Quotations are an extremely important part of writing a formal essay. In literary analysis papers, should do four things every time you quote:
1. Provide context leading up to a quotation. Introduce the quotation by showing the reader who says it and when. Do not place a quote alone as a sentence! People call this step by different names: signal phrase, attribution, episodic setup, etc.
2. Quote using proper punctuation and formatting.
3. Cite the quotation. Generally, use the author's last name and the page number (or line number for poetry).
4. Analyze the quotation. How does it help prove your thesis?
Using Short Quotations:
1. Use a comma after your episodic setup. Occasionally you can use a colon or integrate a very short quotation without punctuation, but most often you will use a comma.
2. Use quotation marks around the entire quotation.
3. If the end of the quotation ends with a period, place the period outside the citation.
4. If the quotation ends with any other punctuation, such as an ! or ?, put it inside the quotations and then also place a period after the citation.
5. If you use the author's name in the sentence, you do not need to include it in the citation.
Examples:
- According to Dr. Robinson, "The mind is like an endless locker of knowledge" (47).
- After Alan's mother hurts herself, she screams, "Never, ever leave your dirty clothes on the stairs where I can trip!" (Smith 4).
- As Nora sneaks a macaroon, Torvald calls, "Is that my little lark twittering out there?" (Ibsen 979).
Rules for Block Quotations:
1. Only use when a quotation is four lines or longer.
2. After your episodic setup, use a colon instead of a comma.
3. Do not place quotation marks around the quotation. Instead, indent the quotation so it stands apart from your paper's text. The quotation can extend all the way to the right margin. The quotation should be double-spaced, just like your paper.
4. Unlike for a short quotation, punctuation goes at the end of the quotation's final sentence, NOT after the citation.
Brackets [] and Ellipses ...
Both of these punctuation marks can be extremely helpful for making writing clear and concise. Brackets can be used to show a substitution in a quotation while ellipses can be used to show a deletion in a quotation. Usually, ellipses are used when a writer wants two pieces of a longer quotation but doesn't want to include the middle. Neither of these should be used to change the meaning of a quotation!
1. Provide context leading up to a quotation. Introduce the quotation by showing the reader who says it and when. Do not place a quote alone as a sentence! People call this step by different names: signal phrase, attribution, episodic setup, etc.
2. Quote using proper punctuation and formatting.
3. Cite the quotation. Generally, use the author's last name and the page number (or line number for poetry).
4. Analyze the quotation. How does it help prove your thesis?
Using Short Quotations:
1. Use a comma after your episodic setup. Occasionally you can use a colon or integrate a very short quotation without punctuation, but most often you will use a comma.
2. Use quotation marks around the entire quotation.
3. If the end of the quotation ends with a period, place the period outside the citation.
4. If the quotation ends with any other punctuation, such as an ! or ?, put it inside the quotations and then also place a period after the citation.
5. If you use the author's name in the sentence, you do not need to include it in the citation.
Examples:
- According to Dr. Robinson, "The mind is like an endless locker of knowledge" (47).
- After Alan's mother hurts herself, she screams, "Never, ever leave your dirty clothes on the stairs where I can trip!" (Smith 4).
- As Nora sneaks a macaroon, Torvald calls, "Is that my little lark twittering out there?" (Ibsen 979).
Rules for Block Quotations:
1. Only use when a quotation is four lines or longer.
2. After your episodic setup, use a colon instead of a comma.
3. Do not place quotation marks around the quotation. Instead, indent the quotation so it stands apart from your paper's text. The quotation can extend all the way to the right margin. The quotation should be double-spaced, just like your paper.
4. Unlike for a short quotation, punctuation goes at the end of the quotation's final sentence, NOT after the citation.
Brackets [] and Ellipses ...
Both of these punctuation marks can be extremely helpful for making writing clear and concise. Brackets can be used to show a substitution in a quotation while ellipses can be used to show a deletion in a quotation. Usually, ellipses are used when a writer wants two pieces of a longer quotation but doesn't want to include the middle. Neither of these should be used to change the meaning of a quotation!