MLA formatting & embedded quotations

Basic formatting

•typed, 12-point font, double spaced w/ no extra spaces

•3-4 pages• or if written: four pages (front and back equals one page) neatly written in blue/black ink

MLA formatting, cont.

• MLA format class heading, upper left of first page

• Title, centered, first page only• From second page on: your last

name and pg. # in upper right (set as header)

• If written: Make sure you number the pages!! (your last name and the number)

Example first:

Ms. Robson 8th per 2 Sept. 30, 2011

My Unique and Fitting TitleMy essay starts here. It is all

double spaced, and my margins have been set to one inch. I always remember to introduce my quotes, just as I do here: “isn’t this a lovely quote?” (Weiler 7). I’m sure I will earn an A for my essay.

2nd page sample

Weiler 2This is the second page of my

essay. I remembered to set my header to include my last name and the page number I’m currently on. I will do this for the rest of my essay, even if it’s twenty pages long! It’s all still twelve point font, double spaced (with no extra spaces!), and my margins are still set to one inch.

Now for the in-text citations:

Step #1: find a good quote (that goes with

your thesis!)“indifference is always the friend of the enemy, for it benefits the aggressor—never his victim[…]” (Wiesel 132).

Figure out how to introduce the quote (no

dropped quotes!)

Wiesel cautions his readers to remember that “indifference is always the friend of the enemy, for it benefits the aggressor—never his victim[…]” (132).

Note this about the previous example:

•CM (opinion) in green•CD (the quote) in red•Ellipsis to indicate quote was

longer•In-text citation in parenthesis

& inside the end punctuation

Good signal words to use with quotes:

• Acknowledges• Admits• Agrees• Asserts• Believes• Comments• Compares• Declares

• Emphasizes• Illustrates• Implies• Notes• Observes• Reports• States• Suggests• Points out

Punctuation!• Basic formula:

–Signal phrase +[comma/colon/no punctuation]+ quote/paraphrase + [drop the period from the quote] + citation [in parenthesis = author’s last name & the page #] + period at the end (don’t say author’s name at end if you said it in your signal phrase)

Example:This point is emphasized in the statement “not to respond to their plight[…]is to exile them from human memory” (Wiesel 132).Note: ellipsis marks in brackets indicate that I didn’t use the entire quote. Three periods mean I deleted part of the sentence. Four periods mean I deleted the rest of the sentence.

Another one:

In his speech “The Perils of Indifference,” Elie Wiesel asserts that “indifference is never creative[….]Indifference elicits no response” (132). Note: I used four periods because I left out an entire sentence; I capitalized the next word because it was the first word of the next sentence.

Another one:

Wiesel suggests that loss of faith was the most difficult aspect of the Holocaust: “We felt that to be abandoned by God was worse than to be punished by Him. Better an unjust God than an indifferent one” (132).

You can also sandwich a quote:

Wiesel explains “Their [children’s] fate is always the most tragic[…]” because there is nothing that children can do to either prevent war or to escape from it (135). Note: if you have to insert a word in a quote, you also have to put brackets around it. There was no antecedent for the pronoun, so the insertion is necessary for clarification purposes.

Quote within a quote

• If the quote you are using contains a quote, use regular quotation marks where your quote begins, single quotations for the quote within the quote, and then regular quotation marks at the end of the sentence.

Example:

Wiesel stresses that “Etymologically, the word [indifference] means ‘no difference.’ A strange and unnatural state in which the lines blur between[…]good and evil” (131).

Banned words list!These words don’t belong in formal

writing…

•I/me•Really•Things•Stuff•A lot •Some•About

• Informal English / slang

• Any words that make you sound uncertain

Also banned—lazylazy transitions:

•First, second, third•To inform•To further inform•Finally•Coordinating conjunctions (and, so, etc.) as sentence starters