.”

The reader’s understanding of the Writing Center’s mission to serve the UNC community is not affected by omitting the information about its location.

Do not use ellipses at the beginning or ending of quotations, unless it’s important for the reader to know that the quotation was truncated.

For example, using the above example, you would NOT need an ellipsis in either of these situations:

“The Writing Center is located on the UNC campus . . .”

The Writing Center ” . . . serves the entire UNC community.”

Use punctuation marks in combination with ellipses when removing material from the end of sentences or clauses.

For example, if you take material from the end of a sentence, keep the period in as usual.

“The boys ran to school, forgetting their lunches and books. Even though they were out of breath, they made it on time.”

“The boys ran to school. . . . Even though they were out of breath, they made it on time.”

Likewise, if you excerpt material at the end of clause that ends in a comma, retain the comma.

“The red car came to a screeching halt that was heard by nearby pedestrians, but no one was hurt.”

“The red car came to a screeching halt . . . , but no one was hurt.”

Is it ever okay to insert my own words or change words in a quotation?

Sometimes it is necessary for clarity and flow to alter a word or words within a quotation. You should make such changes rarely. In order to alert your reader to the changes you’ve made, you should always bracket the altered words. Here are a few examples of situations when you might need brackets:

Changing verb tense or pronouns in order to be consistent with the rest of the sentence.

Suppose you were quoting a woman who, when asked about her experiences immigrating to the United States, commented “nobody understood me.” You might write:

Esther Hansen felt that when she came to the United States “nobody understood [her].”

In the above example, you’ve changed “me” to “her” in order to keep the entire passage in third person. However, you could avoid the need for this change by simply rephrasing:

“Nobody understood me,” recalled Danish immigrant Esther Hansen.

Including supplemental information that your reader needs in order to understand the quotation.

For example, if you were quoting someone’s nickname, you might want to let your reader know the full name of that person in brackets.

“The principal of the school told Billy [William Smith] that his contract would be terminated.”

Similarly, if a quotation referenced an event with which the reader might be unfamiliar, you could identify that event in brackets.

“We completely revised our political strategies after the strike [of 1934].”

Indicating the use of nonstandard grammar or spelling.

In rare situations, you may quote from a text that has nonstandard grammar, spelling, or word choice. In such cases, you may want to insert [sic], which means “thus” or “so” in Latin. Using [sic] alerts your reader to the fact that this nonstandard language is not the result of a typo on your part. Always italicize “sic” and enclose it in brackets. There is no need to put a period at the end. Here’s an example of when you might use [sic]:

Twelve-year-old Betsy Smith wrote in her diary, “Father is afraid that he will be guilty of beach [sic] of contract.”

Here [sic] indicates that the original author wrote “beach of contract,” not breach of contract, which is the accepted terminology.

Do not overuse brackets!

For example, it is not necessary to bracket capitalization changes that you make at the beginning of sentences. For example, suppose you were going to use part of this quotation:

“The colors scintillated curiously over a hard carapace, and the beetle’s tiny antennae made gentle waving motions as though saying hello.”

If you wanted to begin a sentence with an excerpt from the middle of this quotation, there would be no need to bracket your capitalization changes.

“The beetle’s tiny antennae made gentle waving motions as though saying hello,” said Dr. Grace Farley, remembering a defining moment on her journey to becoming an entomologist.

Not: “[T]he beetle’s tiny antennae made gentle waving motions as though saying hello,” said Dr. Grace Farley, remembering a defining moment on her journey to becoming an entomologist.

Works consulted

We consulted these works while writing this handout. This is not a comprehensive list of resources on the handout’s topic, and we encourage you to do your own research to find additional publications. Please do not use this list as a model for the format of your own reference list, as it may not match the citation style you are using. For guidance on formatting citations, please see the UNC Libraries citation tutorial . We revise these tips periodically and welcome feedback.

Barzun, Jacques, and Henry F. Graff. 2012. The Modern Researcher , 6th ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.

Booth, Wayne C., Gregory G. Colomb, Joseph M. Williams, Joseph Bizup, and William T. FitzGerald. 2016. The Craft of Research , 4th ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Gibaldi, Joseph. 2009. MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers , 7th ed. New York: The Modern Language Association of America.

Turabian, Kate. 2018. A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, Dissertations , 9th ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

You may reproduce it for non-commercial use if you use the entire handout and attribute the source: The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

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Put a Quote in an Essay

Home / Blog / How To Put A Quote In An Essay (with Examples)

Introduction

When writing an essay , it is essential to incorporate quotes from reputable sources to support your arguments and ideas. However, knowing how to use quotes effectively is crucial in maintaining the flow and clarity of your essay. This blog will discuss the proper ways to put a quote in an essay with examples.

Why Use Quotes in an Essay?

Quotes are used in an essay to support or reinforce the writer's arguments and ideas. They provide evidence for your claims and demonstrate that your argument is backed up by research and authority. Incorporating quotes also helps to provide context and depth to your writing and can add a unique perspective to your essay.

Types of Quotes

There are two types of quotes you can use in your essay: direct quotes and indirect quotes.

Direct Quotes: Direct quotes are the exact words used by the source that you are quoting. When using direct quotes, you need to use quotation marks and indicate the source.

Example: According to John Smith, "The Earth is round."

Indirect Quotes: Indirect quotes are a paraphrase of the original source. When using indirect quotes, you do not need to use quotation marks.

Example: John Smith claims that the Earth is round.

How to Put a Quote in an Essay

When using quotes in an essay, there are several rules that you need to follow to ensure that your writing is clear, accurate, and appropriate. Here are the steps to follow:

Step 1: Choose a Relevant Quote

Before you start writing your essay, identify the quotes that you want to use to support your arguments. Ensure that the quotes you select are relevant, reliable, and add value to your essay.

Step 2: Introduce the Quote

Introduce the quote by providing context and indicating who the source is. This will help the reader understand the significance of the quote and its relevance to your argument.

Example: According to Jane Doe, a renowned climate scientist, "Climate change is the biggest threat facing humanity."

Step 3: Use Quotation Marks

When using a direct quote, use quotation marks to indicate that you are using the exact words of the source.

Example: According to Jane Doe, "Climate change is the biggest threat facing humanity."

Step 4: Provide the Source

Provide the source of the quote, including the author's name, the title of the book or article, and the page number. This will help the reader find the source if they want to read it.

Example: According to Jane Doe, a renowned climate scientist, "Climate change is the biggest threat facing humanity." (Doe, The State of the Climate, p. 25)

Step 5: Punctuate Correctly

Punctuate the quote correctly by placing the comma or period inside the quotation marks, depending on whether it is a part of the quote or your sentence.

Step 6: Explain the Quote

Explain the significance of the quote in your own words. This will help the reader understand how the quote supports your argument.

Example: Jane Doe's quote highlights the urgency of addressing climate change as it poses a significant threat to human survival.

Step 7: Cite Your Sources

Ensure that you cite your sources correctly using the citation style specified by your instructor or the style guide for your discipline.

Common Mistakes to Avoid When Using Quotes in an Essay

Using quotes in an essay can be tricky, and many students make mistakes that can impact the quality of their writing. Here are some common mistakes to avoid when using quotes in an essay:

Failing to provide context: It is essentialto provide context when using a quote in an essay. Failure to do so can confuse the reader and make the quote appear out of place. Always introduce the quote and provide some background information about the source and why you are using the quote.

Overusing quotes: While quotes can add value to your essay, it is essential not to overuse them. Use quotes sparingly and only when necessary. Overusing quotes can make your writing appear lazy, and it may give the impression that you are not confident in your own ideas.

Incorrectly citing sources: Always cite your sources correctly using the citation style specified by your instructor or the style guide for your discipline. Failure to do so can lead to accusations of plagiarism , which can have serious consequences.

Misquoting or altering a quote: When using a direct quote, it is essential to use the exact words of the source. Do not alter the quote or misquote the source as this can distort the meaning and accuracy of the quote.

Failing to explain the quote: When using a quote, it is important to explain its significance and how it supports your argument. Failure to do so can make the quote appear irrelevant and disconnected from your essay.

Examples of Quotes in an Essay

Here are some examples of how to use quotes in an essay:

Example 1: Argumentative Essay

Topic: Should students be required to wear school uniforms?

Quote: "School uniforms promote a sense of unity and equality among students, and they help to reduce instances of bullying based on clothing." (Johnson, School Uniforms, p. 10)

Explanation: The quote supports the argument that school uniforms can have a positive impact on student behavior and reduce instances of bullying. It is introduced with the source and provides context for the argument.

Example 2: Persuasive Essay

Topic: The importance of recycling

Quote: "Every ton of paper that is recycled saves 17 trees, 7,000 gallons of water, and 463 gallons of oil." (Environmental Protection Agency)

Explanation: The quote provides a powerful statistic that supports the importance of recycling. It is introduced with the source, and its significance is explained in the following sentences.

Example 3: Expository Essay

Topic: The history of the American Civil War

Quote: "Four score and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal." (Lincoln, Gettysburg Address)

Explanation: The quote is an iconic line from Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, which is a significant event in American history. It is introduced with the source, and its significance is explained in the following sentences.

Incorporating quotes in an essay can add depth, context, and authority to your writing. However, it is important to use quotes effectively and appropriately. Always choose relevant and reliable quotes, introduce them with context, use the correct punctuation, explain their significance, and cite your sources correctly. By following these guidelines, you can effectively use quotes in your essay and improve the quality of your writing.

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A Guide to Using Quotations in Essays

Quotations Add Credibility to a Persuasive Essay

Love Quotes
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Quotations For Holidays
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Classic Literature
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Shakespeare
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M.B.A, Human Resource Development and Management, Narsee Monjee Institution of Management Studies
B.S., University of Mumbai, Commerce, Accounting, and Finance

If you want to make an impact on your reader, you can draw on the potency of quotations. The effective use of quotations augments the power of your arguments and makes your essays more interesting.

But there is a need for caution! Are you convinced that the quotation you have chosen is helping your essay and not hurting it? Here are some factors to consider to ensure that you are doing the right thing.

What Is This Quotation Doing in This Essay?

Let us begin at the beginning. You have a chosen a quotation for your essay. But, why that specific quotation?

A good quotation should do one or more of the following:

Make an opening impact on the reader
Build credibility for your essay
Make the essay more interesting
Close the essay with a point to ponder upon

If the quotation does not meet a few of these objectives, then it is of little value. Merely stuffing a quotation into your essay can do more harm than good.

Your Essay Is Your Mouthpiece

Should the quotation speak for the essay or should the essay speak for the quotation? Quotations should add impact to the essay and not steal the show. If your quotation has more punch than your essay, then something is seriously wrong. Your essay should be able to stand on its own legs; the quotation should merely make this stand stronger.

How Many Quotations Should You Use in Your Essay?

Using too many quotations is like having several people shouting on your behalf. This will drown out your voice. Refrain from overcrowding your essay with words of wisdom from famous people. You own the essay, so make sure that you are heard.

Don't Make It Look Like You Plagiarized

There are some rules and standards when using quotations in an essay. The most important one is that you should not give the impression of being the author of the quotation. That would amount to plagiarism . Here are a set of rules to clearly distinguish your writing from the quotation:

You may describe the quotation in your own words before using it. In this case, you should use a colon (:) to indicate the beginning of the quotation. Then begin the quotation with a quotation mark ("). After you have completed the quotation, close it with a quotation mark ("). Here is an example: Sir Winston Churchill made a witty remark on the attitude of a pessimist: "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
The sentence in which the quotation is embedded might not explicitly describe the quotation, but merely introduce it. In such a case, do away with the colon. Simply use the quotation marks . Here is an example: Sir Winston Churchill once said, "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
As far as possible, you should mention the author and the source of the quotation. For instance: In Shakespeare ’s play "As You Like It," Touchstone says to Audrey in the Forest of Arden, "The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool." (Act V, Scene I).
Ensure that the source of your quotation is authentic. Also, verify the author of your quotation. You can do so by looking up the quotation on authoritative websites. For formal writing, do not rely on just one website.

Blend Quotations In

An essay can seem quite jarring if the quotation does not blend in. The quotation should naturally fit into your essay. No one is interested in reading quotation-stuffed essays.

Here are some good tips on blending in your quotations:

You can begin your essay with a quotation that sets off the basic idea of the essay. This can have a lasting impact on your reader. In the introductory paragraph of your essay, you can comment on the quotation if you like. In any case, do ensure that the relevance of the quotation is communicated well.
Your choice of phrases and adjectives can significantly boost the impact of the quotation in your essay. Do not use monotonous phrases like: "George Washington once said...." If your essay is written for the appropriate context, consider using emphatic expressions like: "George Washington rocked the nation by saying...."

Using Long Quotations

It is usually better to have short and crisp quotations in your essay. Generally, long quotations must be used sparingly as they tend to weigh down the reader. However, there are times when your essay has more impact with a longer quotation.

If you have decided to use a long quotation, consider paraphrasing , as it usually works better. But, there is a downside to paraphrasing too. Instead of paraphrasing, if you use a direct quotation , you will avoid misrepresentation. The decision to use a long quotation is not trivial. It is your judgment call.

If you are convinced that a particular long quotation is more effective, be sure to format and punctuate it correctly. Long quotations should be set off as block quotations . The format of block quotations should follow the guidelines that you might have been provided. If there are no specific guidelines, you can follow the usual standard—if a quotation is more than three lines long, you set it off as a block quote. Blocking implies indenting it about half an inch on the left.

Usually, a brief introduction to a long quotation is warranted. In other cases, you might need to provide a complete analysis of the quotation. In this case, it is best to begin with the quotation and follow it with the analysis, rather than the other way around.

Using Cute Quotes or Poetry

Some students choose a cute quotation first and then try to plug it into their essay. As a consequence, such quotations usually drag the reader away from the essay.

Quoting a verse from a poem, however, can add a lot of charm to your essay. I have come across writing that acquires a romantic edge merely by including a poetic quotation. If you are quoting from poetry, keep in mind that a small extract of a poem, say about two lines long, requires the use of slash marks (/) to indicate line breaks. Here is an example:

Charles Lamb has aptly described a child as "A child's a plaything for an hour;/ Its pretty tricks we try / For that or for a longer space; / Then tire, and lay it by." (1-4)

If you use a single line extract of a poem, punctuate it like any other short quotation without the slashes. Quotation marks are required at the beginning and at the end of the extract. However, if your quotation is more than three lines of poetry, I would suggest that you treat it like you would have treated a long quotation from prose. In this case, you should use the block quote format.

Does Your Reader Understand the Quotation?

Perhaps the most important question you must ask yourself when using a quotation is: "Do readers understand the quotation and its relevance to my essay ?"

If the reader is re-reading a quotation, just to understand it, then you are in trouble. So when you choose a quotation for your essay, ask yourself the following questions:

Is this too convoluted for my reader?
Does this match the tastes of my audience ?
Is the grammar and vocabulary in this quotation understandable?
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Encyclopedia

Writing with artificial intelligence, quotation – when & how to use quotes in your writing.

What is a Quotation?

A quotation refers to the precise replication of words or phrases from another source, embedded within one’s own writing or speech. To distinguish these directly borrowed elements from original content, writers use quotation marks. Additionally, they provide citations or footnotes to trace back to the original source, maintaining the integrity of the content.

Related Concepts: Copyright ; Information Has Value ; Inserting or Altering Words in a Direct Quotation ; Intellectual Property ; Omitting Words from a Direct Quotation ; Plagiarism ; Scholarship as a Conversation

Why Does Quotation Matter?

When writers incorporate quotations, they aren’t merely borrowing words. They’re strategically weaving the collective wisdom of past thinkers into their narrative, bolstering their arguments, and enhancing their credibility .

Recognition of Scholarly Foundations: Quotations enable writers to highlight and pay respect to the foundational works, insights, and contributions of past scholars, researchers, and theorists. By doing so, they acknowledge the deep roots of knowledge and ideas that have paved the way for present-day discussions and discoveries.
Authentic Representation in Discourse: Quotations preserve the precise wording of an author, grounding the reader directly in the original discourse. Unlike paraphrases or summaries , which reinterpret or condense an author’s message, quotations maintain the unaltered essence, subtleties, and nuances of the original statement.
Validation: Quotations may function as compelling evidence , fortifying the claims a writer has made in their argument
Building upon Established Knowledge: Quotations illuminate existing ideas, paving the way for writers to elaborate on, challenge, or pivot them toward new directions.
Preservation of Nuance: Quotations capture the intricate subtleties of unique expressions and poetic language, ensuring that their inherent meaning remains unaltered.
Positioning within a Discourse: Through quotations, writers can align or differentiate themselves within specific intellectual landscapes, debates, or traditions.
Credibility: Meticulous citation and thoughtful quotation are hallmarks of a diligent writer, revealing their commitment to professional and ethical codes of conduct.

What Do Writers Quote in Academic and Professional Writing

In both academic and professional writing , quotation serves multiple functions:

Authenticity and Credibility : Quoting directly from a source provides evidence that the information is based on established research or authoritative accounts . It adds weight to arguments, showcasing that they aren’t merely opinions but are backed by recognized studies or experts in the field.
Respect for Copyright & Intellectual Property : Academic and workplace writers, trained in critical literacy skills , follow citation conventions meticulously. This diligence stems from their respect for copyright laws and the broader principles of intellectual property . Properly citing and quoting indicates an acknowledgment of the original creator’s contribution and ensures that their work is not appropriated without due credit.
Preserving Original Meaning: Paraphrasing or summarizing can sometimes inadvertently alter the original meaning or nuance of a text. Quoting ensures that the exact words and context provided by the original author are retained.
Engaging the Reader: Quotations can be used strategically to capture the reader’s attention. A well-chosen quote can make an article or essay more engaging, invoking curiosity or emphasizing a point.
Paying Homage: Quoting acknowledges the original creators of content. It’s a form of respect, indicating that their words have made an impact and are deemed worthy of repetition and recognition.
Avoiding Plagiarism : In academic and professional contexts, using someone else’s words or ideas without proper citation is considered unethical and can have serious repercussions. Quoting, accompanied by appropriate citation, ensures that credit is given where it’s due.
Enriching Content: Quotations can introduce diverse voices and perspectives into a piece of writing. They can be used to support or counter arguments, provide alternative viewpoints, or illustrate a point more vividly.
Encouraging Deeper Engagement: When readers encounter a quotation, especially one from a recognized authority or a profound piece of literature, it prompts them to reflect on its meaning, perhaps encouraging them to seek out the original source and engage more deeply with the topic .
Clarifying Complex Ideas: At times, original texts may communicate complex ideas in a way that’s particularly clear or compelling. Quoting such passages can assist the writer in conveying these complexities without the risk of oversimplification.

When Should You Use Quotations in Your Writing?

There are five major reasons for using quotations:

Evidential Support: To back up claims or arguments with concrete evidence .
Illustrative Purposes: To give specific examples or to illuminate a point .
Eloquence and Impact: Sometimes, the original phrasing is so poignant or well-expressed that paraphrasing might dilute its power or clarity.
Appeal to Authority: Quoting renowned figures or experts can bolster the credibility of an argument .
Attribution : To give credit to the original source or author and avoid plagiarism .

When Should I Quote as Opposed to Paraphrasing or Summarizing?

Quoting, paraphrasing , and summarizing are all essential techniques in writing , allowing writers to incorporate the ideas of others into their work.

In general, however, because readers do not want to read miscellaneous quotations that are thrown together one after another, you are generally better off paraphrasing and summarizing material and using direct quotations sparingly. Students—from middle school, college, through graduate school—sometimes believe loads of quotations bring a great deal of credibility , ethos , to the text . Yet, if too many quotes are provided, the text loses clarity .

Like everything else in life, balance is the key. The problem with texts that use extensive direct quotations is that they tend to take attention away from the writer’s voice , purpose , thesis . If you offer quotations every few lines, your ideas become subordinate to other people’s ideas and voices, which often contradicts your instructor’s reasons for assigning research papers—that is, to learn what you think about a subject.

Below are some general strategies you might consider when determine it’s best to quote, paraphrase, or summarize:

Heart of the Argument: When a passage directly encapsulates the essence of the discussion, quoting ensures the original message isn’t diluted.
Eloquence & Precision: Some texts are so beautifully articulated or precisely worded that rephrasing would diminish their impact or clarity .
Eyewitness Accounts: Dramatic firsthand accounts of events can lose their emotional potency if not presented verbatim.
Influential Authorities: Quoting recognized experts or influential figures can lend credibility to an argument .
Pertinent Data: Specific statistics or data points, when exactness is crucial, should be quoted directly.
Challenging to Rephrase: Some complex ideas or specialized terminologies can be hard to rephrase without altering the original meaning.

Paraphrasing

Clarification: When the original text is dense or hard to understand, a paraphrase can clarify the message for the reader.
Integration: To weave source material more seamlessly into one’s writing, a paraphrase can be more fluid than a direct quote.
Modification: If a writer wishes to emphasize a particular aspect of the source material or adapt it for a different audience , paraphrasing allows for this flexibility.

Summarizing

Overview: Summaries are excellent for providing readers with a snapshot of a larger work or body of research.
Brevity: When the main gist of a longer text is relevant, but details aren’t necessary, summarizing captures the essence in fewer words.

In all cases, whether quoting, paraphrasing, or summarizing, proper attribution is vital to respect the original author’s intellectual property and to provide readers with a clear path to the primary source.

Is It Okay to Edit Quotations for Brevity and Clarity ?

Yes, editing quotations for clarity and brevity is often necessary, especially when you want to emphasize your own voice and perspective in your writing . Utilizing direct quotations from reliable sources enhances your credibility , but extensive quotations can overshadow your voice and detract from your main argument . Responsible writers prioritize both the quality and the quantity of their quotations, selecting only the most pertinent words or phrases to articulate their points effectively.

How Can I Effectively Shorten a Quote?

Opt for integrating the part of a quotation that is most impactful, concise, and uniquely expressive.
Extract only the key segments of the quote that align with your argument , employing ellipses where you omit sections.
Aim for quotations that span no more than two lines.
Adhere to the 10% rule: quotations shouldn’t exceed 10% of your paper’s total word count.
Always respect guidelines given by instructors or publishers regarding quotation length.

Example: Trimming a Quote for Brevity

Original quote:.

“Hand-washing is especially important for children in child care settings. Young children cared for in groups outside the home are at greater risk of respiratory and gastrointestinal diseases, which can easily spread to family members and other contacts. Be sure your child care provider promotes frequent hand-washing or use of alcohol-based hand sanitizers. Ask whether the children are required to wash their hands several times a day — not just before meals.” (“Hand-washing: Do’s and Don’ts” 2)

Revised Quote with Context :

Parents should be concerned about their child’s hand-washing habits—not only under supervision at home, but when the child is being cared for by others. Experts from the Mayo Clinic staff advise that “[h]and-washing is especially important for children in child care settings. . . . Be sure your child care provider promotes frequent hand-washing” (“Hand-washing: Do’s and Don’ts” 2).

What is the Purpose of Ellipses in Quotations?

Ellipses, represented by three dots ( . . . ), indicate that a portion of the original text has been removed for brevity , relevance, or clarity.

How Should Ellipses Be Formatted Within a Quotation?

Spacing : There should be a space before, between, and after each of the dots. Example :“Original thought . . . remains crucial.”

When Is It Appropriate to Use Ellipses in a Quotation?

To remove non-essential information that doesn’t alter the quote’s original meaning.
To make the quotation fit seamlessly into the writer’s sentence or argument.

Are There Any Cautions to Consider When Using Ellipses?

Avoid altering the original intent or meaning of the quotation.
Refrain from overusing ellipses; excessive omissions can make the quote unclear or misleading.
Do not start or end a quotation with ellipses, unless it’s essential to convey that the quote is part of a larger context.

How Do I Use Ellipses After a Complete Sentence?

If you’re omitting content following a complete sentence, the ellipsis points should come after the sentence’s ending punctuation.

Correct : “He enjoyed the evening. . . . They discussed various topics.”

Incorrect : “He enjoyed the evening. . . They discussed various topics.”

Remember, while ellipses help in streamlining quotations, they should be used judiciously to ensure the integrity of the original text remains intact.

Can I Make Changes to Quotations? If So, How to Do I Alert My Readers to Those Changes?

Purpose of Brackets in Quotations : Brackets [ ] are used to insert or alter words in a direct quotation for clarity, explanation, or integration.
Example: “It [driving] imposes a heavy procedural workload on cognition…”
Reminder: The word ‘driving’ clarifies the pronoun ‘it’.
Example: “[D]riving imposes a heavy procedural workload [visual and motor demands] on cognition…”
Point: Brackets offer deeper insights on the “procedural workload”.
Example: Salvucci and Taatgen propose that “[t]he heavy cognitive workload of driving suggests…”
Note: The change from uppercase ‘T’ to lowercase ‘t’ is indicated with brackets.
Example: “Drivers [are] increasingly engaging in secondary tasks while driving.”
Note: The verb changes from past to present tense, and this change is enclosed in brackets.
Incorrect: “It (driving) imposes a heavy procedural workload…”
Correct: “It [driving] imposes a heavy procedural workload…”
A Key Caution : Don’t misuse brackets to alter the original text’s intent or meaning. Always represent the author’s intent accurately.
Do use brackets to enclose inserted words for clarity or brief explanation.
Do use brackets to indicate changes in letter case or verb tense.
Don’t use parentheses in these scenarios.
Never use bracketed material to twist the author’s original meaning.

Remember, the aim is to ensure clarity and respect the original author’s intent while making the quotation fit seamlessly into your writing.

For More Information on Shortening Quotations, See Also:

Inserting or Altering Words in a Direct Quotation
Omitting Words from a Direct Quotation (MLA)
Omitting Words from a Direct Quotation (APA)

Mayo Clinic Staff. (2021, December 10). Hand-washing: Do’s and don’ts. Mayo Clinic .

Block quotations, recommended.

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Writing Studio

Quotation basics: grammar, punctuation, and style, some general quotation guidelines.

In an effort to make our handouts more accessible, we have begun converting our PDF handouts to web pages. Download this page as a PDF: Quotation Grammar, Punctuation, and Style Return to Writing Studio Handouts

When writing a formal essay, you will often need to use quotes from a text or texts as evidence to prove your point or to make an argument. Below are grammar and punctuation guidelines to help you integrate those quotes into your essay successfully.

We recommend consulting a style manual or your instructor for specific queries.

Periods and Commas

You do not need to use any punctuation before a quotation if it forms part of your own sentence.

Example: Dennis cries that he is “being repressed!”

Use a comma when introducing a quote with a phrase such as ‘he said.’

Example: The old man protests, “I don’t want to go on the cart.”

Place parenthetical citations outside the end quotation mark, but before the punctuation.

Example: King Arthur declares, “Let’s not go to Camelot. It is a silly place” (13).

Colons and Ellipses

Use a colon when introducing a quotation with a full independent clause (one that can stand on its own).

Example: Emily feels frustrated by his response: “Is there someone else that we can talk to?”

Use an ellipsis (three periods, sometimes with spaces between: ‘…’ ) to indicate an omission in a quotation (Exception: it is not necessary to use an ellipsis when omitting words at the beginning of a quote unless you are using a block quote format).

Example: “The kind of intelligence a genius has … leaps with ellipses.”

When you want to omit one or more full sentences, use a period and a space before the three ellipsis dots.

Example: “Hatred paralyzes life. … Hatred darkens life; love illuminates it.”

Slashes and Brackets

When you are quoting poetry, use a slash ( / ) to mark a line break.

Example: “Let me not to the marriage of true minds / Admit impediments” (1-2).

Use square brackets to add a word, change a pronoun, or change a verb tense in the quote.

Original quote: “It’s my duty as a knight to sample all the peril I can.”

In your essay: Sir Galahad thinks “it’s [his] duty as a knight to sample all the peril [he] can.”

Question Marks and Exclamation Points

With a question mark or exclamation point, there is no need to use a comma or a period.

Example: The interested observer wonders, “Are you suggesting that coconuts migrate?”

If the mark is part of your sentence and not part of the quote, it goes outside the last quotation mark.

Example: I don’t think we can ever understand the “ineluctable modality of the visual”!

Block Quotes

MLA style calls for use of a block quote (indent 10 spaces, or 2 tabs) when citing five or more lines of typed prose or four or more lines of verse. APA style calls for block quotes when citing forty words or more.

Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? / Thou art more lovely and more temperate. / Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, / And summer’s lease hath all too short a date. (1-4)

Quote Within a Quote

When using a quote within a quote, single quotation marks are used for the inner quote.

Example: Josh laments, “Every time I try to talk to someone it’s ‘sorry this’ and ‘forgive me that.’”

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How much should I quote?

The focus of your essay should be on your understanding of the topic. If you include too much quotation in your essay, you will crowd out your own ideas. Consider quoting a passage from one of your sources if any of the following conditions holds:

The language of the passage is particularly elegant or powerful or memorable.
You wish to confirm the credibility of your argument by enlisting the support of an authority on your topic.
The passage is worthy of further analysis.
You wish to argue with someone else’s position in considerable detail.

Condition 3 is especially useful in essays for literature courses.

If an argument or a factual account from one of your sources is particularly relevant to your paper but does not deserve to be quoted verbatim, consider

paraphrasing the passage if you wish to convey the points in the passage at roughly the same level of detail as in the original
summarizing the relevant passage if you wish to sketch only the most essential points in the passage

Note that most scientific writing relies on summary rather than quotation. The same is true of writing in those social sciences—such as experimental psychology—that rely on controlled studies and emphasize quantifiable results. (Almost all of the examples in this handout follow the MLA system of citation, which is widely used in the humanities and in those social sciences with a less quantitative approach.)

Visit our handout on paraphrase and summary .

Why is it important to identify my sources?

Quotations come from somewhere, and your reader will want to know where. Don’t just parachute quotations into your essay without providing at least some indication of who your source is. Letting your reader know exactly which authorities you rely on is an advantage: it shows that you have done your research and that you are well acquainted with the literature on your topic.

In the following passage, the parenthetical reference to the author does not adequately identify the source:

The ancient Greeks never saw a need to justify wars that were waged outside the walls of the city state. “Hence we must turn to Roman antiquity to find the first justification of war, together with the first notion that there are just and unjust wars” (Arendt 12). Yet the Roman conception of a just war differs sharply from more modern conceptions.

When you are making decisions about how to integrate quotations into your essay, you might imagine that you are reading the essay out loud to an audience. You would not read the parenthetical note. Without some sort of introduction, your audience would not even know that the statement about Roman antiquity was a quotation, let alone where the quotation came from.

How do I introduce a short quotation?

The following offers just one way of introducing the above quotation:

The ancient Greeks never saw a need to justify wars that were waged outside the walls of the city state. As Hannah Arendt points out in On Revolution , “we must turn to Roman antiquity to find the first justification of war, together with the first notion that there are just and unjust wars” (12). Yet the Roman conception of a just war differs sharply from more modern conceptions.

Since the quotation is relatively short, the brief introduction works.

You could, however, strengthen your analysis by demonstrating the significance of the passage within your own argument. Introducing your quotation with a full sentence would help you assert greater control over the material:

The ancient Greeks never saw a need to justify wars that were waged outside the walls of the city state. In On Revolution , Hannah Arendt points to the role the Romans played in laying the foundation for later thinking about the ethics of waging war: “we must turn to Roman antiquity to find the first justification of war, together with the first notion that there are just and unjust wars” (12). Yet the Roman conception of a just war differs sharply from more modern conceptions.

In these two examples, observe the forms of punctuation used to introduce the quotations. When you introduce a quotation with a full sentence, you should always place a colon at the end of the introductory sentence. When you introduce a quotation with an incomplete sentence, you usually place a comma after the introductory phrase. However, it has become grammatically acceptable to use a colon rather than a comma:

Arendt writes: “we must turn to Roman antiquity to find the first justification of war . . .”

If you are blending the quotation into your own sentence using the conjuction that , do not use any punctuation at all:

Arendt writes that “we must turn to Roman antiquity to find the first justification of war . . .”

If you are not sure whether to punctuate your introduction to a quotation, mentally remove the quotation marks, and ask yourself whether any punctuation is still required.

Finally, note that you can deviate from the common pattern of introduction followed by quotation. Weaving the phrases of others into your own prose offers a stylistically compelling way of maintaining control over your source material. Moreover, the technique of weaving can help you to produce a tighter argument. The following condenses twelve lines from Arendt’s essay to fewer than two:

What Arendt refers to as the “well-known realities of power politics” began to lose their moral legitimacy when the First World War unleashed “the horribly destructive” forces of warfare “under conditions of modern technology” (13).

What verbs and phrases can I use to introduce my quotations?

Familiarize yourself with the various verbs commonly used to introduce quotations. Here is a partial list:

argues writes points out concludes comments notes maintains suggests insists observes counters asserts states claims demonstrates says explains reveals

Each verb has its own nuance. Make sure that the nuance matches your specific aims in introducing the quotation.

There are other ways to begin quotations. Here are three common phrasings:

In the words of X , . . .

According to X , . . .

In X ‘s view, . . .

Vary the way you introduce quotations to avoid sounding monotonous. But never sacrifice precision of phrasing for the sake of variety.

Visit the U of T Writing Website’s page on verbs for referring to sources .

How do I introduce a long quotation?

If your quotation is lengthy, you should almost always introduce it with a full sentence that helps capture how it fits into your argument. If your quotation is longer than four lines, do not place it in quotation marks. Instead, set it off as a block quotation :

Although Dickens never shied away from the political controversies of his time, he never, in Orwell’s view, identified himself with any political program:

The truth is that Dickens’ criticism of society is almost exclusively moral. Hence his lack of any constructive suggestion anywhere in his work. He attacks the law, parliamentary government, the educational system and so forth, without ever clearly suggesting what he would put in their places. Of course it is not necessarily the business of a novelist, or a satirist, to make constructive suggestions, but the point is that Dickens’ attitude is at bottom not even destructive. . . . For in reality his target is not so much society as human nature. (416)

The full-sentence introduction to a block quotation helps demonstrate your grasp of the source material, and it adds analytical depth to your essay. But the introduction alone is not enough. Long quotations almost invariably need to be followed by extended analysis. Never allow the quotation to do your work for you. Usually you will want to keep the quotation and your analysis together in the same paragraph. Hence it is a good idea to avoid ending a paragraph with a quotation. But if your analysis is lengthy, you may want to break it into several paragraphs, beginning afresh after the quotation.

Once in a while you can reverse the pattern of quotation followed by analysis. A felicitously worded or an authoritative quotation can, on occasion, nicely clinch an argument.

There is some flexibility in the rule that block quotations are for passages of four lines or more: a shorter passage can be represented as a block quotation if it is important enough to stand on its own. For example, when you are quoting two or more lines of poetry , you will probably want to display the verse as it appears on the page:

In the opening heroic couplet of The Rape of the Lock , Pope establishes the unheroic nature of the poem’s subject matter:

What dire offense from amorous causes springs, What mighty contests rise from trivial things. (1-2)

If you choose to integrate verse into your own sentence, then use a slash surrounded by spaces to indicate line breaks:

In Eliot’s The Waste Land , the symbols of a mythic past lie buried in “A heap of broken images, where the sun beats, / And the dead tree gives no shelter, the cricket no relief” (22-23).

How do I let my reader know I’ve altered my sources?

If you need to alter your quotations in any way, be sure to indicate just how you have done so. If you remove text, then replace the missing text with an ellipsis —three periods surrounded by spaces:

In The Mirror and the Lamp , Abrams comments that the “diversity of aesthetic theories . . . makes the task of the historian a very difficult one” (5).

If the omitted text occurs between sentences, then put a space after the period at the end of sentence, and follow that by an ellipsis. In all, there will be four periods. (See Orwell on Dickens, above.)

Many people overuse ellipses at the beginning and end of quotations. Use an ellipsis in either place only when your reader might otherwise mistake an incomplete sentence for a complete one:

Abraham Lincoln begins “The Gettysburg Address” with a reminder of the act upon which the United States was founded: “Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation . . .” (1).

Do not use an ellipsis if you are merely borrowing a phrase from the original:

In “The Gettysburg Address” Abraham Lincoln reminds his listeners of the principles that had inspired the creation of “a new nation” (1).

If you need to alter or replace text from the original, enclose the added text within square brackets . You may, for example, need to alter text to ensure that pronouns agree with their antecedents. Do not write,

Gertrude asks her son Hamlet to “cast your nighted colour off” (1.2.68).

Square brackets allow you to absorb Gertrude’s words into your own statement:

Gertrude asks her son Hamlet to “cast [his] nighted colour off” (1.2.68).

Alternatively, you can include Gertrude’s original phrasing in its entirety as long as the introduction to the quotation is not fully integrated with the quotation. The introduction can be an independent clause:

Gertrude implores her son Hamlet to stop mourning the death of his father: “cast your nighted colour off” (I.ii.68).

Or it can be an incomplete sentence:

Gertrude implores her son Hamlet, “cast your nighted colour off” (1.2.68).

How is punctuation affected by quotation?

You must preserve the punctuation of a quoted passage, or else you must enclose in square brackets any punctuation marks that are your own.

There is, however, one important exception to this rule. You are free to alter the punctuation just before a closing quotation mark. You may need to do so to ensure that your sentences are fully grammatical. Do not worry about how the original sentence needs to be punctuated before that quotation mark; think about how your sentence needs to be punctuated. Note, for example, that if you are using the MLA system of referencing, a sentence always ends after the parenthetical reference. Do not also include a period before closing the quotation mark, even if there is a period there in the original. For example, do not write,

According to Schama, Louis XVI remained calm during his trial: “The Terror had no power to frighten an old man of seventy-two.” (822).

The period before the closing quotation mark must go:

According to Schama, Louis XVI remained calm during his trial: “The Terror had no power to frighten an old man of seventy-two” (822).

However, if you are using footnotes, the period remains inside the quotation mark, while the footnote number goes outside:

According to Schama, Louis XVI remained calm during his trial: “The Terror had no power to frighten an old man of seventy-two.” 1

In Canada and the United States, commas and periods never go outside a quotation mark. They are always absorbed as part of the quotation, whether they belong to you or to the author you are quoting:

“I am a man / more sinned against than sinning,” Lear pronounces in Act 3, Scene 2 (59-60).

However, stronger forms of punctuation such as question marks and exclamation marks go inside the quotation if they belong to the author, and outside if they do not:

Bewildered, Lear asks the fool, “Who is it that can tell me who I am?” (1.4.227).

Why is Lear so rash as to let his “two daughters’ dowers digest the third” (1.1.127)?

Finally, use single quotation marks for all quotations within quotations:

When Elizabeth reveals that her younger sister has eloped, Darcy drops his customary reserve: “‘I am grieved, indeed,’ cried Darcy, ‘grieved—shocked'” (Austen 295).

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How to Quote | Citing Quotes in Harvard & APA

How to Quote | Citing Quotes in Harvard & APA

Published on 15 April 2022 by Shona McCombes and Jack Caulfield. Revised on 3 September 2022.

Quoting means copying a passage of someone else’s words and crediting the source. To quote a source, you must ensure:

The quoted text is enclosed in quotation marks (usually single quotation marks in UK English, though double is acceptable as long as you’re consistent) or formatted as a block quote
The original author is correctly cited
The text is identical to the original

The exact format of a quote depends on its length and on which citation style you are using. Quoting and citing correctly is essential to avoid plagiarism , which is easy to detect with a good plagiarism checker .

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How to cite a quote in harvard and apa style, introducing quotes, quotes within quotes, shortening or altering a quote, block quotes, when should i use quotes, frequently asked questions about quoting sources.

Every time you quote, you must cite the source correctly . This looks slightly different depending on the citation style you’re using.

Citing a quote in Harvard style

When you include a quote in Harvard style, you must add a Harvard in-text citation giving the author’s last name, the year of publication, and a page number if available. Any full stop or comma appears after the citation, not within the quotation marks.

Citations can be parenthetical or narrative. In a parenthetical citation , you place all the information in brackets after the quote. In a narrative citation , you name the author in your sentence (followed by the year), and place the page number after the quote.

Evolution is a gradual process that ‘can act only by very short and slow steps’ (Darwin, 1859, p. 510) . Darwin (1859) explains that evolution ‘can act only by very short and slow steps’ (p. 510) .

Complete guide to Harvard style

Citing a quote in APA Style

To cite a direct quote in APA , you must include the author’s last name, the year, and a page number, all separated by commas. If the quote appears on a single page, use ‘p.’; if it spans a page range, use ‘pp.’

An APA in-text citation can be parenthetical or narrative. In a parenthetical citation , you place all the information in parentheses after the quote. In a narrative citation , you name the author in your sentence (followed by the year), and place the page number after the quote.

Punctuation marks such as full stops and commas are placed after the citation, not within the quotation marks.

Evolution is a gradual process that ‘can act only by very short and slow steps’ (Darwin, 1859, p. 510) .
Darwin (1859) explains that evolution ‘can act only by very short and slow steps’ (p. 510) .

Complete guide to APA

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Make sure you integrate quotes properly into your text by introducing them in your own words, showing the reader why you’re including the quote and providing any context necessary to understand it. Don’t present quotations as stand-alone sentences.

There are three main strategies you can use to introduce quotes in a grammatically correct way:

Add an introductory sentence
Use an introductory signal phrase
Integrate the quote into your own sentence

The following examples use APA Style citations, but these strategies can be used in all styles.

Introductory sentence

Introduce the quote with a full sentence ending in a colon . Don’t use a colon if the text before the quote isn’t a full sentence.

If you name the author in your sentence, you may use present-tense verbs, such as “states’, ‘argues’, ‘explains’, ‘writes’, or ‘reports’, to describe the content of the quote.

In Denmark, a recent poll shows that: ‘A membership referendum held today would be backed by 55 percent of Danish voters’ (Levring, 2018, p. 3).
In Denmark, a recent poll shows that support for the EU has grown since the Brexit vote: ‘A membership referendum held today would be backed by 55 percent of Danish voters’ (Levring, 2018, p. 3).
Levring (2018) reports that support for the EU has grown since the Brexit vote: ‘A membership referendum held today would be backed by 55 percent of Danish voters’ (p. 3).

Introductory signal phrase

You can also use a signal phrase that mentions the author or source but doesn’t form a full sentence. In this case, you follow the phrase with a comma instead of a colon.

According to a recent poll, ‘A membership referendum held today would be backed by 55 percent of Danish voters’ (Levring, 2018, p. 3).
As Levring (2018) explains, ‘A membership referendum held today would be backed by 55 percent of Danish voters’ (p. 3).

Integrated into your own sentence

To quote a phrase that doesn’t form a full sentence, you can also integrate it as part of your sentence, without any extra punctuation.

A recent poll suggests that EU membership ‘would be backed by 55 percent of Danish voters’ in a referendum (Levring, 2018, p. 3).
Levring (2018) reports that EU membership ‘would be backed by 55 percent of Danish voters’ in a referendum (p. 3).

When you quote text that itself contains another quote, this is called a nested quotation or a quote within a quote. It may occur, for example, when quoting dialogue from a novel.

To distinguish this quote from the surrounding quote, you enclose it in double (instead of single) quotation marks (even if this involves changing the punctuation from the original text). Make sure to close both sets of quotation marks at the appropriate moments.

Note that if you only quote the nested quotation itself, and not the surrounding text, you can just use single quotation marks.

Carraway introduces his narrative by quoting his father: ‘ ‘ Whenever you feel like criticizing anyone, ‘ he told me, ‘ just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had ‘ ‘ (Fitzgerald 1).
Carraway introduces his narrative by quoting his father: ‘”Whenever you feel like criticizing anyone,” he told me, “just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had “ (Fitzgerald 1).
Carraway introduces his narrative by quoting his father: ‘“Whenever you feel like criticizing anyone,” he told me, “just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had”’ (Fitzgerald 1).
Carraway begins by quoting his father’s invocation to ‘remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had’ (Fitzgerald 1).

Note: When the quoted text in the source comes from another source, it’s best to just find that original source in order to quote it directly. If you can’t find the original source, you can instead cite it indirectly .

Often, incorporating a quote smoothly into your text requires you to make some changes to the original text. It’s fine to do this, as long as you clearly mark the changes you’ve made to the quote.

Shortening a quote

If some parts of a passage are redundant or irrelevant, you can shorten the quote by removing words, phrases, or sentences and replacing them with an ellipsis (…). Put a space before and after the ellipsis.

Be careful that removing the words doesn’t change the meaning. The ellipsis indicates that some text has been removed, but the shortened quote should still accurately represent the author’s point.

Altering a quote

You can add or replace words in a quote when necessary. This might be because the original text doesn’t fit grammatically with your sentence (e.g., it’s in a different tense), or because extra information is needed to clarify the quote’s meaning.

Use brackets to distinguish words that you have added from words that were present in the original text.

The Latin term ‘ sic ‘ is used to indicate a (factual or grammatical) mistake in a quotation. It shows the reader that the mistake is from the quoted material, not a typo of your own.

In some cases, it can be useful to italicise part of a quotation to add emphasis, showing the reader that this is the key part to pay attention to. Use the phrase ’emphasis added’ to show that the italics were not part of the original text.

You usually don’t need to use brackets to indicate minor changes to punctuation or capitalisation made to ensure the quote fits the style of your text.

If you quote more than a few lines from a source, you must format it as a block quote . Instead of using quotation marks, you set the quote on a new line and indent it so that it forms a separate block of text.

Block quotes are cited just like regular quotes, except that if the quote ends with a full stop, the citation appears after the full stop.

To the end of his days Bilbo could never remember how he found himself outside, without a hat, a walking-stick or any money, or anything that he usually took when he went out; leaving his second breakfast half-finished and quite unwashed-up, pushing his keys into Gandalf’s hands, and running as fast as his furry feet could carry him down the lane, past the great Mill, across The Water, and then on for a mile or more. (16)

Avoid relying too heavily on quotes in academic writing . To integrate a source , it’s often best to paraphrase , which means putting the passage into your own words. This helps you integrate information smoothly and keeps your own voice dominant.

However, there are some situations in which quotes are more appropriate.

When focusing on language

If you want to comment on how the author uses language (for example, in literary analysis ), it’s necessary to quote so that the reader can see the exact passage you are referring to.

When giving evidence

To convince the reader of your argument, interpretation or position on a topic, it’s often helpful to include quotes that support your point. Quotes from primary sources (for example, interview transcripts or historical documents) are especially credible as evidence.

When presenting an author’s position or definition

When you’re referring to secondary sources such as scholarly books and journal articles, try to put others’ ideas in your own words when possible.

But if a passage does a great job at expressing, explaining, or defining something, and it would be very difficult to paraphrase without changing the meaning or losing the weakening the idea’s impact, it’s worth quoting directly.

A quote is an exact copy of someone else’s words, usually enclosed in quotation marks and credited to the original author or speaker.

To present information from other sources in academic writing , it’s best to paraphrase in most cases. This shows that you’ve understood the ideas you’re discussing and incorporates them into your text smoothly.

It’s appropriate to quote when:

Changing the phrasing would distort the meaning of the original text
You want to discuss the author’s language choices (e.g., in literary analysis )
You’re presenting a precise definition
You’re looking in depth at a specific claim

Every time you quote a source , you must include a correctly formatted in-text citation . This looks slightly different depending on the citation style .

For example, a direct quote in APA is cited like this: ‘This is a quote’ (Streefkerk, 2020, p. 5).

Every in-text citation should also correspond to a full reference at the end of your paper.

In scientific subjects, the information itself is more important than how it was expressed, so quoting should generally be kept to a minimum. In the arts and humanities, however, well-chosen quotes are often essential to a good paper.

In social sciences, it varies. If your research is mainly quantitative , you won’t include many quotes, but if it’s more qualitative , you may need to quote from the data you collected .

As a general guideline, quotes should take up no more than 5–10% of your paper. If in doubt, check with your instructor or supervisor how much quoting is appropriate in your field.

If you’re quoting from a text that paraphrases or summarises other sources and cites them in parentheses , APA recommends retaining the citations as part of the quote:

Smith states that ‘the literature on this topic (Jones, 2015; Sill, 2019; Paulson, 2020) shows no clear consensus’ (Smith, 2019, p. 4).

Footnote or endnote numbers that appear within quoted text should be omitted.

If you want to cite an indirect source (one you’ve only seen quoted in another source), either locate the original source or use the phrase ‘as cited in’ in your citation.

A block quote is a long quote formatted as a separate ‘block’ of text. Instead of using quotation marks , you place the quote on a new line, and indent the entire quote to mark it apart from your own words.

APA uses block quotes for quotes that are 40 words or longer.

Cite this Scribbr article

If you want to cite this source, you can copy and paste the citation or click the ‘Cite this Scribbr article’ button to automatically add the citation to our free Reference Generator.

McCombes, S. & Caulfield, J. (2022, September 03). How to Quote | Citing Quotes in Harvard & APA. Scribbr. Retrieved 30 July 2024, from https://www.scribbr.co.uk/working-sources/quoting/

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Quoting and integrating sources into your paper

In any study of a subject, people engage in a “conversation” of sorts, where they read or listen to others’ ideas, consider them with their own viewpoints, and then develop their own stance. It is important in this “conversation” to acknowledge when we use someone else’s words or ideas. If we didn’t come up with it ourselves, we need to tell our readers who did come up with it.

It is important to draw on the work of experts to formulate your own ideas. Quoting and paraphrasing the work of authors engaged in writing about your topic adds expert support to your argument and thesis statement. You are contributing to a scholarly conversation with scholars who are experts on your topic with your writing. This is the difference between a scholarly research paper and any other paper: you must include your own voice in your analysis and ideas alongside scholars or experts.

All your sources must relate to your thesis, or central argument, whether they are in agreement or not. It is a good idea to address all sides of the argument or thesis to make your stance stronger. There are two main ways to incorporate sources into your research paper.

Quoting is when you use the exact words from a source. You will need to put quotation marks around the words that are not your own and cite where they came from. For example:

“It wasn’t really a tune, but from the first note the beast’s eyes began to droop . . . Slowly the dog’s growls ceased – it tottered on its paws and fell to its knees, then it slumped to the ground, fast asleep” (Rowling 275).

Follow these guidelines when opting to cite a passage:

Choose to quote passages that seem especially well phrased or are unique to the author or subject matter.
Be selective in your quotations. Avoid over-quoting. You also don’t have to quote an entire passage. Use ellipses (. . .) to indicate omitted words. Check with your professor for their ideal length of quotations – some professors place word limits on how much of a sentence or paragraph you should quote.
Before or after quoting a passage, include an explanation in which you interpret the significance of the quote for the reader. Avoid “hanging quotes” that have no context or introduction. It is better to err on the side of your reader not understanding your point until you spell it out for them, rather than assume readers will follow your thought process exactly.
If you are having trouble paraphrasing (putting something into your own words), that may be a sign that you should quote it.
Shorter quotes are generally incorporated into the flow of a sentence while longer quotes may be set off in “blocks.” Check your citation handbook for quoting guidelines.

Paraphrasing is when you state the ideas from another source in your own words . Even when you use your own words, if the ideas or facts came from another source, you need to cite where they came from. Quotation marks are not used. For example:

With the simple music of the flute, Harry lulled the dog to sleep (Rowling 275).

Follow these guidelines when opting to paraphrase a passage:

Don’t take a passage and change a word here or there. You must write out the idea in your own words. Simply changing a few words from the original source or restating the information exactly using different words is considered plagiarism .
Read the passage, reflect upon it, and restate it in a way that is meaningful to you within the context of your paper . You are using this to back up a point you are making, so your paraphrased content should be tailored to that point specifically.
After reading the passage that you want to paraphrase, look away from it, and imagine explaining the main point to another person.
After paraphrasing the passage, go back and compare it to the original. Are there any phrases that have come directly from the original source? If so, you should rephrase it or put the original in quotation marks. If you cannot state an idea in your own words, you should use the direct quotation.

A summary is similar to paraphrasing, but used in cases where you are trying to give an overview of many ideas. As in paraphrasing, quotation marks are not used, but a citation is still necessary. For example:

Through a combination of skill and their invisibility cloak, Harry, Ron, and Hermione slipped through Hogwarts to the dog’s room and down through the trapdoor within (Rowling 271-77).

Important guidelines

When integrating a source into your paper, remember to use these three important components:

Introductory phrase to the source material : mention the author, date, or any other relevant information when introducing a quote or paraphrase.
Source material : a direct quote, paraphrase, or summary with proper citation.
Analysis of source material : your response, interpretations, or arguments regarding the source material should introduce or follow it. When incorporating source material into your paper, relate your source and analysis back to your original thesis.

Ideally, papers will contain a good balance of direct quotations, paraphrasing and your own thoughts. Too much reliance on quotations and paraphrasing can make it seem like you are only using the work of others and have no original thoughts on the topic.

Always properly cite an author’s original idea, whether you have directly quoted or paraphrased it. If you have questions about how to cite properly in your chosen citation style, browse these citation guides . You can also review our guide to understanding plagiarism .

University Writing Center

The University of Nevada, Reno Writing Center provides helpful guidance on quoting and paraphrasing and explains how to make sure your paraphrasing does not veer into plagiarism. If you have any questions about quoting or paraphrasing, or need help at any point in the writing process, schedule an appointment with the Writing Center.

Works Cited

Rowling, J.K. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. A.A. Levine Books, 1998.

Suggested Ways to Introduce Quotations

When you quote another writer's words, it's best to introduce or contextualize the quote.

How To Quote In An Essay?

To introduce a quote in an essay, don't forget to include author's last name and page number (MLA) or author, date, and page number (APA) in your citation. Shown below are some possible ways to introduce quotations. The examples use MLA format.

Use A Full Sentence Followed by A Colon To Introduce A Quotation

The setting emphasizes deception: "Nothing is as it appears" (Smith 1).
Piercy ends the poem on an ironic note: "To every woman a happy ending" (25).

Begin A Sentence with Your Own Words, Then Complete It with Quoted Words

Note that in the second example below, a slash with a space on either side ( / ) marks a line break in the original poem.

Hamlet's task is to avenge a "foul and most unnatural murder" (Shakespeare 925).
The speaker is mystified by her sleeping baby, whose "moth-breath / flickers among the flat pink roses" (Plath 17).

Use An Introductory Phrase Naming The Source, Followed By A Comma to Quote A Critic or Researcher

Note that the first letter after the quotation marks should be upper case. According to MLA guidelines, if you change the case of a letter from the original, you must indicate this with brackets. APA format doesn't require brackets.

According to Smith, "[W]riting is fun" (215).
In Smith's words, " . . .
In Smith's view, " . . .

Use A Descriptive Verb, Followed by A Comma To Introduce A Critic's Words

Avoid using says unless the words were originally spoken aloud, for instance, during an interview.

Smith states, "This book is terrific" (102).
Smith remarks, " . . .
Smith writes, " . . .
Smith notes, " . . .
Smith comments, " . . .
Smith observes, " . . .
Smith concludes, " . . .
Smith reports, " . . .
Smith maintains, " . . .
Smith adds, " . . .

Don't Follow It with A Comma If Your Lead into The Quotation Ends in That or As

The first letter of the quotation should be lower case.

Smith points out that "millions of students would like to burn this book" (53).
Smith emphasizes that " . . .
Smith interprets the hand washing in MacBeth as "an attempt at absolution" (106).
Smith describes the novel as "a celebration of human experience" (233).

Other Writing Resources

Enhance your academic writing skills by exploring our additional writing resources that will help you craft compelling essays, research papers, and more.

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How to Use Quotations and Citations in an Essay

Table of contents

1.1 Direct Introduction
1.2 Signal Phrases
1.3 Contextualization
1.4 Setting the Scene
1.5 Contrasting Views
1.6 Interjecting Commentary
1.7 Question or Challenge
2 Maintain the Flow of Your Writing While Using Quotations
3 Proper Use of Punctuation with Quotations
4 Impact of Formatting Quotations
5.3 Chicago
6.1 Start a Quote With an Active Verb
6.2 Use a Descriptive Verb
6.3 Select Proper Quotations
6.4 Don’t Overuse Quotes
6.5 Try to Paraphrase Long Quotes
7.1 Using a Quote as a Hook: When and Why?
8 Fine-Tuning Your Quotation Skills

Obviously, when we write an academic essay, we can’t create new information or take it from the air. In most cases, or always, there are sources for our thoughts. Therefore, we need to reference them. However, we may also want to quote this source directly in our work. And that’s when the need for correct quotation comes in.

Quotations play a pivotal role in essays, serving as a key technique for integrating information from external sources.

This article will guide you through several aspects of using quotations effectively:

understanding quotation significance,
mastering the art of accurate quoting,
how to identify the original source from which the quotation was derived
correct punctuation in quotes, and discerning the variations among different citation styles.

7 Strategies for a Smooth Transition into Quotations

Quotations are extremely vital in the academic environment. The quote in the essay is like a unique ingredient in your favorite meal. However, simply putting them in is insufficient. You must do things in such a manner that everything flows smoothly. There are a few ways to start a quote. Let’s have a look at some of them:

Direct Introduction

When you put quotes in an essay , simply state the source and introduce it directly. For example, you could say, “Eckhart Tolle, in ‘The Power of Now,’ said: ‘You create a good future by creating a good present.'”

Signal Phrases

Use signal phrases to attribute the quote to its source: “According to,” “As [author] argues,” or “In the words of.” For instance: “According to Shakespeare, ‘All the world’s a stage.'”

Contextualization

Give a little background before you embed a quote. “In the context of environmental sustainability, Jane Goodall states, ‘What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.'”

Setting the Scene

Sometimes, you want to create a picture before dropping the embedded quotation. Set the stage for the quote by describing the situation or background. For instance: “As the sun dipped below the horizon, reflecting hues of orange and pink, she whispered, ‘It’s moments like these that stay with us forever.'”

Contrasting Views

This is like presenting a contrasting viewpoint or argument. You could say, “While some argue for the benefits of technology in education, Neil Postman contends, ‘Education is suffering from… the intrusion of industrialism.'”

Interjecting Commentary

Provide a remark or analysis before or after it. For instance: “In the face of adversity, Winston Churchill’s famous words resonate: ‘Success is not final, failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue those counts.'”

Question or Challenge

Ask a question before dropping the quote to create curiosity or stimulate thought: “What role does technology play in shaping our society? Marshall McLuhan sheds light on this with his statement, ‘The medium is the message.'”

Thus, using quotes isn’t just about putting them in. It’s about introducing them in a way that fits smoothly into your writing. By using the correct ways to embed quotes, they will not interrupt the flow of your writing. If you need more information on the subject, we have an idea. PapersOwl’s essay assistance is an excellent option to go deeper into the subject without losing your academic mind.

Maintain the Flow of Your Writing While Using Quotations

Incorporating quotes into your work should feel easy.

Introduce the one you quote, and use signal phrases for smooth transitions.
Mix your comments with the cited content.
Use strategic punctuation (colons, semicolons, or ellipses) and insert quotes in an essay.
Establish the reliability of the source.

This guarantees that your thoughts blend effortlessly with the quoted insights. Indeed, quotes should not make your life harder. It’s vice versa ─ they must help you upgrade your work.

Proper Use of Punctuation with Quotations

Punctuation with quotations is a crucial aspect. We use quotation marks to integrate quotes into an essay, which look like these “”. If you use punctuation incorrectly, it may cause some grammatical trouble. However, these rules are easy to remember.

Period outside of quotes is a common mistake you can see. However, in American English, commas and periods typically go inside quotation marks. Colons and semicolons go outside.
Question marks and exclamation points vary based on context. Use a question mark or an exclamation point within the closing quotation marks if the punctuation is related to the citation itself. If the punctuation applies to the entire sentence, place it outside the closing quotation marks to end a quote in an essay.

✏️ Example of a quote in an essay:

She said, “Hello.”
He said, “I may forget your name, but I never forget a face.”
Marco asked, “Do you need this pen?”.

There are also single quotation marks, which can be confusing. In American English, they are exclusively used for adding a quote within a quote:

✏️ “One of my students always said, ‘Quotations are confusing,’” our professor said.

Impact of Formatting Quotations

Formatting quotations can enhance the overall visual appeal of your essay. One creative technique involves using block quotations for longer passages. This distinguishes the quoted material. Additionally, it provides a visual break, drawing attention to the content’s significance. It’s a great way to end a paragraph with a quote.

Consider employing formatting elements such as italics or bold text for emphasis. Additionally, experiment with indentation and spacing to get a neat and organized appearance.

Let’s compare two quotes in essays. The examples will aid in understanding the impact of formatting.

In J.K. Rowling’s “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone,” Dumbledore imparts wisdom, “It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends.”
In “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone,” Dumbledore says, “It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends”.

The first quote looks more appealing and draws the reader’s attention to itself. Meanwhile, the second one has punctuation mistakes and may be lost in the text.

An effective tool for presenting information is to set up a quote in an essay. Besides, it can visually engage your readers.

Mastering Various Citation Styles with Finesse

In PapersOwl, we have already covered the citation rules topic. However, we would like to talk about it here since it can assist us in explaining a quote in an essay usage.

It is essential to mention the same author’s sources wherever possible. References serve as direct indicators for whatever information you are employing. Citing sources shows readers that a piece of information in your work is not your own.

The most popular citation styles are APA, MLA, and Chicago.

In APA format for the paper , we cite the author’s last name and the publication year in parentheses.

According to recent studies, sleep patterns significantly impact cognitive function (Johnson, 2020).

For citing while writing an essay in MLA style , we indicate the author’s name and page number, e.g., (Jones 45).

The novel explores themes of identity and self-discovery (Doe 72).

In Chicago style, citations can be either footnotes or endnotes. A full citation is added to the bibliography.

The economic implications of globalization are vast and multifaceted.¹

¹Smith, John. Globalization and Its Effects. Chicago: University Press, 2018.

Citation can sometimes be confusing. Not in the modern world, though. Now, you can check your references and citations in the citation generator online. It will help you write an outstanding essay with flawless quotes and citations.

Tips on Embedding Quotations in an Essay

You should also understand how to incorporate a quote into an essay naturally. You can not just put a paragraph from the book you’d read. Here are some tips:

Start a Quote With an Active Verb

To use quotes in an essay seamlessly, begin with an active verb. Use them to enhance subtlety and successfully communicate the speaker’s tone.

Use a Descriptive Verb

Incorporate descriptive verbs to increase the impact of your quotations. These verbs provide depth to your quotations and fill your story with context.

Select Proper Quotations

Add quotes in an essay that are relevant to your topic and give useful information. Moreover, make sure your quotes are brief and clearly support your views. Make relevance, trustworthiness, and clarity your top priorities.

Don’t Overuse Quotes

When you overuse quotes, it is a sign to your teacher that you don’t know how to paraphrase well. How many quotes per paragraph you should use depends on your work length. We recommend using one quote for every five paragraphs. The perfect approximate amount looks like this:

2 quotes for a 1500-word paper;
3 quotes for a 2000-word paper;
4 quotes for a 3000-word paper.

Try to Paraphrase Long Quotes

When dealing with lengthy quotes, try paraphrasing them for more concise integration. This ensures that you understand how to write quotes in an essay and explain them in your own words. At the same time, be careful not to change the meaning of the quote!

How to Start an Essay with a Quote

To start a paper with a quote, you must choose one that brings up the proper tone of your paper. The quotation source must be credible and fit your essay context. Finally, each phrase you pick must support your assertion while demonstrating your case proficiency. All of that’s important because the purpose of quotes is to make a good hook for essay and grab the attention of your target audience, which happens via knowledge and trust.

Using a Quote as a Hook: When and Why?

When crafting any type of paper, it’s crucial to use quotes that are not only attention-grabbing but also relevant to your topic. Many great essay examples written by PapersOwl specialists are proof of that. These experts know how to make quotes a powerful tool to engage readers. Taking into consideration their experience, we provide you with examples of when you could use one:

When introducing a new topic or a newly found case: A good quotation will show relevance in such situations. It will gain people’s attention while showcasing new topics and establishing their importance.
If you are in the writing process of a historical essay: In such situations, any quotation from any case-related historical figure may provide context and spark interest in readers.
Personal experience: For such essays, quotations not only can grab one’s audience but serve as proof of your experience with this case. They show your perspective and give a deeper nuance when writing arguments, which affects those reading your paper.
To support written arguments’ main point: It’s an outstanding way to start by hooking all readers up while backing up your claims.
When challenging their beliefs: This is perfect for argumentative essays where you have to challenge their commonly held view. Such quotations engage with people and make them think and be eager to read more.

Using a quote relevant to your case is necessary, so always ensure you use a proper one that creates parallels between all sections. If you don’t see a proper connection, you can seek help from experts who edit essay theses. Many professional editors at PapersOwl can easily edit your text flow and create an effective introductory paragraph by providing reworded statements or better quotations. Additionally, they may help check all relevant sources for credibility, see if they deeply relate to your topic, and if they support your claims or bring controversy.

Fine-Tuning Your Quotation Skills

In summary, quotations are an important addition to your accurate academic essay . Using quotes in essays can improve your work. They also help you understand more about the subject of your paper. Thanks to this guide, it will be easy to embed a quote of any type into your academic work.

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Education and Communications

How to Quote and Cite a Poem in an Essay Using MLA Format

Last Updated: July 3, 2024 Fact Checked

Template and Examples

Quoting in essays, citing in essays, citing in a works cited.

This article was co-authored by Jamie Korsmo, PhD . Jamie Korsmo is a Ph.D. candidate in English at Georgia State University. There are 8 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 1,327,166 times.

Navigating the MLA Handbook can be pretty overwhelming; there are so many rules that regulate the way we can quote and cite poetry in MLA format in our own writing. Improper quoting and citing can even be considered a form of plagiarism. Here is a comprehensive look at the most important things you need to know to make your English teacher happy with how you quote from and cite poetry in your papers.

Example sentence: Robert Frost’s poem, “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening,” discusses the idea of solitude versus living in a world of other people and obligations.

Step 2 Type short quotations of three lines or less in the text of your essay.

Here is an example of several lines of poetry from Robert Frost’s “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening”: The woods are lovely, dark, and deep, But I have promises to keep, And miles to go before I sleep.
Here is an example of how to insert several lines of poetry into an essay: In "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening," Frost writes, “The woods are lovely, dark, and deep, / But I have promises to keep, / And miles to go before I sleep."

Step 3 Indent quotations of four or more lines.

Example: Robert Frost writes about solitude and man’s relationship with nature: Whose woods these are I think I know. His house is in the village, though; He will not see me stopping here To watch his woods fill up with snow. (1-4)

Step 4 Indicate a short omission with an ellipsis (three spaced periods).

Example: Robert Frost discusses solitude and a desire to forget obligations when he writes, "The woods are lovely...but I have promises to keep, / And miles to go before I sleep" (13-15).

Tip: If an ellipsis covers a line break, do not worry about including a backslash inside the ellipsis, as in the above example. But if you continue on without an ellipsis, include the backslashes that indicate line breaks.

Step 5 Use a full line of ellipses when you delete one or more lines of a poem.

Example: Robert Frost discusses solitude when he writes, Whose woods these are I think I know. …………………………………………. He will not see me stopping here To watch his woods fill up with snow. (1-4)

Step 6 Whenever you quote a phrase or borrow an idea, use citations.

If you don't take these steps correctly, then you aren't giving credit where it's due to the original author and your teacher may consider this plagiarism.

Example: In "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening," Frost writes, “The woods are lovely, dark, and deep / But I have promises to keep / And miles to go before I sleep” (13-15).
Example: The notion of solitude appears in many notable poems including the famous lines, "The woods are lovely, dark, and deep, / But I have promises to keep, / And miles to go before I sleep" (Frost 13-15).

Step 2 Add line numbers after you quote several single words or phrases.

Example of one quoted word: Robert Frost uses the word “sleep” to imply fantasies about solitude and perhaps death (15).
Example of multiple words: Robert Frost uses a variety of words and phrases such as “frozen” (7), “darkest evening” (8), and “before I sleep” (15) to imply thoughts of solitude and the desire to not return to his obligations.

Tip: Just make sure that you include the proper line numbers, whatever the form. If you are citing a longer section of the poem, you will include more line numbers (12-32). If you cite two separate sections using an ellipsis, indicate the range of the sections with a comma separating them (11-15, 18-21).

Step 3 Cite long quotes and short quotes differently.

Example of citing a short quote: In "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening," Frost writes, “The woods are lovely, dark, and deep, / But I have promises to keep, / And miles to go before I sleep” (13-15).
Example of citing a long quote: Robert Frost writes about solitude and man’s relationship with nature: Whose woods these are I think I know. His house is in the village, though; He will not see me stopping here To watch his woods fill up with snow. (1-4)

Step 4 Use short poem titles in citations when you have more than one poem by the same author.

Example: The notion of solitude appears in many notable poems including the famous lines, "The woods are lovely, dark, and deep, / But I have promises to keep, / And miles to go before I sleep" (Frost, "Stopping by the Woods" 13-15). This idea is mirrored in the lines "And both that morning equally lay / In leaves no step had trodden black" (Frost, "The Road Not Taken" 11-12).

Step 1 Cite the poem you found in a book.

Example: Frost, Robert. “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening.” The Poetry of Robert Frost. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston Inc., 1969. 224-225. Print.

Step 2 Cite a poem you found on a website.

Example: Frost, Robert. “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening.” The Poetry Foundation. n.d. Web. 6 January 2014.

Tip: You do not need to add the URL of the website as they change often and are generally long and confusing, and URLs are not required in MLA format. [10] X Trustworthy Source Purdue Online Writing Lab Trusted resource for writing and citation guidelines Go to source

Step 3 Cite a poem you found in an anthology.

Example (note this is a made up anthology): Frost, Robert. “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening.” The Little Anthology of American Literature. Ed. Marie Shier. 3rd ed. San Francisco: Some Publisher, 2010. 21-22. Print.

Step 4 Cite two or more poems by the same author.

Frost, Robert. “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening.” The Poetry of Robert Frost. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston Inc., 1969. 224-225. Print.
---. “The Road Not Taken.” The Poetry of Robert Frost. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston Inc., 1969. 227-228. Print.

Community Q&A

When writing about poetry in your essay, use the present tense. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
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↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/mla_style/mla_formatting_and_style_guide/mla_formatting_quotations.html
↑ https://stlcc.edu/student-support/academic-success-and-tutoring/writing-center/writing-resources/mla-in-text-citation-sample-essay-8th-edition.aspx
↑ https://style.mla.org/line-numbers-in-text-citation/
↑ https://otis.libguides.com/mla_citations/in-text
↑ https://www.monmouth.edu/resources-for-writers/documents/mla-citing-poetry.pdf/
↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/mla_style/mla_formatting_and_style_guide/mla_works_cited_electronic_sources.html
↑ https://libguides.uww.edu/mla/poem
↑ https://uwcchina.libguides.com/c.php?g=830919&p=6639313

About This Article

If you use a quote from a poem in an MLA-format essay, place the line numbers of the poem in parentheses right after the closing quotation marks, with the closing punctuation right behind the parentheses. If you mention the name of the author when you are introducing the text, you do not have to include the author’s name in the parenthesis, but you do if you have not already stated the name of the author. If the quote is more than 3 lines long, indent 10 spaces from the left margin when you type the poem. To learn about how to include a citation for a poem on the Works Cited page of your essay, continue reading the article! Did this summary help you? Yes No

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How Can You Make Your Sentences Flow Better?

Have you ever read a piece of writing that just feels right? The kind that effortlessly pulls you along from one idea to the next? That's the magic of good sentence flow. It's not always easy to do, but it's important. No matter what you're writing — an essay, a blog post, or a story — how to make your writing flow can really change how people enjoy it. Let's look at some ways to improve a sentence and make your sentences flow better.

1. Using AI Writing Tools for Better Writing

AI writing tools can be really helpful for many writers. They're good at finding parts of your writing that might not sound smooth or clear. These tools can help you connect your sentences and paragraphs better or suggest different words to make your writing easier to read.

For example, if you use the same sentence repeatedly, an AI tool might tell you and give you ideas for changing it up. This can help make your writing sound more interesting.

Just remember, these tools are here to help you, not to write for you. Use them to make your work better, but always keep your own style of writing.

2. Cut Out Redundancies

Using words that say the same thing twice can slow down your reader. They're like bumps in the road of your writing. To make sentences flow better, it's good to get rid of words you don't need.

Look out for phrases like "advance planning" (all planning is done before something happens) or "unexpected surprise" (all surprises are unexpected). Taking these out can make your writing stronger and clearer.

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Before: "The completely finished project was finally done at last." After: "The project was finished."

See how much clearer that is? This small change helps your ideas move more smoothly from one sentence to the next.

3. Mix Up Your Sentence Structure

Adding different types of sentences is a good way to make your writing flow more naturally. Try using short, quick sentences along with longer, more detailed ones.

Here's what that might look like:

"The sun rose. Birds began to chirp. Down the street, a car engine rumbled to life, kicking off another busy day in the neighbourhood."

This kind of variation creates a nice rhythm that keeps readers engaged. It's a bit like making music with words — sometimes you need short, quick notes, and other times you want longer, flowing phrases.

4. Connect Ideas with Better Transitions

Good transitions are key to make writing flow better. They act like bridges between your ideas, helping readers move easily from one thought to the next.

Instead of jumping quickly between points, try using words or sentences that connect ideas. For example:

"On the other hand" (when you want to introduce a contrasting idea)
"What's more" (to add information)
"Let's look at an example" (to provide an illustration)

Remember, good transitions don't just connect sentences — they also link paragraphs and larger parts of your writing. Learning to use transitions can really help create a smooth reading experience.

5. Say More with Fewer Words

Clear, short writing can be very strong. To improve a sentence, try to share your message using fewer words. This doesn't mean making your ideas too simple — it's more about saying them in a clearer way.

For instance, you could replace "Due to the fact that" with a simple "Because". Or change "in spite of the fact that" to "although". These small changes can really improve sentence flow and make your writing more interesting.

Here's a quick before-and-after:

Before: "In light of the fact that the weather was bad, we made the decision to postpone the outdoor event." After: "We postponed the outdoor event because of bad weather."

The new version says the same thing more directly, helping readers understand your point quickly and move on to the next idea.

6. Reading Aloud for Rhythm

One of the best ways to improve sentence flow is simply reading your writing out loud. This helps you hear how your sentences sound and find any parts where the flow might not be smooth.

When you're reading out loud, pay attention to:

Places where you stumble or have to stop in a strange way
Sentences that feel too long or complicated
Areas where the ideas don't connect smoothly

Make a note of these spots, then go back and change them to make your writing flow more naturally. It's amazing how much this simple trick can improve your writing.

Aithor for Better Sentence Flow

Using these ideas can really improve sentence flow in an essay and other types of writing. But you might be wondering how to put them all into practice easily. That's where Aithor comes in.

This tool is designed to help you improve sentence flow in your writing without much effort. Aithor uses these methods to make your writing flow better, offering a practical way to improve your work. This smart writing tool uses the ideas we've talked about, from changing sentence structure to removing extra words.

Aithor works like a digital writing assistant, helping you improve a sentence at a time. It smoothly adds better transitions and improves your language to make sentences flow better. With Aithor, you can quickly write well-structured academic and creative pieces that keep your unique voice while getting better with AI-driven improvements. Aithor is made to make your writing flow naturally, turning the challenge of essay writing into an easier, more enjoyable process.

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How to Block Quote | Length, Format and Examples

Published on April 25, 2018 by Courtney Gahan . Revised on May 31, 2023.

A block quote is a long quotation, set on a new line and indented to create a separate block of text. No quotation marks are used. You have to use a block quote when quoting more than around 40 words from a source.

In APA and MLA styles, you indent block quotes 0.5 inches from the left, and add an in-text citation after the period. Some other citation styles have additional rules.

Catherine Earnshaw, may you not rest as long as I am living; you said I killed you – haunt me, then! The murdered DO haunt their murderers, I believe. I know that ghosts HAVE wandered on earth. Be with me always – take any form – drive me mad! only DO not leave me in this abyss, where I cannot find you! Oh, God! it is unutterable! I CANNOT live without my life! I CANNOT live without my soul! (Brontë, 1847, 268)

How long is a block quote, step 1: introduce the quote, step 2: format and cite the quote, step 3: comment on the quote, when to use block quotes, other interesting articles.

The minimum length of a block quote varies between citation styles . Some styles require block quote formatting based on the number of words, while others require it based on the number of lines.

Citation style	Block quote minimum length
Harvard	30 words
Vancouver	40 words
ACS	50 words
APSA	100 words
	Four lines of prose Three lines of poetry or verse
	Three lines
AAA	Four lines
Turabian	Five lines

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Every time you quote a source , it’s essential to show the reader exactly what purpose the quote serves. A block quote must be introduced in your own words to show how it fits into your argument or analysis.

If the text preceding the block quote is a complete sentence, use a colon to introduce the quote . If the quote is a continuation of the sentence that precedes it, you don’t need to add any extra punctuation .

lawmakers and regulators need to stop pharmaceutical companies from marketing drugs like OxyContin and establish stronger guidelines about how and when doctors can prescribe them. These drugs are often the last resort for people with cancer and other terminal conditions who experience excruciating pain. But they pose a great risk when used to treat the kinds of pain for which there are numerous non-addictive therapies available. (The Editorial Board, 2018)

Block quotes are not enclosed in quotation marks . Instead, they must be formatted to stand out from the rest of the text, signalling to the reader that the words are taken directly from a source. Each citation style has specific formatting rules.

APA and MLA format both require an indent of 0.5 inches on the left side. Block quotes are double spaced, the same as the rest of the document. Some other citation styles also require indentation on the right side, different spacing, or a smaller font.

To format a block quote in Microsoft Word, follow these steps:

Hit Enter at the beginning and end of the quote.
Highlight the quote and select the Layout menu.
On the Indent tab, change the left indent to 0.5″.

Block quotes of more than one paragraph

If you quote more than one paragraph, indent the first line of the new paragraph as you would in the main text.

Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much. They were the last people you’d expect to be involved in anything strange or mysterious, because they just didn’t hold with such nonsense.

Mr. Dursley was the director of a firm called Grunnings, which made drills. He was a big, beefy man with hardly any neck, although he did have a very large mustache. Mrs. Dursley was thin and blonde and had nearly twice the usual amount of neck, which came in very useful as she spent so much of her time craning over garden fences, spying on the neighbors. The Dursleys had a small son called Dudley and in their opinion there was no finer boy anywhere. (Rowling 1)

Citing block quotes

All block quotes must end with a citation that directs the reader to the correct source. How the citation looks depends on the citation style. In most styles, including APA and MLA , the parenthetical citation comes after the period at the end of a block quote.

A paragraph should never end with a block quote. Directly after the quote, you need to comment on it in your own words. Depending on the purpose of the block quote, your comment might involve:

Analyzing the language of the quoted text
Explaining how the quote relates to your argument
Giving further context
Summarizing the overall point you want to make

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Block quotes should be used when the specific wording or style of the quoted text is essential to your point. How often you use them depends partly on your field of study.

In the arts and humanities, block quotes are frequently used to conduct in-depth textual analysis .
In social science research involving interviews or focus groups , block quotes are often necessary when analyzing participants’ responses.
In scientific writing, block quotes are very rarely used.

Avoid relying on block quotes from academic sources to explain ideas or make your points for you. In general, quotes should be used as sparingly as possible, as your own voice should be dominant. When you use another author’s ideas or refer to previous research, it’s often better to integrate the source by paraphrasing .

If you want to know more about ChatGPT, AI tools , citation , and plagiarism , make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples.

ChatGPT vs human editor
ChatGPT citations
Is ChatGPT trustworthy?
Using ChatGPT for your studies
What is ChatGPT?
Chicago style
Paraphrasing

Plagiarism

Types of plagiarism
Self-plagiarism
Avoiding plagiarism
Academic integrity
Consequences of plagiarism
Common knowledge

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Democrats Embrace ‘Weird’ Messaging on Trump

As the Harris campaign pulls in donations at an impressive clip, Democrats are adopting a line of attack pioneered by Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota: Donald J. Trump and his Republican allies are “just plain weird.”

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The governor is flanked by young people against a backdrop of campaign signs as people take photos of the group.

Nicholas Nehamas

Here’s the latest on the presidential race.

As Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign reported a hefty fund-raising haul, high-profile Democrats derided former President Donald J. Trump and his running mate, Senator JD Vance of Ohio, as weird and strange on Sunday, embracing a characterization of the Republican ticket that the Harris campaign has also begun to try out.

Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota, whose description last week of “weird people on the other side” was an online hit with Democrats, told CNN that Mr. Trump says “whatever crazy thing pops into his mind.” Pete Buttigieg, the secretary of transportation, said Mr. Trump was getting “older and stranger” while Senator Chuck Schumer, the majority leader, called Mr. Vance “weird” and “erratic.”

Here’s what else to know.

Raising cash and tempering expectations: The Harris campaign announced it had raised $200 million in the week since President Biden dropped out of the race , exceeding Mr. Biden’s fund-raising total for the entire first quarter. Two-thirds of that sum came from first-time donors, according to the campaign. But a spokesman warned that the race would be “very close,” a day after Ms. Harris said Democrats were the “underdogs.”

Vance campaigns in Minnesota: Mr. Vance, the junior senator from Ohio, visited a diner in a reliably red part of Minnesota , a day after he and Mr. Trump rallied supporters in nearby St. Cloud, where Mr. Trump made clear that any designs on national unity were over . Mr. Vance, whose best-selling memoir, “Hillbilly Elegy,” helped power his leap into politics, has gotten off to a rocky start since joining the ticket less than two weeks ago. Years-old comments resurfaced by Democrats and the news media, like his derisive comments about “childless cat ladies,” have threatened to undermine his standing with women, voters of color and blue-collar workers.

Democrats pivot to “weird”: Democrats are increasingly adopting the line of attack pioneered by Mr. Walz, with Ms. Harris saying on Saturday saying that some of the swipes the Republican candidates had taken against her were “just plain weird.” On CBS’s “Face the Nation” on Sunday, Mr. Schumer went after Mr. Vance, saying “Every day, it comes out Vance has done something more extreme, more weird, more erratic.” He suggested that Mr. Trump must be “scratching his head and wondering, Why did I pick this guy?”

V.P. contenders on the stump: With Ms. Harris expected to select a running mate by Aug. 7, potential V.P. picks made themselves heard on the air and on the ground. On CNN, Mr. Walz said he liked the “weird” approach because arguments about Mr. Trump threatening democracy and women’s lives gave him “too much credit.” He invoked statements Mr. Trump has made about sharks and the fictional serial killer Hannibal Lecter, as did Mr. Buttigieg, who told Fox News that Mr. Trump was getting “older and stranger.” Gov. Andy Beshear of Kentucky, in Georgia to open a swing-state campaign office for Ms. Harris, accused Mr. Vance of manufacturing his Appalachian origin story and highlighted his electoral success in a state that Mr. Trump carried by 26 points in 2020.

Anushka Patil

Vance heads west this week, and Shapiro and Whitmer rally in Pennsylvania.

Two prominent governors will headline a campaign event for Vice President Kamala Harris this week in Pennsylvania, while Senator JD Vance of Ohio heads west to Nevada and Arizona in what will be some of the Republican vice-presidential nominee’s first appearances for the Trump campaign outside the Midwest.

Governors Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania and Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan will hold a rally on behalf of Ms. Harris on Monday, according to her campaign, in an event that Mr. Shapiro’s office said would be held outside of Philadelphia. Mr. Shapiro is one of the top contenders to be Ms. Harris’s running mate , and his state is widely considered a must-win for Democrats. (Ms. Whitmer, a co-chair of the Harris campaign who is also often mentioned as a vice-presidential contender, has said she has no plans to leave her current job.)

Mr. Vance will hold rallies on Tuesday in Henderson and Reno in Nevada, and on Wednesday in Glendale, Ariz. Thus far, Mr. Vance, who has had a rocky start , has mostly appeared on familiar Midwestern ground, including in his Ohio hometown, Middletown. The Arizona rally will come just a day after the state’s closely watched primaries, including for the Senate seat being vacated by Kyrsten Sinema, the Democrat turned independent who said in March that she would not seek re-election .

Ms. Harris and Donald J. Trump are also on the road this week. Ms. Harris will hold a rally in Atlanta on Tuesday to shore up support in the key swing state of Georgia, where support for President Biden had been slipping before he ended his re-election bid a week ago.

And Mr. Trump will host a rally in Pennsylvania’s capital, Harrisburg, on Wednesday, making his return to the state where he survived an assassination attempt two weeks ago. Mr. Trump has said he intends to hold another rally in Butler, where the attempt on his life took place, but has not said when.

Al Gore, the former vice president who narrowly lost the 2000 presidential election, has endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris. Gore, a Democrat and outspoken environmentalist, said in a statement that Harris was a “climate champion,” citing battles she fought against oil companies when she was California’s attorney general.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, a possible running mate choice for Vice President Kamala Harris, told Fox News that Donald J. Trump is getting “older and stranger,” saying that the former president has been “rambling” about sharks and Hannibal Lecter. His remarks echoed those of other Democrats who called the Republican ticket “weird” on Sunday, a line of attack that has become popular in recent days.

Maggie Astor

The Harris campaign says it has raised $200 million in less than a week.

Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign said on Sunday that it had raised $200 million in the week since President Biden withdrew from the race — more than Mr. Biden’s haul in the first three months of the year.

Roughly two-thirds of that amount came from first-time donors, according to the campaign, offering another sign that Ms. Harris’s ascent to the top of the party’s ticket has invigorated Democrats. The campaign also said it had signed up more than 170,000 new volunteers.

And more money is coming: Ms. Harris will hold a fund-raiser in Houston on Wednesday, according to a copy of the invitation reviewed by The New York Times.

It is unclear how much of the $200 million has gone directly to the campaign versus to allied Democratic Party committees. But it is eye-catching, even in comparison with other surges recorded over the course of the 2024 race. Former President Donald J. Trump’s campaign reported raising nearly $53 million in the first day after his criminal conviction in May, a haul that helped him outpace Mr. Biden that month and erase what had been a significant financial advantage for the president.

The swell of support comes after Democrats, thrown for a loop by Mr. Biden’s poor debate performance, spent weeks loudly despairing about their prospects. Even so, Ms. Harris’s campaign has sought to tamp down expectations, as it faces the task of sustaining that enthusiasm into November.

A campaign spokesman, Michael Tyler, said in a statement, “The momentum and energy for Vice President Harris is real — and so are the fundamentals of this race: this election will be very close and decided by a small number of voters in just a few states.”

And Ms. Harris herself said at a fund-raiser on Saturday, “We are the underdogs in this race.”

Nicholas Nehamas and Theodore Schleifer contributed reporting.

Gov. Andy Beshear of Kentucky, one contender to be the vice president’s running mate, underscored his electoral record at the opening of a Harris campaign office near Macon, Ga. “I’m the guy that last November beat Donald Trump’s hand-picked candidate,” he said, referring to a five-point win in a state that Trump carried by 26 points in 2020. “And together we’re going to help Kamala Harris beat Donald Trump.”

Beshear also continued his attacks on Trump’s running mate, Senator JD Vance of Ohio, who has family roots in Kentucky. He told the crowd that Vance lacks “any conviction” and has manufactured an inauthentic origin story. “JD Vance ain’t from Kentucky,” he said. “He ain’t from Appalachia. And he ain’t going to be the vice president.”

Michael Gold

Reporting from Waite Park, Minn.

Vance stumps in a reliably Republican part of Minnesota after a rocky start.

When Senator JD Vance of Ohio arrived to the Park Diner in Waite Park, Minn., on Sunday morning — a remarkably traditional political stop after a week on the trail that has been anything but — he told the dozens gathered outside that he thought he and former President Donald J. Trump held a “great” and successful rally the day before in nearby St. Cloud.

Many of them hooted in agreement, because they had been there.

Mr. Vance’s visit to the diner, which was stocked with supporters invited by the Trump campaign, was the vice-presidential nominee’s latest stop in a rocky opening stretch that has raised questions about how the Trump campaign might use him to boost the ticket’s prospects in November.

As Mr. Trump looks to broaden the electoral map by putting in play states like Minnesota, which has not voted for a Republican president since 1972, he will likely need to win back voters in closely contested areas who helped him in 2016 then swung the other way four years ago. But Saturday’s rally and Sunday’s diner stop by Mr. Vance, a Yale-educated lawyer, were both in Stearns County — an area about an hour’s drive from Minneapolis and a place Mr. Trump won by more than 20 percentage points in 2016 and 2020.

Still, Mr. Vance insisted to the supporters greeting him that he and Mr. Trump were “going to turn Minnesota red,” telling reporters that Mr. Trump’s message would stand in sharp enough contrast to that of Vice President Kamala Harris, who he called a “San Francisco liberal,” that it would drive voters to the polls.

“We know that we have the votes in Minnesota to win the race,” Mr. Vance insisted. “We’ve just got to make sure that some of those low-propensity voters actually get out there and get to the polls and vote for us.”

Mr. Vance, who arrived at the diner with his wife, Usha, and two of his children, spent roughly 20 minutes inside, where staff members greeted his son, Vivek, and his daughter, Mirabel, with chocolate milk.

After ordering six Chubby Checker cinnamon rolls and six Big Bopper caramel rolls, he dropped two $100 bills as a tip, then wrote “No Tax on Tips” on the receipt, a reference to Mr. Trump’s relatively recent campaign pledge to make tipped income tax-free.

Mr. Vance’s reception among a crowd that included many supporters invited by the campaign was considerably smoother than the criticism that has greeted his debut on the trail, though when he arrived, one man shouted, “Where’s Trump?”

In the nearly two weeks since Mr. Vance was tapped for the ticket, a number of his previous comments have surfaced that threaten the idea that he might help Mr. Trump’s appeal to women.

Mr. Vance, a first-term senator who rose to prominence after his book “Hillbilly Elegy” made him a media darling, has responded by increasingly echoing Mr. Trump’s frequent criticism of the news media.

Democrats and the media, he said, “are going to attack us, they’re going to lie about us. That is the price of admission to governing this country. And I think it’s a shame.”

Mr. Vance cast Ms. Harris as too liberal on immigration and abortion, and sought to tie her to Mr. Biden’s handling of the economy.

But, he insisted, he was having fun. “I’m doing great, man. I’m having a good time. My family’s here, they’re hopped up on chocolate milk. It’s going to be a wild plane ride.”

Maya C. Miller

Senator Elizabeth Warren, Democrat of Massachusetts, used CNN’s “State of the Union” to push back on criticism of Vice President Kamala Harris’s record on immigration issues border, turning a question about her role in border policy into a reminder of how former President Donald Trump derailed a carefully negotiated piece of bipartisan legislation so he could campaign on the issue.

“This is a problem that ultimately has to be solved by Congress,” Warren said. “So it’s really a question of do you trust someone actually been a prosecutor who has been there in a border state who works with Congress toward a solution? Or do you trust someone who says, you know, chaos is politically helpful to him?”

In a rare Sunday television interview, Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the majority leader, called Senator JD Vance “more erratic and more extreme” than former President Donald Trump. On CBS’s “Face The Nation,” he leaned into messaging that Democrats have adopted in recent days, calling Vance “weird” and suggesting that Trump was likely regretting his choice of running mate.

“I’ll bet President Trump is sitting there scratching his head and wondering, why did I pick this guy?” Schumer said. “The choice may be one of the best things he ever did for Democrats.” The majority leader also gave his “candid assessment” that Democrats would not only hold their majority in the Senate, but could even pick up a few seats.

Gov. Wes Moore of Maryland and Gov. J.B. Pritzker of Illinois, interviewed on ABC this morning, both rejected the premise that Kamala Harris should consider prioritizing battleground-state residency in her choice of a running mate, saying they didn’t believe that would make a significant difference. Both blue-state governors have been floated as possible additions to the ticket.

Gov. Chris Sununu, Republican of New Hampshire, told ABC that polls wouldn’t reflect the true state of the race until after Labor Day, because Democrats are in a “honeymoon period.” He also brushed off Trump saying that Christians would never have to vote again if he’s elected. “I think he was just trying to make a hyperbolic point that it can be fixed as long as he gets back into office and all that,” he said. “But, you know, classic Trump right there.”

Sununu also acknowledged that Trump’s rhetorical gestures toward “unity” had not stuck. Asked whether Trump was missing an opportunity on that front, he said: “He’s missing it now, but hopefully they can get back on track.”

Gov. J.B. Pritzker of Illinois criticized JD Vance, the Republican vice-presidential nominee, for his past remarks disparaging “childless cat ladies.” “He apologized to cats, but he hasn’t apologized to women,” Pritzker said on ABC.

Gov. Wes Moore of Maryland said on ABC, regarding criticism of Kamala Harris’s positions on criminal justice: “First of all, it’s remarkably disingenuous to call someone who was a prosecutor for her entire career someone who is soft on crime, or someone who believed in ‘defund the police.’”

Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota, a contender to be Kamala Harris’s running mate, said on CNN that he liked the tactic of calling Donald Trump “ weird ” because arguments about him threatening democracy and women’s lives gave him “too much credit.” “I do believe all those things are real possibilities, but it gives him way too much power,” he said. “Listen to the guy. He’s talking about Hannibal Lecter and shocking sharks and just whatever crazy thing pops into his mind.”

When asked on CNN whether his policies in Minnesota, such as providing free meals for schoolchildren, could make him seem like “a big-government liberal” on a ticket with Harris, Walz replied: “What a monster! Kids are eating and having full bellies so they can go learn, and women are making their own health care decisions.”

Senator JD Vance of Ohio and his wife and children just arrived at a diner in Waite Park, Minn., where they were greeted by voters gathered by the Trump campaign. After asking if the dozens awaiting him in the parking lot had seen him at the rally yesterday, Vance asked how the crowd felt about Trump’s chances in Minnesota. “Turn it red,” someone shouted.

After spending about 20 minutes in the diner talking to patrons, Vance promised the crowd that he and Trump would turn Minnesota — which has voted for Democratic presidents since 1976 — red. Asked how, he told reporters that “the little bit of a bump” in popularity that Harris got this week would fade once voters learned about her record. And he said the campaign was focused on motivating people with a low propensity to vote in order to win here.

The Harris campaign said it had raised $200 million in the six days since President Biden withdrew from the race. That’s more than the Biden campaign raised during the full first quarter of the year. Roughly two-thirds of the total came from first-time donors — another sign that Vice President Kamala Harris’s ascent to the top of the ticket has galvanized Democrats.

Kellen Browning

In a surprising move, Donald Trump early on Sunday morning endorsed both leading Republicans in a race for a safely Republican House seat in Arizona ahead of a primary on Tuesday. Abe Hamadeh, who ran for attorney general in 2022 and already had Trump’s endorsement, and Blake Masters, who ran for Senate in 2022, were locked in a bitter fight for the seat, and now both have Trump’s backing. (J.D. Vance had previously endorsed Masters.)

Reporting from St. Cloud, Minn.

‘Maybe I’ve gotten worse’: Trump makes clear that unity is over.

Early in his speech in Minnesota on Saturday night, former President Donald J. Trump made clear just how quickly he has jettisoned the appeal for national unity that he made after he survived an assassination attempt in Pennsylvania two weeks ago.

“I want to be nice,” Mr. Trump said. “They all say, ‘I think he’s changed. I think he’s changed since two weeks ago. Something affected him.’”

But to a cheering crowd of thousands, Mr. Trump quickly conceded the point. “No, I haven’t changed,” he said. “Maybe I’ve gotten worse. Because I get angry at the incompetence that I witness every single day.”

Propelled by the upheaval in the presidential race caused by President Biden’s decision to end his campaign six days ago, Mr. Trump on Saturday once more escalated his attacks against Vice President Kamala Harris, now the presumptive Democratic nominee.

During a speech lasting roughly 90 minutes, Mr. Trump called Ms. Harris “evil,” “unhinged” and “sick.” He lied about her views on abortion in an effort to paint her as extreme, and he mocked her laugh and her demeanor.

“We have a brand-new victim,” Mr. Trump told thousands of people inside the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center in St. Cloud, Minn. “And, honestly, she’s a radical left lunatic.”

Mr. Trump spent considerable time attacking Ms. Harris’s views on public safety, taking aim at her efforts to portray herself as a “rule of law” prosecutor who contrasts starkly with Mr. Trump’s two impeachments, four criminal indictments and 34 felony convictions.

As he rallied some 60 miles from Minneapolis, where the killing of George Floyd in 2020 prompted a movement for criminal justice reform, Mr. Trump accused Ms. Harris of backing soft-on-crime policies, including a push to defund the police.

Ms. Harris told The New York Times in 2020 that she supported the “defund the police” movement’s idea of rethinking “what public safety looks like” and the size of police budgets. “But, no, we’re not going to get rid of the police,” she said. “We all have to be practical.”

But Mr. Trump, who throughout his third campaign for president has cloaked himself in support for law enforcement even as he grapples with criminal cases, used Ms. Harris’s past support of criminal justice reform to insist that he was “going to over-fund” the police.

Mr. Trump’s focus on public safety and his accusations that Democrats have allowed crime to run rampant in cities have been at the heart of his three political campaigns. His return to that message in Minnesota demonstrated how central his plea to law and order will most likely be to his effort to win over moderate and independent voters.

Mr. Trump and his team are eager to flip Minnesota, which last voted for a Republican president in 1972, but which also has a large population of working-class voters and union workers, groups that Mr. Trump drew support from in his previous elections. He lost the state by just 1.5 percentage points in 2016, only to lose it by a wider margin four years later.

Even as the race has changed dramatically, in St. Cloud, Mr. Trump drew on the same themes that have been animating his campaign all year: protectionist trade policies, an enormous crackdown on immigration and his relentless repetition of his false claims of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election.

“Anybody that can cheat on elections like they cheat on elections, these are not stupid people,” Mr. Trump said of Democrats, even though there is no evidence to support his claims.

Still, Mr. Trump’s speech highlighted his struggle to adapt to a new opponent after years of preparing to face Mr. Biden. Though Mr. Biden is no longer on the Democratic ticket, Mr. Trump revived his derisive impressions of the president, caricaturing his gait and speech to suggest that Mr. Biden is not fit for office.

At one point in his speech, Mr. Trump appeared about to imitate Mr. Biden but then stopped himself. “I don’t want to waste a lot of time on it,” he said, “because it’s over now, right? He’s gone.” But he gloated: “I told you that he would be. I told you that he wasn’t going to make it.”

Sarafina Chitika, a spokeswoman for the Harris campaign, criticized Mr. Trump’s focus on Mr. Biden. “Tonight in Minnesota, a bitter, unhinged, 78-year-old convicted felon kept clinging to his lies about the 2020 election he lost being ‘rigged,’ rambled about his former opponent and golfing, and made excuses for why he’s afraid to debate Vice President Harris,” she said in a statement.

Saturday’s rally was Mr. Trump’s second joint rally with Senator JD Vance of Ohio since he chose Mr. Vance to be his running mate. Mr. Vance largely echoed Mr. Trump’s attacks, calling Ms. Harris overly liberal and a “card-carrying member of the San Francisco lunatic fringe.”

And Mr. Vance, whose rollout as the Republican vice-presidential nominee has not been wholly smooth , attacked the press for not being sufficiently critical of Ms. Harris.

“The media told us that Joe Biden was Abraham Lincoln,” Mr. Vance said. “And now the media tells us that Kamala Harris is Martin Luther King Jr.”

Chris Cameron

Reporting from Nashville

Trump, appealing to Bitcoin fans, vows that the U.S. will be the ‘crypto capital of the planet.’

Former President Donald J. Trump vowed on Saturday that he would turn the United States into a “Bitcoin superpower" if returned to the White House, wielding much of the same rhetoric of persecution that he has applied to himself and his supporters to appeal to cryptocurrency enthusiasts who want to see less regulation.

“Sadly, we see the attacks on crypto,” Mr. Trump told a gathering of cryptocurrency fans in Nashville. “It’s a part of a much larger pattern that’s being carried out by the same left-wing fascists to weaponize government against any threat to their power. They’ve done it to me.”

He added that, if he were elected, “Joe Biden and Kamala Harris’s anti-crypto crusade will be over” and that “the moment I’m sworn in, the persecution stops and the weaponization ends against your industry.”

Mr. Trump has been competing with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the independent presidential candidate, for the support of cryptocurrency holders, and his remarks represented one of his most direct pitches yet.

Three large crypto firms have invested about $150 million to elect pro-crypto candidates in congressional races. In his speech, Mr. Trump promoted himself as “the first major party nominee in American history to accept donations in Bitcoin and crypto,” adding that his campaign has raised $25 million from cryptocurrency donations in the last two months.

The former president offered promises of sweeping deregulation and the establishment of a “strategic national Bitcoin stockpile.”

“I’m laying out my plan to ensure that the United States will be the crypto capital of the planet and the Bitcoin superpower of the world,” Mr. Trump said to raucous applause, adding that “America will once again be a nation that protects property rights, privacy, freedom of transaction, freedom of association and freedom of speech.”

Mr. Trump also said he would end efforts by the U.S. government to create a central bank digital currency , an initiative that cryptocurrency enthusiasts have long been critical of, and that he would establish a “Bitcoin and crypto presidential advisory council” to design new regulations “written by people who love your industry, not hate your industry.”

What exactly those new crypto-friendly regulations would look like was unclear, but Mr. Trump has attacked the Biden administration over moves that many in the industry have made plain they do not like. In response to concerns about increased risk and volatility in the crypto market , the Biden administration has taken steps toward regulating cryptocurrencies , while the Securities and Exchange Commission, led by Gary Gensler , has cracked down with fines and lawsuits after a prominent exchange suddenly collapsed and its founder was convicted of sweeping fraud charges.

Mr. Trump vowed in his speech to fire Mr. Gensler upon taking office, a promise that was met with energetic cheers.

“I didn’t know he was that unpopular,” Mr. Trump said after the crowd’s enthusiastic response. “Let me say it again: On day one, I will fire Gary Gensler.”

He also equated law enforcement seizing Bitcoin funds during criminal investigations to fascism and revived his “Pocahontas” insult for Senator Elizabeth Warren , Democrat of Massachusetts, who has pushed for tighter regulations for banking and other industries, including cryptocurrencies.

Attacking Ms. Harris, the likely Democratic nominee, Mr. Trump said she was “against crypto” and urged attendees to “get out and vote.”

“It should be no surprise that these same totalitarians are hell bent on crushing crypto,” Mr. Trump said of Mr. Biden and Ms. Harris, adding “That’s where this country is going. It’s a fascist regime.”

Mr. Trump headed a large Republican delegation to the Bitcoin Conference. Four senators and three Senate candidates, all Republicans, spoke at the conference, as well as Vivek Ramaswamy, the former presidential candidate and billionaire who is a surrogate for the Trump campaign.

After Mr. Trump’s speech, Senator Cynthia Lummis, Republican of Wyoming, unveiled legislation for the stockpile that would require the U.S. government to buy one million Bitcoin over five years — roughly five percent of the total supply and valued at tens of billions of dollars if bought at current exchange rates.

Mr. Kennedy addressed the conference a day before Mr. Trump, suggesting that the former president’s support for cryptocurrencies was new and politically expedient. Mr. Kennedy denounced policies in the Trump administration that he said had restricted the potential of cryptocurrency and highlighted Mr. Trump’s remarks after he left office describing Bitcoin as a “scam against the dollar.”

“During his years in the White House, President Trump consistently spoke out against Bitcoin,” Mr. Kennedy said on Friday, criticizing Mr. Trump for not pardoning Ross W. Ulbricht, the founder of Silk Road who was sentenced to life in prison for drug trafficking in 2015.

Because Silk Road had traded in Bitcoin , Mr. Ulbricht has become something of a martyr among cryptocurrency enthusiasts, and Mr. Trump promised on Saturday that he would commute his sentence if re-elected.

Mr. Ramaswamy, who spoke at the Bitcoin Conference after Mr. Trump, said in an interview that Mr. Kennedy’s speech “smacks to me of pandering,” adding that the best way for Mr. Kennedy to advance his platform would be to drop out and endorse Mr. Trump.

“If he has good ideas to be part of the future,” Mr. Ramaswamy said, endorsing Mr. Trump “would be a great way for him to have an impact on the country.”

Ken Bensinger

Elon Musk shares a manipulated video of Harris, in seeming violation of his platform’s policies.

Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, has waded into one of the thorniest issues facing U.S. politics: deepfake videos.

On Friday night, Mr. Musk, the billionaire owner of the social media platform X, reposted an edited campaign video for Vice President Kamala Harris that appears to have been digitally manipulated to change the spot’s voice-over in a deceptive manner.

The video mimics Ms. Harris’s voice, but instead of using her words from the original ad, it has the vice president saying that President Biden is senile, that she does not “know the first thing about running the country” and that, as a woman and a person of color, she is the “ultimate diversity hire.”

In addition, the clip was edited to remove images of former President Donald J. Trump and his running mate, Senator JD Vance of Ohio, and to add images of Mr. Biden. The original, unaltered ad , which the Harris campaign released on Thursday, is titled “We Choose Freedom.”

The version posted on X does not contain a disclaimer, though the account that first uploaded it Friday morning, @MrReaganUSA, noted in its post that the video was a “parody.” When Mr. Musk reposted the video on his own account eight hours later, he made no such disclosure, stating only, “This is amazing,” followed by a laughing emoji.

Mr. Musk’s post, which has since been viewed 98 million times, would seem to run afoul of X’s policies, which prohibit sharing “synthetic, manipulated or out-of-context media that may deceive or confuse people and lead to harm.”

Some observers quickly called out the post. “This is a violation of @X’s policies on synthetic media & misleading identities,” Alex Howard, a digital governance expert and the director of the Digital Democracy Project at the Demand Progress Education Fund, posted on the site on Saturday. “Are you going to retroactively change them to allow violations in an election year?”

Mr. Musk did not respond to a request for comment. The owner of the @MrReaganUSA account, who appears to be a conservative podcast host named Chris Kohls, also did not reply to a query. In a statement, the Harris campaign said, “The American people want the real freedom, opportunity and security Vice President Harris is offering; not the fake, manipulated lies of Elon Musk and Donald Trump.”

Pro-democracy groups have raised increasingly urgent alarms about deepfakes, a broad term for digital content that employs artificial intelligence and other technology to create audio, video or images that spread false information and could influence voter behavior.

In January, ahead of the New Hampshire Democratic primary, a robocall using A.I. technology to mimic Mr. Biden’s voice instructed voters not to participate in the election. The political consultant who orchestrated the calls was later indicted on state charges of impersonating a candidate and voter suppression. During this year’s Republican primary, deepfake videos depicting former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton endorsing Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, or announcing his early withdrawal from the race, were rampant.

In March, the Global Network on Extremism and Technology , an academic research initiative, said the technology was “already having a corrosive effect on the democratic process,” and the Brennan Center for Justice said the most significant new threat to elections was “the impact of generative A.I. on the information ecosystem.”

The Federal Election Campaign Act prohibits fraudulent misrepresentation of federal candidates or political parties , but the law, written in 1971, is ambiguous when it comes to modern technologies such as artificial intelligence.

Last August, the Federal Election Commission approved a rule-making petition from the watchdog group Public Citizen calling for the law to be amended to clarify that it “applies to deliberately deceptive Artificial Intelligence (AI) campaign advertisements.” That amendment was supported by the Democratic National Committee, as well as 52 Democratic members of Congress, but it was opposed by the Republican National Committee, which said that it was “not a proper vehicle for addressing this complex issue” and argued that it could violate the First Amendment.

The commission, which is evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans and is often split on matters of policy, has not yet voted on the proposal.

Social media platforms, for their part, are more decided.

Meta, the company that owns Facebook and Instagram, requires that “manipulated media” be labeled as such and that context be appended to the post. In March, Google, which owns YouTube, announced a policy requiring users posting videos to disclose when “content a viewer could easily mistake for a real person, place, scene or event” is “made with altered or synthetic media, including generative A.I.”

X’s current policy was instituted in April 2023 , well after Mr. Musk took over. It defines misleading media as content that is “significantly and deceptively altered, manipulated or fabricated” and that is “likely to result in widespread confusion on public issues.” Such content, the policy states, must either be labeled or removed.

In the past, Mr. Musk has said that X’s “Community Notes” feature should be used to alert the public to possible misleading information . On Friday night, Community Notes users, a select group that proposes and votes on such notices, debated whether to add one to Mr. Musk’s post.

”This is an AI generated video of Vice President Kamala Harris using audio of clips that were never actually stated by the VP,” read one suggested Community Note. “Videos like this are dangerous to those who can not decipher AI generated content from reality.”

At least seven notes were proposed, but none had been added by Saturday evening to Mr. Musk’s post or the original post, and neither post has been removed from the site. Though there have been numerous posts on X by third parties questioning his amplification of a deepfake video, Mr. Musk, who frequently replies directly to critics on the site, has so far remained silent on the issue.

With 191 million followers, Mr. Musk is the most influential voice on the platform and, arguably, on all of social media, and he is able to make almost any content go viral simply by reposting it.

Two weeks ago, he endorsed Mr. Trump in a post on X shortly after the presumptive Republican nominee was shot in the ear in an assassination attempt during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania. That post has been viewed 218 million times.

In a post on Saturday afternoon, Mr. Musk used his account to boost a post by an anonymous user that said “wokeness is a threat to civilization.” Within six minutes, it had already been viewed 481,000 times.

Ryan Mac contributed reporting.

Jay Senter and Neil Vigdor

Jay Senter reported from St. Paul, Minn.

Minnesota’s governor, a possible Harris vice-presidential pick, calls Trump and Vance ‘weird people.’

In a potential audition to be Kamala Harris’s running mate , Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota on Saturday cast former President Donald J. Trump and his vice-presidential pick, Senator JD Vance of Ohio, as a dangerous combination before their campaign visit to the state later in the day.

“The fascists depend on us going back, but we’re not afraid of weird people,” Mr. Walz said during an event organized by the Harris campaign. “We’re a little bit creeped out, but we’re not afraid.”

Speaking to a crowd of about 200 people packed into the Saint Paul Labor Center, an energetic Mr. Walz mocked Mr. Trump’s selection of Mr. Vance as his running mate.

“They went out, you know — because he’s a TV guy — they go out and try to do this central casting: ‘Oh, we’ll get this guy who wrote a book, “Hillbilly Elegy,” you know,’” he said, referring to Mr. Vance’s best-selling memoir, “because all my hillbilly relatives went to Yale and became, you know, venture capitalists.”

The rally, which also featured Senator Amy Klobuchar and Representative Betty McCollum, both Democrats of Minnesota, took place just hours before Mr. Trump and Mr. Vance were scheduled to headline their own rally in St. Cloud, a city of about 70,000 that narrowly went for Mr. Trump in 2016 but that President Biden won by a comfortable margin in 2020.

“The nation found out what we’ve all known in Minnesota: These guys are just weird,” Mr. Walz said of the Republican ticket, echoing a message he debuted on MSNBC this week and that the Harris campaign itself has begun to test drive .

Polling before Mr. Biden’s exit from the race six days ago had given Republican organizers hope that Minnesota, which has not supported a Republican nominee since Richard Nixon in 1972, could be in play in November. Mr. Walz and the other speakers sought to tamp down that notion on Saturday by focusing on two polls released on Friday that showed Ms. Harris leading Mr. Trump in the state.

“He’s here today, in the state of hockey, to complete his trifecta,” Mr. Walz said of Mr. Trump. “He lost in ’16. He lost in ’20. He loses in ’24.”

Asked about a report from Bloomberg News suggesting that he was among three finalists being considered to be Ms. Harris’s running mate, Mr. Walz told reporters that he was “honored to be in this conversation” and that he was excited by the energy that Ms. Harris’s choice was bringing to the Democratic Party.

“I love them all,” he said of the other vice-presidential contenders . “But this is the vice president’s pick. And I tell you what, I trust her judgment.”

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How to Put a Quote in an Essay (with Pictures)
If you use the author's name in your lead-in to the quote, you just need to provide the year in parentheses: According to Luz Lopez, "the green grass symbolizes a fresh start for Lia (24).". 2. Include the author's last name, the year, and the page number for APA format. Write the author's name, then put a comma.
How to Quote
Citing a quote in APA Style. To cite a direct quote in APA, you must include the author's last name, the year, and a page number, all separated by commas. If the quote appears on a single page, use "p."; if it spans a page range, use "pp.". An APA in-text citation can be parenthetical or narrative.
How to use Quotes in an Essay in 7 Simple Steps (2024)
Required fields are marked *. How to use quotes in an essay: (1) Avoid Long Quotes, (2) Quotes should be less than 1 sentence long, (3) Match Quotes with Explanations and Examples, (4) Use Max. 2 Quotes for 1500 words, (5) Use page numbers when Citing Quotes, (6) Don't Italicize Quotes, (7) Avoid quotes inside quotes.
Quotations
Below are four guidelines for setting up and following up quotations. In illustrating these four steps, we'll use as our example, Franklin Roosevelt's famous quotation, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.". 1. Provide context for each quotation. Do not rely on quotations to tell your story for you.
How to Put a Quote in an Essay (with Examples)
Step 6: Explain the Quote. Explain the significance of the quote in your own words. This will help the reader understand how the quote supports your argument. Example: Jane Doe's quote highlights the urgency of addressing climate change as it poses a significant threat to human survival.
How to Start an Essay With a Quote: 14 Steps (with Pictures)
5. Hook your reader. Think of a quotation as a "hook" that will get your reader's attention and make her want to read more of your paper. The well-executed quotation is one way to draw your reader in to your essay. [2] 6. Ensure that the quotation contributes to your essay.
Using Quotations in Essays
A good quotation should do one or more of the following: Make an opening impact on the reader. Build credibility for your essay. Add humor. Make the essay more interesting. Close the essay with a point to ponder upon. If the quotation does not meet a few of these objectives, then it is of little value.
Using Quotes in Academic Writing
A Quotation or Quote is a word-for-word extract of someone else's words. There are two types of quotes: direct and indirect. · Direct quote - is when the words of an author are used by someone else. · Indirect quote - is when the ideas of an author are restated, this is also known as paraphrasing.
Quotation
A well-chosen quote can make an article or essay more engaging, invoking curiosity or emphasizing a point. Paying Homage: Quoting acknowledges the original creators of content. It's a form of respect, indicating that their words have made an impact and are deemed worthy of repetition and recognition. ... Do use brackets to enclose inserted ...
Quotation Basics: Grammar, Punctuation, and Style
Slashes and Brackets. When you are quoting poetry, use a slash ( / ) to mark a line break. Example: "Let me not to the marriage of true minds / Admit impediments" (1-2). Use square brackets to add a word, change a pronoun, or change a verb tense in the quote. Original quote: "It's my duty as a knight to sample all the peril I can.".
Using Quotations
The full-sentence introduction to a block quotation helps demonstrate your grasp of the source material, and it adds analytical depth to your essay. But the introduction alone is not enough. Long quotations almost invariably need to be followed by extended analysis. Never allow the quotation to do your work for you.
PDF how to use quotes in your essay
3. Interject the Author's Name into the Middle of the Quote. "In 2005, less than 10% of Johnson & Roe's employees reported their political affiliation," Yang (2007) reports, "but more than 50% reporteddiscussing politics with their colleagues.". Phrases & Words to Introduce Quotes. Phrases to Introduce the Quote.
How to Quote
Citing a quote in APA Style. To cite a direct quote in APA, you must include the author's last name, the year, and a page number, all separated by commas. If the quote appears on a single page, use 'p.'; if it spans a page range, use 'pp.'. An APA in-text citation can be parenthetical or narrative.
Quoting and integrating sources into your paper
Important guidelines. When integrating a source into your paper, remember to use these three important components: Introductory phrase to the source material: mention the author, date, or any other relevant information when introducing a quote or paraphrase. Source material: a direct quote, paraphrase, or summary with proper citation.
Suggested Ways to Introduce Quotations
To introduce a quote in an essay, don't forget to include author's last name and page number (MLA) or author, date, and page number (APA) in your citation. Shown below are some possible ways to introduce quotations. The examples use MLA format. Use A Full Sentence Followed by A Colon To Introduce A Quotation Examples: The setting emphasizes ...
Quotations
when an author has said something memorably or succinctly, or. when you want to respond to exact wording (e.g., something someone said). Instructors, programs, editors, and publishers may establish limits on the use of direct quotations. Consult your instructor or editor if you are concerned that you may have too much quoted material in your paper.
How to Use Quotations and Citations in an Essay
Incorporating quotes into your work should feel easy. Introduce the one you quote, and use signal phrases for smooth transitions. Mix your comments with the cited content. Use strategic punctuation (colons, semicolons, or ellipses) and insert quotes in an essay. Establish the reliability of the source.
When to Use Quotation Marks ("")
Revised on November 29, 2022 by Jack Caulfield. Quotation marks (also known as quotes or inverted commas) are used to indicate direct speech and quotations. In academic writing, you need to use quotation marks when you quote a source. This includes quotes from published works and primary data such as interviews.
The Basics of In-Text Citation
Quotes should always be cited (and indicated with quotation marks), and you should include a page number indicating where in the source the quote can be found. Example: Quote with APA Style in-text citation. Evolution is a gradual process that "can act only by very short and slow steps" (Darwin, 1859, p. 510).
4 Ways to Cite a Quote
1. Use in-text citations for quotes. Place parentheses with the proper citation inside after directly after quoted material. APA style uses the author-date message.This means that if you write the name of an author you are quoting, you must follow that name with the year of publication in parentheses.
How to Quote and Cite a Poem in an Essay Using MLA Format
2. Type short quotations of three lines or less in the text of your essay. Insert a slash with a space on each side to separate the lines of the poem. Type the lines verbatim as they appear in the poem--do not paraphrase. [2] Capitalize the first letter of each new line of poetry.
How Can You Make Your Sentences Flow Better
Starting an essay with a quote is more challenging than picking some excellent words from a famous person. It's about finding words that make people want to read more. You may have tried before and ended up with something that didn't sound very serious. Don't worry; lots of people have this issue. This article will help you choose and use the ...
How to Block Quote
A block quote is a long quotation, set on a new line and indented to create a separate block of text. No quotation marks are used. You have to use a block quote when quoting more than around 40 words from a source. In APA and MLA styles, you indent block quotes 0.5 inches from the left, and add an in-text citation after the period. Some other ...
Democrats Embrace 'Weird' Messaging on Trump
"They went out, you know — because he's a TV guy — they go out and try to do this central casting: 'Oh, we'll get this guy who wrote a book, "Hillbilly Elegy," you know,'" he ...

How to use Quotes in an Essay in 7 Simple Steps

How to use Quotes in an Essay

2. Do not use a Quote to that takes up a full Sentence, Starts a Sentence, or Ends a Paragraph

3. Match Quotes with Explanations and Examples

4. Know how many Quotes to use in an Essay

5. Always use page numbers when Citing Quotes in Essays

6. Don’t Italicize Quotes

7. Avoid quotes inside quotes

When Should I use Quotes in Essays?

2. To analyze an Important Statement.

What Bad Quotes Look Like

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What this handout is about

When should I quote?

Discussing specific arguments or ideas

Giving added emphasis to a particularly authoritative source on your topic.

Analyzing how others use language.

Spicing up your prose.

How do I set up and follow up a quotation?

1. Provide context for each quotation.

2. Attribute each quotation to its source.

3. Explain the significance of the quotation.

4. Provide a citation for the quotation.

How do I embed a quotation into a sentence?

Lead into the quote with a colon.

Introduce or conclude the quote by attributing it to the speaker. If your attribution precedes the quote, you will need to use a comma after the verb.

Interrupt the quote with an attribution to the speaker. Again, you will need to use a comma after the verb, as well as a comma leading into the attribution.

Use the words of the quote grammatically within your own sentence.

How much should I quote?

Excerpt fragments.

Excerpt those fragments carefully!

Use block quotations sparingly.

How do I combine quotation marks with other punctuation marks?

Keep periods and commas within quotation marks.

Place all other punctuation marks (colons, semicolons, exclamation marks, question marks) outside the quotation marks, except when they were part of the original quotation.

How do I indicate quotations within quotations?

When do I use those three dots ( . . . )?

Be sure that you don’t fundamentally change the meaning of the quotation by omitting material.

Do not use ellipses at the beginning or ending of quotations, unless it’s important for the reader to know that the quotation was truncated.

Use punctuation marks in combination with ellipses when removing material from the end of sentences or clauses.

Is it ever okay to insert my own words or change words in a quotation?

Changing verb tense or pronouns in order to be consistent with the rest of the sentence.

Including supplemental information that your reader needs in order to understand the quotation.

Indicating the use of nonstandard grammar or spelling.

Do not overuse brackets!

Works consulted

Put a Quote in an Essay

Introduction

Why Use Quotes in an Essay?

Types of Quotes

How to Put a Quote in an Essay

Step 1: Choose a Relevant Quote

Step 2: Introduce the Quote

Step 3: Use Quotation Marks

Step 4: Provide the Source

Step 5: Punctuate Correctly

Step 6: Explain the Quote

Step 7: Cite Your Sources

Common Mistakes to Avoid When Using Quotes in an Essay

Examples of Quotes in an Essay

Example 1: Argumentative Essay

Example 2: Persuasive Essay

Example 3: Expository Essay

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A Guide to Using Quotations in Essays

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