In your academic writing, keep the emphasis on your ideas and your language; use your own words to summarize and to paraphrase your sources and to explain your points. Sometimes, however, quotations can be the most effective way to integrate a source’s ideas.
WHEN TO USE QUOTATIONS
Limiting your use of quotations
Although it is tempting to insert many quotations in your paper and to use your own words only for connecting passages, do not quote excessively.
It is not always necessary to quote full sentences from a source. To reduce your reliance on the words of others, you can often integrate language from a source into your own sentence structure. (For the use of signal phrases in integrating quotations, see MLA-3b.)
Resnik acknowledges that his argument relies on “slippery slope” thinking, but he insists that “social and political pressures” regarding food regulations make his concerns valid (31).
Using the ellipsis mark and brackets
Two useful marks of punctuation, the ellipsis mark and brackets, allow you to keep quoted material to a minimum and to integrate it smoothly into your text.
The ellipsis mark To condense a quoted passage, you can use the ellipsis mark (three periods, with spaces between) to indicate that you have left words out. What remains must be grammatically complete.
And in Mississippi, legislators passed “a ban on bans—a law that forbids . . . local restrictions on food or drink” (Conly A23).
The writer has omitted the words municipalities to place before local restrictions to condense the quoted material.
On the rare occasions when you want to leave out one or more full sentences, use a period before the three ellipsis dots.
Legal scholars Gostin and Gostin argue that “individuals have limited willpower to defer immediate gratification for longer-term health benefits. . . . A person understands that high-fat foods or a sedentary lifestyle will cause adverse health effects, or that excessive spending or gambling will cause financial hardship, but it is not always easy to refrain” (217).
Ordinarily, do not use an ellipsis mark at the beginning or at the end of a quotation. Your readers will understand that the quoted material is taken from a longer passage, so such marks are not necessary. The only exception occurs when you have dropped words at the end of the final quoted sentence. In such cases, put three ellipsis dots before the closing quotation mark and parenthetical reference.
using sources responsibly: Make sure omissions and ellipsis marks do not distort the meaning of your source.
Brackets Brackets allow you to insert your own words into quoted material. You can insert words in brackets to clarify a confusing reference or to keep a sentence grammatical in your context. You also use brackets to indicate that you are changing a letter from capital to lowercase (or vice versa) to fit into your sentence. In the following example, the writer inserted words in brackets to clarify the meaning of help.
Neergaard and Agiesta argue that “a new poll finds people are split on how much the government should do to help [find solutions to the national health crisis]—and most draw the line at attempts to force healthier eating.”
To indicate an error such as a misspelling in a quotation, insert the word “sic” in brackets right after the error.
“While Americans of every race, gender and ethnicity are affected by this disease, diabetes disproportionately effects [sic] minority populations.”
Setting off long quotations
When you quote more than four typed lines of prose or more than three lines of poetry, set off the quotation by indenting it one-half inch from the left margin.
Long quotations should be introduced by an informative sentence, usually followed by a colon. Quotation marks are unnecessary because the indented format tells readers that the passage is taken word-for-word from the source.
In response to critics who claim that laws aimed at stopping us from eating whatever we want are an assault on our freedom of choice, Conly offers a persuasive counterargument:
[L]aws aren’t designed for each one of us individually. Some of us can drive safely at 90 miles per hour, but we’re bound by the same laws as the people who can’t, because individual speeding laws aren’t practical. Giving up a little liberty is something we agree to when we agree to live in a democratic society that is governed by laws. (A23)
Notice that at the end of an indented quotation the parenthetical citation goes outside the final mark of punctuation. (When a quotation is run into your text, the opposite is true. See the sample citations above.)