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One of the essential things included in writing a perfect essay is preparing quotations and citations that would fit organically into your text and support your main thesis. Why should students include quotes in a paper? Regardless of the purpose of your college essay, there is one general requirement that you must always keep in mind. While writing, you must add valuable facts, details, and specifics to the paper. Quotations and citations make this possible and prove that you used reputable and appealing sources to develop your essay well. We can add that essay quotes are mandatory and extremely beneficial. The same thing applies to citations.
When it comes to determining the terms quotation and citation that is where many people make the mistake of thinking that these two elements are identical and have no differences between them. In fact, they are different in the essay planning process. When you make an essay citation, you are referencing a specific source but do not provide a direct quote.
For example, you want to include a paragraph of some relevant article in your text and restate its main idea with your own words – this is a citation. In this case, you can’t just paste the original piece into your text. You still must use the proper citation method! Quoting, on the contrary, assumes that you will paste a direct phrase or paragraph without changing anything, and that is how these two elements are different. Quotations are when you directly use a sentence or something another person has said.
This is not all you need to know. The format of these components is another important thing. The format is determined by the citation styles, and you have to use the one that was specified in the guidelines by your instructor for your academic paper. Otherwise, you risk getting a lower grade. And you also can't forget that there are services out there that can do university assignments for you if you don't have the time or skills to do it yourself.
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Types Of Quotations And Examples
How to use quotes in an essay? Below, you can find a brief guide on inserting phrases from various sources in your text using the two most common styles – APA and MLA. How to put a quote in an essay? Read this, and you will find out.
MLA-style quotations in an essay
Short - In accordance with this style, a short quote is a phrase that is less than four printed lines of text (novel, a story or etc.) or three lines of a poem.
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If your phrase meets these requirements regarding length, then you will just need to mark it with double quotes, indicate the author’s last name, and specify the page number.
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Also, you need to include some sort of introductory text before.
✏️Example:
Some critics say that literary fiction “is all but dead in the 21st century” (Smith, 200).
Long
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Longer pieces are included in the form of a separate text without using quotation marks, and, as a rule, such pieces go after a colon to make them look organic.
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These are also followed by the author’s family name and a page in parentheses. It should be indented 0.5 inches and double-spaced.
✏️Example:
Nelly Dean treats Heathcliff poorly and dehumanizes him throughout her narration: They entirely refused to have it in bed with them, or even in their room, and I had no more sense, so, I put it on the landing of the stairs, hoping it would be gone on the morrow. By chance, or else attracted by hearing his voice, it crept to Mr. Earnshaw’s door, and there he found it on quitting his chamber. Inquiries were made as to how it got there; I was obliged to confess, and in recompense for my cowardice and inhumanity was sent out of the house. (Bronte, 78)
APA style
Short – Here, the format is similar to the MLA format, but you also have to write the page number after the following character, “p.” and indicate the year.
✏️Example:
Some critics say that literary fiction “is all but dead in the 21st century” (Smith, 2004, p. 200).
Long – The format of longer pieces is also similar to MLA style but has to be followed with a brief reflection on the provided evidence that you write in your own words. They should also be double-spaced, and s indented 0.5 inches. If you want to know how to start an essay with a quote format, this may be the most important example.
✏️Example:
Nelly Dean treats Heathcliff poorly and dehumanizes him throughout her narration: They entirely refused to have it in bed with them, or even in their room, and I had no more sense, so, I put it on the landing of the stairs, hoping it would be gone on the morrow. By chance, or else attracted by hearing his voice, it crept to Mr. Earnshaw’s door, and there he found it on quitting his chamber. Inquiries were made as to how it got there; I was obliged to confess, and in recompense for my cowardice and inhumanity was sent out of the house. (Bronte, 2017, p. 78)
Although it looks simple, almost every student faces difficulties with this matter, which is why we should encourage you not to be afraid of asking for help with essay writing if you need it!
The Types of Quotation Marks
Technically, there are two types of inverted commas. There are the double quotation marks that look like this “ ” and the single inverted commas that appear as such ‘ ’. Now, if this form of punctuation is already puzzling you, then the different types may only serve to confuse you more. Don’t worry, though, since this can be sorted out rather easily…
As a rule of thumb:
- British English and Australian English writers use ‘ ’ when writing
- American English writers rely on “ ” in their texts
This is more important than you may believe. Your professor will ask you to use correct quotation marks in all your essays, and if you make a mistake, in the best-case scenario, you will have to correct each one. You also need to know how to choose quotes for an essay properly and use the most suitable ones.
Another point to focus on is when mentioning a quotation during a text that involves a speech. Let’s consider the following example:
“What do you think she meant when she called me a ‘miser’?”
As you can see here, both types have been utilized. Once again, though, it is all about remaining consistent when quoting things inside inverted commas. If you are going to use the above structure once, then you will need to continue doing so for the rest of your text as well.
Types Of Citations And Examples
MLA citation for an essay
You will need to indicate only the author’s name and page.
✏️Example:
In his work, Smith claims that fiction in literature is almost dead in the 21st century (200).
Chicago/Turabian
This style is different from others. Here you can make in-text citations using endnotes or footnotes, which means that you don’t need to include anything except the number of citations after the phrase, but on the endnotes page (or in footnotes), you will need to provide comprehensive bibliographical information.
The footnotes and bibliography style are mostly used in humanities topics such as history, arts, and literature. This style uses numbered footnotes or endnotes, which correspond to superscript numbers within the text. The reference sources are listed in a Chicago-style bibliography section at the end of the work. The benefit of this system is that it can incorporate awkward source links where the author-date system would struggle.
The author-date system is more common in social sciences and scientific fields of study. This style cites sources briefly within the text by inserting the author’s last name and year of publication. Each of these inserts is linked to the reference list, usually located at the end of the writing.
Look at the example below.
✏️Example:
In his work, Smith claims that fiction in literature is almost dead in the 21st century.1
1 First and last names of the author, the name of the source (Place where it was published, the name of the publisher, year), page number.
APA
You have to include the author’s family name, as well as the year of publication and pages included in the parenthesis within the sentence that includes the phrase.
✏️Example:
Smith (2004, p. 200) claims that fiction in literature is almost dead in the 21st century.
Citations and Quotation Tips You Need To Know About
One of the best ways to teach you how to quote in an essay is to share a few tips with you that are effective and easy to use but do have a huge, positive effect on the overall result. These tips come from our writers, and they have been used in countless papers, so you can deduce why they are effective. You can also use the best citation generator if you need any help in this case scenario. Anyway, let’s share a couple of tips.
- Choose and use one citation style only
You must be consistent with the style you have chosen. A common mistake is for a student to use two or to mix the two styles. This will have a huge issue in your paper. Learn how to use the style and go for it. Learn how to use quotes in an essay as well, and don’t repeat the same mistake twice.
- Don’t use too many citations
Some students believe that if they use citations all the time, their papers will look better. This is not true. Never use one citation after another or 10 times on a single page. Citations are there to help you, but they cannot complete the paper instead of you.
- Use rarer quotas
Now that you know how to insert quotes in an essay, you will need to know which ones to use. The ones you can find in a Google search within 2 seconds are not great. They have been used countless times. Instead, read a book and find specific and rare quotas.
- Make quotas match the text
You can write on any topic possible. But you need to match the quotas to the style and the sentences you wrote. If you look at quotations in essay examples, you can see that they look like one thing. This is something you must do as well.
- You can start your essay with a quota
This can be hard for some students to implement, but the benefit is massive. You will intrigue the reader and make your paper look very interesting. To achieve this, learn how to use quotation marks in an essay, use quotas in general, and try a couple of things with this approach. This approach will give your essay an interesting and unique flair and will make your paper stand out. Ordering an essay from a professional writer can also help you to understand how to use quotes properly.
We hope that you now have a better idea of how to use citations and quotations in your essay but keep in mind that you can always request professional assistance at a PapersOwl - a reliable essay writing service if you are having trouble with academic writing, editing, formatting, or other issues! We are here 24/7/365 and can assist you in any way you can imagine. Now that you know how to use citations and quotations in an essay, our job will be much easier.
