How to Cite Text in Essays

Citing text in an essay is vital to the credibility of the essay. Any text taken from an outside source needs to be cited whether it is directly quoted, paraphrased or summarized. There are many ways to cite text, and while different teachers, departments and institutions all have their preferences, most high school and liberal arts classes prefer the MLA format.

Things You'll Need

  • Word processing program
  • Computer
Show More

Instructions

  1. Citing Paraphrased, Summarized and Quoted Text of Three or Fewer Lines

    • 1
      If it is not your idea, cite it.

      Write the author's last name immediately following the quoted, summarized, or paraphrased text after the last word in the sentence, but before the period. If there is no author, write the title of the article. If in the sentence you used the author's name or title, if there is no author, this step can be omitted.

    • 2

      Write the page number(s) the information came from after the author's name. If the information came from a website that does not list page numbers, omit this step. Do not put a comma between the author's name and the page number.

    • 3

      Place parentheses around your citation. Do not include the period in the parentheses.

    Citing Four or More Lines of Quoted Text

    • 4
      Not citing information is plagiarism and can have serious consequences.

      Introduce the quote with a full sentence, and punctuate it with a colon. Include the author of the quote. This sentence should be included in the main paragraph in which you wish to use the quote. For example, "Edgar Allen Poe had specific advice for short story writers:"

    • 5

      Write the quote exactly as it appears in the text. The quote will begin on a new line and the first line should not be indented.

    • 6

      Adjust the margins of the entire quote so it is 1" from the edge of the not indented main text in your essay. This is approximately equal to hitting the Tab key two times.

    • 7

      Place the page number in parentheses at the end of the quote after the period. This is called a block quotation.

Learnify Hub © www.0685.com All Rights Reserved