When quoting a passage of less than four written lines of prose, the quote is included in the sentence within quotation marks. The author's or speaker's last name and the page number the quote is found on appear in parenthesis after the conclusion of the quote, with only one space between them and end punctuation after the parenthesis.
For example:
"Charm was a scheme for making strangers like and trust a person immediately, no matter what the charmer had in mind" (Vonnegut 19).
If the author's or speaker's name appears in the sentence, only the page number appears in parenthesis.
For example:
In the book Breakfast of Champions, author Kurt Vonnegut says, "Charm was a scheme for making strangers like and trust a person immediately, no matter what the charmer had in mind" (19).
When quoting less than three lines of poetry, the passage is placed within quotation marks with back slashes (/) placed at the end of the written line.
For example:
In "Christine," Jocelyn Ng introduces the theme of sound through a metaphor, "There is this melody the ocean conducts / pushing and pulling the tides" (10).
When quoting more than four written lines of prose, the passage is removed from the paragraph with the preceding sentence ending with a colon. The quote is presented without quotation marks but is indented one extra time on both ends of the line (most word processors will have a quotation format, or press "tab" twice). Again, if the source is not mentioned before the quote, the last name and page number are included in the parenthesis following the punctuation at the end.
For example:
The dead man in Yossarian's tent was a pest, and Yossarian didn't like him, even though he had never seen him. Having him laying around all day annoyed Yossarian so much that he had gone to the orderly room several times to complain to Sergeant Towser, who refused to admit that the dead man even existed, which, of course, he no longer did. (Heller 31)
When the author or speaker is mentioned before the quote, only the page number is included in the parenthesis following the punctuation at the end.
For example:
Heller illustrates the futility of Yossarian's frustrations:
The dead man in Yossarian's tent was a pest, and Yossarian didn't like him, even though he had never seen him. Having him laying around all day annoyed Yossarian so much that he had gone to the orderly room several times to complain to Sergeant Towser, who refused to admit that the dead man even existed, which, of course, he no longer did. (31)
When quoting more the three lines of poetry, the format is the same as prose; however the slashes are removed and the line breaks appear as written on the page.
For example:
There is this melody the ocean conducts
pushing and pulling the tides
like orchestra strings
I can hear each and every note
float passed my eardrums (Ng 10)
When citing a spoken quote, give the title of the spoken work or description of where the quote was delivered.
For example:
In one of his stand-up routines, comedian Denis Leary jokes, "Why hate someone for the color of their skin when there are much better reasons to hate them?"