When you quote a source, you borrow some of the author’s exact words and enclose them in quotation marks. Quotation marks show your readers that both the idea and the words belong to the author.
WHEN TO USE QUOTATIONS
Keep the emphasis on your own ideas. It is not always necessary to quote full sentences from a source. Often you can integrate words or phrases from a source into your own sentence structure. (MLA is shown below; for APA, see 53b.)
Resnik acknowledges that his argument relies on the “slippery slope” fallacy, but he insists that “social and political pressures” regarding food regulations make his concerns valid (31).
To condense a quoted passage, you can use the ellipsis mark—a series of three spaced periods—to indicate that you have omitted words. What remains must be grammatically complete.
In Mississippi, legislators passed “a ban on bans—a law that forbids . . . local restrictions on food or drink” (Conly A23).
The writer has omitted the words municipalities to place, which appear before local restrictions in the original source, to condense the quoted material.
If you want to omit one or more full sentences, use a period before the ellipsis.
Legal scholars Gostin and Gostin argue that “individuals have limited willpower to defer immediate gratification for longer-term health benefits. . . . A person understands that high-fat foods or a sedentary lifestyle will cause adverse health effects, or that excessive spending or gambling will cause financial hardship, but it is not always easy to refrain” (217).
Ordinarily, do not use an ellipsis mark at the beginning or at the end of a quotation. Your readers will understand that you have taken the quoted material from a longer passage. The only exception occurs when you have dropped words at the end of the final quoted sentence. In such cases, use the ellipsis before the closing quotation mark and parenthetical reference.
USING SOURCES RESPONSIBLY: Make sure omissions and ellipsis marks do not distort the meaning of your source.
Brackets allow you to insert your own words into quoted material to clarify a confusing reference or to keep a sentence grammatical in your context. (MLA is shown below; for APA, see 53b.)
Neergaard and Agiesta argue that “a new poll finds people are split on how much the government should do to help [find solutions to the national health crisis]—and most draw the line at attempts to force healthier eating.”
In this example, the writer inserted words in brackets to clarify the meaning of help.
To indicate an error such as a misspelling in a quotation, insert “sic,” in brackets, right after the error.
When you quote more than four typed lines of prose or more than three lines of poetry, set off the quotation by indenting it one-half inch from the left margin.
Long quotations should be introduced by an informative sentence, usually followed by a colon. Quotation marks are unnecessary because the indented format tells readers that the passage is taken word for word from the source. (MLA is shown below; for APA, see 53b.)
In response to critics who claim that laws aimed at stopping us from eating whatever we want are an assault on our freedom of choice, Conly offers a persuasive counterargument:
[L]aws aren’t designed for each one of us individually. Some of us can drive safely at 90 miles per hour, but we’re bound by the same laws as the people who can’t, because individual speeding laws aren’t practical. Giving up a little liberty is something we agree to when we agree to live in a democratic society that is governed by laws. (A23)
NOTE: At the end of an indented quotation, the parenthetical citation goes outside the final mark of punctuation.