PLUG-INs Information Literacy @ Fujairah Colleges IN-TEXT CITATIONS for Direct Quotes MLA Style

What is an in-text citation? What is MLA style ? What is a direct quote?

honeybees in this presentation? Why are honeybees in this presentation? Why not, they’re cute. And, they make delicious honey.

What is an in-text citation? Anyway, MLA means Modern Language Association, a group of language teachers. They decided on a way to format citations. What is an in-text citation? It identifies the source of information in the body of your writing.

If you do not, it is plagiarism or stealing the words. A direct quote or quotation is when you use the exact words from a book or other source in your own writing. You must use quotation marks around these words to indicate the source of them. If you do not, it is plagiarism or stealing the words.

Fortunately, it is easy to format direct quotations. Remember, plagiarism is cheating. Students get in big trouble for cheating at HCT. Fortunately, it is easy to format direct quotations. Let’s see how.

Blah blah blah “di di di tran tran tran.” After the quotation marks, you must show where the words came from. Do it like this : (Author page) You put it in the body of your writing, not at the bottom of a page or at the end.

(Author page #) Open parenthesis mark Closed parenthesis mark Page number Author’s last name only No comma. One space only

The complete citation (full author name, title, city, publisher, year & pages) must be in the Bibliography or Cited References List at the end of your paper.

Here is a different situation. If the author’s name appears as part of your text, write only the page number. Here is a different situation. For example : Smith has said that “by 2010 Dubai will be the most interesting city in the world (23).”

But, the author’s name and page number must appear in parentheses. What about very long quotations, more than 40 words? Words words words words words words words words words words words words Words words words words (Smith 23). You must tab over and create a block. No quotation marks are needed around this block. But, the author’s name and page number must appear in parentheses.

Use . . . for the words you omitted. What if you don’t need all the words and want to omit some words in a quotation? Use . . . for the words you omitted. This is called an ellipsis. “words … words”

What if the grammar does not make sense when you add the quote? Or, you need to add a word? Use square brackets to show that the word was not in the original. “She [Lady MacBeth] suffered from guilt.”

What if the source is a website? Write the author and page number. If there is no page number, write the author only. If there is no author, write the first 1 or 2 words that appear in the Bibliography at the end of your paper.

It is on the library shelf at LB 2369.G53 2003 For different examples, look in a book like this. Or, enter “MLA” in a title or keyword search of the library catalogue to find similar books.

Ask your teacher or your friendly librarian if you have any questions. I hope this helps you understand how to write MLA in-text citations for direct quotes. Ask your teacher or your friendly librarian if you have any questions.

Thank you for listening . HAPPY WRITING !