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APA Formatting and Style (7th ed.) for Student Papers

NAU Guide to APA

Citations for Block Quotations

If you want to include a direct quote that is MORE than 40 words
  1. Start the quotation on a new line, ½ inch from the left margin (the same place where a new paragraph would start).
  2. Type the quotation, indenting any subsequent lines ½ inch from the left margin. This is known as a "block" quotation.
  3. Double-space the entire block quotation.
  4. Do not use quotation marks to enclose the block quotation. 
  5. Put your parenthetical citation after the last punctuation mark of the block quotation. Follow the instructions outlined on the previous pages for citing multiple authors in the parenthetical.
  6. Make sure to include a page or paragraph number in the parenthetical.
     ​In his Letter from Birmingham Jail, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote about the interconnectivity of everyone:
I cannot sit idly by in Atlanta and not be concerned about what happens in Birmingham. Injustice anywhere is a threat
to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny.
Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. (1963, April 16, para. 4)
Dr. King’s letter is still highly relevant and frequently cited by scholars even fifty years later. 
*** Remember: Each source listed on the reference page must correspond to at least one in-text citation in the body of the paper; each in-text citation must correspond to a source listed on the reference page.
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