To cite a quote, do three things. Copy the words exactly and put them in quotation marks. Give the author and the page number right after the quote, in the form your style asks for. Then list the full source at the end of your paper. APA adds the year: (Rivera, 2023, p. 12). MLA uses the name and page only: (Rivera 12). Chicago uses a numbered footnote. The examples below use an invented book and author; swap in your own source.
Quick answer and formats
| Style | Short quote in your sentence | Use a block quote when |
|---|---|---|
| APA 7 | “Quoted words” (Author, Year, p. 12). | The quote is 40 words or more |
| MLA 9 | “Quoted words” (Author 12). | The quote runs to more than four lines of prose, or more than three lines of verse |
| Chicago 17 | “Quoted words.”1 with a footnote that gives the source and page | The quote is about 100 words or more |
Every in-text citation points to a full entry at the end of the paper: the reference list in APA, the Works Cited list in MLA and the bibliography in Chicago.
How to cite a quote in APA 7
A direct quote in APA needs the author, the year and the page number. Write “p.” for one page and “pp.” for a range, such as pp. 12–13. The period that ends your sentence goes after the citation.
Citation after the quote
One study found that “students who slept seven hours or more scored higher on every test” (Rivera, 2023, p. 12).
Author named in your sentence
Rivera (2023) found that “students who slept seven hours or more scored higher on every test” (p. 12).
Reference list entry
Rivera, J. (2023). Sleep and study. Example Press.
A paraphrase needs the author and year too. The page number is optional for a paraphrase, but it helps your reader find the passage in a long work. The APA Style page on quotations gives the full rules. To build the reference entry, use our APA citation generator.
How to cite a quote in MLA 9
MLA gives the author’s last name and the page number, with no comma between them and no “p.”. There is no year. The period goes after the citation.
Citation after the quote
One study found that “students who slept seven hours or more scored higher on every test” (Rivera 12).
Author named in your sentence
Rivera found that “students who slept seven hours or more scored higher on every test” (12).
Works Cited entry
Rivera, Jordan. Sleep and Study. Example Press, 2023.
If the quote ends with a question mark or an exclamation point, keep that mark inside the quotation marks and still put a period after the citation. The Purdue OWL page on MLA quotations has more examples. To build the Works Cited entry, use the MLA citation generator.
How to cite a quote in Chicago 17
In the notes and bibliography system, you put a small raised number after the quote. The number goes after the closing quotation mark and after the period. A footnote with the same number gives the source and the page.
In your sentence
One study found that “students who slept seven hours or more scored higher on every test.”1
Footnote
1. Jordan Rivera, Sleep and Study (Boston: Example Press, 2023), 12.
Shortened note (later citations)
2. Rivera, Sleep and Study, 15.
Bibliography entry
Rivera, Jordan. Sleep and Study. Boston: Example Press, 2023.
Chicago also has an author-date system, used more in the sciences. There the citation goes in parentheses, with no “p.”: (Rivera 2023, 12). The Chicago citation quick guide shows both systems. To build the note and bibliography entry, use the Chicago citation generator.
How to cite a long quote (block quote)
A long quote is set apart from your paragraph as a block. A block quote has no quotation marks. The indent shows that the words are quoted.
| Style | When to use a block | How to format it |
|---|---|---|
| APA 7 | 40 words or more | Start on a new line. Indent the whole block half an inch. Put the citation after the final period. |
| MLA 9 | More than four lines of prose, or more than three lines of verse | Start on a new line. Indent the whole block half an inch. Put the citation after the final period. |
| Chicago 17 | About 100 words or more. Many instructors ask for a block at five lines or more. | Start on a new line. Indent the whole block. Put the footnote number at the end. |
Here is an APA block quote. Note that the period comes before the citation, not after it.
Students who slept seven hours or more scored higher on every test. The gap was widest in the final week of term, when the students who slept least also reported the most stress. Sleep did not replace study time, but it made each hour of study count for more. (Rivera, 2023, p. 12)
In MLA the block looks the same, with (Rivera 12) at the end. Introduce a block quote with a sentence of your own, and follow it with your own comment. Use block quotes sparingly. A paper made mostly of long quotes shows little of your own thinking.
How to cite a quote with no page numbers
Web pages, videos and many e-books have no fixed pages. Each style handles this differently.
- APA 7. Give another way to find the passage: a paragraph number, a section name, or both. For audio and video, give the time the quote starts. Examples: (Rivera, 2023, para. 4), (Rivera, 2023, Results section), (Rivera, 2024, 14:30).
- MLA 9. Give the author’s name alone: (Rivera). Do not count the paragraphs yourself. If the source prints its own paragraph, section or chapter numbers, you can use them: (Rivera, par. 4). For audio and video, give a time range.
- Chicago 17. In the note, name the section heading where the quote appears, or leave the locator out.
For source-specific formats, see how to cite a website, a YouTube video or a PDF.
How to cite a quote within a quote
This phrase covers two different situations.
The passage you are quoting already contains quotation marks
Keep your own double quotation marks on the outside and change the inner ones to single quotation marks. Cite the source you are reading as normal.
Rivera notes that “most students called the result ‘a surprise’ when they first saw it” (2023, p. 14).
In a block quote there are no outer marks, so the inner quote keeps its double quotation marks.
Your source quotes someone else, and you want to use that quote
This is called a secondary or indirect source. All three styles say the same thing first: find the original and cite it if you can. If you cannot get the original, name the original author in your sentence and cite the source you actually read.
| Style | Citation | In the reference list |
|---|---|---|
| APA 7 | (Okafor, 2019, as cited in Rivera, 2023, p. 12) | Rivera only |
| MLA 9 | (qtd. in Rivera 12) | Rivera only |
| Chicago 17 | Footnote: 1. Nia Okafor, Memory at Night (Chicago: Example Books, 2019), 45, quoted in Jordan Rivera, Sleep and Study (Boston: Example Press, 2023), 12. | Both sources appear in the note |
In APA, leave the original year out if you do not know it: (Okafor, as cited in Rivera, 2023, p. 12).
Changing a quote
A quote must match the source word for word. If you change anything, show the reader what you did.
- Leaving words out. Use an ellipsis, three spaced periods, where the words were: “students who slept seven hours or more scored higher . . . in the final week of term.” Do not cut words in a way that changes the meaning.
- Adding or changing a word. Put your words in square brackets: “[The students] scored higher on every test.”
- Adding emphasis. If you put words in italics, say so. APA adds [emphasis added] in square brackets right after the italic words. MLA adds it to the citation: (Rivera 12; emphasis added).
- An error in the source. Copy it as it is and add [sic] after the error, so the reader knows it is not your mistake.
Quotes from quote websites and interviews
A famous quote from a quotes website
Collections of quotes online often get the words or the speaker wrong. Track the quote down to the book, speech or interview it came from, and cite that. If you cannot find the original, the MLA Style Center says to cite the web page where you found it and treat it as an indirect source, with “qtd. in”. If you cannot confirm who said it, it is safer to leave the quote out.
Something a person said to you
A conversation, an email or an interview you did yourself cannot be looked up by your reader. APA treats it as a personal communication. Cite it in the text only, with no reference list entry: (J. Rivera, personal communication, March 5, 2024).
A quote from a video or podcast
Cite the recording and give the time of the quote in place of a page number. See how to cite a YouTube video and how to cite a podcast.
Build the reference entry automatically
The in-text citation is only half of the job. Each quote also needs a full entry at the end of your paper. The free Plagiarism Checker Plus citation generator formats that entry in APA, MLA, Chicago, Harvard, IEEE, AMA and ACS. For a journal article or a book, it can fill in the details from the DOI or ISBN.
- Choose your style, then enter the DOI or ISBN, or type the details in.
- Check the result against your source, then copy it into your reference list.
- Add the in-text citation after each quote, using the formats on this page.