Quotes in MLA format
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Inserting a full quote in a sentence
o Ex: One psychologist writes, “The study of birth order in a family is a fascinating topic” (Smith 8).
o Notice:
 if you use a quote that is a complete sentence, put a comma after the last word leading into
the quote (like the comma after “writes,”)
 in-text citation is the author’s last name and page # without a space between
 if quoted text runs from page 5 to page 6, type (Smith 5-6).
 period for the entire sentence after the in-text citation.
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Putting the quote at the start of the sentence
o Ex: “The study of birth order in a family is a fascinating topic,” writes one psychologist (Smith 8).
o Notice:
 put a comma after the last word in the quote
 still put the citation at the end and the period after it
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Splitting a quote (a sophisticated idea)
o Ex: “The study of birth order,” writes one psychologist, “is a fascinating topic” (Smith 8).
o Notice:
 put a comma after the last word in the first half of the quote
 put a comma after the last word in the text between the halves of the quote
 still put the citation at the end and the period after it
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Inserting 1/2 of a quote in a sentence
o Ex: One psychologists argues that “…research on the birth order of a child in a family effects the
child’s behavior” (Smith 5).
o Notice:
 use an ellipse to signal omitted text
 place the in-text citation after the quotation mark
 because the quote is not a complete sentence (doesn’t start with a capital letter) do not use a
comma after “that”
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Using an author’s name in the sentence (a sophisticated idea)
o Ex: Psychologist Joe Smith argues that “…research on the birth order of a child in a family effects
the child’s behavior” (5).
o Notice:
 the author’s name is not included in the in-text citation (because in the sentence)
 you can do this as long as the last name of the author corresponds to the 1st word used for the
source on the Works Cited Page
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Paraphrasing text, but not directly quoting it
o Ex: In contrast to later-borns, first-borns defend the status quo (Sulloway 79).
o Notice:
 no quotations used because student used a majority of her own words
 still put the in-text citation with a period at the end
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What if the in-text citation is from an internet source?
o If the website lists an author for the article, type the in-text citation with the author’s last name and
the paragraph/screen number, and put a comma between them.
 Ex: (Jones, par. 4).
(Jones, screen 5).
o If no author is given on the site, use the title of the article
 Ex: (“This Life of Mine,” par. 4).
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Block Quotations
o quotes that are four lines or longer (after you type them into your essay)
o Ex:
One psychologist writes, “The study of birth order in a family is a fascinating topic to many people”
(Smith 8). This topic is very fascinating to in terms of family dynamics:
Families with more than one child will experience growing pains especially when
the children are near the same ages. The first born often take on the role of a
leader when older. Asl;dkfjsd flkjlskd laksejral;sekrj alskdfj sdf wlkertjal;ek
sldkfj lskdfj s lskdj f;lks ;lkjsd. (Smith 14)
o To create block quotes, do the following:
 start the quote on a new line
 indent twice and double-space the lines within the block
 do not use quotation marks (putting the quote in a block signals to the reader that why are
reading a quote)
 put a period at the end of the last sentence
 put the in-text citation after the period (and don’t put a period after it)
o A rule of thumb – use no more than one block quotation for every three pages of text. Also, if your
block gets longer than about 6 lines, cut it down.
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Helpful Tips
o Do not use a quote without having other explanatory info in the sentence also
 Ex: “I have nothing to lose” (Smith 5). = BAD
Smith once argued, “I have nothing to lose” (5). = GOOD
o Explain your quote/paraphrase in the sentence immediately after the quote or paraphrase
 Ex: say what it means, why important to the essay, context of the info
o When mentioning an author/character for the first time in the essay, use the full name. Use the last
name for the rest of the essay.
o When quoting or paraphrasing an author, refer to the author in present tense
 Ex: Researching the lives if first-borns, Sulloway observes that they can be very
competitive.
 Using “observed” would be incorrect because the info comes from a piece of text, which is
happening in the present tense every time the reader reads it.
o Do not type that an author “says” something (were you there to hear the author say it?) Instead type
that the author “observes, illustrates, or writes.” You could also type “…according to Smith….”