Taken directly from "The Writer's Handbook: Avoiding Plagiarism," The Writing Center, University of Wisconsin at Madison:
In general, use direct quotations only if you have a good reason. Most of your paper should be in your own words. Also, it's often conventional to quote more extensively from sources when you're writing a humanities paper, and to summarize from sources when you're writing in the social or natural sciences--but there are always exceptions.
In a literary analysis paper, for example, you''ll want to quote from the literary text rather than summarize, because part of your task in this kind of paper is to analyze the specific words and phrases an author uses.
In research papers, you should quote from a source
to show that an authority supports your point
to present a position or argument to critique or comment on
to include especially moving or historically significant language
to present a particularly well-stated passage whose meaning would be lost or changed if paraphrased or summarized
You should summarize or paraphrase when
what you want from the source is the idea expressed, and not the specific language used to express it
you can express in fewer words what the key point of a source is
Quotations in Literary Analysis for Groups 1 and 2
As you choose quotations for a literary analysis, remember the purpose of quoting.
Your paper develops an argument about what the author of the text is doing--how the text "works."
You use quotations to support this argument; that is, you select, present, and discuss material from the text specifically to "prove" your point--to make your case--in much the same way a lawyer brings evidence before a jury.
Quoting for any other purpose is counterproductive.
For the most part, you must reproduce the spelling, capitalization, and internal punctuation of the original exactly.
The following alterations are acceptable:
You may alter the closing punctuation of a quotation in order to incorporate it into a sentence of your own:
"Books are not life," Lawrence emphasized.
Commas and periods go inside the closing quotation marks; the other punctuation marks go outside.
Lawrence insisted that books "are not life"; however, he wrote exultantly about the power of the novel.
Why does Lawrence need to point out that "Books are not life"?
When quoting lines of poetry up to three lines long (which are not indented, seeIndenting quotations), separate one line of poetry from another with a slash mark (see examples in Incorporating Quotations into Sentences).
If for the sake of brevity you wish to omit material from a quoted passage, use ellipsis points (three spaced periods) to indicate the omission.
(See this sample paragraph. The writer quoted only those portions of the original sentences that related to the point of the analysis.)
When quoting, you may alter grammatical forms such as the tense of a verb or the person of a pronoun so that the quotation conforms grammatically to your own prose; indicate these alterations by placing square brackets around the changed form.
In the following quotation "her" replaces the "your" of the original so that the quote fits the point of view of the paper (third person):
When he hears Cordelia's answer, Lear seems surprised, but not dumbfounded. He advises her to "mend [her] speech a little." He had expected her to praise him the most; but compared to her sisters', her remarks seem almost insulting (1.1.95).
Prose or verse quotations less than four lines long are not indented. For quotations of this length, use the patterns described above.
Indent "longer" quotations in a block about ten spaces in from the left margin; when a quotation is indented, quotation marks are not used.
The MLA Handbook (1995) recommends that indented quotations be double-spaced, but many instructors prefer them single-spaced. The meaning of "longer" varies slightly from one style system to another, but a general rule is to indent quotations that are more than two (or three) lines of verse or three (or four) lines of prose.
Indent dialogue between characters in a play. Place the speaker's name before the speech quoted:
CAESAR: Et tu, Brute! Then, fall, Caesar!
CINNA: Liberty! Freedom! Tyranny is dead! (3.1.77-78)
For more information see Quoting, Paraphrasing, and Acknowledging Sources - How to Quote a Source.
Take a look at this sample paragraph. It includes 3 basic kinds of materials:
statements expressing the student's own ideas about the relationship Woolf is creating;
data or evidence from the text in summarized, paraphrased, and quoted form; and
discussion of how the data support the writer's interpretation.
The quotations are used in accordance with the writer's purpose, i.e. to show how the development of Mrs. Ramsey's feelings indicates something about her personality.
Quoting is only one of several ways to present textual material as evidence.
You can also refer to textual data, summarize, and paraphrase. You will often want merely to refer or point to passages (as in the third sentence in thesample paragraph) that contribute to your argument.
In other cases you will want to paraphrase, i.e. "translate" the original into your own words, again instead of quoting. Summarize or paraphrase when it is not so much the language of the text that justifies your position, but the substance or content.
Similarly, after you have decided that you do want to use material in quoted form, quote only the portions of the text specifically relevant to your point.
Think of the text in terms of units--words, phrases, sentences, and groups of sentences (paragraphs, stanzas)--and use only the units you need.
If it is particular words or phrases that "prove" your point, you do not need to quote the sentences they appear in; rather, incorporate the words and phrases into sentences expressing your own ideas.
Introduce a quotation either by indicating what it is intended to show or by naming its source, or both.
For non-narrative poetry, it's customary to attribute quotations to "the speaker"; for a story with a narrator, to "the narrator."
For plays, novels, and other works with characters, identify characters as you quote them.
Do not use two quotations in a row, without intervening material of your own.
For further information see Quoting, Paraphrasing, and Acknowledging Sources - How to Quote a Source.
Tense is a tricky issue. It's customary in literary analysis to use the present tense; it is at the present time that you (and your reader) are looking at the text.
But events in a narrative or drama take place in a time sequence. You will often need to use a past tense to refer to events that took place before the moment you are presently discussing:
When he hears Cordelia's answer, Lear seems surprised, but not dumbfounded. He advises her to "mend [her] speech a little." He had expected her to praise him the most; but compared to her sisters', her remarks seem almost insulting (1.1.95).
Quotations in Research Papers for Groups 3-6
One of your jobs as a writer is to guide your reader through your text. Don't simply drop quotations into your paper and leave it to the reader to make connections.
Integrating a quotation into your text usually involves two elements:
A signal that a quotation is coming--generally the author's name and/or a reference to the work
An assertion that indicates the relationship of the quotation to your text
Often both the signal and the assertion appear in a single introductory statement, as in the example below. Notice how a transitional phrase also serves to connect the quotation smoothly to the introductory statement.
Ross (1993), in her study of poor and working-class mothers in London from 1870-1918 [signal], makes it clear that economic status to a large extent determined the meaning of motherhood [assertion]. Among this population [connection], "To mother was to work for and organize household subsistence" (p. 9).
The signal can also come after the assertion, again with a connecting word or phrase:
Illness was rarely a routine matter in the nineteenth century [assertion]. As [connection] Ross observes [signal], "Maternal thinking about children's health revolved around the possibility of a child's maiming or death" (p. 166).
Incorporate short direct prose quotations into the text of your paper and enclose them in double quotation marks:
According to Jonathan Clarke, "Professional diplomats often say that trying to think diplomatically about foreign policy is a waste of time." 1
Begin longer quotations (for instance, in the APA system, 40 words or more) on a new line and indent the entire quotation (i.e., put in block form), with no quotation marks at beginning or end, as in the quoted passage from ourSuccessful vs. Unsucessful Paraphrases page.
Rules about the minimum length of block quotations, how many spaces to indent, and whether to single- or double-space extended quotations vary with different documentation systems; check the guidelines for the system you're using.
Quotations of up to 3 lines of poetry should be integrated into your sentence. For example:
In Julius Caesar, Antony begins his famous speech with "Friends, Romans, Countrymen, lend me your ears; / I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him" (III.ii.75-76).
Notice that a slash (/) with a space on either side is used to separate lines.
More than 3 lines of poetry should be indented. As with any extended (indented) quotation, do not use quotation marks unless you need to indicate a quotation within your quotation.
With short quotations, place citations outside of closing quotation marks, followed by sentence punctuation (period, question mark, comma, semi-colon, colon):
Menand (2002) characterizes language as "a social weapon" (p. 115).
With block quotations, check the guidelines for the documentation system you are using.
Place inside closing quotation marks when no parenthetical citation follows:
Hertzberg (2002) notes that "treating the Constitution as imperfect is not new," but because of Dahl's credentials, his "apostasy merits attention" (p. 85).
Place outside of closing quotation marks (or after a parenthetical citation).
Place inside closing quotation marks if the quotation is a question/exclamation:
Menand (2001) acknowledges that H. W. Fowler's Modern English Usage is "a classic of the language," but he asks, "Is it a dead classic?" (p. 114).
[Note that a period still follows the closing parenthesis.]
Place outside of closing quotation marks if the entire sentence containing the quotation is a question or exclamation:
How many students actually read the guide to find out what is meant by "academic misconduct"?
Use single quotation marks for the embedded quotation:
According to Hertzberg (2002), Dahl gives the U. S. Constitution "bad marks in 'democratic fairness' and 'encouraging consensus'" (p. 90).
[The phrases "democratic fairness" and "encouraging consensus" are already in quotation marks in Dahl's sentence.]
Use ellipsis points (. . .) to indicate an omission within a quotation--but not at the beginning or end unless it's not obvious that you're quoting only a portion of the whole.
Within quotations, use square brackets [ ] (not parentheses) to add your own clarification, comment, or correction.
Use [sic] (meaning "so" or "thus") to indicate that a mistake is in the source you're quoting and is not your own.
"The Writer's Handbook: Avoiding Plagiarism." The Writing Center. University of Wisconsin at Madison`, n.d. Web. 20 Apr. 2015. <https://writing.wisc.edu/Handbook>.