Quoting within an essay

How to Use the MLA Quotation Style. When using the MLA (Modern Language Association) formatting style in an essay, you need to indicate the writer’s name, as well as the number of the page you've taken the material from (for printed sources). When quoting poems, the number of the page will be replaced by verses.

If the quotation enclosed in single marks also contains material–whether another quotation or the title of a work–that needs to be set off with quotation marks, use double quotation marks around that material. The pattern is double, single, double quotation marks. In other words, nest punctuation within punctuation and alternate to disambiguate:

Use a lengthy excerpt (block quote) without quotation marks but with left indentation (half an inch). Moreover, note that you will have to place a period before the parentheses. A quote is regarded as long if it takes four or more lines in your essay.

How to Quote a Quote? 1 In American English, use double quotation marks for quotations and single quotation marks for quotations within quotations. 2 In British English, use single quotation marks for quotations and double quotation marks for quotations within quotations.