THREE MLA QUOTATION STYLES—PROSE (Examples are from ...

THREE MLA QUOTATION STYLES—PROSE (Examples are from Chaim Potok’s The Chosen.) 1. Use a TYPE 1 quote when you want to quote a word or phrase which can be included in your sentence as if it were your own words. Example: In a long conversation with Reuven during a visit to the Saunders home, Reb Saunders says that every person contains “a tiny spark of goodness” (263). He adds that the spark must be “guarded” and “nurtured” if a person’s soul is to grow. (The page number need not be repeated if all quotes in one paragraph come from the same page and there are no quotes in the paragraph from other pages.) 2. Use a TYPE 2 quote if the quotation is a complete sentence in itself but will take up fewer than five lines of your paper. Example: When Danny visits Reuven in the hospital, he is finally able to tell Reuven exactly what is on his mind: “‘I don’t understand why I wanted to kill you’” (66). (Introduce the quote with a full colon and capitalize the first word. Change the end punctuation of the original quote to fit your sentence. You may introduce the quote with a comma instead of a colon if the quote is fairly short.) If the quotation itself ends with a question mark or an exclamation point, the closing quotation marks come after the question mark or exclamation point. Next, leave a space and give the page number in parenthesis, followed by an added period. Example: Reuven is amazed at Dany’s aggressive hitting style and quizzes him on it: “‘How’d you ever learn to do that?’” (70). If the original quote is a piece of dialogue, you will need to use double quotation marks. 3. Use a TYPE 3 quote when the quotation would take up more than four lines of your paper if written out in Type 2 style. Example: When Reuven comes home from the hospital, his eye healing, he feels the importance of every detail of the physical world around him. Potok puts us in Reuven’s shoes by using long passages of detailed physical description: Sunlight poured through the three wide windows that faced the street and spread gold across the gray rug, the French-style sofa, chairs and end tables, the polished, glass-topped coffee table, and along the white walls. I stood near the sofa for a moment, blinking my eyes. . . The windows were open, and I could hear children playing in the street. A warm breeze came into the room and lifted the lace curtains that fronted the windows. (96) Potok’s emphasis is on sight, as we would expect since Reuven has just had an accident with his eyes, but other senses are included: Reuven hears “children playing” and feels the “warm breeze.” Do not add quotation marks to a Type 3 quote. Introduce the quote with a full colon. Indent the entire quote ten spaces (or about one inch) from your left margin. Do not indent from the right. Do not use a paragraph indentation unless the quote is more than one paragraph long. Use a Type 3 quote only when a long quote is absolutely necessary. Generally, try to keep quotes short and quote only the words that make your point.

(Courtesy of Dr. Rembert Herbert)

THREE MLA QUOTATION STYLES—POETRY (Examples are from Shakespeare’s Macbeth.) 1. As in prose quotations described on side one, a Type 1 poetry quotation is treated as if it were a part of your own sentence. If the quote is from a play, give Act, Scene, and Line numbers. Additional quotations from the same act and scene need only line numbers. For example: Banquo warns Macbeth that the witches may get his confidence by being honest with him in “trifles” (2.1.138) but then, having gotten his confidence, may turn against him in matters of importance, of “deepest consequence” (139). 2. Type 2 poetry quotations are treated like Type 2 prose quotations, except that lines of poetry must be separated by slashes (/), with one space before and after each slash. For example: Horrified by his own thoughts of murder combined with his perception of Duncan’s generosity, Macbeth lashes out at his wife: “We will proceed no further in this business. / He [Duncan] hath honored me of late, and I have bought / Golden opinions from all sorts of people” (1.7.34-6). (Duncan is mentioned in brackets to indicate the identity of the pronoun, “He.”) 3. If the poetry quotation is four or more lines long, use a Type 3 quote as described on side one of this sheet. Do not use slashes, but start each new line of poetry on a new line of your paper, just as lines of poetry are printed in your book. As with Type 3 prose quotations, indent ten spaces from the left, do not add quotation marks, and double space the quote. Example: As Lady Macbeth begins to plan Duncan’s murder, she warns her husband not to let his evil intentions show: Your face, my Thane, is as a book where men May read strange matters. To beguile the time, Look like the time; bear welcome in your eye, Your hand, your tongue; look like the innocent flower, But be the serpent undert’t. (1.5.70-74).

(Courtesy of Dr. Rembert Herbert)