how to quote from a play in MLA format?

Question

I have a summer assignment for my English class. The exact directions I have are:

Activity 2: What Do You Believe
Having read Inherit the Wind, a play by Jerome Lawrence, write a letter to the editor of the school board expressing why you feel it is proper or improper to teach evolution as part of the school curriculum. Include at least three quotes to support your argument. Include proper citation.

I have no trouble actually writing this letter, but I don't know how to properly quote from a play in MLA format. Please help!!!

Answer 1

MLA (Modern Language Association) style is most commonly used to write papers and cite sources within the liberal arts and humanities. This resource, updated to reflect the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers (6th ed.) and the MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing (2nd ed.), offers examples for the general format of MLA research papers, in-text citations, endnotes/footnotes, and the Works Cited page.

I would suggest that you get a copy of the most current MLA manual.

From The Own at Purdue: "When you directly quote the works of others in your paper, you will format quotations differently depending on their length. Formatting quotations using MLA style is covered in section 2.7 of the of the MLA Handbook (which begins on page 80) and in section 3.9 of the MLA Style Manual (which begins on page 102). Below are some basic guidelines for incorporating quotations into your paper."

Answer 2

Be sure to italicize or underline the title of the play. Block the quote if it's 4 or more lines. At the end of the quote, in parenthesis, include the act, scene, and page numbers (numbers only). See example below.

When quoting four or more lines from Shakespeare, normally you should use block quotation: Richard III tells his troops,

Remember whom you are to cope withal:
A sort of vagabonds, rascals, and runaways,
A scum of Britains and base lackey peasants,
Whom their o'ercloyed country vomits forth
To desperate adventures and assur'd destruction.
(V.iii.315-319)

Good luck!

Answer 3

I highly recommend using citationmachine.net for your bibliography in the future, but I can help you for this one.

For the quotes themselves, you have them in quotation marks, followed by a little parenthetical citation with the author's name and page number. If you want to get rid of a part of the quote, such as an extra phrase or two that is irrelevant between two points, add an ellipsis, or "..." where the text was missing. You may also want to add one at the beginning if your quote starts in the middle of a sentence. You almost never need one at the end of a quote.
e.g.

Text you have written leading up to quote, "Text of quote." (Quote_author's_last_name page#) Your writing continues here.

or

Text you have written leading up to the quote. "First part of the quote...second part of the quote." (Last_name page#)

The bibliography is put on a new page atfter your letter. It is written as follows, with notes and formatting in brackets "[ ]". You can use this formatting and substitute necessary information into it in the future, as this works for anything published as a regular book.

Last_name, First_name[author one] and First_name Last_name[author two]. [underlined]Play name[stop underline]. #of ed[optional]. Place_of_Publication: Publisher, Publishing_Year.

I can substitute in as much as this, you'll have to look at your copy to fill in the rest. If you can't find where it was published in that information-filled page at the start of your book, bet on New York. Indent every line after the first one, if you can.

Lawrence, Jerome and Robert E. Lee. [underline]Inherit the Wind[end underline]. #of ed. Place_of_Publication: Publisher, Publishing_Year.

Best of luck.

Answer 4

Try these links:
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/557/01/
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/
http://honolulu.hawaii.edu/legacylib/mlahcc.html
http://www.english.uiuc.edu/cws/wworkshop/writer_resources/citation_styles/mla/mla.htm
http://www.mla.org/www.mla.org/style
http://www.easybib.com/
http://www.ccc.commnet.edu/mla/
http://www.ccc.commnet.edu/mla/format.shtml
http://citationmachine.net/

Answer 5

yes