how do you quote a speech in essay

A direct quotation reproduces words verbatim from another work or from your own previously published work. It is best to paraphrase sources rather than directly quoting them because paraphrasing allows you to fit material to the context of your paper and writing style.

Use direct quotations rather than paraphrasing:

• when reproducing an exact definition (see Section 6.22 of the Publication Manual ),
• when an author has said something memorably or succinctly, or
• when you want to respond to exact wording (e.g., something someone said).

Instructors, programs, editors, and publishers may establish limits on the use of direct quotations. Consult your instructor or editor if you are concerned that you may have too much quoted material in your paper.

This page addresses how to format short quotations and block quotations. Additional information is available about how to:

• include page numbers for quotations
• cite quotations from material without page numbers
• cite quotations that include errors
• indicate changes to quotations
• present quotations from research participants

Quotations are covered in the seventh edition APA Style manuals in the Publication Manual Sections 8.25 to 8.35 and the Concise Guide Sections 8.25 to 8.34

Related handout

• In-Text Citation Checklist (PDF, 227KB)

Short quotations (fewer than 40 words)

For quotations of fewer than 40 words, add quotation marks around the words and incorporate the quote into your own text—there is no additional formatting needed. Do not insert an ellipsis at the beginning and/or end of a quotation unless the original source includes an ellipsis.

Effective teams can be difficult to describe because “high performance along one domain does not translate to high performance along another” (Ervin et al., 2018, p. 470).

For a direct quotation, always include a full citation ( parenthetical or narrative ) in the same sentence as the quotation, including the page number (or other location information, e.g., paragraph number).

• Place a parenthetical citation either immediately after the quotation or at the end of the sentence.
• For a narrative citation, include the author and year in the sentence and then place the page number or other location information in parentheses after the quotation.
• If the quotation precedes the narrative citation, put the page number or location information after the year and a comma.
• If the citation appears at the end of a sentence, put the end punctuation after the closing parenthesis for the citation.
• If the quotation includes citations, see Section 8.32 of the Publication Manual .
• If the quotation includes material already in quotation marks, see Section 8.33 of the Publication Manual .
• Place periods and commas within closing single or double quotation marks. Place other punctuation marks inside quotation marks only when they are part of the quoted material.

Block quotations (40 words or more)

Format quotations of 40 words or more as block quotations:

• Do not use quotation marks to enclose a block quotation.
• Start a block quotation on a new line and indent the whole block 0.5 in. from the left margin.
• Double-space the entire block quotation.
• Do not add extra space before or after it.
• If there are additional paragraphs within the quotation, indent the first line of each subsequent paragraph an additional 0.5 in. See an example in Section 8.27 of the Publication Manual .
• Either (a) cite the source in parentheses after the quotation’s final punctuation or (b) cite the author and year in the narrative before the quotation and place only the page number in parentheses after the quotation’s final punctuation.
• Do not add a period after the closing parenthesis in either case.

Block quotation with parenthetical citation:

Researchers have studied how people talk to themselves:

Inner speech is a paradoxical phenomenon. It is an experience that is central to many people’s everyday lives, and yet it presents considerable challenges to any effort to study it scientifically. Nevertheless, a wide range of methodologies and approaches have combined to shed light on the subjective experience of inner speech and its cognitive and neural underpinnings. (Alderson-Day & Fernyhough, 2015, p. 957)

Block quotation with narrative citation:

Flores et al. (2018) described how they addressed potential researcher bias when working with an intersectional community of transgender people of color:

Everyone on the research team belonged to a stigmatized group but also held privileged identities. Throughout the research process, we attended to the ways in which our privileged and oppressed identities may have influenced the research process, findings, and presentation of results. (p. 311)

APA 7th Referencing

• Style summary
• Easy Referencing tool This link opens in a new window
• In-text citations
• Reference lists
• Secondary sources (as cited in)
• Streaming videos
• Film/Movie, TV, radio and podcasts
• Print books
• Book chapters
• Edited books
• Conference papers and webinars
• Dictionaries and encyclopedias
• First Nations resources and knowledges
• Images, artworks, and screenshots
• Journal articles
• Newspapers and magazines
• Lecture/Class materials, MOOCs/learning modules and personal communications
• Legal cases
• Legislation, bills and regulations
• Conventions and treaties
• Taxation rulings
• Medical databases
• Plant labels and profiles

Speeches format

• Standards, building codes and patents
• Graphs (figures)
• Theses and dissertations
• Translated and foreign works
• Websites and webpages
• Online documents (e.g. white paper, brochure, fact sheet, ppt slides etc.)
• Social media, apps, games and AI
• APA 7th quiz
• From an edited book
• From a web source
• From YouTube

Speech from an edited book

Reference the source in which you found the speech.

Reference elements

In-text citation

• Citations need to include both the original author of the speech and the secondary source in which the speech was found (e.g. an edited anthology of speeches).

• In the reference list, you will need to cite only the secondary source (i.e. the edited book) in which you found the citation.

Speech from a web source

• If you want to acknowledge the speech's title, make sure to do so in  italics . 

Speech from YouTube

• Citations need to include both the original author of the speech and the secondary source in which the speech was found (e.g. an edited anthology of speeches). 
• Because the British Broadcasting Corporation is known in its abbreviated form, the 2nd citation onwards should be shortened to BBC (2020) or (BBC, 2020). See:  in-text citation formats  for more information. 
• When quoting directly from a YouTube video, provide a time stamp.

• In the reference list, you will need to cite only the secondary source (i.e. the YouTube video ) in which you found the citation. 
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Citations & Avoiding Plagiarism

• Introduction to Citations
• 5 Steps to Create a Citation
• Citation Generators: How to Use & Doublecheck Them
• IEEE This link opens in a new window
• AI/ChatGPT and Citations
• Annotated Bibliographies
• Avoiding Plagiarism
• In-Text Citations
• Verbal Citations in Speeches
• Citation Help Playlist (YouTube) This link opens in a new window
• Links for Citation Generators Workshop

Why use Verbal Citations?

• Adds credibility.
• Shows your work.
• Avoids plagiarism by giving credit to others for their work/ideas.
• Shows timeliness of research and resources.

Creating an Verbal Citation

General guidelines.

Be brief, but p rovide enough information that your audience can track down the source.

Highlight what is most important criteria for that source.

Include who/what and when.

• Author 
• Author's credentials
• Title of Work
• Title of Publication
• Date of work/publication/study

Use an introductory phrase for your verbal citation.

According to Professor Jane Smith at Stanford University.... (abbreviated verbal citation)

When I interviewed college instructor John Doe and observed his English 101 class...

Jason Hammersmith, a journalist with the Dallas Times, describes in his February 13, 2016 article....  (Full verbal citation)

Full vs. abbreviated verbal citations

Full verbal citations  include all the information about the source thereby allowing the source to be easily found.  ex. According to Harvard University professors, Dr. Smith and Dr. Jones research on this topic published in the Summer 2015 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine....

Abbreviated verbal citations  include less information about the source, but still includes the most important aspects of that specific source.  ex. A 2015 study in the New England Journal of Medicine reports that Harvard University professors....

• FILE: Guide to Oral Footnoting (a/k/a verbal citations) This document from Matt McGarrity, a University of Washington communication instructor, provides examples and tips on how to verbally cite information in a speech.

Speaking a Verbal Citation

Verbal citations should come at the beginning of the cited idea or quotation..

It is a easier for a listening audience to understand that what they hear next is coming from that source. 

Introduce the quote (ex "And I quote" or "As Dr. Smith stated"...) PAUSE. Start quotation. PAUSE at the end of the quotation.

Introduce the quote. Say QUOTE. Start quotation. Say END QUOTE. 

Example 1 : Listen to the first few minutes of this video to hear how the speaker incorporates a verbal citation.

2018 NSDA Informative Speech Champion Lily Indie's "Nobody puts Baby in a closet"  has examples of verbal citations. Listen to two verbal citations starting at the 5:30 mark and running until 6:50 mark in this YouTube video.

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• How to Quote | Citing Quotes in Harvard & APA

How to Quote | Citing Quotes in Harvard & APA

Published on 15 April 2022 by Shona McCombes and Jack Caulfield. Revised on 3 September 2022.

Quoting means copying a passage of someone else’s words and crediting the source. To quote a source, you must ensure:

• The quoted text is enclosed in quotation marks (usually single quotation marks in UK English, though double is acceptable as long as you’re consistent) or formatted as a block quote
• The original author is correctly cited
• The text is identical to the original

The exact format of a quote depends on its length and on which citation style you are using. Quoting and citing correctly is essential to avoid plagiarism , which is easy to detect with a good plagiarism checker .

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Table of contents

How to cite a quote in harvard and apa style, introducing quotes, quotes within quotes, shortening or altering a quote, block quotes, when should i use quotes, frequently asked questions about quoting sources.

Every time you quote, you must cite the source correctly . This looks slightly different depending on the citation style you’re using.

Citing a quote in Harvard style

When you include a quote in Harvard style, you must add a Harvard in-text citation giving the author’s last name, the year of publication, and a page number if available. Any full stop or comma appears after the citation, not within the quotation marks.

Citations can be parenthetical or narrative. In a parenthetical citation , you place all the information in brackets after the quote. In a narrative citation , you name the author in your sentence (followed by the year), and place the page number after the quote.

• Evolution is a gradual process that ‘can act only by very short and slow steps’ (Darwin, 1859, p. 510) . Darwin (1859) explains that evolution ‘can act only by very short and slow steps’ (p. 510) .

Complete guide to Harvard style

Citing a quote in APA Style

To cite a direct quote in APA , you must include the author’s last name, the year, and a page number, all separated by commas. If the quote appears on a single page, use ‘p.’; if it spans a page range, use ‘pp.’

An APA in-text citation can be parenthetical or narrative. In a parenthetical citation , you place all the information in parentheses after the quote. In a narrative citation , you name the author in your sentence (followed by the year), and place the page number after the quote.

Punctuation marks such as full stops and commas are placed after the citation, not within the quotation marks.

• Evolution is a gradual process that ‘can act only by very short and slow steps’ (Darwin, 1859, p. 510) .
• Darwin (1859) explains that evolution ‘can act only by very short and slow steps’ (p. 510) .

Complete guide to APA

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Make sure you integrate quotes properly into your text by introducing them in your own words, showing the reader why you’re including the quote and providing any context necessary to understand it.  Don’t  present quotations as stand-alone sentences.

There are three main strategies you can use to introduce quotes in a grammatically correct way:

• Add an introductory sentence
• Use an introductory signal phrase
• Integrate the quote into your own sentence

The following examples use APA Style citations, but these strategies can be used in all styles.

Introductory sentence

Introduce the quote with a full sentence ending in a colon . Don’t use a colon if the text before the quote isn’t a full sentence.

If you name the author in your sentence, you may use present-tense verbs, such as “states’, ‘argues’, ‘explains’, ‘writes’, or ‘reports’, to describe the content of the quote.

• In Denmark, a recent poll shows that: ‘A membership referendum held today would be backed by 55 percent of Danish voters’ (Levring, 2018, p. 3).
• In Denmark, a recent poll shows that support for the EU has grown since the Brexit vote: ‘A membership referendum held today would be backed by 55 percent of Danish voters’ (Levring, 2018, p. 3).
• Levring (2018) reports that support for the EU has grown since the Brexit vote: ‘A membership referendum held today would be backed by 55 percent of Danish voters’ (p. 3).

Introductory signal phrase

You can also use a signal phrase that mentions the author or source but doesn’t form a full sentence. In this case, you follow the phrase with a comma instead of a colon.

• According to a recent poll, ‘A membership referendum held today would be backed by 55 percent of Danish voters’ (Levring, 2018, p. 3).
• As Levring (2018) explains, ‘A membership referendum held today would be backed by 55 percent of Danish voters’ (p. 3).

Integrated into your own sentence

To quote a phrase that doesn’t form a full sentence, you can also integrate it as part of your sentence, without any extra punctuation.

• A recent poll suggests that EU membership ‘would be backed by 55 percent of Danish voters’ in a referendum (Levring, 2018, p. 3).
• Levring (2018) reports that EU membership ‘would be backed by 55 percent of Danish voters’ in a referendum (p. 3).

When you quote text that itself contains another quote, this is called a nested quotation or a quote within a quote. It may occur, for example, when quoting dialogue from a novel.

To distinguish this quote from the surrounding quote, you enclose it in double (instead of single) quotation marks (even if this involves changing the punctuation from the original text). Make sure to close both sets of quotation marks at the appropriate moments.

Note that if you only quote the nested quotation itself, and not the surrounding text, you can just use single quotation marks.

• Carraway introduces his narrative by quoting his father: ‘ ‘ Whenever you feel like criticizing anyone, ‘ he told me, ‘ just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had ‘ ‘ (Fitzgerald 1).
• Carraway introduces his narrative by quoting his father: ‘”Whenever you feel like criticizing anyone,” he told me, “just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had “  (Fitzgerald 1).
• Carraway introduces his narrative by quoting his father: ‘“Whenever you feel like criticizing anyone,” he told me, “just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had”’ (Fitzgerald 1).
• Carraway begins by quoting his father’s invocation to ‘remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had’ (Fitzgerald 1).

Note:  When the quoted text in the source comes from another source, it’s best to just find that original source in order to quote it directly. If you can’t find the original source, you can instead cite it indirectly .

Often, incorporating a quote smoothly into your text requires you to make some changes to the original text. It’s fine to do this, as long as you clearly mark the changes you’ve made to the quote.

Shortening a quote

If some parts of a passage are redundant or irrelevant, you can shorten the quote by removing words, phrases, or sentences and replacing them with an ellipsis (…). Put a space before and after the ellipsis.

Be careful that removing the words doesn’t change the meaning. The ellipsis indicates that some text has been removed, but the shortened quote should still accurately represent the author’s point.

Altering a quote

You can add or replace words in a quote when necessary. This might be because the original text doesn’t fit grammatically with your sentence (e.g., it’s in a different tense), or because extra information is needed to clarify the quote’s meaning.

Use brackets to distinguish words that you have added from words that were present in the original text.

The Latin term ‘ sic ‘ is used to indicate a (factual or grammatical) mistake in a quotation. It shows the reader that the mistake is from the quoted material, not a typo of your own.

In some cases, it can be useful to italicise part of a quotation to add emphasis, showing the reader that this is the key part to pay attention to. Use the phrase ’emphasis added’ to show that the italics were not part of the original text.

You usually don’t need to use brackets to indicate minor changes to punctuation or capitalisation made to ensure the quote fits the style of your text.

If you quote more than a few lines from a source, you must format it as a block quote . Instead of using quotation marks, you set the quote on a new line and indent it so that it forms a separate block of text.

Block quotes are cited just like regular quotes, except that if the quote ends with a full stop, the citation appears after the full stop.

To the end of his days Bilbo could never remember how he found himself outside, without a hat, a walking-stick or any money, or anything that he usually took when he went out; leaving his second breakfast half-finished and quite unwashed-up, pushing his keys into Gandalf’s hands, and running as fast as his furry feet could carry him down the lane, past the great Mill, across The Water, and then on for a mile or more. (16)

Avoid relying too heavily on quotes in academic writing . To integrate a source , it’s often best to paraphrase , which means putting the passage into your own words. This helps you integrate information smoothly and keeps your own voice dominant.

However, there are some situations in which quotes are more appropriate.

When focusing on language

If you want to comment on how the author uses language (for example, in literary analysis ), it’s necessary to quote so that the reader can see the exact passage you are referring to.

When giving evidence

To convince the reader of your argument, interpretation or position on a topic, it’s often helpful to include quotes that support your point. Quotes from primary sources (for example, interview transcripts or historical documents) are especially credible as evidence.

When presenting an author’s position or definition

When you’re referring to secondary sources such as scholarly books and journal articles, try to put others’ ideas in your own words when possible.

But if a passage does a great job at expressing, explaining, or defining something, and it would be very difficult to paraphrase without changing the meaning or losing the weakening the idea’s impact, it’s worth quoting directly.

A quote is an exact copy of someone else’s words, usually enclosed in quotation marks and credited to the original author or speaker.

To present information from other sources in academic writing , it’s best to paraphrase in most cases. This shows that you’ve understood the ideas you’re discussing and incorporates them into your text smoothly.

It’s appropriate to quote when:

• Changing the phrasing would distort the meaning of the original text
• You want to discuss the author’s language choices (e.g., in literary analysis )
• You’re presenting a precise definition
• You’re looking in depth at a specific claim

Every time you quote a source , you must include a correctly formatted in-text citation . This looks slightly different depending on the citation style .

For example, a direct quote in APA is cited like this: ‘This is a quote’ (Streefkerk, 2020, p. 5).

Every in-text citation should also correspond to a full reference at the end of your paper.

In scientific subjects, the information itself is more important than how it was expressed, so quoting should generally be kept to a minimum. In the arts and humanities, however, well-chosen quotes are often essential to a good paper.

In social sciences, it varies. If your research is mainly quantitative , you won’t include many quotes, but if it’s more qualitative , you may need to quote from the data you collected .

As a general guideline, quotes should take up no more than 5–10% of your paper. If in doubt, check with your instructor or supervisor how much quoting is appropriate in your field.

If you’re quoting from a text that paraphrases or summarises other sources and cites them in parentheses , APA  recommends retaining the citations as part of the quote:

• Smith states that ‘the literature on this topic (Jones, 2015; Sill, 2019; Paulson, 2020) shows no clear consensus’ (Smith, 2019, p. 4).

Footnote or endnote numbers that appear within quoted text should be omitted.

If you want to cite an indirect source (one you’ve only seen quoted in another source), either locate the original source or use the phrase ‘as cited in’ in your citation.

A block quote is a long quote formatted as a separate ‘block’ of text. Instead of using quotation marks , you place the quote on a new line, and indent the entire quote to mark it apart from your own words.

APA uses block quotes for quotes that are 40 words or longer.

Cite this Scribbr article

If you want to cite this source, you can copy and paste the citation or click the ‘Cite this Scribbr article’ button to automatically add the citation to our free Reference Generator.

McCombes, S. & Caulfield, J. (2022, September 03). How to Quote | Citing Quotes in Harvard & APA. Scribbr. Retrieved 18 June 2024, from https://www.scribbr.co.uk/working-sources/quoting/

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How to Cite a Speech

Last Updated: July 6, 2023 Fact Checked

This article was co-authored by wikiHow staff writer, Danielle Blinka, MA, MPA . Danielle Blinka is a Writer, Editor, Podcaster, Improv Performer, and Artist currently living in Houston, TX. She also has experience teaching English and writing to others. Danielle holds a Bachelor of Arts in English, Bachelor of Arts in Political Science, Master of Arts in English with a concentration in writing, and Master of Public Administration from Lamar University. There are 10 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 32,851 times.

Speeches can provide a lot of great information, but citing them can seem hard. Luckily, there are ways for you to cite that information. If you find the speech in a book, then you can cite the book as an edited book, using the correct writing style. Otherwise, you can follow the speech citation guidelines for the style guide you're using. Also, you can cite a speech in-text in the same way you would any other source.

Using MLA Format

• If the speech had two authors, you'd alphabetize it using the first author's last name. Then, write "and" and the second author's name. For example: Lopez, Ana and Sam Robinson.
• If you found the speech in a book, then you can format your citation for a book, using the book’s information.
• You’d start your citation like this: Weber, Alex.

• For example, you might find Alex Weber’s speech titled as “Building a Robot.”
• In cases where there is no speech name given, you can note this by giving it an appropriate title. For example, “Keynote Speech at National Robotics Conference.” In this case, you’re telling the audience that the information is from an unnamed speech you heard the author give at the National Robotics Conference.
• Your citation would like like this so far: Weber, Alex. "Building a Robot."

• For example, Alex Weber may have been presenting at the National Robotics Conference, which is the name you’d use.
• If you’re citing a class lecture, you can list the course name and course number for this entry. [4] X Research source
• At this point, your citation should look like this: Weber, Alex. "Building a Robot." National Robotics Conference,

• For a class lecture, you’d use your university. [6] X Research source
• Your citation should now look like this: Weber, Alex. “Building a Robot.” National Robotics Conference, Center for Robotics,

• Here's an example of the citation up to this point: Weber, Alex. “Building a Robot.” National Robotics Conference, Center for Robotics, 8 January 2018,

• You do not need to include the city if it’s specified in the name of the venue. [8] X Trustworthy Source Purdue Online Writing Lab Trusted resource for writing and citation guidelines Go to source As an example, you would not need to specify Houston, TX, if the venue name was Houston Civic Center.
• This citation would like like this so far: Weber, Alex. “Building a Robot.” National Robotics Conference, Center for Robotics, 8 January 2018, George R. Brown Center, Houston, TX.

• Your final citation will look like this: Weber, Alex. “Building a Robot.” National Robotics Conference, Center for Robotics, 8 January 2018, George R. Brown Center, Houston, TX. Keynote Address.

Following APA Format

• If you can't find a transcript, you can look for a video of the speech. As another alternative, you can look for a book that uses excerpts of the speech or look for the sources the speaker used to support the material in the speech, which you can use instead of the speech itself.
• If you find your transcript, you can cite the speech appropriately using the format of an edited book, article, or website.
• For example: Lamar, Amy. Influential speeches on robotics . Atlanta, GA: B&B Publishers.

• This works for both a recording of the speech or a transcript.
• If you found the speech on YouTube, you should start your citation entry with the name of the posting account.
• Your citation should look like this so far: Jackson, Malik.

• For instance, the Center for Robotics may have uploaded Malik Jackson’s speech on June 3, 2018, right after its delivery.
• Here's an example: Jackson, Malik. (2018, June).

• If you watched a video of the speech, label it as a video file after the title, like this: [Video file]. In this case, you should put your period after [Video file].
• For example, your citation might look like this so far: Jackson, Malik. (2018, June). Repairing Surgical Machines [Video File].

• Your final entry might look like this: Jackson, Malik. (2018, June). Repairing Surgical Machines [Video File]. Retrieved from www.centerforrobotics.com/speeches/repairing_surgical_machines.

Citing in Chicago Style

• You can use the name of the speaker first, no matter what your source type is. However, the rest of your citation can vary, depending on the source where you found the speech. If you found the transcript in a book, the rest of the citation should be formatted like an edited book. [16] X Trustworthy Source Purdue Online Writing Lab Trusted resource for writing and citation guidelines Go to source
• Your citation should look like this so far: Ray, Jane.

• Here's an example: Ray, Jane. "Choosing Robot Components.”

• If the speech was a class lecture, you should label it “Classroom discussion” instead of “Speech.” You should also include the name of your course. [18] X Research source
• For instance: Ray, Jane. "Choosing Robot Components.” Speech,

• Write it like this: Houston, TX,
• Your citation would look like this so far: Ray, Jane. "Choosing Robot Components.” Speech, Houston, TX,

• The entry will look like this: Ray, Jane. "Choosing Robot Components.” Speech, Houston, TX, January 8, 2018.

• For instance, format it like this: Ray, Jane. "Choosing Robot Components.” Speech, Houston, TX, January 8, 2018. EBSCO Database.

• For example, you could write your citation like this: Ray, Jane. "Choosing Robot Components.” Speech, Houston, TX, January 8, 2018. Robot Science. http://www.centerforrobotics.com/speeches/building_a_robot.

Creating In-Text Citations

• For example, you could write it like this: “According to Weber’s research, metal components can create more durable robots than plastic components.”
• For APA, you should also include the year in parentheses after the name. You would write, "According to Ray (2018), metal components are a better option than plastic components."
• For Chicago Style, you can use endnotes to provide the rest of the source information.

• Your passage might look like this: “Studies show that metal components last 4 times as long as plastic components (Weber).”
• For APA, you should also include the year after the last name, separating them with a comma. It will look like this: (Weber, 2018).

• For example, let’s say Amy Lamar compiled several speeches about robotics into a book, including Alex Weber’s speech. You’d include a parenthetical citation at the end of the information you took from Weber’s speech, and it would look like this: (Lamar).
• For APA formatting, you should also include the year of the publication after the author’s last name, separated by a comma. For example, (Lamar, 2018). If you’re providing a direct quote, include the page number, as well. Separate each item with a comma. For example, (Lamar, 2018, p. 45). [26] X Research source
• As above, Chicago Style will use normal endnotes.

Community Q&A

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• ↑ https://style.mla.org/citing-a-copy-of-a-speech/
• ↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/mla_style/mla_formatting_and_style_guide/mla_works_cited_other_common_sources.html
• ↑ https://www.lib.sfu.ca/help/cite-write/citation-style-guides/mla/lectures-speech-reading-address
• ↑ https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/references/examples/transcript-audiovisual-work-references
• ↑ https://libanswers.snhu.edu/faq/195652
• ↑ https://library.menloschool.org/chicago/speech
• ↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/chicago_manual_17th_edition/cmos_formatting_and_style_guide/miscellaneous.html
• ↑ https://penandthepad.com/cite-speech-using-mla-format-4450320.html
• ↑ https://www.grammarly.com/blog/cite-speech-mla/
• ↑ https://penandthepad.com/cite-speech-apa-1310.html

About this article

To cite a speech in MLA format, start by writing the speaker’s last name, followed by the first name and a period. Then, write the name of the speech title with quotation marks around it. Put a period after the speech title, making sure that the period goes inside the quotation mark. After that, list the name of the event where the speech occurred, the name of the host organization, and the date of the event, all separated by commas. Following the date, you’ll need to list the venue and the city and state where it’s located, with a period after the state. Finish by writing the type of speech you’re citing, such as “Keynote Address” or “Lecture.” To learn more, like how to cite a speech in APA or Chicago Style, read on! Did this summary help you? Yes No

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How to Quote and Cite a Poem in an Essay Using MLA Format

Last Updated: August 3, 2023 Fact Checked

Template and Examples

Quoting in essays, citing in essays, citing in a works cited.

This article was co-authored by Jamie Korsmo, PhD . Jamie Korsmo is a Ph.D. candidate in English at Georgia State University. There are 8 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 1,325,597 times.

Navigating the MLA Handbook can be pretty overwhelming; there are so many rules that regulate the way we can quote and cite poetry in MLA format in our own writing. Improper quoting and citing can even be considered a form of plagiarism. Here is a comprehensive look at the most important things you need to know to make your English teacher happy with how you quote from and cite poetry in your papers.

• Example sentence: Robert Frost’s poem, “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening,” discusses the idea of solitude versus living in a world of other people and obligations.

• Here is an example of several lines of poetry from Robert Frost’s “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening”: The woods are lovely, dark, and deep, But I have promises to keep, And miles to go before I sleep.
• Here is an example of how to insert several lines of poetry into an essay: In "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening," Frost writes, “The woods are lovely, dark, and deep, / But I have promises to keep, / And miles to go before I sleep."

• Example: Robert Frost writes about solitude and man’s relationship with nature:                     Whose woods these are I think I know.                     His house is in the village, though;                     He will not see me stopping here                     To watch his woods fill up with snow. (1-4)

• Example: Robert Frost discusses solitude and a desire to forget obligations when he writes, "The woods are lovely...but I have promises to keep, / And miles to go before I sleep" (13-15).

Tip: If an ellipsis covers a line break, do not worry about including a backslash inside the ellipsis, as in the above example. But if you continue on without an ellipsis, include the backslashes that indicate line breaks.

• Example: Robert Frost discusses solitude when he writes,                     Whose woods these are I think I know.                     ………………………………………….                     He will not see me stopping here                     To watch his woods fill up with snow. (1-4)

• If you don't take these steps correctly, then you aren't giving credit where it's due to the original author and your teacher may consider this plagiarism.

• Example: In "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening," Frost writes, “The woods are lovely, dark, and deep / But I have promises to keep / And miles to go before I sleep” (13-15).
• Example: The notion of solitude appears in many notable poems including the famous lines, "The woods are lovely, dark, and deep, / But I have promises to keep, / And miles to go before I sleep" (Frost 13-15).

• Example of one quoted word: Robert Frost uses the word “sleep” to imply fantasies about solitude and perhaps death (15).
• Example of multiple words: Robert Frost uses a variety of words and phrases such as “frozen” (7), “darkest evening” (8), and “before I sleep” (15) to imply thoughts of solitude and the desire to not return to his obligations.

Tip: Just make sure that you include the proper line numbers, whatever the form. If you are citing a longer section of the poem, you will include more line numbers (12-32). If you cite two separate sections using an ellipsis, indicate the range of the sections with a comma separating them (11-15, 18-21).

• Example of citing a short quote: In "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening," Frost writes, “The woods are lovely, dark, and deep, / But I have promises to keep, / And miles to go before I sleep” (13-15).
• Example of citing a long quote: Robert Frost writes about solitude and man’s relationship with nature:                     Whose woods these are I think I know.                     His house is in the village, though;                     He will not see me stopping here                     To watch his woods fill up with snow. (1-4)

• Example: The notion of solitude appears in many notable poems including the famous lines, "The woods are lovely, dark, and deep, / But I have promises to keep, / And miles to go before I sleep" (Frost, "Stopping by the Woods" 13-15). This idea is mirrored in the lines "And both that morning equally lay / In leaves no step had trodden black" (Frost, "The Road Not Taken" 11-12).

• Example: Frost, Robert. “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening.” The Poetry of Robert Frost. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston Inc., 1969. 224-225. Print.

• Example: Frost, Robert. “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening.” The Poetry Foundation. n.d. Web. 6 January 2014.

Tip: You do not need to add the URL of the website as they change often and are generally long and confusing, and URLs are not required in MLA format. [10] X Trustworthy Source Purdue Online Writing Lab Trusted resource for writing and citation guidelines Go to source

• Example (note this is a made up anthology): Frost, Robert. “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening.” The Little Anthology of American Literature. Ed. Marie Shier. 3rd ed. San Francisco: Some Publisher, 2010. 21-22. Print.

• Frost, Robert. “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening.” The Poetry of Robert Frost. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston Inc., 1969. 224-225. Print.
• ---. “The Road Not Taken.” The Poetry of Robert Frost. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston Inc., 1969. 227-228. Print.

Community Q&A

• When writing about poetry in your essay, use the present tense. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
• Brackets are not needed around ellipses. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0

You Might Also Like

• ↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/mla_style/mla_formatting_and_style_guide/mla_formatting_quotations.html
• ↑ https://stlcc.edu/student-support/academic-success-and-tutoring/writing-center/writing-resources/mla-in-text-citation-sample-essay-8th-edition.aspx
• ↑ https://style.mla.org/line-numbers-in-text-citation/
• ↑ https://otis.libguides.com/mla_citations/in-text
• ↑ https://www.monmouth.edu/resources-for-writers/documents/mla-citing-poetry.pdf/
• ↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/mla_style/mla_formatting_and_style_guide/mla_works_cited_electronic_sources.html
• ↑ https://libguides.uww.edu/mla/poem
• ↑ https://uwcchina.libguides.com/c.php?g=830919&p=6639313

About This Article

If you use a quote from a poem in an MLA-format essay, place the line numbers of the poem in parentheses right after the closing quotation marks, with the closing punctuation right behind the parentheses. If you mention the name of the author when you are introducing the text, you do not have to include the author’s name in the parenthesis, but you do if you have not already stated the name of the author. If the quote is more than 3 lines long, indent 10 spaces from the left margin when you type the poem. To learn about how to include a citation for a poem on the Works Cited page of your essay, continue reading the article! Did this summary help you? Yes No

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• When to Use Quotation Marks (“”) | Rules & Examples

When to Use Quotation Marks ("") | Rules & Examples

Published on May 21, 2019 by Shona McCombes . Revised on November 29, 2022 by Jack Caulfield.

Quotation marks (also known as quotes or inverted commas) are used to indicate direct speech and quotations.

In academic writing, you need to use quotation marks when you quote a source . This includes quotes from published works and primary data such as interviews . The exception is when you use a block quote, which should be set off and indented without quotation marks.

Whenever you quote someone else’s words, use a signal phrase to introduce it and integrate the source into your own text. Don’t rely on quotations to make your point for you.

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Table of contents

Single vs. double quotation marks, quotes within quotes, punctuation following quotations, quotation marks for source titles, indirect quotation, scare quotes, frequently asked questions about quotation marks.

There are two types of quotation marks: ‘single’ and “double.” Which one to choose generally depends on whether you are using US or UK English . The US convention is to use double quotation marks, while the UK convention is usually to use single quotation marks.

Double quotation marks can also be acceptable in UK English, provided you are consistent throughout the text. APA Style requires double quotations.

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When your quotations are nested (i.e., a quote appears inside another quote), you should use the opposite style of quotation marks for the nested quotation.

US and UK English also differ on where to place punctuation within quotation marks.

• In US English,  commas and periods that follow a quote are placed within the quotation marks.
• In UK English, all punctuation marks are placed outside the quotation marks, except when they are part of the original quotation.

In all variants of English, a question mark appears inside the quotation marks when the person quoted was asking a question, but outside when it’s you asking the question.

• Smith asks, “How long can this situation continue?”
• How many participants reported their satisfaction as “high”?

Note that when you include a parenthetical citation after a quote, the punctuation mark always comes after the citation (except with block quotes ).

• Solis described the situation as “precarious” (2022, p. 16).

Some source titles (e.g., the title of a journal article) should be presented in quotation marks in your text. Others are italicized instead (or occasionally written in plain text).

The rules for how to format different source titles are largely the same across citation styles, though some details differ. The key principles apply in all the main styles:

• Use italics for sources that stand alone
• Use quotation marks for sources that are part of another source

Some examples are shown below, with the proper formatting:

• The Routledge Companion to Critical Theory [book]
• “Poststructuralism” [book chapter]
• Philosophy, Psychiatry & Psychology [journal]
• “What Is Personality Disorder?” [journal article]
• Friends [TV series]
• “The One Where Rachel Quits” [TV episode]

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Indirect quotation means reporting what someone said without using exactly the same words they did.

It’s a lot like paraphrasing , except that you’re only changing the words you need to in order to fit the statement into your new sentence grammatically. For example, changing the pronouns or the verb tense .

Indirect quotation is more common in everyday speech, but it can occur in academic writing too. When it does, keep in mind that you should only use quotation marks around words taken directly from the original speaker or author.

• One participant stated that “he found the exercises frustrating.”
• One participant stated that he found the exercises frustrating.
• One participant described the exercises as “frustrating.”

“Scare quotes” are quotation marks used around words that are not a direct quotation from a specific source. They are used to signal that a term is being used in an unusual or ironic way, that it is borrowed from someone else, or that the writer is skeptical about the term.

• Many politicians have blamed recent electoral trends on the rise of “fake news.”

While scare quotes have their uses in academic writing (e.g., when referring to controversial terms), they should only be used with good reason. Inappropriate use of scare quotes creates ambiguity.

• The institution organized a fundraiser in support of “underprivileged children.”
• Scientists argue that “global warming” is accelerating due to greenhouse gas emissions.
• The “Brexit” negotiations are still ongoing.

In these examples, the words within scare quotes are widely accepted terms with clear meanings that can’t be attributed to a specific person or source. Using quotation marks implies skepticism about the concepts in question.

The use of single and double quotation marks when quoting differs between US and UK English . In US English, you must use double quotation marks. Single quotation marks are used for quotes within quotes.

In UK English, it’s most common to use single quotation marks, with double quotation marks for quotes within quotes, although the other way around is acceptable too.

A quote is an exact copy of someone else’s words, usually enclosed in quotation marks and credited to the original author or speaker.

If you’re quoting from a text that paraphrases or summarizes other sources and cites them in parentheses , APA and Chicago both recommend retaining the citations as part of the quote. However, MLA recommends omitting citations within a quote:

• APA: Smith states that “the literature on this topic (Jones, 2015; Sill, 2019; Paulson, 2020) shows no clear consensus” (Smith, 2019, p. 4).
• MLA: Smith states that “the literature on this topic shows no clear consensus” (Smith, 2019, p. 4).

Footnote or endnote numbers that appear within quoted text should be omitted in all styles.

If you want to cite an indirect source (one you’ve only seen quoted in another source), either locate the original source or use the phrase “as cited in” in your citation.

Quotes within quotes are punctuated differently to distinguish them from the surrounding quote .

• If you use double quotation marks for quotes, use single quotation marks for quotes within quotes.
• If you use single quotation marks for quotes (e.g., in UK English ), use double quotation marks for quotes within quotes.

Make sure to close both sets of quotes!

Indirect quotation means reporting what someone said (or wrote) but not using their exact words. It’s similar to paraphrasing , but it only involves changing enough words to fit the statement into your sentence grammatically (e.g., changing the tense or the pronouns ).

Since some of the words have changed, indirect quotations are not enclosed in quotation marks .

Sources in this article

We strongly encourage students to use sources in their work. You can cite our article (APA Style) or take a deep dive into the articles below.

McCombes, S. (2022, November 29). When to Use Quotation Marks ("") | Rules & Examples. Scribbr. Retrieved June 20, 2024, from https://www.scribbr.com/language-rules/quotation-marks/

Butterfield, J. (Ed.). (2015).  Fowler’s dictionary of modern English usage  (4th ed.). Oxford University Press.

Garner, B. A. (2016).  Garner’s modern English usage (4th ed.). Oxford University Press.

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Other students also liked, how to quote | citing quotes in apa, mla & chicago, how to block quote | length, format and examples, "i thought ai proofreading was useless but..".

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How do I punctuate quoted dialogue from a novel?

How you punctuate quoted dialogue from a novel will depend on what you are quoting and how you are quoting it. See the three most common considerations below.

Quoting Dialogue and Text

If you are incorporating a quotation featuring both exposition and a character’s speech into your text, use double quotation marks around the quotation and single quotation marks around the character’s speech that is within the quotation:

Early in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s  The Great Gatsby ,   Miss Baker, upon meeting Nick Carraway, makes the first reference in the novel to the title character: “‘You live in West Egg,’ she remarked contemptuously. ‘I know somebody there’” (11).

Quoting Only Dialogue

If you quote only the speech, use double quotation marks around it:

Early in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s  The Great Gatsby , Miss Baker tells Nick Carraway that he must be familiar with someone she knows from West Egg: “You must know Gatsby” (11).

Using Block Quotes

When quoting dialogue from a novel, set the quotation off from your text as a block if each character’s speech starts on a new line in the source. Indent the extract half an inch from the left margin, as you would any block quotation. If a character’s speech runs onto a new line, as it does below, indent each line of dialogue an additional half an inch. Use double quotation marks around the spoken words : 

Early in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s  The Great Gatsby , Miss Baker tells the narrator, Nick Carraway, that she knows someone from his town: “You live in West Egg,” she remarked contemptuously. “I know somebody there.” “I don’t know a single–” “You must know Gatsby.” “Gatsby?” demanded Daisy. “What Gatsby?” (11) Work Cited Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. Scribner, 1953.

MLA Tricky Citations

Most sources you come across for will follow the basic structure for an MLA citation. Even sources you might think are unusual, like a pamphlet, a magazine advertisement, or a message posted to a discussion forum, all can be cited using the same format outlined in our resource on MLA citation basics . There are however, a few sources and situations that might require a slight change to the format. The following examples should help with some of the more common, but still tricky, citations you may be faced with.

Note : All MLA documents, Works Cited pages included, should be double-spaced. The following examples are single-spaced for the purposes of this resource only.

Group/corporate author

When a source has a group or corporation as an author, cite that group name the same as you would an individual author. For Works Cited entries, when the author and publisher are the same, skip the author, and list the title first. Then list the corporate author only as the publisher.

Food literacy can help mitigate childhood obesity because “being food literate empowers us to make informed choices” (Food Literacy Center).

Works cited:

“What is Food Literacy?” Food Literacy Center , 2015, http://www.foodliteracycenter.org/what-food-literacy. Accessed 28 Nov. 2016.

Multiple sources by the same author

To distinguish a source from others by the same author, include a shortened title for the work you are quoting. In the Works Cited, only give the author’s name in the first entry. For all following entries, replace the author’s name with three hyphens. These entries should be alphabetized by title.

We will be better equipped to design valuable education plans at each level if we understand that becoming an effective writer is a long-term, multidimensional process of development (Bazerman, “Understanding”).

Bazerman, Charles. “Understanding the Lifelong Journey of Writing Development.” Infancia y Aprendizaje , vol. 36, no. 4, Nov. 2013, pp. 421-441.

---. “Writing with Concepts: Communal, Internalized, and Externalized.”  Mind, Culture, and Activity , vol. 19, no. 3, 2012, pp. 259-272,  ERIC , doi: 10.1080/10749039.2012.688231.

Speeches, lectures, or other oral presentations

To cite a speech, lecture, or other oral presentation, cite the speaker’s name and the title of the speech (if any) in quotation marks. Follow with the title of the particular conference or meeting, the name of the organization, and the venue and its city (if the name of the city is not listed in the venue’s name). Use the descriptor that appropriately expresses the type of presentation (e.g., Lecture, Reading, Conference Presentation, etc.).

Losh, Elizabeth. “Leave No Trace: Digital Erasure and the Composition Classroom.” Western States Rhetoric and Literacy Conference, 21 Oct. 2016, University of California, San Diego. Keynote Address.

Government document

Cite the author of the publication if the author is identified. Otherwise, start with the name of the national government, followed by the agency (including any subdivisions or agencies) that serves as the organizational author. For congressional documents, include the number of the Congress and the session when the hearing was held or resolution passed as well as the report number.

United States, Congress, Senate, Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. Hearing on the Geopolitics of Oil. Government Printing Office, 2007. 110th Congress, 1st session, Senate Report 111-8.

To cite an interview you conducted, list the person you interviewed (last name first), identify it as a “Personal Interview” (if conducted in-person), an “Email Interview,” or a “Telephone Interview,” and provide the date of the interview.

Sloane, Sarah. Personal Interview. 12 May 2015.

Dissertation or master's theses

To cite a published dissertation or master's thesis, cite the work as you would a book (with an italicized title), but include the designation Dissertation (or MA/MS thesis) followed by the degree-granting school and the year the degree was awarded. You may also include the University Microfilms International (UMI) order number.

Bishop, Karen Lynn. Documenting Institutional Identity: Strategic Writing in the IUPUI Comprehensive Campaign . Dissertation, Purdue University, 2002. UMI, 2004.

To cite an unpublished dissertation or master's thesis, put the title in quotation marks and end with the date the degree was awarded.

Works  cited:

Graban, Tarez Samra. "Towards a Feminine Ironic: Understanding Irony in the Oppositional Discourse of Women from the Early Modern and Modern Periods." Dissertation, Purdue University, 2006.

Work of art

To cite an original work of art (the primary source, not a reproduction in a book), provide the artist's name, the title of the artwork in italics, the date of composition, and the medium of the piece. Finally, name the institution that houses the artwork followed by the location of the institution (unless the location is included in the title of the institution, e.g., Los Angeles County Museum of Art).

Chagall, Marc.  Rain . 1911, oil and charcoal on canvas, Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice.

Indirect source

To cite a source quoted within another source, identify the original source in your sentence to introduce the quotation and use "qtd. in" to indicate the source you actually consulted. For the Works Cited page, cite the source you consulted not the original source (in this case, cite Koosed and Schumm).

According to Hardin and Hardin, “respect for authority, individualism, sacrifice 'for the team,' and hard work" are key values that come out of American sports and sports media (qtd. in Koosed and Schumm).

Multiple sources in one sentence

To cite multiple sources in the same in-text citation, separate the sources by a semi-colon.

Playing a “pro-social” video game can increase the perceptions of a player’s humanity and increase positive humanity traits (Greitmeyer; Happ, Melzer, and Steffgen).

Authors with the same last name

If two or more authors have the same last name, provide both authors' first initials (or their full names if different authors share initials) in your in-text citation. In the Works Cited page, alphabetize these sources by first name (e.g., Brown, Penelope would come before Brown, Thomas).

Mitigating devices can also show up as hedges (e.g.,  perhaps ) or other means of impersonalizing (P. Brown).

Opinion These gaming terms are transforming slang. Do you know them?

Even those not involved in gaming culture are becoming familiar with the new vocabulary.

Adam Aleksic is a Gen Z linguist and content creator posting educational videos under the username @etymologynerd.

The English language just downloaded a new expansion pack.

Dozens of video game terms have sneaked into everyday conversation over the past several years, particularly among younger people. For instance, it’s common to hear “speedrun” for completing a task quickly, “sidequest” to tell your friends about an unexpected adventure or “spawn” when you’ve made a sudden appearance.

All of these come from gaming culture, where they’re used to describe virtual actions — yet they’ve transformed into offline slang.

Since at least the early 2000s, millennials have adopted gaming words such as “noob” (short for “newbie”), “OP” (short for “overpowered”) and “gg” (short for “good game”) in real life. These terms reached such ubiquity online that they made intuitive sense when extended to analogous in-person interactions.

This phenomenon isn’t unique to video games, of course: Look at the history of baseball metaphors in English, with phrases such as “swing and a miss,” “home run” and “strike out.” We have these expressions because so much of our culture revolved around baseball for so long. America’s pastime constituted an important shared experience from which we could abstract our metaphors.

Now America has a new pastime. Roughly 70 percent of U.S. adults play video games on at least one platform, according to a 2022 survey , compared with the 50 percent who keep up with Major League Baseball. Even those not involved in gaming culture inevitably must become familiar with the vocabulary, since it serves as a linchpin of Gen Z popular culture.

There has also been an uptick in “narrative identity-building,” or the construction of personal stories around ourselves. People refer to themselves as the “main character,” describe others as “NPCs” (non-playable characters) and romanticize their past adventures as “lore,” a term frequently used to describe the backstories of characters in video game universes. Even “sidequest” implies a departure from the overarching plotline, like a diversion from the structured adventure of a role-playing game.

In the same way that baseball slang gave us more ways to talk about success and competition — think phrases such as “big hitter,” “grand slam” and “knock it out of the park” — video games help us describe our conscious experience through comparisons with their virtual storylines. Just look at popular memes, which often start with the discourse marker “POV,” coming from the “point of view” perspective in video games. It’s an invitation to experience media in the first person, allowing the viewer to build a narrative identity, just like we’ve all been conditioned to do.

Many of these terms start in ironic contexts. A lot of metaphors arise because it sounds funny to extend a phrase from one context into another that it’s less associated with — but comedy eventually gives way to authenticity.

Even if people initially said “swing and a miss” or “gg” in a joking manner, those phrases are now acceptable in serious contexts, as they’ve lost their humorous subtext. The same will be true for a newer generation of words. Eventually, people might be surprised to learn that “speedrun” or “spawn” had origins in gaming.

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