5. Try to avoid using quotation marks of 50 words or more. Many readers skip quotes en bloc because they are looking for explanations of the law and not just accentuation. Don`t use bulk quotes unless (i) there`s simply no other way to write what you want to convey (extremely rare) or (ii) the words are so eloquent that a paraphrase would seriously undermine the persuasive power of your text. “It is repugnant to have no better reason for a state governed by the rule of law than the one it was established in the time of Henry IV. It is even more repugnant when the reasons why it was established are long gone and the rule persists simply by blind imitation of the past. Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., The Way of the Law, 10 Harv. L. Rev. 457, 469 (1897), cited in Bowers v. Hardwick, 478 U.S.
186, 199 (1986) (Blackmun, J., deviant). For quotes that span more than four lines of prose or three lines of verse, place the quotes in a stand-alone text block and omit the quotation marks. Start the offer on a new line, with the entire offer set back 1/2 inch from the left edge while maintaining double spacing. Your quote in parentheses should follow the closing punctuation mark. When quoting verses, keep the original line breaks. (You should keep double the spacing throughout your trial.) But before you throw a quote on the page that is so long that it requires indentation, be sure to give it a memorable introduction that explains why the next section of text is important. Link the offer to your case; Tell the reader why they should plough it. Paraphrase/summary desirable with only cited keywords: Remember: Lead-in is your claim.
The quote is his support. Question marks and exclamation marks should appear in quotation marks if they are part of the quoted passage, but after the parenthesis if they are part of your text. As legal expert Bryan Garner explains in The Winning Brief, 3rd ed. (2014), there are four reasons why you should say in advance “what the quote does for you”: 1. Be careful not to quote excessively; paraphrase whenever possible. New law students sometimes mistakenly believe that they should always quote a judge`s words. After all, so the reasoning, the judge must know how best to express the law. However, excessive citation is a poor substitute for analysis.
Your job as a lawyer is to analyze precedents, not just repeat them. Therefore, your writing should explain to your reader why and how a precedent is important to your client. You cannot perform this important interpretative function by stringing only quotation marks. In addition, the sequence of citations of cases and secondary sources tends to result in a jerky and inconsistent text. It`s usually best to use your own words so that the text you write has a logical progression and consistent style from sentence to sentence. If you cite other people`s works directly in your article, format the quotes differently based on their length. Below are some basic guidelines for incorporating citations into your article. Please note that all MLA pages must be double-spaced. Here is an example of a strong introduction, followed by a compelling block quote from an argument filed by Exxon Valdez in the oil spill case, such as ross Guberman`s in Point Made, 2nd ed. (2014): Sometimes you need to quote four or more lines (50 words or more) of text from a key source, for example if the exact wording of a particular law or regulation, for example. And from time to time, a court makes such a perfect – and appropriate – point to your argument that presenting the statement word for word gives a powerful impact to the words you used to make your claim. When writing an introduction for a block quote, ask yourself, “Why do I want to use this quote? What relevance does it have? How does this support my argument and undermine my opponent`s? The effective lawyer resists, as Guberman points out, the urge to introduce the quote with the lame words: “As the court so aptly put it.” Also note that the use of an ellipse indicates that the author only used the core of the citation.
7. Use a comma after “said,” “explained,” “proclaimed,” and similar terms when introducing a quote. In other cases, add the word “that” and don`t use a comma.