Embedded Quotations and Parenthetical Citations (MLA Style)

MLA Format and Embedded Quotes using Parenthetical Citation

​This is the bibliographic information from an article. The bibliography info is written in MLA format. Can you answer these questions?

• Who is the author?

• What is the title of the article?

• What is the name of the journal?

• What date was it published?​

​Check your answers to the questions. See below.

• Who is the author? Farah Naz

• What is the title of the article? "Managing the Porous Boundaries"

• What is the name of the journal? Journal of Arts & Social Sciences

• What date was it published?​ 2021

Multiple Choice

the ___ goes in quotes and the ___ gets italicized

• article title, journal title

• journal title, article title

• both get italicized

You don't need to be able to read the text to answer the question.

Which one is a hanging indent and which one is an indented paragraph?

​A

​B

Multiple Choice

Which one has a hanging indent?

• A

• B

If you can quote a statistic or a reputable source, it will strengthen your point.​

​

What evidence holds more weight?

​Anything you quote from an another source is evidence you can use to back up your point.

What is evidence?

​Evidence

​For your career informative essay, you will need a total of three embedded quotes with in-text citations.

​

Your quotes will come from a database.​

​What is another term for MLA in-text citation?

In MLA style, referring to the works of others in your text is done by using what is known as parenthetical citation. This method involves placing relevant source information in parentheses after a quote or a paraphrase.

Put quotation marks around text you quote from another source.

Parenthetical Citations 

Use parenthesis at the end of the

cited text

Identify the source document by author's last name AND page number. If there is no page number you only need the author.

​So and so claims...

Introduce the quote with your own words.

​​"blah, blah, blah"

Put quotation marks around the quote.

​(Fitzgerald 53).

​

End with parenthetical documentation aka parenthetical citation.

​

​The three parts of an embedded quote or an in-text citation using parenthetical documentation:

​

For introducing borrowed material, you need, in this exact order:

1. The author’s full name. Since all your sources are scholarly/academic articles, all of them should have the author’s name. 

2. The author’s credentials. What do they do? Where do they work?

3. A synonym for “says” in the literary present tense.

4. The direct quote. 

5. A parenthetical citation. MLA format requires the author’s last name and page number.

   1. If two or more of your sources are written by the same author, you use the first word of the work’s title.

   2. If there is no author please cite the first few words of the title followed by page numbers, if available, in parentheses. 

​

Examples: Kelly Gallagher, renowned teacher and author from Anaheim, CA, notes that “my students benefit immensely from closely examining writing from the real world” (Gallagher 20).

​

On group work, Van Gemert advises “you need to allow the students to give feedback on how they worked in groups” (“Group”). This strategy ensures quality and productive collaboration between students.

​

According to the Learning Center Database, “teachers are the most underappreciated profession for what they contribute to society” (“Teacher Best”).

Always introduce a quotation with your own words.

• Notice the difference between the two examples.

  ​

• A good way to start is to use a signal phrase.

Remember: introduce the quote with your own words. Do not start a sentence with quotation marks.

​

Do not create a dropped quote.

Multiple Choice

The citation format we use in class is:

• APA

• Chicago

• MLA

• BBC

Multiple Choice

MLA stands for

• Modern Laboratory Answers

• Modern Language Association

• Mental Liability Alternatives

• Mastery Logic Administration

Multiple Choice

The placement of an in-text citation is important.

Select which in-text citation is formatted correctly from the paraphrases below.

• Many students who plagiarize do so out of ignorance rather than deliberately (Smith 10).

• Many students who plagiarize do so out of ignorance rather than deliberately. (Smith 10)

• Many students who plagiarize do so out of ignorance rather than deliberately. (Smith p.10)

• (Smith 10) Many students who plagiarize do so out of ignorance rather than deliberately.

Remember to use this format!

Multiple Choice

You put your citation inside of

• "quotation marks"

• [brackets]

• (parenthesis)

• $dollar signs$

Multiple Choice

For a quote from page 28 of a book called The Outsiders, written by S.E. Hinton, which of these is formatted correctly?

• (Hinton 28).

• ("The Outsiders" 28)

• (Hinton p.28)

Multiple Choice

Which of these citations is formatted correctly?

• (Fitzgerald, 23).

• (Donald Trump 45).

• (Harry Potter 73).

• (Rowling 4).

Multiple Choice

Why do we cite our sources?

• To get an A on the assignment

• To use quotation marks

• To show our reader where we got our information

• To write our topic sentence

Multiple Choice

What do you include in an in-text citation?

• author's last name and page number

• author's last name and book title

• book title and page number

• author's first and last name

Multiple Choice

Is this formatted correctly?

The text says, “It is a far, far better rest I go to than I have ever known” (Dickens 104).

• Correct

• Wrong

Multiple Choice

Is this formatted correctly?

The author eloquently writes, “Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same” (Bronte 94).

• Correct

• Wrong

Multiple Choice

Is the formatted correctly?

The text states, “All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us” (Tolkein page 229).

• correct

• wrong

Multiple Choice

Is this formatted correctly?

The author accurately states, “It matters not what someone is born, but what they grow to be" (JK Rowling 301).

• correct

• wrong

Multiple Choice

Is this formatted correctly?

According to the text, “You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose" (Seuss #21).

• correct

• wrong

Multiple Choice

What is wrong with this?

The main character in the story expressed his disapproval of "hooligans who wrote their names on bathroom stalls"(Rogers 22).

• nothing is wrong

• there should be a space before the parenthesis

• There should be a semi-colon

Punctuating quotations

​

Pay attention to the words that come before the quote in these examples.

Multiple Choice

The four parts of a parenthetical citation are...

• open parentheses, author's last name, page number, and close parentheses

• open parentheses, author's first name, page number, and close parentheses

• open parentheses, author's last name, a comma, the page number, and a close parentheses

• parentheses, quote, comma, author's last name

MLA Paper Format

• Top Right: Last Name & Page #

• Top Left: Your name, teacher, class, date

• Double Space All (no extra spaces)

• The title is not bolded or super-sized.

• Use Times New Roman, Size 12 point font

Multiple Choice

True or False?

The title of your paper should be both centered and in bold.

• True

• False

Multiple Choice

Which key should you press at the beginning of each paragraph?

• Enter

• Space Bar

• Caps Lock

• Tab

Multiple Choice

Which type of font should be used for an MLA formatted paper?

• Arial

• Comic Sans

• Times New Roman

• Wingdings

Multiple Choice

How do you write the date in an MLA formatted paper?

• 11/23/22

• November 23, 2022

• 23 November 2022

• Nov. 23, 2022

Multiple Choice

What should the spacing be in an MLA formatted paper?

• 1.0

• .5

• 2.0

• 1.5

Multiple Choice

True or False?

There should be an extra space (blank line) between paragraphs.

• True

• False

Multiple Choice

True or False?

You should number the first page of an essay.

• True

• False

Multiple Select

The header, in the upper right hand corner, should contain:

• Last name and page number

• Page number only

Notice which goes in italics and which goes inside "quotation marks"

• Short Story (quotation marks)

• Novel/Book (italics)

• Movie (italics)

• TV show (quotation marks)

• THE DIFFERENCE IS WHETHER IT IS LONG OR SHORT, in most cases.

Multiple Choice

Do you italicize or put quotation marks around this?

the title of a book

• italicize

• use quotation marks

Multiple Choice

Do you italicize or put quotation marks around this?

short story title

• italicize

• use quotation marks

Open Ended

You will need to add quotes from your research into your Career Informative Essay. Are YOU feeling confident about using quotes in your writing? What is still confusing to you? Answer in a COMPLETE sentence.