Select your quotations carefully and don't use more than you need. Use quotations when accuracy or exact wording is important or when the quotation makes a powerful point. Introduce the quotations in your own words and make sure they fit smoothly into the flow of your essay.
Use double quotation marks around a quotation when you use a direct quotation that is less than four lines long. Don't use quotation marks around paraphrased material (material summarized in your own words).
Indent a quotation if it is more than four lines long. Do not use quotation marks around indented quotations.
Capitalize the first letter of a quote if it is a complete sentence but not if it is a fragment. Put periods and commas inside quotation marks. Put colons and semicolons outside. Put question marks and exclamation points inside the quotation marks if they are part of the quotation, but put them outside the quotation marks if they refer to the sentence as a whole.
Footnote every quotation, even paraphrased quotations. Place a raised number (superscript) at the end of each quotation after the period. At the bottom of the page (or at the end of the essay, if you are using endnotes), type the number and the citation.