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Using quotations appropriately (MLA)

MLA-21

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. Try to avoid quoting excessively. It is almost impossible to integrate numerous long quotations smoothly into your own text.

Sometimes, however, quotations can be the most effective way to integrate a source’s ideas.

When to use quotations

When language is especially vivid or expressive
When exact wording is needed for technical accuracy
When it is important to let the debaters of an issue explain their positions in their own words
When the words of an authority lend weight to an argument
When the language of a source is the topic of your discussion (as in an analysis or interpretation)

Keep in mind that 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.

Resnik acknowledges that his argument relies on the “slippery slope” fallacy, but he insists that “social and political pressures” regarding food regulations make his concerns valid (31).

The following strategies can help you use quotations appropriately:

using the ellipsis mark to limit quoted material
using brackets to make quotations clear

Using quotations appropriately (MLA)

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