Helpful Guidelines On How To Use Long Quotes In An Essay

Many people are uncertain about how they should use quotations in an essay. Because of this, they are often misused and end up not accomplishing what you wanted. Long quotations or references that are longer than four lines should be used sparingly in your essay. You can use one if you think it will support your thesis and give it credibility. You may also want to use one if you think it will give a different perspective to your essay. If you do decide to use one, you need to follow definite rules.

• Need to put it in block format by indenting it in on the left side by one inch
• You don’t use quotation marks
• Double-space just like the rest of your paper
• Sometimes you use italics

You must pay attention to the type of paper you are supposed to be writing. There are different citation styles that your essay is supposed to follow. Your professor will tell you what type of discipline you should be following. For example, he may tell you to use the MLA style, APA style, or Chicago style. Each has its own rules that need to be followed.

Make sure you introduce your passage. Tell the reader the context which you are using the quote. After you insert the block quotation, make sure you explain why you used the quote. You need to decide if the quotes still allow your paper to flow or does it cause it to be choppy. Many people kind of check out when they see block quotations. Sometimes people will even skip over it so use them cautiously. Only use them if you would lose the integrity of the passage if you left out any words in the sentences.

Sometimes people think you are taking the easy way out if you throw a bunch of excerpts into your paper. You really have to think that your paper is better because you are adding words exactly as they were written instead of you paraphrasing them. Long quotes can definitely give merit to your paper if used properly. There are no definite rules as to how many you should use. The more experienced you become at writing papers, the better you will know when and how to use long quotations.