Quote Format

When you include quotes in your paper, you must follow specific MLA formatting guidelines. See the rules and examples below for different types of quotes:

Prose (4 lines or less)

Incorporate the quote into your text as normal. Include citation after closing quotation make and before the period.

Example:

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times,” wrote Charles Dickens of the eighteenth century (35).

Prose (more than 4 lines)

Incorporate the quote into your text as normal. Include citation after closing quotation make and before the period.

Example:

Poetry (3 lines or less)

Incorporate the quote into your text and use a forward slash ( / ) to indicate line breaks and double forward slash ( // ) to indicate stanza breaks.

Example:

The Tao te ching, in David Hinton’s translation, says that the ancient masters were “so deep beyond knowing / we can only describe their appearance // perfectly cautious, as if crossing winter streams. . .”

Poetry (MORE THAN 3 LINES)

Indent the quote ½ inch from the left margin and place parenthetical citation after the period. Do not use quotation marks.

Example:

Drama (Short single character dialogue)

Incorporate the quote into your text use a forward slash ( / ) to indicate line breaks. Include citation after closing quotation make and before the period.

Example:

Horatio says of the ghost: "And then it started like a guilty thing / Upon a fearful summons" (1.1.148).

Drama (More complex dialogue)

Indent the quote ½ inch from the left margin and begin each character’s line with that character’s name in capital letters followed by a period (HAMLET.). Start the quotation following the name and indent all subsequent lines. Place parenthetical citation after the period. Do not use quotation marks.

Example:

HAMLET. A little more than kin, and less than kind.

CLAUDIUS. How is it that the clouds still hang on you? (1.2.65-66)

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