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Research and Documentation

Research Writing Tutorial:
A Self-Guided Tutorial

by Michael Fleming

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Using block quotations and ellipses

Sometimes you may wish to use a long quotation—"long" being defined, in the MLA style, as "more than four lines," and in the APA style, as "more than forty words." In such a case you use what is called a block quotation.

MLA style:
In his essay "Styles of Reading," critic George L. Dillon writes:

If we look at actual, published discussions of a story, however, we find no two of them answering the same set of questions, which suggests that we should look for questions (pre)inscribed in the reader as well as the text -- the text, it is a matter of fact, has not very narrowly constrained the set of questions the readers have posed. (608)
APA style:
In his essay "Styles of Reading" (1982), critic George L. Dillon writes:

If we look at actual, published discussions of a story, however, we find no two of them answering the same set of questions, which suggests that we should look for questions (pre)inscribed in the reader as well as the text -- the text, it is a matter of fact, has not very narrowly constrained the set of questions the readers have posed. (p. 608)

Notice that, in these examples, quotation marks are unnecessary; the block format makes it clear that the words are being quoted. And notice that the parenthetical page reference follows the final mark of punctuation (unlike the way this is handled after a short quotation).

There are at least a couple of reasons why you may want to use just part of a long quotation. Many professors, and even some university honor codes, specify the maximum portion of an essay that can be made up of quotations—ten percent is a common limit. Your research paper, after all, should mainly consist of your words, not those of other writers. It is also possible that just part of a long quotation is relevant to a point you are making, while the rest of the quotation is irrelevant and, perhaps, needlessly distracting. In such cases you can shorten a quotation by using ellipses—that is, the "dot-dot-dots" that indicate omitted material.

MLA style:

In his essay "Styles of Reading," critic George L. Dillon writes, "If we look at actual, published discussions of a story, however, we find no two of them answering the same set of questions . . ." (608).

According to one critic, "The narrator is the last of the patriarchs . . . and his violence toward her is the most subtle of all" (Fetterley 619).
APA style:
In his essay "Styles of Reading," critic George L. Dillon writes, "If we look at actual, published discussions of a story, however, we find no two of them answering the same set of questions . . ." (p. 608).

According to one critic, "The narrator is the last of the patriarchs . . . and his violence toward her is the most subtle of all" (Fetterley, 1978, p. 619).
Notice here that when a three-dot ellipsis is used to end a quotation, you still need a final period (after the page citation) to end the sentence.

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