Methodology

 To state a lengthy quotation: You need to leave 3 lines between the original text and the quote, 2
spaces between the left margin and the quote, you mention the quote WITHOUT quotation marks,
then you put THE PERIOD AFTER THE QUOTE DIRECTLY, then you mention the
parenthetical reference. In addition, you leave 2 spaces between the lines of the quote. If the
author's name is already introduced in the text, you mention only the page number. 

3 Lines

As he looked at the gracious and comely form he had so skilfully

2 spaces from the 2
left margin and mirrored in his art, a smile of pleasure passed across his face, and spaces
the quote
seemed about to linger there. But he suddenly started up, and,
By pressing the ‘
Tab’ button twice closing his eyes, placed his fingers upon the lids, as though he sought

to imprison within his brain some curious dream from which he

feared he might awake. (Wilde 3)

 To indicate a short quotation, you open quotation marks, write in italic, close quotation marks, and
then you place the parenthetical reference THEN THE PERIOD. (Unlike the lengthy quotation
where you place the period before the parenthetical ref).
“America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be
because we destroyed ourselves” (Lincoln).
 Unlike the period, the comma is put within the quotation marks:

“Lock up your libraries if you like; but there is no gate,’ Writes Virginia Woolf, ‘no lock, no bolt
that you can set upon the freedom of my mind” (page number).
- No need to mention (Woolf) because we already stated the author’s name already.
 Omission:

Original Quote:

Every morning I lay on the floor in the front parlour watching her door. The blind

was pulled down to within an inch of the sash so that I could not be seen. When

she came out on the doorstep my heart leaped. I ran to the hall, seized my books

and followed her. I kept her brown figure always in my eye and, when we came

near the point at which our ways diverged, I quickened my pace and passed her.

This happened morning after morning. I had never spoken to her, except for a few

casual words, and yet her name was like a summons to all my foolish blood.

(Joyce 26-27)

(26 – 27) means from page 26 to page 27

(26, 27) means from page 26 alone and from page 27 alone

Omission of a word or more:

Three spaced Every morning I lay . . . watching her door. The blind was pulled down to within
periods; i.e.
ellipsis are used an inch of the sash so that I could not be seen. When she came out on the doorstep
when we omit a
my heart leaped. I ran to the hall, seized my books and followed her. I kept her
word or more.

More than a
brown figure always in my eye and, when we came near the point at which our
word and less
ways diverged, I quickened my pace and passed her. This happened morning after
than a sentence
morning. I had never spoken to her, except for a few casual words, and yet her

name was like a summons to all my foolish blood. (Joyce 26-27)

Omission of a sentence:

Four spaced periods

are used; i.e. ellipsis
plus one spaced
period, when we omit
a sentence or more.
 Every morning I lay on the floor in the front parlour watching her door . . . .

When she came out on the doorstep my heart leaped. I ran to the hall, seized my

books and followed her. I kept her brown figure always in my eye and, when we

came near the point at which our ways diverged, I quickened my pace and passed

her. This happened morning after morning. I had never spoken to her, except for a

few casual words, and yet her name was like a summons to all my foolish blood.

(Joyce 26-27)

Omission of a whole paragraph:

A whole line of Every morning I lay on the floor in the front parlour watching her door. The blind
spaced periods is
used when we omit was pulled down to within an inch of the sash so that I could not be seen. When
a whole paragraph
or more
she came out on the doorstep my heart leaped.

.................................................................

I had never spoken to her, except for a few casual words, and yet her name was

like a summons to all my foolish blood. (Joyce 26-27)

Omission of the last part:

Every morning I lay on the floor in the front parlour watching her door. The blind
Same case with
sentence was pulled down to within an inch of the sash so that I could not be seen. When
omission, when
you omit the last she came out on the doorstep my heart leaped. I ran to the hall, seized my books
part of a quote we
use four spaced and followed her. I kept her brown figure always in my eye and, when we came
periods.
near the point at which our ways diverged, I quickened my pace and passed her.

This happened morning after morning. I had never spoken to her, except for a few

casual words. . . . (Joyce 26-27)

How to insert a clarification or a modification:

 When we wish to add a clarification of an ambiguous pronoun, thing, place...etc, we use square

brackets to indicate that the addition is not a part of the quote.

e.g.: “She [Eveline] sat at the window watching the evening invade the avenue’ (Joyce).

 If we write, for example, that:

Paine wrote that he “love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from

distress, and go brave by reflection”(98).

- He love is grammatically wrong, so in order to fix the mistake we use square brackets:

Paine wrote that he “loves[s] the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from

distress, and go brave by reflection”(98).

 [sic] usage:

‘ I remember my father writing Ulysses yes I saw the manuscript it was all striked[sic]’(qtd. in

Beja 196).

 Since the word ‘striked’ is false and the right form is stroke we must include

[sic] to show the reader that this is a reported mistake.

 No need to use [sic] with words from old 17th century English

A Work by more than one author parenthetical reference format:

 Two authors: ( A’s last name and B’s last name page number)

 More than Three authors ( A’s last name et al. Page number)
  Two works written by the same author and are both used in the

research paper: ( author’s last name, Title of the work meant page

number)

Note: if the author’s name or the work’s title is mentioned, no need to

repeat it.

Multivolume Work:

( Williams 2:25)

2 means the volume number

The colon indicates that the work has been written in several volumes
Indirect Sources:
We generate words unconsciously, without thinking about them; they appear, as
James Britton says, "at the point of utterance" (qtd. in Smith 108).

Here:

The original author is James Britton, but we have read his quote is Smith’s work. In
this case, we state the work we originally read the quote in, using the Latin
abbreviation (qtd. in)

http://library.williams.edu/citing/styles/mla.php

 Quoting classic verses, plays or poem

- No need to mention the whole title, yet include the act number, scene
number in the P.R
e.g. : ( Tempest I. ii. 420)
(Check for more details in the methodology handout)
  If we are paraphrase an idea taken from the works of two different authors
we might refer to them:
- Either by: ( Author’s last name1 page number ; Author’s last name 2 page
number)
- Or: by mentioning ( page number of the first work ; page num of second
work), if we already introduced the authors at the beginning

 Article title should be put between speech marks or italicized ( but not both)

Footnote
Footnotes are also referred to as content note, because the reader with more
details about the quotes’ content

1. Footnote used for clarification: used to include information which are

not fit to be mentioned in the text of the quote using square brackets:

‘The Chapman lighthouse1 , a three-legged thing erect on a mud-flat, shone strongly’

(Conrad4).

2- To provide bibliographical information about an additional source:

Ravitch2 argues that high schools are pressured to act as "social service
centers, and they don't do that well" (qtd. in Weisman 259).

Since Weisman’s work is the primary source, the student would

mention it in the works cited, but for Ravitch’s work is unknown. So, it
would be beneficial to mention it in a footnote

1
This lighthouse actually existed at the end of the Thames River. It was demolished in 1957 because it falling apart
2
Diane Ravitch, The Death And Life Of The Great American School System: How Testing And Choice Are
Undermining Education (New York: Basic Books, 2010) 60, qtd. in Weisman 259.
 Difference between Works cited and footnote bibliographical
information
Footnote Works cited
Author’s name – Not inversed Last name, first name
Comma Period
Title underlined Title underlined
No period Period
Parenthesis (Place: publisher, year) Place: publisher, year no
parenthesis
Page number No need for page number
Period Period

Works cited:
 One author:

Ravitch, Diane. The Death And Life Of The Great American School System:
How Testing And Choice Are Undermining Education. New York: Basic
Books, 2010.

 Two Authors:

Hardin, Walter, and Michael Meyer. The New Thoreau Hand Book. New
York: New York UP, 1980 ( according to the document)
- Only first author’s name is reversed

 More than 3 authors:

Spiller, Robert E, et al. Literary History of the United States. New York:

Macmillan, 1946.
A Book with an Anonymous Author

Margaret: A Tale of the Real and Ideal, Blight and Bloom. Boston: Jordon, 1845.

Or, if the author is known but not indicated:

[Judd, Sylvester]. Margaret: A Tale of the Real and Ideal, Blight and Bloom. Boston: Jordon,

1845.

For books written before 1900, you may omit the name of the publisher:

Margaret: A Tale of the Real and Ideal, Blight and Bloom. Boston, 1845.

( Copy – pasted )