Language Center Program, Writing Tips
Volunteer State Community College | Division of Humanities
A prose quotation that runs more than four typed lines in your text and verse quotations (poetry or plays written as poetry) that are more than three lines are considered "long" quotations.
To format a long quotation, begin the quotation on a new line one inch from the left margin (i.e., two inches from the edge of the paper). Maintain this format for the length of the quotation. If you are quoting verse, place each line of the poem on a separate line, copying the spacing of the original if it is unusual. For both prose and verse long quotations, do NOT use quotation marks (the format indicates to the reader that the material is a quotation, so quotation marks would be redundant). Place end punctuation before the parenthetical citation (this is an exception to the general rule); there will be no punctuation after the parenthetical citation.
