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Guidelines for writing Poems, Stories and Tales

How to show that a character is quoting from a book?

Asked by: Jeff Owens

Using quotation marks inside of quotation marks seems confusing. When a character is quoting someone else in dialogue, use quotation marks for the character’s spoken words—as you normally would—and single quotation marks to indicate the other person’s words.

How do you cite a character quote from a book?

If you quote something a character says, use double quotation marks on the outside ends of the quotation to indicate that you are quoting a portion of the text. Use single quotation marks inside the double quotation marks to indicate that someone is speaking. “‘Thou art not my child! Thou art no Pearl of mine!’

How do you know if something is a quote in a book?

About In-Text Citation

Brief in-text citations point the reader to more complete information in the works cited list at the end of the paper. In-text citations include the last name of the author followed by a page number enclosed in parentheses. “Here’s a direct quote” (Smith 8).

When quoting a character from a book do you quote the character or the author?

If you are quoting the aphorism of a character in a work of fiction, you should attribute the quotation to the author as a quotation, but make it clear that the aphorism is the aphorism of the character, not the author.

How do you pull a quote from a book?

Select dramatic, thought-provoking, or enticing excerpts to use as pull quotes.

  1. Keep Pull Quotes Brief and to the Point. …
  2. Keep Pull Quotes Visually Short. …
  3. Make Pull Quotes Stand Apart From the Accompanying Text. …
  4. Do Not Place the Pull Quote Too Close to the Text Quoted. …
  5. Be Consistent With the Style Used for Pull Quotes.

How do you cite a quote from a person?

When making reference to the spoken words of someone other than the author recorded in a text, cite the name of the person and the name of the author, date and page reference of the work in which the quote or reference appears.

Are character names in quotes?

The MLA Style Center

Do not put a fictional name in italics or in quotation marks: In an interview, the writer Stephen King said that one of his favorite books features a character named Margaret Ridpath.

How do I find out where a quote is from?

These online sources can be used as a starting point to find a quotation, but you should still find and verify the original source.

  1. Bartleby. …
  2. Furman University Mathematical Quotations Server. …
  3. The Phrase Finder. …
  4. Wikiquote. …
  5. Wikiquote: List of Common Misquotations. …
  6. Wiktionary: English Proverbs. …
  7. Wiktionary: Proverbs by Language.

How do you quote a book example?

To cite a book, you need a brief in-text citation and a corresponding reference listing the author’s name, the title, the year of publication, and the publisher.
Citing a book in MLA Style.

MLA format Author last name, First name. Book Title: Subtitle. Edition, Publisher, Year.
In-text citation (Donaldson 73)

How do you quote a quote example?

Rule: Use single quotation marks inside double quotation marks when you have a quotation within a quotation. Example: Bobbi told me, “Delia said, ‘This will never work. ‘ ” Notice that what Delia said was enclosed in single quotation marks.



How do you display pull quotes?

Pull quotes can be placed on top of a page, sit within the grid, between columns, or break out of the grid totally. They can be enclosed in a black or colored box, be separated from the text with a box or rules, or just “float” in a designated space or column.

How do you quote a story?

How to Format Dialogue in a Story

  1. Use Quotation Marks to Indicate Spoken Word. …
  2. Dialogue Tags Stay Outside the Quotation Marks. …
  3. Use a Separate Sentence for Actions That Happen Before or After the Dialogue. …
  4. Use Single Quotes When Quoting Something Within the Dialogue. …
  5. Use a New Paragraph to Indicate a New Speaker.

How do you quote a quote in an essay?

The following general steps address how to properly integrate a quotation into an essay.

  1. Step 1: Introduce the Author of the Quotation. …
  2. Step 2: State the Quotation. …
  3. Step 3: Summarize the Quotation. …
  4. Step 4: Analyze the Quotation. …
  5. Step 5: State the Quotation’s Relevance to Your Argument.

How do you cite a quote from a quote from a book?

Citing a quote within a quote is as simple as 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.



  1. List the original author’s last name.
  2. Include the date of publication of the original.
  3. Add ‘as cited in’ then the name of the work.
  4. Follow with the publishing date of the cited work.
  5. List the page the information can be found on.

How do you quote an author quoting another author?

Your in-text citation should include both authors: the author(s) of the original source and the author(s) of the secondary source. For example: (Habermehl, 1985, as cited in Kersten, 1987). In your reference list you should provide the details of the secondary source (the source you read).

How do you quote an author in an essay?

If you are directly quoting from a work, you will need to include the author, year of publication, and page number for the reference (preceded by “p.”). Introduce the quotation with a signal phrase that includes the author’s last name followed by the date of publication in parentheses.

How do you quote someone in academic writing?

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.

How do you cite a quote from a book in MLA?

Using In-text Citation



MLA in-text citation style uses the author’s last name and the page number from which the quotation or paraphrase is taken, for example: (Smith 163). If the source does not use page numbers, do not include a number in the parenthetical citation: (Smith).

How do you quote someone quoting someone else MLA?

To cite a source from a secondary source, mention both the original and secondary sources in the text, and list only the secondary source in the works-cited list entry. MLA requires you to use the abbreviation qtd. in (“quoted in”) before the indirect source you cite in your parenthetical reference.

How do you cite an indirect source?

If you do use an indirect source in your paper, name the original source in your text and include the indirect source in your parenthetical citation. If what you quote or paraphrase from the indirect source is itself a quotation, put the abbreviation ‘qtd.

How do I cite a quote within a quote MLA?

If you can’t access the original source, then create a full citation for your indirect source in the Works Cited list. Then, for the in-text or parenthetical citation, use this format: (qtd. in [last name of author of your indirect source] [page number of quotation]).