MLA Style II Advanced Quoting and Citing TechniquesBy 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 tabs- from 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.’”