To quote in MLA, put the borrowed words in quotation marks and follow them with a parenthetical citation giving the author’s last name and the page number, like (Smith 42). If you name the author in your sentence, the parentheses hold only the page number. This is MLA 9th edition, the current style.
Here is how to handle short quotes, long quotes, and the edge cases (no page number, no author, a quote within a quote) without breaking the format.
How do you cite a short direct quote in MLA?
A short prose quote is four lines or fewer. Run it into your own sentence inside double quotation marks, then add the citation.
Put the author’s last name and the page number in parentheses, with no comma between them: (Tan 132). The parenthetical goes after the closing quotation mark but before the period.
One sentence, two correct forms:
The narrator calls memory “a kind of permanent weather” (Lee 8).
Lee calls memory “a kind of permanent weather” (8).
When the author’s name is already in your sentence, do not repeat it in the parentheses. The page number alone is enough.
How do you cite a long quote (block quote) in MLA?
Use a block quote when a prose quotation runs longer than four lines (or more than three lines of verse). The formatting changes in three ways.
Start the quote on a new line and indent the whole block half an inch from the left margin. Do not use quotation marks; the indentation signals that it is quoted. Place the parenthetical citation after the final punctuation, not before it.
Introduce the block with a sentence, usually ending in a colon. The period comes before the parentheses in a block quote, the opposite of a short quote. For the full rules and examples, see block quote MLA.
How do you cite a quote from an article with no page number?
Many web articles have no page numbers. In that case, cite the author’s last name alone: (Nguyen). Do not invent a page number, and do not count screen scrolls.
If the source numbers its paragraphs or sections, you may cite those with a label: (Nguyen, par. 4). Only use these when the source itself provides them. If there is no author either, use a shortened version of the title in quotation marks: (“Climate Report”).
Do you italicize or punctuate quotes in MLA?
You do not italicize a quotation just because it is a quote. Reproduce the original exactly, keeping its own spelling and emphasis. Add italics only if you are marking your own added emphasis, and then note it: (Smith 12, emphasis added).
Periods and commas go inside the closing quotation mark when there is no citation. When a parenthetical citation follows, the period moves to after the parentheses: “…the end of the line” (Frost 14).
For a quotation inside a quotation, switch to single quotation marks for the inner one: “She told me, ‘leave the door open,’ and walked out” (Diaz 71).
How do you introduce a quote in MLA?
Frame every quote so it does not drop into the paragraph unannounced. The common method is a signal phrase naming the source: According to Tan, or Lee writes that.
Match the quote’s grammar to your sentence. The combined sentence should read correctly if you removed the quotation marks. Use square brackets to adjust a word for fit, and an ellipsis to show you have cut material: “memory is […] permanent weather.”
FAQ
Where does the period go when quoting in MLA?
For a short quote with a citation, the period goes after the closing parenthesis: “…” (Smith 8). For a block quote, the period goes before the parenthesis. For a short quote with no citation, the period goes inside the quotation marks.
How many lines makes a block quote in MLA?
More than four lines of prose, or more than three lines of poetry. Anything at or under that limit stays a short, run-in quote with quotation marks.
Do you need a page number for every MLA quote?
Only when the source has them. Print books and PDFs do; many web pages do not. If there is no page number, cite the author’s last name alone.
How is quoting in MLA different from APA?
MLA uses author and page: (Smith 42). APA uses author and year, adding a page number only for direct quotes: (Smith, 2020, p. 42). See APA quote citation for the APA version.
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