Miscelaneous

How long of a quote is too long?

How long of a quote is too long?

There are no official limits to quotation length, though any quotations that are more than four lines should be formatted as a separate block quote. However, it is generally better to paraphrase the sources you cite rather than use direct quotations.

How long is a long quote in MLA?

Long quotations For quotations that are more than four lines of prose or three lines of verse, place quotations in a free-standing block of text and omit quotation marks. Start the quotation on a new line, with the entire quote indented inch from the left margin while maintaining double-spacing.

What is considered a long quotation?

A long quotation contains more than four lines of quoted material. Place a colon after the introduction to the quotation, and indent the whole quotation one inch from the left side. These quotations can be either single or double- spaced, and should not contain quotation marks unless they occur in the original text.

How long should direct quotes be?

Place direct quotations longer than 40 words in a free-standing block of typewritten lines, and omit quotation marks. Start the quotation on a new line, indented five spaces from the left margin.

Is it better to quote or paraphrase?

Using quotations is the easiest way to include source material, but quotations should be used carefully and sparingly. While paraphrasing and summarizing provide the opportunity to show your understanding of the source material, quoting may only show your ability to type it.

How do you end a quote in the middle of a sentence?

To form an ellipsis in MLA when the omitted material appears at the end of your sentence, type the ellipsis with three periods with space before each period and include the closing quotation marks immediately after the third period. Note that the period to end your sentence comes after the parenthetical citation.

How do you quote and leave words out?

When omitting words from the middle or end of a quoted sentence, indicate with an ellipse (…) where the omission occurs. When they occur at the end, place a period after the last word and then insert your ellipse.

How do you indicate a removed text?

Dots should be used to indicate removed text that doesn’t alter the meaning of the quote. This is important — especially in regulatory or other formal/legal wording. You should also only use dots for reasonably short deletions — definitely not over a paragraph, and only over a sentence if really needed.

Can you take a word out of a quote?

Yes, you can leave out words you deem unnecessary in a quotation, but you can’t take out words that will change its meaning.

How do you indicate a deletion in a quote?

When a word, a phrase, or a sentence (or more) is deleted after a complete sentence within a direct quotation, the ellipsis points are inserted after the sentence’s ending punctuation. Two units of punctuation appear; one is the sentence’s ending punctuation and the other is the ellipsis points.

How do I quote something that is already quoted?

In a quotation in running text that is already enclosed in double quotation marks, use single quotation marks to enclose quoted material.”

When inserting your own words into a quote one should use brackets?

When writers insert or alter words in a direct quotation, square brackets—[ ]—are placed around the change. The brackets, always used in pairs, enclose words intended to clarify meaning, provide a brief explanation, or to help integrate the quote into the writer’s sentence.

What are [] used for?

Square brackets (also called brackets, especially in American English) are mainly used to enclose words added by someone other than the original writer or speaker, typically in order to clarify the situation: He [the police officer] can’t prove they did it.

What does it mean when words are in brackets?

Brackets, sometimes called square brackets, are most often used to show that words have been added to a direct quotation. Sometimes, when quoting a person or document, adding a word or two is necessary to provide enough context for the quote to make sense.

What do brackets mean in a quote?

You can use brackets to do so. Parentheses within a quotation enclose material that is part of the quotation. Brackets are the only mark of punctuation that indicate that the enclosed material is not part of the quotation.

How do you use brackets correctly?

Brackets (parentheses) are punctuation marks used within a sentence to include information that is not essential to the main point. Information within parentheses is usually supplementary; were it removed, the meaning of the sentence would remain unchanged. Intrigued?

How do you know when to use parentheses or brackets?

Use a bracket (sometimes called a square bracket) to indicate that the endpoint is included in the interval, a parenthesis (sometimes called a round bracket) to indicate that it is not. parentheses are like strict inequalities. (3,7) includes 3.1 and 3.007 and 3., but it does not include 3 .