If the source text includes material in quotation marks, change those quotation marks to single quotation marks. For example, you might write: Freud considered a dream to be “the fulfillment of a wish. "
For example, you might write: Freud considered a dream to be “the fulfillment of a wish” (154). Remember to include a complete citation to the source in your Works Cited at the end of your paper.
For example, you might write: “Is it possible that dreams may express “profound aspects of personality?” (Foulkes 184).
For example, you might write: In his poem, “Harlem,” Langston Hughes questioned what happens to a dream deferred, wondering if it might “dry up / like a raisin in the sun” (24).
The entire blockquote is indented . 5 inches (1. 3 cm) from the left margin. Maintain double spacing in your blockquote just as in the rest of your paper.
The sentence immediately before a blockquote typically ends with a colon rather than a period.
As with all blockquotes, indent the first line with the character’s name . 5 inches (1. 3 cm) from the left margin.
When quoting more than one paragraph, indent the first line of any new paragraph an additional . 25 inches (0. 64 cm) from the left margin.
If you’re quoting concrete poetry or another form where the spacing is integral to understanding the poem as a whole, it might be better to include a digital image of the poem, rather than trying to replicate it yourself.
As with short quotations, if you included the author’s name in your introduction to the blockquote, there’s no need to include the author’s name in the parenthetical citation. Just include the page number or page range where the quoted text can be found. When quoting poetry, place the parenthetical citation at the end of the last quoted line, regardless of the punctuation. If the line doesn’t have any closing punctuation, there’s no need to add any either before or after your parenthetical citation.
For example, suppose you want to quote a source that says “While they excelled at individual projects, they struggled with group projects. " Previous sentences indicate that “they” refers to “introverted students. Your quote would read: “While they [introverted students] excelled at individual projects, they struggled with group projects. "
Grammatical errors are more likely to come up in quoted speech than in a written and edited text. If a source has very many errors in the text, this may be an indication that it isn’t reliable and probably shouldn’t be used as a source at all. Avoid using “sic” to make a political or editorial statement about the language the source is using. For example, if your source includes the word “mankind,” you would be making a political or editorial statement to include a “sic” after the word. Even though in your view the word “humankind” may be more appropriate, “mankind” isn’t grammatically incorrect.
For example, you might write: “Students who described themselves as highly introverted liked group projects the least” (Briggs 24, emphasis added).
If the material you omitted occurs at the end of the sentence, retain the period at the end of the sentence. It will look like 4 ellipsis points instead of 3. If there is other punctuation, such as a comma or a semi-colon, in the source text, retain that after your ellipsis. For example, a quote might read “Students enjoyed the individual projects . . . ; however, they did not like working in groups. " Note that you include a space before the first ellipsis point, as well as a space after the last ellipsis point. If you’re quoting a source that uses ellipsis points as “suspension points,” meant to indicate a hesitation or pause in speech rather than omitted words, put your own ellipsis points in brackets to distinguish them from the original text.
For example, suppose you wanted to use the beginning of a sentence in the middle of one of your sentences. To change the initial capital letter, you might write: Percy Bysshe Shelley argued that “[p]oets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world. "
