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MLA Block Quotes | Format & Examples (9th Edition)

Published on November 20, 2024 by Nicole Routh, M.Ed.

Long quotations are sometimes necessary in MLA writing, especially when you’re analyzing a text and need examples of the author’s technique. MLA requires block format for long quotations, which are defined as follows:

  • Passages of prose that are five or more lines of text in your document
  • Poetry quotations that are four or more lines in the original source

Block quotations should be double spaced and indented ½ inch. MLA 9th edition also has special requirements to cite a quote in block format.

In-text citations for MLA block quotes go after the end punctuation. Every source you quote or paraphrase should have a Works Cited entry. QuillBot’s free MLA Citation Generator can help you create accurate in-text citations and Works Cited entries.

MLA block quotation example
In Demon Copperhead, Barbara Kingsolver uses functional fragments to make the first-person point of view more relatable and compelling.
Aunt June was the opposite of Emmy. She gave us our own special bowls for snacks we could eat any time we wanted. She finally got her days off, and took us all over: a trampoline park, putt-putt golf, the hospital. The zoo, where we spent a whole day. Tigers, giraffes, and all like that. Monkeys, which Maggot and I figured out how to get all riled up until Aunt June said knock if off or we were going straight home. (25)
This style of prose helps readers feel as if the narrator is speaking to them face-to-face.

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When to use block quotes in MLA

The length of the quotation determines when to use block quotes in MLA writing.

  • For prose sources (e.g., books or journal articles), use block format when the quotation is five or more lines on your page. You may not know if block format is needed until you type the quotation.
  • For poetry quotations, use block format for quotes that are 4 lines or longer in the original source. Always use the same line breaks as the poet in the block quote.

As a general rule, quotations are most effective when the writer’s original wording is important. In essays about literature, quotations illustrate how authors use literary devices.

In essays about social issues, reserve quotations for passages that are so eloquent that paraphrasing would compromise the author’s meaning.

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How to write and format block quotes in MLA

To write and format block quotes in MLA essays, follow four main steps.

Step 1: Introduce the quotation

Introduce the block quotation with a sentence that ends with a colon. Usually, this sentence includes the author’s name and information about what the block quotation says and/or why it’s relevant to the body paragraph you’re developing.

Step 2: Use block formatting

Use double spacing (like the rest of the MLA document), and indent the whole quotation ½ inch from the left margin. Use the same capitalization and punctuation as the rest of the text. If you’re quoting poetry, keep the original line breaks.

Step 3: Write a citation

Write an MLA in-text citation direction after the final punctuation mark. (Citations for paraphrases and shorter quotations always go before the end punctuation.)

When you cite the author in a signal phrase before the quotation, the in-text citation only needs locator information (e.g., a page number), but only if there is locator information for you to cite.

Step 4: Explain the quotation

Never end a paragraph with a block quotation. Instead, explain why the quote supports your main idea and why it’s relevant to the topic of your body paragraph.

MLA block quote examples

The following examples show block quote format and MLA citation guidelines for paginated prose sources, unpaginated websites, and poems.

MLA block quote for prose (print and PDF)

When you write block quotations from paginated sources, always cite the page number(s) where the quotation is located. For example, MLA book citations and MLA journal article citations need pages when you access a print version or an online PDF.

MLA block quote for prose example
Nate Silver explains how mainstream perception of probability affects weather forecasts:
The statistical reality of accuracy isn’t necessarily the governing paradigm when it comes to commercial weather forecasting. It’s more the perception of accuracy that adds value in the eyes of the consumer. For instance, the for-profit weather forecasters rarely predict exactly a 50 percent chance of rain, which might seem wishy-washy and indecisive to consumers. Instead, they’ll flip a coin and round up to 60, or down to 40, even though this makes forecasts both less accurate and less honest. (133)

MLA block quotes for websites

MLA website citations usually don’t need page numbers or other locator information (unless the page numbers the paragraphs or sections). Usually it’s sufficient to cite the author in a signal phrase before the block quotation, or you can cite the author in parentheses after the block quote’s final punctuation.

MLA block quote for a website example
Margo Price described her writing process for Poetry Magazine:
When I sit down to write, sometimes it’s with a pen and paper, or perhaps a typewriter—sometimes it’s with a guitar and only my memory. I have many poems that were never meant to be songs but the words seemed to jump off the paper into my lungs, insisting I sing them. And other times I set out with the intent to write a song and it is never sung. It stays on the page content to be a poem.

MLA block quotes for poetry

MLA poetry citations for block quotations include the author, but the locator information varies according to these guidelines:

  • Cite line numbers if the lines are numbered on the original page. For the first citation, use the word “lines.”
  • If the poem is on a website or a single page of a print source (and lines aren’t numbered), omit locator information.
  • If a poem spans two pages of a print source (and lines aren’t numbered), cite the page number of the block quotation.

The following example cites a page because the poem is on pages 331–333 of a book. The final line does not have end punctuation.

MLA block quote for a poem example
Bob Dylan’s “Tangled Up in Blue” begins with four iconic lines:
Early one mornin’ the sun was shinin’
I was layin’ in bed
Wond’rin’ if she’d changed at all
If her hair was still red (331)

Quotes within MLA block quotes

If the block quote includes another quotation, use double quotation marks around the inner quote. (The quote within a quote guidelines for shorter quotations are to use single quotation marks for the inner quote.)

Quote within a block quote example
Walls describes her mother’s resourcefulness during a particularly lean Christmas:
On Christmas morning, Mom took us down to a gas station that sold Christmas trees. She selected a tall, dark, but slightly dried-out Douglas fir. “This poor old tree isn’t going to sell by the end of the day, and it needs someone to love it,” she told the man and offered him three dollars. The man looked at the tree and looked at Mom and looked at us kids. . . . “This one’s been marked down to a buck,” he said. (224)

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Omitting words or lines in MLA block quotes

You can shorten block quotes by omitting words that aren’t essential to your purpose or the author’s meaning. MLA has the following guidelines for omissions:

  • If you omit a phrase (rather than a complete sentence), use three periods with a space before each and a space after the last period ( . . . ).
  • When omitting one or more full sentences, use a period at the end of the sentence before the omission and then three spaced periods (. . . . ).
  • If you omit a line of poetry from a block quotation, use several spaced periods to match the length of a line from the poem.
MLA block quote omissions example
In a Scientific American article, Alexis Marie Adams explains how the characters in Bass’s novels share his real-life relationship with wilderness:
Characters in Bass’s fiction hunt elk, deer and grouse. They fish the valley’s rivers and streams, they forage for berries and mushrooms, they gather firewood for the long, dark winters. These are not hobbies for his characters; they’re imperatives. Drawn to live in this sparsely populated valley . . . the characters are solitary and self-reliant, yet they are bound together by their shared craving for independence, wilderness, and quiet, their shared love for this place, and their shared fluency in its ways. (61)

Frequently asked questions about block quotes

How long is a block quote in MLA?

A block quote in MLA is five or more lines of prose on your page or four or more lines of poetry from the page where the poem was published.

To determine if you need block format for long quotations of prose, type the quotation in your document. If it’s more than four lines, use MLA block quote format:

MLA block quote example
According to an Architectural Digest article, Dolly Parton’s influence is so profound that scientists have named a lichen after her.
The Dolly Parton lichen can be found on branches of trees and shrubs at middle to high elevations in the Appalachians from Maine to Georgia. J. dollypartoniana lacks the endearing showiness of its namesake; it resembles an undersized, undercooked oatmeal raisin cookie. The specimens Lendemer and Allen were looking at were several centimeters in diameter, but J. dollypartoniana can form colonies a few meters across. (Casey 74)

QuillBot’s free MLA Citation Generator can help you create accurate in-text citations for block quotations.

What is the difference between quoting and paraphrasing?

A quote is a direct copy of another person’s words and must be enclosed in quotation marks.

Paraphrasing is a summary or rephrasing of another person’s words without using the exact language.

Both quoted and paraphrased material must be accompanied by a citation to avoid plagiarism.

Do you cite line numbers for poems?

Only cite line numbers for poems when there are line numbers on the original source. For example, if a website or book provides line numbers, all MLA in-text citations for quotes or paraphrases should include line numbers.

In the first MLA poetry citation, include the word “line” or “lines” before the numbers. In subsequent in-text citations, use the numbers only.

MLA line number citations examples
Eliot’s poem begins, “April is the cruelest month, breeding / Lilacs out of the dead land” (lines 1–2).

Images of shadows are prevalent in Eliot’s second stanza: “Your shadow at morning striding behind you / Or your shadow at evening rising to meet you” (27–29).

If the source does not number the poem’s lines, omit line numbers from in-text citations. Only cite a page if the poem spans two or more pages of the source (e.g., a book or literary magazine).

If the poem is on one page and lines aren’t numbered, omit locator information from in-text citations.

You can also use QuillBot’s free Citation Generator to create MLA poetry citations.

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Nicole Routh, M.Ed

Nicole has a master’s in English Education and detailed expertise in writing and grammar instruction. She’s taught college writing courses and written handbooks that empowered students worldwide.