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Citing Direct Quotations

There are lots of reasons to use direct quotations – the exact words of an author or other source - in your paper. Quotations can spice up a paper, tie your thoughts to a text, and provide concrete examples of what you're talking about. They always need to be documented with full citations.

You should use direct quotations sparingly, choosing them carefully to make an impression. A paper composed mostly of quotations from other authors runs into the plagiarism risk called "patchworking" and is also not a very good paper.
A quotation can be very short – one or two words, such as a reference to another author's special way of naming a phenomenon – or an entire paragraph or passage, which you then proceed to discuss at length.
If you are quoting a long passage, most style guides will suggest that you indent the quotation, setting it apart from the paragraph in which you analyze the quotation.

Examples of Direct Quotation:

MLA Style
Original	The women in The Sopranos are, without a doubt, at least as deadly as the males – in some cases, literally, in other cases metaphorically. Livia, Carmela, Dr. Melfi, and Janice are more dangerous than Junior, Tony, Christopher, and Paulie because the women commandeer power while seeming to wield none. The evidence of their powers of destruction is more easily disguised. In other words, while the women might stoop to conquer, they do eventually and efficiently conquer their enemies. Barreca, Regina. “Why I Like the Women in The Sopranos.” A Sitdown with the Sopranos: Watching Italian American Culture on TV’s Most Talked-About Series. Ed. Regina Barreca. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2002. 27-46.
Quotation	According to Barreca, “the women in The Sopranos are, without a doubt, at least as deadly as the males – in some cases, literally, in other cases metaphorically. Livia, Carmela, Dr. Melfi, and Janice are more dangerous than Junior, Tony, Christopher, and Paulie because the women commandeer power while seeming to wield none” (37).

APA Style
Original	In the current paper we will be examining responses to a particular type of imposter; the vegetarian who eats meat. We chose this example because the core norm of the vegetarian is very clear (to not eat meat), and violation of the norm is easily recognized. Hornsey, M.J. & Jetten, J. (2003). Not being what you claim to be: impostors as sources of group threat. [Electronic version] European Journal of Social Psychology, 33, 639-657.
Quotation	Hornsey and Jetten (2003) investigated responses to impostors. They defined impostors, in this case, as meat-eating vegetarians. They “chose this example because the core norm of the vegetarian is very clear (to not eat meat), and violation of the norm is easily recognized” (p. 641).

CSE Style
Original	Considering all the evidence together, it is reasonable to hypothesize that Homo evolved to travel long distances by both walking and running. Bramble DM, Lieberman DE. 2004. Endurance running and the evolution of Homo. Nature 438:345-52.
Quotation	Bramble and Lieberman posit that “it is reasonable to hypothesize that Homo evolved to travel long distances by both walking and running” (2004).

Adapted from Duke University Libraries' "Avoiding Plagiarism" http://library.duke.edu/research/plagiarism/index.html

MLA Style

APA Style

CSE Style