This practice will not only allow you to establish your voice as the author but also show the way you are engaging with the information, not just reporting it. Instead, if at all possible, try to quote smaller portions of the piece of text and incorporate these into your own voice. Block quotations tend to take over the voice of the paper, often overshadowing the voice of the author with that source’s voice. Note that block quotations should be used sparingly. You should not end a paragraph with a block quotation because any quotation you use as evidence in your writing should be followed by analysis in your own words as part of the same paragraph. The text after the block quotation begins on its own line, with no indentation.The ending citation is included on the last line of the block quotation.The punctuation at the end of the block quotation goes before the citation.Block quotations are not surrounded by any quotation marks.The entire block quotation is indented 0.5 inches, the same as the indentation for a new paragraph, and is double spaced.Block quotations start on their own line.The following is a list of the unique formatting that is needed for block quotations:
According to the APA manual, quotations that are 40 words or more are considered block quotations and are formatted differently than regular quotations.