In MLA, a block quote is a long quotation set off from your text in its own indented block, with no quotation marks.
You use one when prose runs more than four lines in your paper, or when poetry runs more than three lines.
Here is exactly when MLA 9th edition requires a block quote and how to format it, with examples.
When do you use a block quote in MLA?
Use a block quote when the quoted material is longer than four lines of prose in your own document.
The trigger is the number of lines the quote takes up on your page, not the number of sentences.
A two-sentence quote can run more than four lines. A three-sentence quote can stay under four. Count lines, not sentences.
For poetry, the threshold is three lines. Quote more than three lines of verse and you block it.
Anything shorter stays inline, inside double quotation marks, as a regular quote.
How to format an MLA block quote
Five rules cover it.
Start the quote on a new line.
Indent the entire block half an inch (0.5″) from the left margin. Do not indent the right side.
Do not add quotation marks. The indentation is what marks the quote.
Keep it double-spaced, matching the rest of your paper.
Put the parenthetical citation after the closing punctuation of the quote, with no period after the parentheses.
That last rule is the one students miss. In a normal inline quote the period comes last. In a block quote the period comes before the citation.
Lead-in punctuation: colon or not?
End your introductory sentence with a colon when it is a complete sentence that introduces the quote.
The narrator makes her motive plain at the start of the novel:
Use no colon, or a comma, when the quote completes the grammar of your own sentence.
Defoe has Moll explain that her name is “so well known in the records” that she cannot reveal it.
Most block quotes are introduced by a full sentence, so a colon is the common choice.
MLA block quote example (prose)
Here is a complete block quote with an author-page citation:
My true name is so well known in the records, or registers, at Newgate and in the Old Bailey, and there are some things of such consequence still depending there relating to my particular conduct, that it is not to be expected I should set my name or the account of my family to this work. (Defoe 1)
The author’s name and page number sit in parentheses after the period. Nothing follows the parentheses.
If you name the author in your lead-in sentence, the citation needs only the page number:
Defoe opens the confession with a warning about names:
My true name is so well known in the records, or registers, at Newgate and in the Old Bailey, that it is not to be expected I should set my name or the account of my family to this work. (1)
MLA block quote example (poetry)
Quote more than three lines of verse as a block.
Keep the original line breaks exactly as the poet wrote them:
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth (Frost 1-5)
Use line numbers, not page numbers, for poetry, and write them as a range: lines 1–5. After the first citation that spells out “lines,” you can use numbers alone.
Quoting more than one paragraph
If your block quote runs across two or more paragraphs from the source, indent the first line of each paragraph after the first an extra quarter inch (0.25″).
This signals where the original paragraph breaks fall.
If the quoted material starts mid-paragraph in the source, do not add that extra indent to the first paragraph.
Changing a block quote: brackets and ellipses
To cut words from inside the quote, use three spaced periods for an ellipsis ( . . . ).
To add or alter a word for clarity, put it in square brackets, the same as in any MLA quote.
You generally do not need an ellipsis at the start or end of a block quote. Readers expect it to be an excerpt.
Block quote vs. inline quote at a glance
Inline quote: under four lines, double quotation marks, citation then period at the end.
Block quote: more than four lines, indented half an inch, no quotation marks, period then citation.
The flipped period order is the single rule worth memorizing.
FAQ
How many lines is a block quote in MLA?
More than four lines of prose, or more than three lines of poetry, measured in your own document.
Do block quotes have quotation marks in MLA?
No. The half-inch indentation replaces the quotation marks. Only keep quotation marks that appear inside the original passage, such as dialogue.
Where does the period go in an MLA block quote?
Before the parenthetical citation. End the quote with a period, then add the citation in parentheses, and add nothing after it.
Should I single-space a block quote?
No. MLA keeps everything double-spaced, including block quotes. Do not single-space or add extra blank lines around the block.
Does a block quote count toward my word count or page length?
That depends on your instructor’s rules, not MLA. MLA only governs formatting. Long block quotes can pad a paper, so use them only when the exact wording matters.
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