SOME TIPS FOR PRESENTING/INTRODUCING LONG AND SHORT QUOTES, ETC.
Quoting, and MLA style:
1. Always introduce and contextualise the quotes you use. Use quotes that are actually relevant to your
point, not just some quote that will fill up space/vaguely has some connection.
2. Introduce quotes with a “signal phrase” or your own argument (see below for examples).
3. Whenever you use a quote, the grammatical structure of your sentence must “fit” with the structure of
the quoted sentence. NEVER use a quote to REPLACE your own words—only as a support/proof of your
point/to add emphasis.
4. Avoid quoting or summarising large portions of your secondary sources simply for the sake of stretching
your paragraph.
5. After using the quote, ensure that your reader understand the relevance of information in the quote to your
argument. Conclude with your OWN analysis of the quote’s importance to your argument (say why the quote
is significant to yr point).
6. Stay in PRESENT tense when writing about art/literature/FILMS.
7. The authors are not “talking” – they are writing. Articles don’t “talk”, either. So use the appropriate verbs
(see example list below).
Here’s a great list of verbs you can use to introduce quotes in your “signal phrases”:
Acknowledges
comments
endorses
reasons
Adds
compares
grants
refutes
Admits
confirms
illustrates
rejects
Agrees
contends
implies
reports
Argues
declares
insists
responds
Asserts
denies
notes
suggests
Believes
disputes
observes
thinks
Claims
emphasises
points out
writes
1. SHORT QUOTES:
a) Martin Luther King declares, in his famous speech during the Civil Rights era, “I Have a Dream.” [simple
intro]
b) Stephen Greenblatt, in his analysis of Abraham Lincoln’s address, illustrates that Lincoln’s famous lines are
“a declaration of love for the ordinary human being, and the right for all—not just property owners—to have a
place in this country” (47). [see how the grammar/structure of your intro ‘fits’ with the grammatical
structure of the quote/]
c) While the average person might think that texting a short message at a stop light might not matter, behavioural
scientist Jay Kesan argues, “We are not often capable of switching attention from one task to the other, and
therefore, ……………..….” (45). Kesan’s research illustrates that while we believe that we are capable of doing
small tasks without losing focus, such erroneous confidence in our abilities may lead to fatal accidents. [You use
the quote, and interpret its significance for the reader]
d) The Immigrant Protection Agency (IPA), an organisation advocating for the x, y, z [here, you tell the
reader who/what this organisation is – so we know that they are significant to yr argument]
reports/claims/emphasises [check that nice use of verbs] that “without undocumented, underpaid labour,
Americans can expect food prices to go up by 20%” (IPA). While most Americans are uncomfortable with the
idea that “illegal aliens” are working in the US, the statistics provided by the IPA illustrate that our economy is,
in fact, dependent on this exploited pool of labour.
e) Critics such as John Merton confirm that director Oliver Stone depicts events in George Bush’s youth “as an
orgy of excess, using overheard conversations in bars, gossipy small town news articles, and legendary yearns
spun by old fraternity brothers at Yale”. Because “the evidence for Stone’s biopic about “W” is a rambling
mishmash of prejudiced information and unconfirmed reports, the film should not be taken as ‘history’” (91).
While I agree with Merton that Stone might have drawn on personal accounts in order to research George Jr.’s
life, I still argue that the events that the film presents is no less “true”.
[Here’s where you draw your own conclusions/lead the reader to see why the quote is significant for you –
don’t leave that quote dangling – make those conclusions for the reader]
2. PARAPHRASING:
While Tynan contends [another nice use of verbs] that “Tupac was the pioneer of “gangsta rap” (45), other
scholars of so-called “urban” music writing rejects such claims, insisting that a slew of other lesser known
artists were well-known in the West-coast scene before Tupac’s arrival (Conners 32).
[This is what’s known as a “paraphrase”: you interpret the point/argument of the author in your own
words – you only use the parts of the quote that you need]
3. LONG QUOTES:
Long quotes (40 words or more): ONLY use to illustrate a point, not to use up space.
DON’T LEAVE IT UPTO THE READER TO INTERPRET.
As usual, introduce the quote with an informative sentence, and contextualise it for the reader afterwards.
(i) Introduce your quote, and then, indent the ENTIRE QUOTE
(ii) Use NO QUOTE MARKS – the indentation signals that it is a quote
(iii) Use double spaces for quote as well (even more important to LIMIT the length of your long quotes)
(iv) Indicate pages after quote in brackets (9)
Example:
What the reader comes to understand about Bright Lights, Big City is that …blah blahblah……[this is the
informative sentence to introduce quote where you introduce your point/argument, using a “signal
phrase”]; scholars such as Billie Thomas have emphasised:
No one was immune to the mood of that time. But we have now gone from a nation of glorious,
power-displaying Yuppies who spent “aspirationally,” to a nation of broke spendthrifts without a
dime to our names. That is what the fantastically inflated financial markets of the fairytale 1990s
lead people to believe: in money that was non-existent, in a infallible US economy, and a gravy-train
that would never end. (Thomas 23)
What we see from Cheng’s comments is that while our narrator is always separated from the fantastical world of
his fellow New Yorkers, he, too buys in. There’s no way for him to separate himself from the greed and selfabsorption that was the driving force of his decade – the go-go ‘90s. [Here’s your conclusion illustrating, for
the reader, the importance of the quote to your argument.]
4. HOW TO MEET “MLA” STYLE GUIDELINES:
MLA=Modern Language Association. The MLA standardizes how we present quotes. It is just one way. There
are other organisations that set the rules for different disciplines, such as the APA, etc.
1. Name of the author, pages of quote after quotes:
a) Article has a SINGLE author: Some critics have stated that Lahiri was “………………………” (Smith 23).
b) Article has TWO authors: In “The City of Expatriates”, we find that Paris was full of escaping Americans
who were looking for “blah blah…………..” (MacMahon and Donald 34).
c) If you name the author in the sentence, no need to put their name in the parentheses:
Authors such as Edward Saiid have argued, in Orientalism, that “Blah blah blah” (32).
[You’ve mentioned the book, and the author, so no need to say it again in the parentheses – just provide
the page number.]
d) If you are using TWO articles by the same author: write, after quote, include one significant word in the title
of article/book:
Wolf claims, in her article “Writing Autobiography of Lost Homelands”, that Ondaatje was able to
“……………………..” (Wolf, “Writing” 31).