Q&A for How to Put a Quote in an Essay

Return to Full Article

Search
Add New Question
  • Question
    How do you put a famous quote in an essay?
    wikiHow Staff Editor
    Staff Answer
    This answer was written by one of our trained team of researchers who validated it for accuracy and comprehensiveness.
    wikiHow Staff Editor
    Staff Answer
    If you’re citing a famous quote, you’ll need to provide a citation as well as the context of the quote. For example, you might say, “As President Lincoln said in his 1838 Lyceum address . . .” You’ll also need to include the source where you found the quotation, such as a book or website.
  • Question
    How do you cite a quote from a person?
    wikiHow Staff Editor
    Staff Answer
    This answer was written by one of our trained team of researchers who validated it for accuracy and comprehensiveness.
    wikiHow Staff Editor
    Staff Answer
    If you’re citing a quote from a personal conversation rather than a published source, you’ll need to indicate in text and in your bibliography that you’re quoting a “personal communication” or similar. For example, in APA style, you would write the quote, then cite it as “(B. Wooster, personal communication, November 14, 2019).” In the bibliography, you’d cite the person’s name, followed by the date and then the type of communication (e.g., phone conversation, personal interview, or email).
  • Question
    Do I need to ask permission from authors to quote them?
    Community Answer
    No, that is what the citation is for. As long as you are giving appropriate credit to the author when quoting, that is all that is required.
  • Question
    How do I add quotes from a website to a paper?
    Community Answer
    This depends upon the citation method being used. For example, if you are using MLA, you can use author's last name and then the year in parentheses: "Quote," (Doe, 2016). If you don't know the author's last name, then use the article title: "Quote" (Title of Article, 2016).
  • Question
    If the text I'm quoting is written in all capital letters, do I need to quote it in all caps?
    Community Answer
    No, you may follow the regular rules of capitalization for your quote, unless only portions of it were capitalized for emphasis.
  • Question
    Can I cite a quote even though I don't know what page it's on?
    Community Answer
    No, you need to provide the page number for a proper reference.
  • Question
    How do I cite a quote that was said and not written?
    Community Answer
    You quote spoken words the same way you would a written quote, however, you cite the quote by referencing the medium in which it is spoken (e.g. a lecture, TV show, interview, etc.) according to the style of your other citations.
  • Question
    How do I properly quote internet resources?
    Community Answer
    Whenever you use a direct quote, acknowledge the quote by placing it inside quotation marks and naming the author. Whenever you paraphrase content – ideas, written text, or thoughts – place the credit within your research paper where your paraphrase occurs and at the end of the paper in the bibliography. Whenever you use photos, images, or other art, name the artist or creator underneath the image.
  • Question
    Is there an issue with having personal pronouns in a quotation for an essay?
    Community Answer
    As long as the personal pronouns are in the quotation, it is perfectly fine. Be sure to clarify who the pronoun refers to. Don't use personal pronouns when writing, however. You want the essay to be professional. Approach it from a third-party standpoint. Only use personal pronouns if they are quoted from a text.
  • Question
    If I am going to quote something that was said in a lecture, what do I put instead of a page number?
    Community Answer
    Allaire, Tanya. “Title.” La Citadelle, Cornwall. 28th of February, 2017. 1. Last name, first name(lecturer) 2. Tittle 3. School/location 4. Town 5. Date
  • Question
    How do you properly write a saying?
    Community Answer
    Write a saying exactly as it was spoken, and add any punctuation marks to make it grammatically correct.
  • Question
    How do I quote a movie?
    Community Answer
    In your bibliography, it would be formatted as, "The Movie. Directed by John Doe, performance by Jane Doe, New York Stories, 2016." The title of the movie should be italicized. In the essay, you can just put the movie title in parentheses after the quote.
  • Question
    Do I have to begin a new paragraph after I quote someone?
    Community Answer
    Unless a new character begins to speak, no, you don't.
  • Question
    When do I use a comma when ending a quote, but continuing the sentence?
    Community Answer
    When you want to use a quote, but want to continue the sentence, you would put a comma before the last quotation mark. For example: "'Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius and it's better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring,' Monroe once said."
  • Question
    Should I italicize a spoken quote in an article?
    Community Answer
    No. Simply cite it according to the medium it came from and put it in citation marks.
  • Question
    How do I quote a character in a book? Do I need to include the name of the character, the book title and the page number?
    Community Answer
    No, you only need "Quote" (author's last name and page number). The character's name isn't needed, but you will most likely mention their name when introducing the quote and explaining the quote.
  • Question
    Can I use a single quotation mark instead of two in an essay?
    Community Answer
    Proper format is to use the double quotation mark, saving single quotation marks for a quote within a quote. If you deviate from this standard, it may cost you points on your essay.
  • Question
    I am creating a training document for my organization. I'm including a full online article, but I would like to remove a sentence at the end of a paragraph. The sentence has information relevant for this year only. Can I remove that sentence?
    Community Answer
    It isn't really necessary to quote a whole article, but the sentence can be omitted and replaced with an ellipse.
Ask a Question

      Return to Full Article