Home > Teachers Group > Question and Answer

Teachers Group

Question:

donnach
donnach
Student
Graduate School

Use very short quotations-only a few words-as part of your own sentence

See below for example...

Is the following example correct in relation MLA citation rules?  I am not sure if one citation in parentheses end of the sentence will suffice, but it would look weird to have (112)  after each one- or three-word quote.

Here's the example:  Ralph reminisces about how everything in his life used to be “good-humored and friendly”; how his nightly “bowl of cornflakes with sugar and cream” and the weight of The Mammoth Book for Boys in his hands were comforting, reliable, and could be counted on; and how avoiding the unpleasant things in life like page twenty-seven of the book “about the magician . . . with the awful picture of the spider” was now no longer simply a matter of choice (112).

Rate question:

Posted by donnach on Thursday April 9, 2009 at 9:39 AM and tagged with mla 13 word citation rule, teachers.

Answers:

  1. speamerfam
    speamerfam Teacher
    Community / Jr. College

    eNotes Editor

    This is correct if each of the quotes in the sentence is from page 112.  If there are direct quotes from any other pages, you will need to put different page numbers immediately after each quote.  It would be very awkward to have to place "112" after each quote.

    I do want to offer you some advice, though, on your sentence. Have you considered how much material you have packed into one sentence? You will want to keep in mind that ease of reading is a goal as you write, and the reader will navigate through this sentence with great difficulty.  Consider the idea of breaking this up into two or more sentences.

    Rate answer:

    Posted by speamerfam on Thursday April 9, 2009 at 11:40 AM

  2. donnach
    donnach Student
    Graduate School

    Yes, I guess for 9th graders it's a bit dense.

     

    Thanks!

    Rate answer:

    Posted by donnach on Thursday April 9, 2009 at 11:48 AM