how to quote dialogue from a book in an essay

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.

Questions? Call us: 

Email: 

• How it works
• Testimonials

Essay Writing

• Essay service
• Essay writers
• College essay service
• Write my essay
• Pay for essay
• Essay topics

Term Paper Writing

• Term paper service
• Buy term papers
• Term paper help
• Term paper writers
• College term papers
• Write my term paper
• Pay for term paper
• Term paper topic

Research Paper Writing

• Research paper service
• Buy research paper
• Research paper help
• Research paper writers
• College research papers
• Write my research paper
• Pay for research paper
• Research paper topics

Dissertation Writing

• Dissertation service
• Buy dissertation
• Dissertation help
• Dissertation writers
• College thesis
• Write my dissertation
• Pay for dissertation
• Dissertation topics

Other Services

• Custom writing services
• Speech writing service
• Movie review writing
• Editing service
• Assignment writing
• Article writing service
• Book report writing
• Book review writing

Popular request:

How to quote a dialogue answer’s here.

June 7, 2019

It is essential to understand the meaning of quoting dialogue before we learn how to quote dialogue in an essay. As you continue to write your essay, you may wish to refer to what other people said without making any changes to their phrases. The application of quotes comes in handy at this place. You can refer to the statements of other people in two ways. You can either use active or reported speech. Quotation involves the use of direct speech as you are referring to what another person said directly.

Importance of Writing Dialogue in an Essay

Several benefits come with quoting dialogue in your essay. These include:

• It makes your statement more valid because you are using the words of another person to refer to a point. It is good to have reference in your work as it will help the reader to understand the origin on your arguments and there will be no doubt especially if it is a quote dialogue.
• Quote dialogue also displays your proficiency in grammar. Most people don’t include quotations in their essays because they need to follow some punctuation rules such as having a comma before quotation. Most students prefer reporting like quoting because they don’t want to mess up with the set guidelines.
• Quotes make your essay outstanding because the reader will get first-hand information the way it was said. When reporting dialogue, you can omit some words that are crucial in supporting your points. However, when you use quotations, you are sure that you will state everything and hence your essay will have strong points.

It is good to use long quotes as long as you adhere to the set rules. If you don’t know how to quote dialogue, seek for help as this can change the meaning of your work and mess it up. Here are some of the things that you need to put into consideration before moving further.

Tips on How to Quote Dialogue in an Essay

• Don’t quote all the sections of your essay. Inserting too much quotations in your paper will make it boring to the readers as you will tend to over-rely on the words from other people. It will reduce the originality of your paper and the reader may undermine your creative ability as you are depending on the words of other people.
• Let your quotes be precise and avoid anything that is not related to the context of your writing. Do an analysis of the quote you wish to use and make sure that the impression that you are bringing out from the dialogue is related to what the essay is talking about.
• Only quote the words that vividly relate to what you are discussing in the essay. You will not have an organized piece of work if you just quote haphazardly. You may find yourself bringing up another meaning that is completely contrary to what you were saying.
• Avoid including long quotes in your essay because they can confuse your reader and make him fall off from your essay.

How to Quote Dialogue Example

There are different rubrics and formats for follow when quoting various phrases in your college essay. It all depends with the type and length of dialogue that you are referring. Here are a few illustrations for various quotes:

• Quoting a Short Paragraph That Has Less Than Four Lines

James insisted on the spying character of Desmond unworthy in the book: “The scholar’s eyes glowed so much on her that Dominic held her over his heart.” (Think wise 88)

• Quoting a Whole Passage

It will help you to summarize and not write the whole passage. You will refer to the passage using the simplest form of quotation. The use of length quotations in an essay is not a good practice in writing. It is good to make them as short as possible.

Existing Format for Dialogue Quotation

You should learn how to quote dialogue because making an error in the quotation can change the whole meaning of your essay and cause a misunderstanding. The most important thing is the format as it will dictate whether your quotation is right or wrong. You need to follow several rules in the quotation:

• Use one single quotation inside the above double marks. The case applies if there is a dialogue inside a quote. After using the double quotes at both ends, you may wish to introduce a dialogue of a specific character inside the quote. At this point, you will be expected to use single quotes.

For Instance “The girls stared at their father. Mrs. Rose said, ‘Lazy girls cannot help you to find some work to do!!’”

You may also quote the dialogue by reporting it and then use parenthesis at the end. For Instance You need to think before leaping (Faraday 57).

• Use block quotes to prove something in your essay. Block quote referencing is where you put the dialogue in indents for each line with no quotation makes.

It is a perfect example on how to quote dialogue between two characters.

It is crucial to go through various how to quote dialogue examples for you to become an expert in quoting dialogue. Exposing you to various samples will benefit you in several ways. These include understanding various dialogue quotes formats like Purdue owl and avoiding spelling and punctuation errors. Punctuation is a crucial element in quotation dialogue as it identifies the various characters in the quote. The use of wrong punctuation can change the whole meaning of your sentence. These examples will help you to gain the skills that you need in your day to day writing. The other thing you need to learn is how to quote dialogue from a play. This guide will help you to learn how to quote dialogue in your essay in the best way possible.

Take a break from writing.

Top academic experts are here for you.

• How To Write An Autobiography Guideline And Useful Advice
• 182 Best Classification Essay Topics To Learn And Write About
• How To Manage Stress In College: Top Practical Tips  
• How To Write A Narrative Essay: Definition, Tips, And A Step-by-Step Guide
• How To Write Article Review Like Professional
• Great Problem Solution Essay Topics
• Creating Best Stanford Roommate Essay
• Costco Essay – Best Writing Guide
• How To Quote A Dialogue
• Wonderful Expository Essay Topics
• Research Paper Topics For 2020
• Interesting Persuasive Essay Topics

• PRO Courses Guides New Tech Help Pro Expert Videos About wikiHow Pro Upgrade Sign In
• EDIT Edit this Article
• EXPLORE Tech Help Pro About Us Random Article Quizzes Request a New Article Community Dashboard This Or That Game Popular Categories Arts and Entertainment Artwork Books Movies Computers and Electronics Computers Phone Skills Technology Hacks Health Men's Health Mental Health Women's Health Relationships Dating Love Relationship Issues Hobbies and Crafts Crafts Drawing Games Education & Communication Communication Skills Personal Development Studying Personal Care and Style Fashion Hair Care Personal Hygiene Youth Personal Care School Stuff Dating All Categories Arts and Entertainment Finance and Business Home and Garden Relationship Quizzes Cars & Other Vehicles Food and Entertaining Personal Care and Style Sports and Fitness Computers and Electronics Health Pets and Animals Travel Education & Communication Hobbies and Crafts Philosophy and Religion Work World Family Life Holidays and Traditions Relationships Youth
• Browse Articles
• Learn Something New
• Quizzes Hot
• This Or That Game
• Train Your Brain
• Explore More
• Support wikiHow
• About wikiHow
• Log in / Sign up
• Arts and Entertainment
• Performing Arts

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

Last Updated: October 12, 2023

This article was co-authored by Christopher Taylor, PhD . Christopher Taylor is an Adjunct Assistant Professor of English at Austin Community College in Texas. He received his PhD in English Literature and Medieval Studies from the University of Texas at Austin in 2014. This article has been viewed 390,092 times.

MLA (Modern Language Association) format is a popular citation style for papers and essays. You may be unsure how to quote and cite play using MLA format in your essay for a class. Start by following the correct formatting for a quote from one speaker or from multiple speakers in the play. Then, use the correct citation style for a prose play or a verse play.

Template and Examples

Quoting Dialogue from One Speaker

• For example, if you were quoting a character from the play Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, you would write, In Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? , the character Honey says...

• For example, if you are quoting the character George from the play Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? by Edward Albee, you would write, “George says,…” or “George states,…”.

• For example, if you are quoting from Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? , you would write: Martha notes, "Truth or illusion, George; you don’t know the difference."

• For example, if you were quoting from Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure , you would write: Claudio states “the miserable have no other medicine / But only hope.”

Quoting Dialogue from Multiple Speakers

• You do not need to use quotation marks when you are quoting dialogue by multiple speakers from a play. The blank space will act as a marker, rather than quotation marks.

• MARTHA. Truth or illusion, George; you don’t know the difference.
• GEORGE. No, but we must carry on as though we did.
• MARTHA. Amen.

• Verse dialogue is indented 1 ¼ inch (3.17cm) from the left margin.

• RUTH. Eat your eggs, Walter.
• WALTER. (Slams the table and jumps up) --DAMN MY EGGS--DAMN ALL THE EGGS THAT EVER WAS!
• RUTH. Then go to work.
• WALTER. (Looking up at her) See--I’m trying to talk to you ‘bout myself--(Shaking his head with the repetition)--and all you can say is eat them eggs and go to work.

Citing a Quote from a Prose Play

• If you are quoting dialogue from one speaker, place the citation at the end of the quoted dialogue, in the text.
• If you are quoting dialogue from multiple speakers, place the citation at the end of the block quote.

• For example, you may write: “(Albee…)” or “(Hansberry…)”

• For example, you may write, “(Albee, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? ...).”
• If you have mentioned the title of the play once already in an earlier citation in your essay, you do not need to mention it again in the citations for the play moving forward.

• For example, you may write, “(Albee 10; act 1).
• If you are including the title of the play, you may write: “(Albee, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? 10; act 1).”

Citing a Quote from a Verse Play

• For example, if the quote appears in act 4, scene 4 of the play, you will write, “(4.4…)”.

• For example, if the quote appears on lines 33 to 35, you will write, “(33-35).”
• The completed citation would look like: “(4.4.33-35)”.

Expert Q&A

You Might Also Like

• ↑ http://penandthepad.com/quote-essay-using-mla-format-4509665.html

About This Article

To quote and cite a play in your essay using MLA format, start by referencing the author and title of the play in the main body of your essay. Then, name the speaker of the quote so it’s clear who’s talking. For example, write, “In Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? the character Honey says…” After introducing the quote, frame the dialogue with quotation marks to make it clear that it’s a direct quote from a text. If your dialogue is written in verse, use forward slashes to indicate each line break. For more tips from our English co-author, including how to quote dialogue between multiple speakers in your essay, read on! Did this summary help you? Yes No

• Send fan mail to authors

Did this article help you?

Featured Articles

Trending Articles

Watch Articles

• Terms of Use
• Privacy Policy
• Do Not Sell or Share My Info
• Not Selling Info

Don’t miss out! Sign up for

wikiHow’s newsletter

Purdue Online Writing Lab Purdue OWL® College of Liberal Arts

Quotation Marks with Fiction, Poetry, and Titles

Welcome to the Purdue OWL

This page is brought to you by the OWL at Purdue University. When printing this page, you must include the entire legal notice.

Copyright ©1995-2018 by The Writing Lab & The OWL at Purdue and Purdue University. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, reproduced, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our terms and conditions of fair use.

Block Quotations

You should use a block quotation when the quotation occupies four or more typed lines on the page. Although they are allowed in any type of writing, you will likely most often use them when quoting from fiction or literature. A block quotation is removed from the main body of your text. Indent one inch from the main margin (the equivalent of two half-inch paragraph indentations) and begin your quote. Maintain double spacing throughout, but you do not need to use quotation marks.

Gatsby experiences a moment of clarity while standing with Daisy on his dock. Fitzgerald writes:

Possibly it had occurred to him that the colossal significance of that light had now to him vanished forever. Compared to the great distance that had separated him from Daisy it had seemed very near to her, almost touching her. It had seemed as close as a star to the moon. Now it was again a green light on a dock. His count of enchanted objects had diminished by one. (98)

Quoting Poetry

When you quote a single line of poetry, write it like any other short quotation. If the piece of poetry you are quoting crosses multiple lines of the poem itself, you may still type them in your text run together. Show the reader where the poem's line breaks fall by using slash marks.

If the quotation is four lines or longer, set it off like a block quotation (see above). Some writers prefer to set off two-line verse quotations for emphasis. Quote the poem line by line as it appears on the original page. Do not use quotation marks, and indent one inch from the left margin.

In his poem, "Mending Wall," Robert Frost questions the building of barriers and walls:

Before I built a wall I'd ask to know

What I was walling in or walling out,

And to whom I was like to give offense.

Writing Dialogue

Write each person's spoken words, however brief, as a separate paragraph. Use commas to set off dialogue tags such as "she said" or "he explained." If one person's speech goes on for more than one paragraph, use quotation marks to open the dialogue at the beginning of each paragraph. However, do not use closing quotation marks until the end of the final paragraph where that character is speaking.

Quotation Marks with Titles

Use quotations marks for:

• Titles of short or minor works
• Short Stories
• Short Poems
• One Act Plays
• Other literary works shorter than a three act play or complete book
• Titles of sections from longer works
• Chapters in books
• Articles in newspapers, magazines, or journals
• Episodes of television and radio series

Underlining or italics are used for the titles of long pieces or works that contain smaller sections.

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)

• How to Cite
• Language & Lit
• Rhyme & Rhythm
• The Rewrite
• Search Glass

How to Use Dialogue From a Script in an Essay in MLA

Quoting dialogue between two or more characters from a script can seem like a daunting task, but knowing the origin of your script will make the task less challenging. Guidelines set forth by the Modern Language Association will also help make the process manageable.

Quoting Dialogue

Dialogue is the exchange between two or more characters within a script, whether for the purposes of a theatrical play or film. To format your quotation, begin the quote on a new line and indent it one inch from the body of your paper. If the quotation extends onto the next line, make sure to indent the second and subsequent lines another 1/4 inch, or about three spaces. Lines should be double spaced, and character names should be written in all capital letters, followed by a period. You should not use quotation marks when quoting dialogue from a script, play or film.

In-Text Citations

Because plays are often published differently from prose, MLA guidelines indicate that in-text citations should be contained in parentheses and consist of the act, scene and line number of the script, rather than the page number. To cite dialogue, begin with the broadest division and work toward the smallest division -- for example, from act to scene to line. Separate each of those divisions with a period. If you have noted the author and title of the script elsewhere in your paper, you do not need to include it again in the in-text citation. For example, the parenthetical citation (4.1.5-12) denotes that the quotation is from act 4, scene 1, lines 5 through 12.

Works Cited List

Published plays are generally found in either an anthology, a collection of a single author's works or a single volume. The source will dictate how the citation appears in the Works Cited list. However, scripts often have not been published in one of the previously listed formats. In this case, MLA considers it to be a manuscript and recommends that it be cited as such.

Works Cited Examples

A citation for an unpublished script is set up with the author's name (last name first), followed by a period; the title in italics, followed by a period; the type of work, followed by a comma; and the year. For example:

Baker, Stephanie. The Night Came. Unpublished script, 1998.

A script found online is more complicated to cite. It is set up with the authors first, followed by a period. Then, in italics, include the title, followed by a period. Then include the version of script, followed by a period. Then add the date of completion, followed by a period. The name of the site where the script was accessed, followed by a period, should come next. Then include the date of access, followed by a period. Finally, include the website address. For example:

Hill, Walter and David Giler. Alien. Revised Final Script. June 1978. The Daily Script. 3 Mar. 2008. http://www.dailyscript.com/scripts/alien_shooting.html.

Published scripts or plays by a single author are formatted with the author first, followed by a period. Then include the title in italics, followed by a period. Then add the publication city, followed by a colon. Then include the publisher, followed by a period. Then add the year, followed by a period. Finally, include the format, followed by a period. For example:

Williams, Tennessee. The Glass Menagerie. New York: Random House. 1945. Print.

• University of Toronto: MLA Formatting and Style Guide
• Georgia College: MLA Style
• Montgomery County Community College: How to Cite a Film Script

Alicia Anthony is a seasoned educator with more than 10 years classroom experience in the K-12 setting. She holds a Master of Education in literacy curriculum and instruction and a Bachelor of Arts in communications. She is completing a Master of Fine Arts degree in creative writing: fiction, and working on a novel.

Generate accurate MLA citations for free

• Knowledge Base
• How to cite a play in MLA

How to Cite a Play in MLA Style | Format & Examples

Published on March 6, 2019 by Courtney Gahan . Revised on March 5, 2024.

When citing a play with numbered lines, the MLA parenthetical citation should include the author name and the act, scene and line number(s). If the lines are not numbered, include the page number instead.

When quoting dialogue, include the character names in all capitals followed by a period, and pay attention to indentation.

You can also try our free MLA Citation Generator to help create citations for plays.

Table of contents

Citing plays in mla, how to quote dialogue from a play, plays in an mla works cited list.

An MLA in-text citation contains the author’s last name and a page number:

If the text of the play includes act, scene, and line numbers, replace the page number with the act, scene, and line numbers, separated by periods:

If the text uses lines only, clarify what the numbers mean by writing “line(s)” beforehand in the first citation of that play, separated from the author name or title with a comma. Subsequent citations of the same play can omit “line(s).”

Citing multiple plays by one playwright

In papers focusing on multiple works by one playwright (for example, the works of Shakespeare), use the italicized play name instead of the author name in each citation:

To avoid repeating play names throughout your dissertation, the MLA style guide recommends writing the full name in the first citation, then using abbreviations for subsequent mentions.

If your research is focused on Shakespeare , there are universally accepted play name abbreviations you can use. Do not devise your own, as your supervisor will be expecting these standard abbreviations:

When quoting multiple lines of dialogue from a play or screenplay:

• Set the quote on a new line, indented half an inch from the left margin.
• Start the dialogue with the character’s name in capital letters, followed by a period.
• If a character’s dialogue runs over one line, indent subsequent lines a further half inch.
• Add the citation at the end, after the punctuation mark.

Throughout the play, memory is connected with both religion and fantasy:

The Works Cited section is where you list the full references for sources cited in the text. The reference for a play looks different depending on whether it was published as a whole book , collected in an anthology , or performed live.

If the play is published as a stand-alone book, it looks the same as a standard MLA book citation .

Collection or anthology

If the play is published in an anthology or collection, place a period after the play’s title, followed by full details of the book in which it appears.

If there is no named editor, simply omit this part and proceed straight from the anthology name to the publisher information.

Live performance

MLA  citation generator

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 Citation Generator.

Gahan, C. (2024, March 05). How to Cite a Play in MLA Style | Format & Examples. Scribbr. Retrieved June 12, 2024, from https://www.scribbr.com/mla/how-to-cite-a-play/

Is this article helpful?

Courtney Gahan

Other students also liked, block quoting in mla style, mla format for academic papers and essays, how to cite a book in mla, "i thought ai proofreading was useless but..".

I've been using Scribbr for years now and I know it's a service that won't disappoint. It does a good job spotting mistakes”

A Writer's Handbook

• Introduction
• Purpose & Audience
• Opening Sentences
• Linking Sentences
• Finished Introduction
• Topic Sentences
• Development
• Conclusion Sentences
• Conclusion Paragraphs for Essays
• Essay Writing Organization: The Outline
• Annotating Readings
• General Writing Idea Development
• Rhetorical and Visual Analysis Idea Development
• Character Analysis Idea Development
• Theme Analysis Idea Development
• Theory Analysis
• Using the Library
• Using Sources for Illustration or Support
• Using Research for Essays
• Writing About Research

In-text and Works Cited

Citation examples.

• Final Thoughts on Essays
• Literary Element Index
• Appendix of Example Papers

For a tutorial on MLA style from the Purdue OWL, click here:

• MLA page numbering:  This is set in the header of the paper on the top right hand side of the paper and should have your last name and the page number.
• MLA heading:  This should only be on the first page of your paper (not in the header of the page) and should contain four lines with the following information in this exact order:  Line 1 - Your full name, Line 2 – Instructor name, Line 3 – Class name and number (ENG 101), Line 4 – Date.
• Title of the Essay:  This should be centered on the page after the heading.  The title of an essay should give the reader a clue as to what the essay is focusing on.
• Double spacing:  Choose the double space option in the paragraph section when you right click in the document.
• Font and size:  Times New Roman or Arial font set at 12 point.
• Works Cited page:  This will be the last page of a paper that uses any kind of source.  Center the words “Work(s) Cited” at the top of the page.  Entries will be listed alphabetically by the first letter of the entry.  Sources used in the paper must be placed on the Works Cited page.

Online guide for the following information found by clicking: 9th Edition (2021) Updates

The new MLA documentation and citation style centers around elements within “containers.”  Each container has core elements so students can easily put any type of citation together.  Also, these new core elements are now only separated by commas, so no elaborate punctuation is needed; students only need remember that at the end of a container, there is a period; all other information is separated by commas.

Additional containers would continue the entry if embedded in a database with additional container information.

Paraphrases Versus Quotations

Paraphrasing material from a source is when a writer uses the main idea of selections from that source.  Generally, a few sentences or a small paragraph is the most a writer can effectively paraphrase in his or her own words.  Much more information than this gets into summary and this is usually not recommended.

-from Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson

“Indeed, it seemed impossible for either of us to remain much longer in the house:  the fall of coals in the kitchen grate, the very ticking of the clock, filled us with alarms.  the neighbourhood, to our ears, seemed haunted by approaching footsteps; and what between the dead body of the captain on the parlour floor, and the thought of that detestable blind beggar hovering near at hand, and ready to return, there were moments when, as the saying goes, I jumped in my skin for terror” (Stevenson 15).

Paraphrase:

Jim and his mother were both terrified to the point of wanting to leave because of the odd noises in the eerily quiet inn and the dead man laying before them (Stevenson 15).

Paraphrasing material in multiple sentences from a source does not require a citation after every sentence; however, you must set the chunk of sentences up to allow the reader to recognize that multiple sentences are paraphrased.  Begin a multi-sentence paraphrase by mentioning the source; continue the paraphrase until you are done with the material and cite the chunk of sentences at the end.

“Indeed, it seemed impossible for either of us to remain much longer in the house:  the fall of coals in the kitchen grate, the very ticking of the clock, filled us with alarms.  The neighbourhood, to our ears, seemed haunted by approaching footsteps; and what between the dead body of the captain on the parlour floor, and the thought of that detestable blind beggar hovering near at hand, and ready to return, there were moments when, as the saying goes, I jumped in my skin for terror” (Stevenson 15).

Multi-sentence paraphrase:

Stevenson sets an atmosphere of eeriness for Jim and his mother by showing readers how much the two did not want to stay in their house.  There were sounds, even small ones from a clock, that were scaring them.  There were also people, like the dead captain and the vagrant outside the door, that were making them feel uneasy in their house alone (Stevenson 15).

Quoting material from a source is taking the direct wording, style, and formatting from a source – using ellipsis or brackets if the writer takes away (ellipsis), changes (brackets), or adds (brackets) anything of his or her own.  The length of the quotation is up to the paper writer and will need to be in block format if the prose quote is longer than four paper lines or if the poetry quote is longer than 3 consecutive lines or if a drama quote includes back and forth dialogue.

Stevenson writes that Jim and his mother hear “the fall of the coals…[and] the very ticking of the clock” which makes them want to leave (15).

Discussion of Summary

Summarizing material from a source is when a writer takes a large portion of the information and condenses it into one main idea.  This could be as simple as saying a summary of The Hunger Games movie is about a girl named Katniss that volunteers to go through a deadly annual game in place of her sister, and through her trials and determination, she successfully navigates the game and challenge the political system in place at the same time. 

*Often times a summary will be more than one sentence, but note how the whole movie (and almost whole series of movies) is condensed into a very short amount of space, but still illustrates the main point.

Ellipsis and Bracket Use

• Ellipsis (…) allows a writer to delete information within a sentence that may not be pertinent to the illustration or support at hand. Ellipses will alert the reader that some information from the source was left out.
• Brackets ( [  ]  ) allow a writer to change grammatical tense/error or add clarification to words or ideas in a sentence to the illustration or support from the source.  Brackets will alert the reader that those words are altered in some way from the original quotation.

Prose Citation:  What Comes After the Quote and Paraphrase Examples

• Signal Phrase: Critic Mark Towers argues, “The yellow in the brick road symbolizes the gold standard of the times” (54). *Note, if the source did not have a page number, the citation of the author’s name in signal would do it.
• No Signal Phrase:  In the political climate of the time, the debate between gold and silver split the classes (Towers 54). *Note, if the source did not have a page number, the citation would only list the author’s name.
• No author:  The CDC advocates, “women should have a yearly mammogram after age 40” (“Breast Cancer”). *Note, what is in the parentheses is what will be in the first part of the Works Cited entry (not author).
• Quotation from a different source within a work:  Becker and Murphy denote that “…consumption capital…was first used to explain excessive and addicted gambling behavior from and economic perspective” (qtd. in Fiedler 292).
• Long quotation with omitted information: Critic Alex Harmon notes, “Once the metaphorical sheet has been pulled over their eyes…the parents are blind to their daughter’s evil.” *Note, the lack of parentheses at the end just means this is from a source with no pagination (author mentioned in signal phrase).
• Quote with information added for clarification from the paper writer:  The ogre marched on as “he carried [the princess] to the dungeon” (Smith 205). *Note, the original wording was “her.”
• Long quotation (block quotation form): a quotation that is over four lines will have a complete sentence set-up, an indent of two tab spaces, no quotation marks, and the period will come before the parenthetical citation:

Poetry Citation Examples

The rules for poetry differ from the rules for quoting prose in two key ways:

• Poetry requires writers to cite line numbers not page numbers
• Poetry requires writers to keep line breaks intact

Quoting 1, 2 or 3 lines of poetry. You can quote three or fewer lines of poetry without having to place the lines in a block quote. Use quotation marks. Use a slash to indicate the break between lines. Put the line numbers in parentheses. Place the period at the end of the line number(s):

Example:  One poet ponders, “Have I a voice in making a choice/Or is it some force/Determines my course?” (Perrine 1-3).

Quoting 4 or more lines of poetry. If you quote four or more lines of poetry, you need to block indent the poem ten spaces on the left margin (two tabs).

Example:  Bob Dylan makes a call to politicians in his song “The Times They Are A-Changin’:

          Come senators, congressmen

          Please heed the call

          Don’t stand in the doorway

          Don’t block up the hall (23-26)

When citing several single words from different lines, put line numbers after each single word. If you quote several words or phrases from throughout a poem, list the line numbers after each word.

Example:  Lucille Clifton uses imagery such as “big” (1) and “mighty” (11) to describe her wonderful hips.

When quoting one word or phrase, put the line number at the end of the sentence. Just as when quoting a single word of a prose work, put line numbers at the end of a sentence if quoting only one word.

Example: McKay describes America as a “cultured hell” to show the country’s good and bad side (4).

Drama Citation Examples

• Drama can be written in prose or verse form

When quoting from plays written in verse form, follow the rules for quoting poetry. In addition, if the play is divided into acts and/or scenes, convey this information in parentheses (act #, then scene #, followed by line #).

Example:  Fewer than four lines from an essay on Oedipus the King:

 Knowing he is blind, Oedipus is full of woe and laments, “Death take the man who unbound/My feet on that hillside/And delivered me from death to life! What life!” (Sophocles, Exodos, lines 1301-1303).

Example:  Four plus lines blocked from an essay on Hamlet:

Shakespeare illustrates a debate between the righteousness of life over death or death over life when Hamlet is speaking only to himself:

          To be, or not to be, that is the question:

          Whether ‘tis nobler in the mind to suffer

          The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,

          Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,

          And by opposing end them. (III.i.56-60)

When quoting from plays written in prose, follow the rules for quoting prose. Do NOT use slash marks to indicate line division in the original, and use act, scene, and page number in parenthesis (act #, scene #, page #).

Example: From an essay on Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll House :

Nora finally realizes she has been nothing but a doll in Torvald’s house when she confronts him saying, “Torvald – in that instant it dawned on me that for eight years I’ve been living here with a stranger, and that I’d even conceived three children – oh, I can’t stand the thought of it! I could tear myself to bits” (Ibsen, III.251)

     **Block format for plays written in prose will be used when the words from a character exceed four lines in your typed essay.

If you are quoting back and forth dialogue, always set the quote off in block format, even if it takes just two lines. Put each character’s name in capital letters, followed by a period. All additional lines spoken by the same character should be indented by an extra quarter inch (approximately three spaces).

Example:  From an essay on Sophocles’ Oedipus the King:

After Teiresias prophecies Oedipus’ horrible fate, the two bicker:

          OEDIPUS. Am I to bear this from him? –

              Damnation/Take you! Out of this place! Out

              of my sight!

          TEIRESIAS. I would not have come at all if

              you had not asked me.

           OEDIPUS. Could I have told that you’d talk

              nonsense, that/You’d come here to make a

              fool of yourself, and of me? (Sophocles,

              i.418-422)

**Dialog is formatted in block fashion. Notice there are no quotation marks and the parenthetical citation has no period after it.

• << Previous: Writing About Research
• Next: Final Thoughts on Essays >>
• Last Updated: Jan 3, 2023 9:01 AM
• URL: https://library.jeffersonstate.edu/AWH

Kindlepreneur

Book Marketing for Self-Publishing Authors

Home / Book Writing / How to Format Dialogue (2024 Rules): The Ultimate Guide for Authors

How to Format Dialogue (2024 Rules): The Ultimate Guide for Authors

Dialogue is one of the most ever-present components of writing, especially in fiction. Yet even experienced authors sometimes format dialogue incorrectly.

There are so many rules, standards, and recommendations to format dialogue that it can be easy to get lost and not know what to do.

Thankfully, this article will help you know exactly what to do when formatting and writing dialogue, and I’ll even mention a tool that will make the whole process a lot easier, but more on that later.

• The basic rules for good dialogue
• Grammar rules for effective dialogue
• The difference between curly and straight quotes
• Common stylistic choices
• And other recommendations

Table of contents

• Basic Dialogue Rules
• 1. The Correct Use of Quotation Marks
• 2. The Correct Use of Dialogue Tags
• 3. The Correct Use of Question and Exclamation Marks
• 4. The Correct Use Of Em-Dashes And Ellipses
• 5. Capitalization Rules
• 6. Breaking Dialogue Into Multiple Paragraphs
• 7. Using Quotation Marks With Direct Dialogue vs Indirect Dialogue 
• Using Quotation Marks With Direct Dialogue vs Reported Dialogue
• Keyboard Shortcuts for PC or Windows
• Keyboard Shortcuts for Mac
• Formatting Quotes with Atticus
• Best Practice: Dialogue Tags
• If dialogue is interrupted by a tag and action…
• If dialogue is interrupted by just an action…
• Best Practices: She Said vs. Said She
• Best Practice: Using Beats to Break up Your Dialogue
• 1. Italicized With a Tag
• 2. Italicized Without a Tag
• 3. Not Italicized
• 1. Make It Clear Who Is Speaking
• 2. Focus on Character Voice
• 3. Don't Overdo Your Character Voice
• 4. Don't Info-Dump with Dialogue
• 5. Avoid Repetitive Dialogue Tags
• Final Thoughts on Formatting Dialogue

Why You Should Trust Me

So I've been writing and formatting books for a long time. 10+ years as of this writing.

But I actually found formatting to be a huge pain, which is why I actually created my own formatting software that solved all my problems. I called it Atticus.

But this isn't meant to be a sales pitch. I just want to make sure it's clear that I know what I'm talking about. The amount of research that went into not only formatting my own books, but also creating a formatting software is huge.

I researched everything, from tiny margin requirements, to the specific type of quotes to use (curly or straight, it makes a difference).

And yes, of course, that includes how to format dialogue.

So if all that makes sense, hopefully you'll come along with me as show you everything I've learned.

There are some basic rules that most people are aware of, but still need to be mentioned in an article about formatting dialogue.

The following are some of the very basic instructions you will need to follow:

• New speaker, new paragraph: whenever a new person speaks, you should start a new paragraph. This is true, even if your character is alone and talking out loud, or even if all they say is one word.
• Indent each paragraph: as with any paragraph, you should indent it. There are small exceptions, such as at the beginning of a chapter or scene break.
• Quotation marks go around the dialogue: use quotation marks at the beginning and end of your character's dialogue. Any punctuation that is part of the dialogue should be kept within the quotes.

Now that you have these basics in mind, let's dive into the specific rules of grammar and punctuation for formatting dialogue.

Dialogue Punctuation

To punctuate dialogue correctly, there are a few rules you should know:

• The correct use of quotation marks
• The correct use of dialogue tags
• The correct use of question and exclamation marks
• The correct use of em-dashes and ellipses
• Capitalization rules
• Breaking dialogue into multiple paragraphs
• Using quotation marks with direct dialogue versus indirect dialogue
• Using quotation marks with direct dialogue vs reported dialogue

Let's dive into each of these one by one…

For American writing, you will use a set of quotation marks (” “). These are placed directly before and after the dialogue spoken by your character.

Furthermore, the quotation marks are placed around any punctuation, such as a comma, question mark, or exclamation mark.

Example:  

“I love writing books!” said John.

You can use the same set of quotation marks around more than one sentence.

Example: 

“I love writing books! It makes me feel so accomplished.”

Note: the double quote is used heavily in American writing and in some other parts of the world, with single quotes used to quote dialogue within a larger quote. However these roles are often reversed outside of American writing, and some cultures even use angle brackets instead (<< >>).

A dialogue tag is simply a phrase at the beginning or end of your dialogue that tells us who is speaking. Dialogue tags are optional, but should be used when there are multiple people speaking and it is not clear which dialogue belongs to whom.

Your dialogue tag should use a comma to separate itself from the dialogue. If your dialogue tag appears at the beginning of your quote, the comma should appear after the dialogue tag and before your first quotation mark. If your dialogue tag is after your quote, the comma should appear after the dialogue, but before the closing quotation mark.

John said, “I love to write books.”

“I love to write books,” said John.

If a sentence of dialogue is interrupted by the dialogue tag, then you should use two commas that follow the above rules.

“I love to write books,” said John, “every single day.”

If you are using a question or exclamation mark, those are placed within the quotation marks, just as a comma would be.

“You like to write books?”

If you are following up the dialogue with a dialogue tag, you do not need to capitalize the first word of the dialogue tag.

“You like to write books?” said Lucy.

“You like to write books?” Said Lucy.

Both em-dashes and ellipses are used to show incomplete dialogue, but their uses vary.

Em-dashes should be used when dialogue is interrupted by someone else's dialogue, or any other interruption that leads to an abrupt ending.

Note that the em-dash is contained within the quotation marks, and replaces any punctuation. If the em-dash appears at the start of the quote, the following word should not be capitalized.

“Have I ever told you—”

“Yes, yes you have.”

“—that I love writing books?”

Ellipses are used when the dialogue trails off, but there is not an obvious interruption.

“What was I saying just…

In most cases, you should capitalize the first word of your dialogue. This is true, even if the dialogue does not technically begin the sentence.

John said, “But I love to write books!”

John said, “but I love to write books!”

The exception to this is if you are starting in the middle of your character's sentence, such as after an em-dash, or anytime the first quoted word is not the first word of the character's full sentence.

Lucy rolled her eyes, ready to hear again just how much John “loved to write books.”

If you have especially long dialogue, you might want to divide that dialogue into multiple paragraphs.

When this happens, place the first quotation mark at the beginning of the dialogue, but do not place a quotation mark at the end of that first paragraph.

You also place a quotation mark at the beginning of each subsequent paragraph until the dialogue ends. The last paragraph of dialogue has a quotation mark at the beginning and the end.

John said, “I can't explain to you why I love writing books so much. Perhaps it has something to do with my childhood. I always loved writing books as a child and making up stories . My mom told me I should be playing outside, but I preferred writing.

“Or maybe it was in college when I started learning the rules of good creative writing and saw my characters come to life in a way that I had never seen in my youth. It excited me more.

“Or maybe I'm just weird.” 

Before I get into the specifics of how to use quotation marks with direct dialogue versus indirect dialogue, you have to understand what each is.

Direct dialogue is written between inverted commas or quotes. This is someone actually speaking the words you’ve written down. It looks like this:

“Hello, I like to write books,” he said.

Indirect dialogue is basically you telling someone about what another person said.

He said hello and that he liked to write books.

Note that no quotation marks are required because it’s not a direct quote — the speaker is paraphrasing.

However, most of the formatting and punctuation tips I work with in this article pertain to direct dialogue.

Besides direct dialogue and indirect dialogue, I also have reported dialogue.

Reported dialogue is when one line of dialogue is quoting something else.

With American usage of quotation marks, I place double quotation marks around the direct dialogue (a.k.a. the main quote), with single quotation marks around the reported dialogue (a.k.a. the quote within the quote).

“I was talking to John the other day, and he kept saying ‘I love writing books' all the time,” said Lucy.

Note that this is common for American writing, and is often reversed outside of North America. Check your local style guides to know exactly how to embed one quote within another.

Curly Quotes or Straight Quotes?

Some authors don't even realize this, but there is a big difference between straight quotes and curly quotes.

Straight quotes do not bend inward, but remain straight. They are identical, whether they are located at the beginning or end of your quote.

John said, “I just like to write books, okay?”

By default, most keyboards use straight quotes instead of smart quotes. It is also the standard for web-based writing, since it simplifies the HTML needed to render a webpage (notice that most quotes in this article are straight quotes).

Curly quotes (sometimes called smart quotes) curve inward toward the line of dialogue that they encapsulate.

John said, “I just like to write books, okay?”

Curly quotes are more common in publishing, fiction, and are generally considered the standard when doing dialogue.

How to Change Straight Quotes to Curly Quotes

Since most keyboards use straight quotes, and is the default for many programs, you will have to change them to smart quotes manually.

While some programs have this functionality, you can also use keyboard shortcuts. For example:

To use keyboard shortcuts for PC, hold down the alt key, then type the four-digit code using your number pad:

• Opening double quote shortcut: alt 0147
• Closing double quote shortcut: alt 0148
• Opening single quote shortcut: alt 0145 
• Closing single quote shortcut: alt 0146

Note that you must type these numbers in with your number pad, and not the top row of numbers on your keyboard. The top row will not work.

The same process applies here, but the commands are slightly different. With a Mac, hold down the different keys shown here:

• Opening double quote shortcut: Option + [
• Closing double quote shortcut: Option + Shift + [
• Opening single quote shortcut: Option + ]
• Closing single quote shortcut: Option + Shift + ]

The downside to using the short codes is that it can become extremely tedious, especially if you have to go through your entire book and replace all of the quotes.

Thankfully, there is an option to make this a lot easier…

When you use Atticus, you can automatically swap your straight quotes for curly quotes with the touch of a button.

To do this, look on the top writing toolbar, and you will see two icons on the right.

If you click the button labeled “Apply Smart Quotes”, it will give you the following pop-up:

Do this for each of your chapters, and you should see the little red warning icon change to a green icon, indicating that your entire book is free of straight quotes.

This saves you a ton of hassle, it is by far the easiest way to improve your quotes in a writing or formatting program.

We've already talked about the grammatical rules for dialogue tags above, but let's talk a little more about, because there are ways to use dialogue tags that are grammatically correct, but not great from a stylistic standpoint.

For example, should you use words other than “said” for your dialogue tag?

Technically, you can do this. You can use many words as a dialogue tag. For example:

“You like to write books?” asked Lucy.

“You like to write books?” scoffed Lucy.

“You like to write books?” snickered Lucy.

“You like to write books?” intoned Lucy.

In this case, I have used alternative dialogue tags in each example. It's common for newer writers to think that mixing up the dialogue tags like this is a good thing, but this is not the case.

In fact, most authors agree the best practice is to use just “said” and “asked”. 

You can use other words on occasion (I sometimes use “clarified”, “shouted”, or “whispered”), but these should be rare.

The reason for this is simple: readers expect to see the words “said” and “asked”. Their mind brushes right over it, taking the necessary attribution data, and nothing else. Using “said” over and over again will not seem repetitive, because it is expected.

Using unusual dialogue tags is a quick way to draw the reader out of the book.

Best Practice: Formatting Interruptions

I’ve talked, briefly, about em-dashes and ellipses above, but there are a few other considerations to make when formatting dialogue interruptions.

You can format it in two ways. First of all:

“I love writing books,” John said, rubbing his hands together, “but I don’t like editing them that much.”

In this first example, you write your starting dialogue, tag, and action as usual, but instead of finishing the sentence with a period, you place a comma, open a new quotation mark and continue the sentence with a conjunction. At the end of that sentence, you’d use a period and close the speech.

But you can also format that interruption by separating the spoken pieces into two separate sentences as follows:

“I love writing books,” John said, rubbing his hands together. “But I don’t like editing them that much.”

Here, the sentence ends after John has rubbed his hands together. Because of that, when you start your new line of dialogue, you format it with a capitalized ‘But’ and end it with a period.

Say your speaker is being erratic, or just doing something that would interrupt his speech, like taking a sip of water or coughing uncontrollably, you wouldn’t have a well-planned and inserted interruption. The text would look broken because the dialogue is being broken by the action.

You’d format that as follows:

“I love writing books”–John took a sip of water–“but I’m not a fan of editing them.”

Note: The em-dashes are outside of the dialogue for this type of formatting.

You might be surprised to learn that there is a best practice for the word order for your dialogue tags.

For example, should you say “Lucy said” or “said Lucy”?

It may be common for you to guess that “said Lucy” is an acceptable practice (at least I did), but while this is technically grammatically correct, it is actually discouraged.

The correct way to format this is “Lucy said”.

Think of it this way, would it feel more natural to say “she said” or “said she”? Since “she said” is more natural with pronouns, the logic is that “Lucy said” is the superior form of dialogue tag.

Instead of dialogue tags, one alternative that you can use are beats.

Beats are small actions to give to your characters, so it doesn't sound like the dialogue is being spoken between two talking heads in a void.

It helps to move the story along, creates a sense of realism, and gives you a chance to reduce the number of dialogue tags that you use, without confusing the reader.

“I love to write books!” John sat at the keyboard and cracked his knuckles.

You can also add a beat to your dialogue tag.

“I love to write books!” said John, then sat at the keyboard and cracked his knuckles.

Additionally, you can use a beat to interrupt the flow of dialogue. This is even encouraged at times, because it can create diversity in how you use your dialogue.

“I love to write books!” John sat at the keyboard and cracked his knuckles. “But I don't like editing them as much.”

Best Practice: Formatting Inner Dialogue

When you are formatting internal dialogue (particularly when writing from 3rd person point of view), there are three ways that you can format it.

It’s common to see inner dialogue treated the same as quoted dialogue, but with the entire inner dialogue italicized instead of using quotation marks.

I just love to write books, John thought. Why can’t Lucy understand this?

Likewise, you can often leave out the tag all together, as the reader is able to understand by the italics that this is a thought. However, you might want to accompany this with a beat.

John sat at his desk. I just love to write books. Why can’t Lucy understand this?

If you are writing from a deeper point of view, you might not need italics or a tag. This is especially common when writing in first-person point of view, where literally all of the prose represents that person’s thoughts.

I sat at my desk. I just love to write books. Why can’t Lucy understand this?

Other Tips for Formatting Dialogue

In addition to the above, there are a few miscellaneous tips that I would like to share:

When using dialogue, you never want the reader to be confused as to who is saying the dialogue. There are a couple of ways to do this.

• Use dialogue tags effectively
• Never leave out dialogue tags unless you only have two people, and it is obvious which one is speaking
• Use beats appropriately

Each character should have a unique way of speaking.

A good way to practice different voices is to record a conversation, such as around the dinner table, and transcribe it. Notice how everyone uses a different “flow” to our sentences, or have favorite words that I like to use.

Do they speak in short, choppy sentences? Or are they more prone to elegant, long-winded paragraphs?

Another great exercise is to write a conversation with two people, and don't use dialogue tags. Instead, try to make how they are speaking make it obvious who is actually talking.

Despite my recommendation above, it is possible to overdo character voice.

Examples of this include:

• Overdoing a heavy accent, where every word of their dialogue is spelled slightly different to convey the dialect.
• Including curse words in every other sentence, even if this is realistically based on someone you know.
• Including a lot of “ums” and “uhs” in your sentence. While these are common in real life, they can dramatically pull your reader out of the story.

While it is okay for the character to explain some of what is going on in their dialogue, you have to be careful with this.

Above all, make sure your dialogue naturally fits the character in the scene. Info dumping can easily lead to “Maid and Butler dialogue”, where it feels like the characters just talking for the benefit of the reader, and not for the actual situation they are in.

While it is important to use “said” and “asked” the most when doing your dialogue tags, there are other ways that you should use to diversify your tags, such as:

• Use beats instead
• Use dialogue tags before, after, and in the middle of your dialogue
• Remove dialogue tags when you have a back-and-forth conversation between two people and it is obvious who is saying what

This is not just relevant for dialogue tags, but also for your dialogue styles. If you have had three lines of dialogue in a row that all placed your dialogue tag in the middle of the dialogue, then you might want to change things up a bit.

While it is easy to get overwhelmed with all of the little tips and tricks to formatting dialogue, once you have enough practice, it becomes second nature.

Additionally, a tool like Atticus can make some of the technical bits so much easier, such as changing your street quotes to curly quotes.

In addition to formatting dialogue, Atticus is the number one software for writing and formatting a book. Plus, unlike other leading formatting software is, it is available on all platforms, and costs over $100 less than the leading alternative.

Dave Chesson

When I’m not sipping tea with princesses or lightsaber dueling with little Jedi, I’m a book marketing nut. Having consulted multiple publishing companies and NYT best-selling authors, I created Kindlepreneur to help authors sell more books. I’ve even been called “The Kindlepreneur” by Amazon publicly, and I’m here to help you with your author journey.

Related Posts

Best book formatting software: 2024 [+ discounts], font copyright laws for books: your print book could be in violation, children’s book template and layout: how to design your children’s book, sell more books on amazon, how to title a book checklist.

Titling your book can be hard…really hard. As you go through choosing your book title, use this checklist as your guide and make sure you have a title that will sell!

Join the community

Join 111,585 other authors who receive weekly emails from us to help them make more money selling books.

How to Format Dialogue: Complete Guide

Dialogue formatting matters. Whether you’re working on an essay, novel, or any other form of creative writing. Perfectly formatted dialogue makes your work more readable and engaging for the audience.

In this article, you’ll learn the dialogue formatting rules. Also, we’ll share examples of dialogue in essays for you to see the details.

What is a Dialogue Format?

Dialogue format is a writing form authors use to present characters' communication. It's common for play scripts, literature works, and other forms of storytelling.

A good format helps the audience understand who is speaking and what they say. It makes the communication clear and enjoyable. In dialogue writing, we follow the basic grammar rules like punctuation and capitalization. They help us illustrate the speaker’s ideas.

General Rules to Follow When Formatting a Dialogue

Dialogue writing is an essential skill for both professionals and scholars . It shows your ability to express the issues and ideas of other people in different setups. The core rules of formatting are about punctuation. So, below is a quick reminder on punctuation marks’ names:

And now, to practice.

Please follow these rules for proper dialogue formatting:

•  Use quotation marks. Enclose the speaker’s words in double quotations. It helps readers distinguish between a character’s speech and a narrator’s comments.
•  Place punctuation inside quotation marks. All punctuation like commas, exclamations, or interrogation marks, go inside the double quotations.
•  Keep dialogue tags behind quotation marks. A dialogue tag is (1) words framing direct speech to convey the context and emotions of a conversation. For example, in (“I can’t believe this is you,” she replied.), the dialogue tag is “she replied.”
•  Use an ellipsis or em-dashes for pauses or interruptions. To show interruptions or pauses, end phrases with ellipses inside quotations. Em-dashes go outside quotations. No other extra marks are necessary here.
•  Remember a character’s voice.  Ensure that each character’s phrases reflect their background and personality.

5 More Rules to Know (+ Examples of Dialogue)

For proper formatting of dialogue in writing, stick to the following rules:

1. Each speaker’s saying comes in a new paragraph

Begin a new paragraph whenever a new character starts speaking. It allows you to differentiate speakers and make their conversation look more organized. (2)

“Has Mr. de Winter been in?” I said.    “Yes, Madam,” said Robert; “he came in just after two, and had a quick lunch, and then went out again. He asked for you and Frith said he thought you must have gone down to see the ship.”    “Did he say when he would be back again?” I asked.    “No, Madam.” — from Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

2. Separate dialogue tags with commas

When using dialogue tags ( e.g., “she said,” “he replied,”), separate them with commas. 

For example:

“You’ve got to do something right now , ” Aaron said , “Mom is really hurting. She says you have to drive her to the hospital.” “Actually, Dad , ” said Caleb, sidling in with his catalog , “There’s someplace you can drive me, too.” “No, Caleb.” — from The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen

3. When quoting within dialogue, place single quotes

If a character cites somebody or something while speaking, we call it a reported dialogue. In this case, use single quotations within double ones you place for a direct speech. It will help readers see that it’s a quote.

John started to cry. “When you said, ‘I never wanted to meet you again in my life!’ It hurts my feelings.”

4. You can divide a character’s long speech into paragraphs

Dialogue writing is different when a person speaks for a longer time. It’s fine to divide it into shorter paragraphs. Ensure the proper quotation marks placing:

 The first quotation mark goes at the beginning of the dialogue. Each later paragraph also starts with it until that direct speech ends.

 The second quotation mark — the one “closing” the monologue — goes at the dialogue’s end.

Josphat took a deep breath and began. “ Here’s the things about lions. They’re dangerous creatures. They only know how to kill. Have you ever seen a lion in an open area? Probably not. Because if you had you’d be dead now. “ I saw a lion once. I was fetching firewood to cook lunch. All of a sudden I found myself face to face with a lion. My heart stopped. I knew it was my end on earth. If it wasn’t the poachers we wouldn’t be having this talk. ”

Yet, you can keep a long text as a whole by adding some context with dialogue tags. Like here:

As you can see, there’s no quotation mark at the end of the paragraph in red. It’s because the next “Ha! ha!” paragraph continues the character’s speech.

5. Use action beats

Describe actions to provide context and keep readers engaged. Help them “hear” your characters. Punctuation also helps here: exclamation (!) or interrogation with exclamations (?!) demonstrate the corresponding tone of your narrative.

He slammed the door and shouted , “I can’t believe you did that ! “

Mistakes to Avoid When Formatting Dialogue

A good dialogue is a powerful instrument for a writer to show the character’s nature to the audience. Below are the mistakes to avoid in formatting if you want to reach that goal.

 So, please don’t :

• Allow characters to speak for too long. Writing long paragraphs will bore the reader, making them skip through your speech. Short but sweet talk is the best. When writing, aim to be brief, dynamic, and purposeful. If your character speaks too much, generating opinion essays , ensure this speech makes sense and serves a bigger purpose.
• Overburden dialogue with exposition.  Avoid telling the story background or building sophisticated words in your characters’ speeches. Instead, reveal the narrative content in small bursts and blend it around the rest of the prose. Convey it through your character’s actions and thoughts rather than summaries and explanations.
• Create rhetorical flourishes. Make your characters sound natural. Let them speak the way they’d do if they were real people. Consider their age, profession, and cultural background — and choose lexical items that fit them most.
• Use repetitive dialogue tags. Constant “he asked” and “she said” sounds monotonous. Diversify your tags: use power verbs, synonyms, and dialogue beats.

Frequently Asked Questions by Students

How to format dialogue in an essay.

Formatting a dialogue in an essay is tricky for most students. Here’s how to do it: Enclose the speaker’s words with double quotations and start every other character’s line from a new paragraph. Stick to the citation styles like APA or MLA to ensure credibility. 

How to format dialogue in a novel?

 A dialogue in a novel follows all the standard rules for clarity and readability. Ensure to use attributions, quotation marks, and paragraph format. It makes your dialogue flow, grabbing the reader’s attention.

How to format dialogue in a book?

Dialogue formatting in a book is critical for storytelling. It helps the audience distinguish the hero’s words. Follow the general rules we’ve discussed above:

Use double quotations and isolate dialogue tags with commas. Remember to place the discussion in blocks for better readability.

How to format dialogue between two characters?

A two-character dialogue offers the best way to prove successful formatting skills. Ensure you use action beats, quotations, and attribution tags. It allows readers to follow the conversation and understand it better.

What is the purpose of dialogue in a narrative essay?  

Dialogue writing is the exchange of views between two or more people to reach a consensus. It reveals the character’s attitude and argumentation. Last but not least, it helps convey the descriptive nature of your narrative essay.

References:

• https://valenciacollege.edu/students/learning-support/winter-park/communications/documents/WritingDialogueCSSCTipSheet_Revised_.pdf
• https://www.ursinus.edu/live/files/1158-formatting-dialogue
• Essay samples
• Essay writing
• Writing tips

Recent Posts

• Writing the “Why Should Abortion Be Made Legal” Essay: Sample and Tips
• 3 Examples of Enduring Issue Essays to Write Yours Like a Pro
• Writing Essay on Friendship: 3 Samples to Get Inspired
• How to Structure a Leadership Essay (Samples to Consider)
• What Is Nursing Essay, and How to Write It Like a Pro

Table of Contents

Collaboration, information literacy, writing process, quoting plays and poetry in mla.

• © 2023 by Angela Eward-Mangione - Hillsborough Community College

The rules for quoting drama and/or poetry in Modern Language Association (MLA) Style differ from those for quoting the genre of prose. This article discusses rules for using MLA style to format quotes from drama and poetry. Consult the MLA Handbook to learn more.

Quoting Poetry

The MLA Handbook offers specific guidelines for quoting poetry.

In addition to the amount quoted and line breaks, other factors that matter include stanza breaks, and unusual layouts.

Special Issues: Stanza Breaks, Unusual Layouts

Stanza Breaks: Mark stanza breaks that occur in a quotation with two forward slashes, with a space before and after them ( / / ) (78).

William Carlos Williams depicts a vivid image in “The Red Wheelbarrow”: “so much depends / / upon / / a red wheel / / barrow / / glazed with rain / / water / / beside the white / / chickens” (“Williams”).

Unusual Layouts: If the layout of the lines in the original text is unusual, reproduce it as accurately as you can (79).

The English metaphysical John Donne uses indentation in some of his poems to create unusual layouts, as the first stanza of including “A Valediction: of Weeping” demonstrates:

Let me pour forth My tears before they face, whilst I stay here, For thy face coins them, and thy stamp they bear, And by this mintage they are something worth, For thus they be Pregnant of thee; Fruits of much grief they are, emblems of more, When a tear falls, that thou falls which it bore, So thou and I are nothing then, when on a divers shore. (lines 1-9)

Quoting Plays

When you must quote dialogue from a play, adhere to these rules:

• Set the quotation off from your text.
• Indent each name half an inch from the left margin and write it in all capital letters.
• Follow the name with a period and then start the quotation.
• Indent all other lines in the character’s speech an additional amount.
• When the dialogue shifts to another character, start a new line indented half an inch.
• Maintain this pattern throughout the quotation (80).

Example: One of the flashbacks in Margaret Edson’s Wit suggests Vivian Bearing’s illness causes her to question some of her previous interactions with students:

STUDENT 1. Professor Bearing? Can I talk to you for a minute?

VIVIAN: You may.

STUDENT 1: I need to ask for an extension on my paper. I’m really sorry, and I know your policy, but see—

VIVIAN: Don’t tell me. Your grandmother died.

STUDENT 1: You knew.

VIVIAN: It was a guess.

STUDENT 1: I have to go home.

VIVIAN: Do what you will, but the paper is due when it is due. (63)

Special Issues

Omissions: Follow the rules for omissions in quotations of prose (83).

Although some of the rules for quoting plays and poetry in MLA differ than those for quoting prose, understanding the guidelines will help you apply them in any scenario.

Donne, John. “The Bait.” The Complete English Poems . Penguin Books, 1971, pp. 43-4.

—. “The Break of Day.” The Complete English Poems . Penguin Books, 1971, pp. 45-6. Edson, Margaret. Wit. Faber and Faber, 1993.

Shakespeare, William. Sonnet 39. The Pelican Shakespeare: The Sonnets . Penguin Books, 1970, p. 59.

Williams, William Carlos: “The Red Wheelbarrow.” Poetry Foundation. Poetry Foundation, www.poetryfoundation.org/resources/learning/core-poems/detail/45502 .

Yeats, William. “A Prayer for My Daughter.” The Collected Poems . Ed. Richard Finneran. Scribner, 1983, pp. 188-190.

Brevity - Say More with Less

Clarity (in Speech and Writing)

Coherence - How to Achieve Coherence in Writing

Flow - How to Create Flow in Writing

Inclusivity - Inclusive Language

The Elements of Style - The DNA of Powerful Writing

Recommended

Academic Writing – How to Write for the Academic Community

Structured Revision – How to Revise Your Work

Professional Writing – How to Write for the Professional World

Credibility & Authority – How to Be Credible & Authoritative in Speech & Writing

Citation Guide – Learn How to Cite Sources in Academic and Professional Writing

Page Design – How to Design Messages for Maximum Impact

Suggested edits.

• Please select the purpose of your message. * - Corrections, Typos, or Edits Technical Support/Problems using the site Advertising with Writing Commons Copyright Issues I am contacting you about something else
• Your full name
• Your email address *
• Page URL needing edits *
• Phone This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Other Topics:

Citation - Definition - Introduction to Citation in Academic & Professional Writing

• Joseph M. Moxley

Explore the different ways to cite sources in academic and professional writing, including in-text (Parenthetical), numerical, and note citations.

Collaboration - What is the Role of Collaboration in Academic & Professional Writing?

Collaboration refers to the act of working with others or AI to solve problems, coauthor texts, and develop products and services. Collaboration is a highly prized workplace competency in academic...

Genre may reference a type of writing, art, or musical composition; socially-agreed upon expectations about how writers and speakers should respond to particular rhetorical situations; the cultural values; the epistemological assumptions...

Grammar refers to the rules that inform how people and discourse communities use language (e.g., written or spoken English, body language, or visual language) to communicate. Learn about the rhetorical...

Information Literacy - Discerning Quality Information from Noise

Information Literacy refers to the competencies associated with locating, evaluating, using, and archiving information. In order to thrive, much less survive in a global information economy — an economy where information functions as a...

Mindset refers to a person or community’s way of feeling, thinking, and acting about a topic. The mindsets you hold, consciously or subconsciously, shape how you feel, think, and act–and...

Rhetoric: Exploring Its Definition and Impact on Modern Communication

Learn about rhetoric and rhetorical practices (e.g., rhetorical analysis, rhetorical reasoning,  rhetorical situation, and rhetorical stance) so that you can strategically manage how you compose and subsequently produce a text...

Style, most simply, refers to how you say something as opposed to what you say. The style of your writing matters because audiences are unlikely to read your work or...

The Writing Process - Research on Composing

The writing process refers to everything you do in order to complete a writing project. Over the last six decades, researchers have studied and theorized about how writers go about...

Writing Studies

Writing studies refers to an interdisciplinary community of scholars and researchers who study writing. Writing studies also refers to an academic, interdisciplinary discipline – a subject of study. Students in...

Featured Articles

How to Include Lines of Dialogue in an Essay

How to write english to russian.

When writing an essay for school, work or publication keep in mind the plagiarism laws that protect intellectual property. Any quotations used need to be properly marked and cited. Using quotations that are dialogue from a book, play or a program requires specific formatting.

Dialogue from a Book

Use double quotation marks (") around the entire quotation, if it is less than four lines. These signify that an excerpt from a resource is being used.

Use a single quotation mark (') around the words that are actually dialogue within a quote.

“'Teaching,' said Moody. 'Teach — Moody, is that a student?' shrieked Professor McGonagall, the books spilling out of her arms.” (from "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" by JK Rowling. Scholastic: 2000, p.206.)

Use a set-off quotation for excerpts that are four lines or more. Indent the entire quotation, but do not use quotation marks around the excerpt. You will use them around the dialogue.

They spent the rest of the lesson taking notes on each of the Unforgivable Curses. No one spoke until the bell rang — but when Moody had dismissed them and they had left the classroom, a torrent of talk burst forth. Most people were discussing the curses in awed voices — "Did you see it twitch?" "— and when he killed it — just like that!" (Ibid., p. 218)

Do not close the dialogue with a quotation mark at the end of a paragraph if the same speaker continues dialogue at the beginning of the next paragraph. You will use a single quotation mark at the beginning of the second paragraph, then a single mark at the end of the quoted dialogue.

Double quotation marks will be around the entire excerpt (unless the passage is longer than four lines.)

“'He is at Hogwarts, that faithful servant, and it was through his efforts that our young friend arrived here tonight....

'Yes,' said Voldemort...'Harry Potter has kindly joined us for my rebirthing party. One might go so far as to call him my guest of honor.'” (Ibid. p 652)

Dialogue From a Play or Script

Format dialogue quotations for one speaker in a screenplay or dramatic script the same as you would from a book, as described in Section 1. If the quoted dialogue is four lines or less, use double quotations around the passage.

When Juliet says, "wherefore art thou, Romeo?" she is actually pining over why he is her family enemy rather than a more appropriate suitor. (Shakespeare, "Romeo and Juliet," 2.2)

Use a set-off quotation just as you do for long passages if you are quoting dialogue for two or more speakers. Indent the entire passage, but do not use quotation marks.

Type each character's name in capitals, followed by a period.

MACBETH. This is a sorry sight. [Looking at his hands] LADY MACBETH. A foolish thought to say a sorry sight. MACBETH. There's one did laugh in sleep, and one cried "Murder!" That they did wake each other. I stood and heard them; But they did say their prayers, and addressed them. Again to sleep. (Shakespeare, "MacBeth," 2. 2. 21-26)

Related Articles

How to Start an Introduction When Writing an Essay About Poetry

How to Punctuate Song Titles

How to Add Figurative Language to an Essay

How to Do Quotes on an Argumentative Essay in MLA Format

How to do citations for paradise lost.

What Is an Example of Foreshadowing in "Harry Potter and the ...

Narrative Techniques of Virginia Woolf

The Use of Figurative Language in "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow"

• MLA Citation guide

Based in Gloucester, Va., Janet Wooldridge is a freelance writer and proofreader who began writing professionally in 2008. Her work focuses on topics in education, environmentalism, child care, research and tourism. She holds an honors Bachelor of Arts in English with a minor in secondary education from the University of Florida.

• How it works
• Top Writers
• TOP Writers

Learn the Norms of Quoting Dialogue

When writing an essay, there are times when you cannot find the right words to describe your thoughts. However, many quotes are suitable for the right moment. Of course, you can convey the meaning of the phrase in your own words, and this is called reported speech.

However, direct speech should be used to create credible text and variety. Your task is to insert an existing phrase into the text without changing it. If you are afraid that this will be plagiarism, you simply do not yet know the rules of citation. The correct use of other people’s words can help you gain the confidence of the reader.

The Advantages of Using Quotes

• You have the opportunity to reinforce your point of view. Especially using the words of famous personalities who have extensive experience in the right field, you increase the strength of your words. The reader, in turn, will be happy to read about this topic from a credible source.
• This shows that you have a decent experience in working with texts. When a person views an essay, visual elements that stand out from common phrases catch his eye. Thus, you are interested in the reader, showing their skills.
• You put in your essay links to the source, which opens a new window for the reader. When retelling, you can make a mistake or inaccuracy, and then the meaning of the phrase will deteriorate or disappear. However, quoting, you allow the person to explore the topic in detail.

Typical Mistakes Related to Quoting

When working with quotes, it is worth remembering the norms of their use. Without knowing the features of this element, you cannot decorate your text with it, and this will lower the quality of the essay. Pay attention to these points and avoid them:

• Quotation in each paragraph or item.

Even if you want to submit original information and decorate your essay with it, do not add too much. In this case, the reader will begin to doubt whether to read your work at all, if you constantly rely on other people’s words.

• Thinking about the beauty of the utterance in the first place.

First of all, you should insert information that matches the text. Of course, you might like some of the quotes for your sound, but make sure that they fit the topic.

• Not following the sequence of thoughts.

Follow the logic in each paragraph. Note that the same quote may look perfect at the beginning of a paragraph, but be inappropriate in the middle or at the end. Therefore, always re-read each passage of the essay before proceeding further.

• Use of voluminous quotes.

You can assume that the larger the quote, the better its meaning is revealed. However, in reality, things are different: faced with a big-sized phrase, the reader will simply lose sight of the thought you wanted to convey. Thus, it is optimal to use short phrases that only emphasize meaning.

A Way to Paste a Quote in Your Essay

The method of citation directly depends on the size of the quote and the type of dialogue. Usually, there are two options: citing text up to four lines and working with a full phrase or dialogue.

• In the first case, you send the full phrase in quotation marks, adding a source after it, enclosing it in parentheses. Pay attention to an example:

Douglas was sure that there is a way to get rid of all the problems: “You just need to get enough sleep, or sob for ten minutes, or eat a whole pint of chocolate ice cream, or even all this together – you cannot imagine the better medicine” (R. Bradbury “Dandelion Wine”).

• If you decide to share a full dialogue or phrase, you still do not need to insert it completely. It is enough for you to rely on the source and indicate the pages on which the desired dialogue is posted.

Dagny did not realize that she had found what she was looking for while running away from it (Ayn Rand “Atlas Shrugged Book 3”, p. 36).

Rules and standards of quoting

No matter how good the example may be, your main task is to present it correctly. First of all, pay attention to the formats that allow you to work with quotes. Those several ways are easy to execute:

• Tell about the dialogue using a short description. Typically, this method is used if you have a large volume dialog. This way you don’t complicate the text, but add the desired quote.

Dorian suggested he would never marry someone (Oscar Wilde “Portrait of Dorian Gray,” Chapter 4).

• When inserting an entire phrase, add double quotation marks on both sides, so that the reader sees that you are referring to this phrase, and not passing it off as your own. If there are phrases of dialogue participants inside the quotation, use single quotes to make replicas.

“Girls were a little bit shocked. Tom shouted ‘You are not allowed to think bad about this task before you try it yourself’”.

• When inserting a dialog, you can place each replica on a different line. After the text, add in parentheses the source of the dialogue that you rely on. Thus, you will not get lost in the rules.

People like you don’t commit crimes, Dorian. However, tell me honestly, like a good boy, what are your actual relations with Sibyl Vane? Harry! Sibyl Vane is sacred! It is only the sacred things that are worth touching, Dorian. I suppose she will belong to you someday. You know her, at any rate, I suppose? Of course, I know her. On the first night, I was at the theatre, the horrid old Jew came round to the box after the performance was over and offered to take me behind the scenes and introduce me to her. I am not surprised. (Harry, Dorian, “The picture of Dorian Gray”)

Train on Examples of Other Authors

Even having learned this guide by heart, you are unlikely can apply knowledge in the best possible way. While you do not have enough experience, it is recommended to rely on the experience of other authors. To develop our horizons, we recommend that you look through news publications, newspaper interviews, read books with a large number of heroes. This way you will naturally find examples for each type of citation.

You can practice with examples and ask a friend or teacher to rate your work. Do not be afraid to experiment, use different types of quotes to diversify your skills.

The advantages of reading examples

In addition to practicing the eyes with different examples, there are several advantages associated with the analysis of existing examples:

• You improve your knowledge of grammar and punctuation. Pay attention only to credible sources to see quality text. Sometimes even a short phrase takes a lot of time because you don’t know how to place signs. When practicing with examples, you will learn in practice the rules of punctuation and hyphenation in problematic cases.
• You can note for yourself some tricks that professional writers use when working with quotes. Sometimes you want to experiment with the format, but it’s hard to find a suitable example. Therefore, browse through as many materials as possible, and you will surely find something outstanding.
• Examples are easier to remember than theory. Therefore, if it is difficult for you to apply the instruction without peeking into the synopsis, write down a few striking examples for each method. Gradually, you will be able to develop memory and apply new methods in practice.

With instructions on hand, you have every chance of creating a quality essay with quotes. Start with simple examples and you will gradually broaden your horizons. Remember that professionalism comes with experience, so be patient.

First, Tutoriage advises you to practice working with already written essays. So you can understand the principles of citation and see how the phrase fits into the text. On other pages of the site, you can find tips for writing different types of essays.

Training Authors with CJ and Shelley Hitz

We help Christian writers take a step of faith and finally finish your book!

How To Properly Quote A Book: Citing Quotes From A Book The Right Way

December 6, 2023 By Training Authors Leave a Comment Click here for FREE training for Christian writers

How to properly quote a book? Moreover, citing a quote can be a mark of respect for the original author’s eloquent expression—adopting their words to enrich your own work. Furthermore, done with attention to proper attribution, it acknowledges the value of their contribution to your narrative. However, are you confident you’re doing it with the integrity it deserves?

How to properly quote a book – Key Takeaways

• Understand the importance of accurate quoting
• Learn the proper techniques for citation
• Gain access to resources that streamline quoting practices

Understanding How to Accurately Attribute Quotations from Books

The significance of quoting with precision.

Respecting copyright and intellectual property, you enhance both the legal and ethical standing of your work. In addition, as you acknowledge others’ contributions, you also bolster the reliability of your own content. Moreover, a careful citation is more than a formality; it reinforces your commitment to academic honesty and the golden rule of treating others’ work as you would wish yours to be treated.

You strengthen your arguments when you incorporate authoritative voices from relevant literature. Furthermore, incorporating the insights of others shows you’ve engaged deeply with the topic and are presenting a well-considered perspective.

Citing A Book: Principles For Accurate Attribution

Choosing a Quotation Style

Select a citation style according to your field of study or the publication’s requirements. Whether it’s APA for the social sciences, MLA for humanities, or the Chicago style for a variety of purposes, each format has precise rules for quoting sources effectively.

APA Style Direct Quote Example: “Here’s a direct quote” (Johnson, 2016, p. 52).

MLA Style Direct Quote Example: “Here’s a direct quote” (Johnson 52).

Chicago Style Direct Quote Example: “Here’s a direct quote” (Johnson, 2016, 52).

Formatting Quotes and Citations

Depending on the length and format of quotes use quotation marks for shorter excerpts or indented blocks for longer passages. Also, Remember to include relevant details like the author’s last name, publication year, and page numbers, as detailed by the citation style you’re using.

Paraphrasing and Summarizing

When you reword an author’s ideas in your own style, that’s paraphrasing. Similarly, summarizing condenses the main points into a brief overview. Both require citations, as the ideas originate from another person’s work.

Steering Clear of Quoting and Citation Errors

Remain vigilant about punctuation when quoting; periods and commas should be inside the quotation marks. In addition, accuracy in quoting demands that every comma, period, and citation appears in its rightful place to maintain readability and prevent miscommunication.

Maintain the integrity of quotes by verifying their sources before inclusion. Moreover, misattribution can undermine your credibility. Additionally, use digital tools like Google Books or Wikiquote to confirm quotations and attribute them correctly.

Always attribute quotes to avoid accidental plagiarism. Furthermore, using someone else’s words without proper credit can have serious consequences and impugn your integrity. Moreover, remember to employ a consistent format for in-text citations and full references in the bibliography to comply with academic standards.

Quoting from literature enriches your work, imbuing it with depth and authority. Therefore, follow these guidelines to cite with confidence and navigate the nuances of academic integrity with ease.

How to properly quote a book: Guides on Correctly Citing Literature (MLA and Chicago Style)

Recognized Styles :

• Modern Language Association (MLA)
• American Psychological Association (APA)
• Chicago Manual of Style (CMS)

Notable Differences :

• MLA primarily used for humanities.
• APA preferred for sciences.
• CMS suitable for broad range of subjects.
• MLA or APA? Humanities often use MLA, while APA is for sciences.
• CMS relevance? Offers flexibility across various subjects.

Formatting Essentials :

• MLA : Author’s last name and first name. Book Title, Publisher, and Year Published.
• APA : Author’s last nameand initials. (Year Published), Book Title, and Publisher.
• CMS : Author’s last name and first name. Book Title, City of publication: Publisher, and Year Published.

How to properly quote a book: Suggested Literature

For Nonfiction Authors:

• Navigating Common Errors in Drafting
• Mastering Self-Review Techniques

Enhance Your Editing Skills:

• Recognize and Fix Typical Writing Slip-ups
• Implement Effective DIY Revision Strategies

How to properly quote a book: Common Inquiries Regarding Book Quotations

Apa style book quotation formatting.

When quoting from a book in APA style, include the author’s last name, publication year, and page number in parentheses after the quote. For example, (Smith, 2020, p. 152).

Incorporating Book Quotes into Essays

To integrate a direct quote, introduce it with a signal phrase, such as “According to Smith (2020),” followed by the quotation and a parenthetical citation.

Citing Book Titles in Text

Italicize the title of the book within the essay text. Also, capitalize the major words of the title, for instance, The Great Gatsby .

Referencing Direct Quotes from Individuals in Scholarly Writing

For a direct quote from a person, include their name, the year, and the page number if available, and much like a book citation. Example: (Doe, 2021, p. 45).

In-Text Citation Example

When citing within the body of an essay, you might write, “It is noted that ‘the data reflects…’ (Smith, 2020, p. 152).”

Attributing Quotes from Books in Academic Work

To correctly attribute a quote from a book:

• Introduce the quote with the author’s name
• Include a citation after the quote
• Add the full citation in the reference list at the end of your paper

Resources for How to Properly Quote a Book

• American Psychological Association
• Chicago Manual of Style
• APA vs MLA – The Key Differences in Format and Citation

Recommended Reading

• 5 Editing Mistakes to Avoid When Writing a Nonfiction Book
• 5 Steps to Self-Editing Your Writing

Share this post: on Twitter on Facebook on LinkedIn

About Training Authors

Join Our FREE Facebook Group: Kingdom Writers Community Group

Together, CJ and Shelley Hitz are passionate about equipping and empowering Christian writers of all genres to share their unique gifts with the world. This website is filled with spiritual encouragement as well as prayers to help you overcome the resistance you face as a writer. Your story matters! Our online community, Christian Book Academy , is where we help you write, self-publish and market your books. We invite you to join our community of Kingdom Writers! 

   Get our FREE training for writers here and shop our tools and templates here.  

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Dialogue: The Dos and Don’ts of Quotes in Your College Essay

“Hey,” I began, “you have cow eyes. I know that sounds like a bad thing but have you ever looked into a cow’s eyes? They are so deep and brown and beautiful. I’ve looked into a lot a cow eyes because I’m from Wisconsin.”

This dialogue segment is from Malcolm Conner’s winning “Modern Love” College Essay , p r i n t e d j u s t a c o u p l e m o n t h s a g o i n t h e N e w Y o r k T i m e s . Without dialogue, he might have said “I fumbled with my words, trying to compliment her,” but the dialogue shows his rambling and awkward demeanor instead.

Dialogue is an underutilized tool in the college essay. So many students don’t even consider adding an outdated adage from a parent or a hilarious crack from a high school coach to break up their prose, set the scene or build the profiles of their stories’ characters.  And yet, dialogue is one of those devices that can give you a lot of bang for your buck, delivering a punch of personality or a wallop of context using just a few carefully culled utterances. Dialogue is also one of those tools that is easy to waste if you don’t know how to wield it for maximum effect. So when should you use dialogue in your college essay? And when should you avoid it?

Use dialogue:

If it reveals something specific about a character in your essay. Is your character cranky? A jokester? Is your character selfish? (“You can’t have any.”) Dialogue can telegraph these kinds of qualities to a reader very quickly.

If it helps to move the story forward. Maybe when everything is going great, your friend pulls you aside and says, “I have to tell you something, something bad.”

If it expresses humor or heartache or other emotions in the character’s own words. Is your character a funny grandparent? (“If you eat any more potatoes, Ireland’s gonna come for you, sport.” “Honey, if I had known about senior discounts, I would have let my hair go grey twenty years ago.”)

Don’t use dialogue:

If it is expressing something that is obvious to the reader without adding an additional layer of context or insight to the story or your characters. If it doesn’t tell us anything new about the character, the story may be better without it.

If you’ve already used it a few times in your essay. The impact of dialogue is enhanced when it’s used sparingly — especially in short pieces of writing.

If it takes away from the focal point of your story. Dialogue can be great insight into a character or situation, but if it doesn’t serve a purpose in hitting home your main point, it needs to be cut.

All of this said, of course, there are exceptions to these rules. If used intentionally, as a conscious creative choice, submitting an essay overflowing with dialogue can actually work to amazing effect. For example, maybe your essay is a discussion between you and your former self, between you and your best friend, or you and your parent.  In these cases, you should ask yourself: why is this the best way to share my story? If you can answer that question and still believe you’re making the right choice, by all means, continue with your experiment.

Otherwise, the tips above should help you on the road to incorporating the right kind and amount of dialogue into your college essay. When used well, dialogue illuminates. It shows personality. It’s specific. I say, “Do it! Do it! Do it!”

About CEA HQ

View all posts by CEA HQ »

Give College Essay Academy a Try.

Written by CEA HQ

Category: Admissions , advice , College Admissions , Essay Tips , Essay Writing , Quick Tips , Tips , Uncategorized

Tags: 2017-2018 college applications , college admissions , college admissions essay , college applications , college essay , college essay help , college essay tips , dialogue , Essays

Want free stuff?

We thought so. Sign up for free instructional videos, guides, worksheets and more!

One-On-One Advising

Common App Essay Prompt Guide

Supplemental Essay Prompt Guide

• YouTube Tutorials
• Our Approach & Team
• Undergraduate Testimonials
• Postgraduate Testimonials
• Where Our Students Get In
• CEA Gives Back
• Undergraduate Admissions
• Graduate Admissions
• Private School Admissions
• International Student Admissions
• Common App Essay Guide
• Supplemental Essay Guide
• Coalition App Guide
• The CEA Podcast
• Admissions Stats
• Notification Trackers
• Deadline Databases
• College Essay Examples
• Academy and Worksheets
• Waitlist Guides
• Get Started

Advertisement

Supported by

Emerging Portrait of Judge in Trump Documents Case: Prepared, Prickly and Slow

Judge Aileen Cannon’s handling of court hearings offers insights into how the case accusing Donald Trump of illegally retaining classified material has become bogged down in unresolved issues.

• Share full article

By Alan Feuer

Alan Feuer has regularly attended the proceedings in Judge Aileen M. Cannon’s courtroom in Fort Pierce, Fla.

A few months ago, a top prosecutor on former President Donald J. Trump’s classified documents case stood up in court and told Judge Aileen M. Cannon that he was concerned about the pace of the proceeding, gingerly expressing his desire to keep the matter “moving along.”

Almost instantly, Judge Cannon got defensive.

“I can assure you that in the background there is a great deal of judicial work going on,” she snapped. “So while it may not appear on the surface that anything is happening, there is a ton of work being done.”

In some sense, Judge Cannon had a point. Much of what judges do unfolds out of sight in the sanctity of their chambers.

But at seven public hearings over more than 10 months, Judge Cannon has left an increasingly detailed record of her decision-making skills and judicial temperament.

The portrait that has emerged so far is that of an industrious but inexperienced and often insecure judge whose reluctance to rule decisively even on minor matters has permitted one of the country’s most important criminal cases to become bogged down in a logjam of unresolved issues .

She rarely issues rulings that explain her thinking in a way that might reveal her legal influences or any guiding philosophy. And that has made the hearings, which have taken place in Federal District Court in Fort Pierce, Fla., all the more important in assessing her management of the case.

We are having trouble retrieving the article content.

Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.

Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and  log into  your Times account, or  subscribe  for all of The Times.

Thank you for your patience while we verify access.

Already a subscriber?  Log in .

Want all of The Times?  Subscribe .