Hatrack River Writers Workshop: MLA Format

This is topic MLA Format in forum Open Discussions About Writing at Hatrack River Writers Workshop.

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Posted by Phanto (Member # 1619) on :

Hey, this isn't just for fiction

. In MLA format, how should the following quote from my paper look?

quote:

" 'It doesn't matter!' " and, " 'I don't care!' " (143).

Or, did I get it right?

Posted by rickfisher (Member # 1214) on :

I can't tell exactly what you're doing. You say

quote:
the following quote

(emphasis added) but you have two quotes, each of which is a quote of something else. Is it supposed to be one person quoting two things? Or two people each quoting one thing? Or is it just you, quoting two things? As in:

quote:
Two common sentences which are often punctuated as exclamations are: "It doesn't matter!" and "I don't care!" (143)

Hurry up and clarify this, so that we can bombard you with conflicting advice.

Posted by Phanto (Member # 1619) on :

C'est

quote:

Two common sentences which are often punctuated as exclamations are: "It doesn't matter!" and "I don't care!" (143)

Posted by rickfisher (Member # 1214) on :

Okay, then that's the right way. The way you originally have it, with the single quotes inside the double, means that the outer quote itself contains a quote, as in:

quote:
Mary said, "You promised. You said, 'I'll be there by three o'clock.' "

Actually, I haven't checked MLA style for this, but I believe it's universal (at least in the US; in GB the single and double quotes are reversed, and of course it would be something else in places that use a different notation for quotations altogether).

Actually, I think this is sufficiently standard that you probably won't get conflicting advice on it at all. But it'd be a lot more fun if I turn out to be wrong on that point.

Posted by sassenach (Member # 1725) on :

Most American books publishers use Chicago Manual of Style, not MLA. Magazines and newspapers [mostly] use the AP Style Guide.