Quote Format: How to Format a Quotation Correctly
Quote format has four parts: quotation marks around the borrowed words, a signal phrase or grammatical lead-in, the exact original wording, and a citation. In MLA and APA, punctuation goes inside the closing quotation mark in American English, and the citation goes after the closing mark but before the sentence period. Quotations over a set length drop the quotation marks entirely and become block quotes. Below is the formatting for each case.
The basic format for a short quotation
A short quotation runs inside your own sentence.
MLA: Orwell argues that “political language is designed to make lies sound truthful” (Orwell 116).
APA: Orwell (1946) argued that “political language is designed to make lies sound truthful” (p. 116).
Chicago author-date: Orwell argues that “political language is designed to make lies sound truthful” (Orwell 1946, 116).
Three things stay constant across styles. The quoted words are exact. The quotation is introduced rather than dropped in. The citation sits outside the closing quotation mark and inside the final period.
Formatting quotes: punctuation rules
Periods and commas go inside the closing quotation mark in American English. She called it “a failure of nerve,” which was generous. British style places them outside; American academic style does not, and MLA, APA, and Chicago all follow the American convention.
Colons and semicolons go outside. He called it “a failure of nerve”; the committee disagreed.
Question marks and exclamation points depend on what they belong to. If the question is part of the quotation, it goes inside. If the question is yours, it goes outside. Compare: She asked, “Where is the report?” against Did she really call it “a failure of nerve”?
When a citation follows, the sentence period moves after the citation. This is the rule people get wrong most often. Correct: “…sound truthful” (Orwell 116). Incorrect: “…sound truthful.” (Orwell 116)
Block quotes are the exception. The period comes before the citation, not after.
Block quote format
MLA requires block format for prose longer than four lines and poetry longer than three lines. APA requires it at 40 words or more. Chicago suggests it at roughly five lines or 100 words.
In every style, a block quote is indented half an inch from the left margin, carries no quotation marks, keeps double spacing, and is introduced by a full sentence ending in a colon. The citation follows the closing period rather than preceding it.
Do not add extra indentation on the first line, and do not italicize or reduce the font size. Both are common formatting errors in submitted papers. Full details in how to block quote.
Changing a quotation: brackets and ellipses
You may alter a quotation for grammar or clarity, but every alteration has to be visible.
Square brackets mark words you added or changed. Original: “He refused the offer.” Adapted: “[Hamilton] refused the offer.” Brackets also handle tense and pronoun changes needed to fit your sentence.
Ellipses mark words you removed. Use three spaced periods for an omission inside a sentence. Do not use an ellipsis at the start of a quotation, and use one at the end only when the omission would otherwise mislead.
[sic] marks an error that was in the original. Use it sparingly. It reads as point-scoring when the error is trivial.
Italics added must be flagged: add “emphasis added” or “my emphasis” to the citation.
What you cannot do is change the wording silently, even to fix an obvious typo or to make the quote fit your argument better. That is misquotation regardless of intent.
Quote within a quote
When the passage you are quoting itself contains a quotation, the inner quotation switches to single marks in American style.
She writes that “the phrase ‘settled science’ does more work than it should.”
In a block quote, where the outer marks are dropped, the inner quotation keeps its original double marks. This is the one place the pattern reverses, and it is worth checking rather than guessing.
Quotation format in each style
MLA 9. Author and page number, no comma: (Orwell 116). No date in the in-text citation. Block quotes at more than four lines.
APA 7. Author, year, and page with “p.” or “pp.”: (Orwell, 1946, p. 116). The year is required. Block quotes at 40 words or more. Direct quotations always require a page or paragraph number, which is the rule APA users most often skip.
Chicago notes-bibliography. A superscript number after the closing quotation mark, with the source in a footnote. No parenthetical citation.
Chicago author-date. (Orwell 1946, 116), with a comma between year and page and no “p.”
The mechanics for each are covered in how to cite a quote in APA and MLA.
Formatting poetry and dialogue
For up to three lines of poetry, run the lines into your sentence and mark line breaks with a forward slash surrounded by spaces: “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, / And sorry I could not travel both.”
Four lines or more become a block quote with the original line breaks preserved exactly, including any unusual indentation.
For dialogue from a play, block-quote it with each speaker’s name in capitals followed by a period, and indent continuation lines. Prose fiction dialogue is quoted like any other prose, with the internal quotation marks becoming single marks.
Common quote formatting mistakes
The dropped quote. A quotation that appears as its own sentence with no introduction. Always attach it to a sentence of your own.
Period before the citation. The most frequent error in first-year papers. In a run-in quotation the period comes last.
Missing page numbers in APA. Paraphrases can omit them; direct quotations cannot.
Quotation marks on a block quote. The indentation replaces them. Using both is redundant and marked as an error.
Over-quoting. If quoted material is more than about 10% of your paper, the problem is the argument rather than the formatting. Paraphrase the supporting material and quote only what needs the original wording.
Getting into the quotation smoothly is a separate skill from formatting it, and it is where most rewrites happen. See how to introduce a quote.
FAQ
Does the period go inside or outside quotation marks?
Inside, in American English, when no citation follows. When a parenthetical citation follows, the period moves to after the citation.
How long can a quote be before it needs block format?
MLA: more than four lines of prose or three lines of verse. APA: 40 words or more. Chicago: roughly five lines or 100 words, at the author’s discretion.
Do I use quotation marks in a block quote?
No. The indentation signals the quotation. Quotation marks appearing inside a block quote belong to the original text.
Can I change the capitalization of the first letter?
Yes, in both MLA and APA, when the change is needed to fit your sentence and does not alter meaning. Chicago prefers brackets around the changed letter in formal contexts.
How do I format a quote in an email or a document that is not a paper?
The same punctuation rules apply, but citation format relaxes. Naming the author and source in the sentence is usually sufficient outside academic writing.