Block Quotations

If a quotation runs more than four typed lines, set it off from your text by beginning a new line, indenting one inch (or ten spaces) from the left margin, and typing it double-spaced, without adding quotation marks. A colon generally introduces a quotation displayed in this way, though sometimes the context may require a different mark of punctuation or none at all. If you quote a single paragraph or part of one, do not indent the first line more than the rest. A parenthetical reference to a prose quotation set off from the text follows the last line of the quotation.

At the conclusion of Lord of the Flies, Ralph and the other boys realize the horror of their actions:

              The tears began to flow and sobs shook him. He gave himself up to

               them now for the first time on the island; great, shuddering spasms of

               grief that seemed to wrench his whole body. His voice rose under the

               black smoke before the burning wreckage of the island; and infected

               by that emotion, the other boys began to shake and sob too. (186)
 

MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers p. 73

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