quotations MLA 1

HLA

Ouotations

appears in other forms. such as the traudulent manipulation ol laboratory processes in otaer to achieve desired results. the use of commercially prepared essays in place of a student's own work or reference to unauthorized materials in examination cir-cumstances, vitiates the putposes ot a university education.

While such piactices may welt stop short of "crime" in the sense that they may escape from the (ormal rigours of the law. they neverthetess constitute in all cases an offence against in-tellectuol honesty. . . Sanctions will therefore be enforced against cheating. ranging in $everity as befits the individual case from simple reimposition of work. through forfeiture of credit for the particular assignment or the particular course in volved. to passible expulsion Irom the University in the most extreme, deliberate or persistent cases. .    (Ca/endar 16)

It is difficulr to improve upon these statements in any generał way, but here are some specific suggestions con-ccrning the use ofsource materiał.

•    Ałways double-check the accuracy of any quotation you use and any cstation (author, tirle, volunie and page number) you make.

•    Words added or changed within a cjuotation should be entlosed within stjuare brackers | ). Sec 2.1.1 and 2.2.1 below. Be aware, however, that making roo many changes can be awlcward. łt you have to make morę tliari a couple oł adjustrnents, think about par-aphrasing or at ieast reducing the length of the direct quotation.

•    It is unethical and improper to quore in sucłt a way that the contcxtual sense of the passage quoted is violated.

Exarnphr. (original)

"I found tire play so bad that my urge to lcave after the first act was compelhng.’'

(Itnpropcr use)

One critic said tłtat he “found the play. . . compelling.”

•    Cication is needed for use of' anocher‘s ideas no less than his or her words (see 3.4 below)

•    Whenever possible, refer to the originals of any pri-mary sources {see 1.1 abovc) you fintl in secondary sources.

•    If you must err in the use of citations, overdocument.

1.4 What to do if you have an idea, then find it in print

Carry on, and congratulate yoursett on finding a support-er. Your approach will never be predsely the same as the wnter who bas so irritattngly comc up with the same idea, so ybu can stress the differences, anel acknowledge the other writer appropriateiy in your citatrbns. Pailurc to do so eon stitutes a form of plagiarism, even if you honestly arrivetl ar your contiu.sions independent])’.

2. How to quote

TT. Accuraćy

When you quote, you should reproducc the original as accurately as you can, tetaining its spelling and punciuation, and making elear if you have altered it in any way.

2.1. L. Incomplete quotations

Indicate materiał omitced from the quotation by ellipsis ( . . . )—three spaced periods, with a space before the first. If the omitted passage comes after a completc sentence, use fony spaced periods (the first is the sentence period). You do not normally need to begin or end a quotation with ellipsis; if the quotation seems incomplete at the beginning or end, change the part you quote, or adjust your own sentence so that it fits gramatically with it. You should always indicate if you have omitted materiał from the middle of a tjuotation.

2.2. Short ąuotations

2.2.1. How to fit the ni inlo your work.

Short quorations in prose or vcr.se should be included in your own sentence and should read so that they fit gram-maiicaily into it.

Like the loom. Jonę is "a cliscotcl in Gateshead holi" (16). diffenng from the Reeds ”in tempeiamenl, in capacily.

(and) in propensities" (16).

In order to integrate quorations properly into your own prose, remember the tollowing rulcs;

•    Make surę that verb tenses in the quotarion agree willi verhs in your sentence. You may have to change the verl> tenses in the quotation, putting the clunge in squarc brackers, though it is usually possible to avoid tbis often clumsy expediem by rewording your intro-ductoty sentence. As a generał rulc, literary essays should be wtitten in rhe present tensc.

/ While the legisiators cringe at the sudden darknoss. "all eyes were turned to Abraham Oavenport,"

/ While the legisiators cringe at the sudden darkness. "all eyes (tum) to Abraham Davenpor1."

•    Make surę that sentences are complete. You may need to add clarifying Information in square brackets.

A Yeats asks if “before the indifferent beak.*

• / Yeats asks it Leda "put on (the swan's) kriowledge" be fore his "indiflerent beak could lot her rjrop "

•    Clarily pronouns ihat have no elear antecedents.

Again, the addinonal informatinn should be put inside square brackets.

A Captoin Wentworth soys. "II had Oeen my doing — solely minę She would not have be on obslinate if I had not been weuk ”

(This quoiation is wrongly handlcd hecause the antę -cedent of “sbe” is unclear.)

Ouotations

/ Captain Wentworth says. "It had been my doing-solely minę. (Louisa) wculd not have been cbstinate if I had not been weak.'

• Make surę that subject and verb agrec.

A Wiifred Owen says that the only proyer said for those who die in buttle is war's noise. which "patier out fheir hasty orisons"

(Subject: “noise"; vcrb: “patier.'’ The subject is sin-

gular, the verb pluraj.)

/ Wiifred Owen says that the only prayer said tor those who die in batllo is the “ropid rallle" ot guns. which "patter out their hasty orisoris."

(Subject: 'guns '; verb: “patter.'’ Both subject and verl>

are no w plural.)

2.2.2. How to punctuate short quotations.

Use double quotation marks for all qnotations. Use single tjuotation marks only when somcthing is being quoted witli-in your quoted passage (see 2.3 below: “Single cjuotation marks”).

Within the quotation, follow ihe source you are quoting exactly, with the following exceptions.

Punctuation at the beginning of die quotation. Follow the punctuation ol the original if possible. You may, how-ever, change the initial letter of a quotation from upper to lower case in order to fit in with your sentence.

Punctuation at the end of the quotation. The finał punctuation ol the cjuotation is your punctuation, not nec-essarily that of the tjuoted passage. I he only time you rnust keeji the original fmal puncmation is when it is a cjuestion mark or cxclamation mark.

MLA style retjuires that a fmal cornma or period eonie insi di the quotaiion marks, even when you are cjuoting a single word.

Both Ihe plowman and the ox have worked "in vain." the corn tios "rotted." and the "crows aro fatted wllh the munion flock.”

I he one extvption to this tulę is when there is a par-enlhetical reference after the cjuotation, in which case che period or comma comes alter the parenthesis.

Both Ihe plowman and Ihe ox have worked "in vain." the corn has "rotted.'' and the "crows are fatted with the muuion (lock” (A Midsummer Nięhls Preom 2.1 93 9?).

Notę: Most high schools in B. C. still tcach that the comma and period come ourside the tjuotation marks. Many srudeiirs Inul n bard to break themselves of this habit.

Other punctuation marks—semicolon, colon, cjuestion mark and exclamavion mark—eonie after the quoiution marks unless they were originally part of the quotacion itself.

Eliot soughl Pound's odvice, asking "porhaps belfer orni) Phlebas also?"

Compare:

Wtint leci Eliot to etiange his mmd and ioter denounce the veises as "a rather poor pasliche"?

2.2.3. Short quotations of verse

Short quorations of verse wfiich consisl of morę than one linę should reiain tiic punctuation and capitaiization of the original, and indicate any linę brcaks with a slash (“/”).

In order to satisfy his personal needs. Aeneas "dawdles in Corthage now / And takes no thought for cilies ossigned tiy fate.”

Reinember, however, to treat a quotatioil of morę than tliree lines ofvcrse as a long cjuotation and to set it off from the rest of the text; somecimes even shorter passages are bet-ter set ofl, esjiecially in sonie modern poetry where the acmal appearance of the lines is imjiortam (see 2.3.2. ).

2.3. Long ąuotations

Quotations of morę than tliree lines of verse, or four lines of typed jirose, should he set off from the texi, indented on left and righi margins, and sfiould not he encloscd in cjuota-tion marks. Follow rhe punctuation of the original.

2.3.1.    Prose

Passages of prose morę than about four lines long should be set as błock cjnotaiions, indented both from the right and left.

Ihe difference between wlial we cali proso and what we cali poetry is otten blurred:

At lost we've tound. in pinewoods on the hills above [-lorence, a house until the end of Juiy. the pnoled ponded tosed goldlished arboured li zarded swinghung towollod winetabled . garden teads into aur own (dear God) olives and vmes climbing to a mute s conventicle. a Niobe's eisteddfod ot cypresses. (Thomas 630)

As in this cxamplc, the cjuotation will usually he imto-duced by a colon at the end- of an independent clause (a clause which could he a sentence in its own right). The reference at the end is placet! after the cjuctarion, and has no jHinctuation after it. Double space the tjuotation as well as the main body of your essay.

Remember tliat you slioutd keep cjuotations as short as possible. Do not try to pad an essay by extensive quotaiion.

2.3.2.    Versc

I he same rules apply for verse as for prose, witli rhe ackli tion that you should at all rimes follow the lineaiion, linę indericarion and format ol ihe original. It you oinit a wliole lnie or morę, you should indicate the omission hy a row of spaced periods the lengtli ot a linę.

Lord. who createds! mon in weallh and storę, lhough foolistily he lost the samo.

Dccaying moro and morę Tit) he become Most poor With thee O lot me riso As latks hormonicusiy And sir.g this clay Itry cictoiios Then shalll the fali turther the flight in me

(Geotge Herbert “Easter Wings")