Quoting from Sources—Helpful Hints and Examples

Keep these guidelines in mind:

• Quote only when something is aptly said or where your ideas need authoritative support. Otherwise, use your own words and ideas that your research and discovery generated.

• Always try to keep quotations as short as possible.

Let’s use Anita Garland’s essay "Let's Really Reform Our Schools" as an example. In addition, let’s assume that we read Garland’s essay in the October 2000 issue of Reader’s Digest, on pages 101 through 103.

The proper MLA Works Cited Page entry for Garland’s essay would look like this:

Garland, Anita. "Let's Really Reform Our Schools." Reader’s Digest. Oct. 2000: 101-103.

The proper APA Bibliographic Reference format would be

Garland, A (2000). Let’s really reform our schools. Reader’s Digest, 101-103.

Now let’s use parts of Garland’s essay to learn how to blend her words with ours and how to credit her for the use of her property.

Ending your sentence with a quotation:

Original in Garland’s essay on p. 101:

Not only must we stop forcing everyone to attend school; we must stop allowing the attendance of so-called students who are not interested in studying.

Our modified version:

One change Garland recommends is to “stop allowing the attendance of so-called students who are not interested in studying” (101).

OR

One change Garland recommends is to “. . . stop allowing the attendance of so-called students who are not interested in studying” (101).

The author’s name (Garland in this case) is not required in the parentheses with the page number because the lead-in to the quote identified the author.

Using ellipses (three spaced dots) to omit words:

Original in Garland’s essay:

A student who sincerely wants an education, regardless of his or her mental or physical ability, should be welcome in any school in this country.

Our modified version:

“A student who sincerely wants an education . . . should be welcome in any school in this country” (Garland 101).

Original in Garland’s essay:

But "students" who deliberately interfere with other students' ability to learn, teachers' ability to teach, and administrators' ability to maintain order should be denied a place in the classroom. They do not want an education. And they should not be allowed to mark time within school walls, waiting to be handed their meaningless diplomas while they make it harder for everyone around them to either provide or receive a quality education.

Our modified version:

“But ‘students’ who deliberately interfere with other students' ability to learn . . . should be denied a place in the classroom . . . . And they should not be allowed to mark time within school walls . . . while they make it harder for everyone around them . . . .” (Garland 101).