MLA Style II
Advanced Quoting and Citing
Techniques
By Kim Haglund, M.Ed.
Pierre Sierra says, “A
few…concepts can help
[you] quote and cite
sources will” (qtd. in
Foster).
ELLIPSIS
“If you want to delete
words from a quote,
replace the words with
three…dots.”
SQUARE BRACKETS
“If you want to add your
own words inside a quote,
use [square] brackets
around the words you
insert.”
QUOTED IN
(qtd. in)
“If you want to use a
remark that your source
quoted, add a citation like
this” (qtd. In Foster).
INTEGRATED
QUOTES
You can blend just a
portion of a quote right
“into your own
sentence.”
SIGNAL PHRASES
Says Pierre Sierra,
president of the MLA
Hiking Association, “Add
an author’s credentials to
signal phrases!”
SIGNAL PHRASES
“Sierra contends that a signal
phrase can also preview the
content of a quote: “It’s nice
for your reader to know what
to expect,” he says.
BLOCK FORMAT
FOR LONG QUOTES
If a quote will exceed four lines of
type on your page, then you need to
use the block format, says one
expert:
Do not use quotation marks.
Double-space, please. And
indent 10 spaces-two tabsfrom the left margin. (Sierra)
QUOTE-WITHIN-A-QUOTE
When you quote a passage that
already contains a “quotation,”
change the double quotes in
the original text to “single
quotes in your own
‘quotation.’”
LET’S READ THAT AGAIN…
When you quote a passage
that already contains a
“quotation,” change the
double quotes in the original
text “to single quotes in your
own ‘quotation.’”