Country Report (Pro)

 

Format Your Block Quote

If you have chosen your pieces of evidence carefully, then one of them is a direct quote that is relatively long (between 5 and 10 lines of text). If you haven't already done so, it's time to format it properly as a block quote.

Below is an example of a paragraph that includes a direct quote of two entire sentences. Those two sentences take up "five or more lines" of text, and therefore they need to be formatted as a block quote.

Study the paragraph in its original, in-line form, then study the corrected version below it. How many differences can you spot?

In-Line Formating

 

Third, Iceland is very safe. According to Auour, a commentator on a website called I Heart Reykjavik, "Although Iceland is not necessarily the utopia some people make it out to be, it is, if nothing else, one the safest places on earth for travelers. There’s not a lot of violence here and you can walk in most places alone without worrying about being harassed" (Auour). The safety factor may be especially important to families or women traveling alone.

 

 

Block Formatting

 

Third, Iceland is very safe. According to Auour, a commentator on a website called I Heart Reykjavik:

Although Iceland is not necessarily the utopia some people make it out to be, it is, if nothing else, one the safest places on earth for travelers. There’s not a lot of violence here and you can walk in most places alone without worrying about being harassed. (Auour)

The safety factor may be especially important to families or women traveling alone.

 

 

Refer to this example (above) as you format your own block quote.

Lesson Steps

 
1

Set your block quote apart from the rest of your paragraph.

  • Use the Enter key to put a blank line before your block quote.
  • Use the Enter key to put a blank line after your block quote.
2

Remove the quotation marks from around your block quote.

  • Block quotes do not get put within quotation marks. The fact that they are set off from the rest of your paper with an extra wide left margin is considered a sufficient indication to the reader that the words are not your own.
3

Select the entire block quote and push the left margin of your block quote over to the 1" mark.

  • On the ruler bar, you will see a small rectangle, and below the small rectangle you will see an upside-down triangle.
 
 
  • While the entire block quote is still selected, grab the upside-down triangle with your mouse and slide it over to the 1" mark.
4

Fix the punctuation of the parenthetical citation.

  • Block quotes get punctuated differently from in-line quotes.
    • For in-line quotes, the final period goes after the parentheses.
    • For block quotes, the final period comes before the parentheses.

Study the differences in punctuation:

  • "This is an in-line quote" (Johnson).
  • This is a block quote. (Johnson)
5

Introduce your block quote with a colon.

  • Put a full colon at the end of your signal phrase (instead of a comma).
6

Clean up the margins of your block quote.

  • Make sure your block quote has an even left margin.
    • The first line of a block quote does not get indented an extra half inch.
7

Take another look at your "wrap" (the final slice of bread in your sandwich paragraph).

  • Your wrap is technically part of the same paragraph as your signal phrase and the block quote. Therefore, if you are formatting your paper in "Print Style", do not indent the first line of your "wrap" by an extra half inch; instead, start your wrap at the left margin.
  • If your wrap doesn't really add anything to your paragraph, consider taking it out. A paragraph with a block quote often doesn't need a wrap. Sometimes, the block quote makes your point so nicely that it seems redundant (superfluous) to tack on a sentence or two of your own at the end of the paragraph.
8

Did you indent the first line of your block quote an extra .5 inch?

  • Fix it. Block quotes should have an even left margin.
9

Did you use quotation marks to indicate that the block quote is somebody else's words?

  • Fix it. Block quotes do not get put within quotation marks. Block formatting is itself an indicator that the words are not your own.
10

Did you center your block quote?

  • Block quotes do not get centered. The left margin of your block quote should indented one full inch from the left margin, but the right margin should be the same as the rest of the page.
  • To fix it, select your block quote, click on the icon for align left, then use the ruler bar to slide the left margin over to the 1" mark.
11

Check your work.

Your block quote should look the same as in this sample paper.

12 Congratulations! You're done with this lesson.