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Everything You Need to Know about How to Quote a Movie in Academic Writing

Updated 03 Sep 2024

It is clear that our intentions of putting a quote in an essay may differ. Even though most research papers focus on print or online sources, a lot of modern university courses implement audiovisual materials for their research. Regardless if you are writing a movie review essay or want to include a short movie in an Engineering presentation, knowing how to quote a movie is essential. It is especially relevant in Arts, Engineering, Programming, Sound Recording, and 3D Design degrees. Since such type of citing mostly deals with knowledge regarding print sources or using various YouTube videos for short presentation projects, college students get vulnerable to plagiarism risks by simply inserting some quote or referencing their source without due credibility. After all, working with any research paper requires relevant citing where every claim is always backed up with a reference. Quoting a movie correctly in your essay can be tricky, so if you're struggling with proper citation, you might consider using a service to do my assignment and ensure your work meets all academic standards.

Types of Citations in Academic Writing

The most challenging part about how to quote a film is knowing what has to be included and what are the differences between academic writing formats. A reason for this confusion might be publisher information depending on if it is a Youtube or DVD source. As most universities request APA, MLA, or Chicago academic format, which is close to Turabian style, yet represents separate formatting, it becomes essential. The most popular is classic MLA format, which is why college students always ask about how to cite a movie quote MLA way. While no citing format is easier or more complex, MLA can be told apart by using in-text citations and Works Cited for Bibliography reference. The APA format will have a References word on the final page. Now Chicago format differs because of its use of footnotes, endnotes, and Bibliography in a particular styling.

In simple terms, you will use two general citation types, which are essential in knowing how to cite a movie in an essay, both in text and Bibliography. The in-text citation will contain your relevant quote itself with a brief reference to an existing source, so it can be found at the end of your paper. Any mistake made through the text will reflect in your Bibliography page as well if the numbering or contributors list is incorrect.

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Correct audiovisual citation by style with examples.

• MLA Citation Guidelines

Let’s start with how to cite a movie MLA 8 format before moving on to the other audiovisual citations.

If some movie quote is taken as verbatim, the quotation marks are necessary. Here is how to quote when you include a direct phrase:

      "May the Force be with you." (Star Wars)

Now there is a Works Cited page (Bibliography) where you have to include directors, studio, and the year where it was filmed if required by formatting. Our example becomes this:

      Lucas, George, dir. Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. Twentieth Century Fox, 1977. Film.

As we can see, you have to list films (if it is in theaters) by their title, including the director's name, movie studio where it was filmed, or distributed, ending up with mentioning film release year.

Now that we have learned how to quote a movie in an essay MLA style, we will continue with audio recording citing. For example:

     “ The spectral analysis made in Icelandic caves has been higher in the low frequencies, compared to what the North American explorations have shown. ” (Wilders).

There is no need to specify production year, if it is unavailable, mentioning the author of relevant recording is sufficient.

Now our Works Cited page requires the full name of your performer or a band, followed by relevant content title, year, release year, and studio's name.

For example:

      Wilson, Steven. The Raven That Refused to Sing. 2013. Kscope Music Records, 2013. CD.

When you require MLA in-text citation for some radio broadcast, there is no need to place a timestamp as it is done for in-text citation film template. Just mention the quote with the name of your broadcast as done below:

      “ The Cold War became an emotional turmoil for both superpowers, especially the children. ” ("The Cold War Childhood")

Works Cited page citing becomes a bit longer:

      "The Cold War Childhood". Conservative Talk Theater. Seattle KTTH 770. KTTH, Seattle. 13 May 2018. Radio.

Regarding how to cite a movie in text If you have found your source on some website, use the following template:

      Last name, First name of the creator. “Title of the film or video.” Title of the website , role of contributors and their full name or username, Version, Numbers, Publisher, Publication date, URL.

The Youtube video example:

      Talks at Google. “Kelly Jones: Stereophonics Lead Singer in Conversation.” YouTube , May 7, 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4w9TBxKXWYo.

In-text citation example:

      Talks at Google 00:00:04 - 00:00:13)

Now if there is no author listed, in-text citation movie rules require citing a relevant title of your video instead. 

Streaming services or databases use this template:

      Last name, First name of content creator. Title of the film or video . Role of contributors and their First name Last name, Version, Numbers, Publisher, Publication date.  Database name , URL.

If you feel lost in MLA, remember you can always use the MLA citation generator to help you with any kind quote for free.

• APA Formatting examples 

The in-text citation may include relevant movie scenes with a timestamp or a direct quote. It also applies both for fiction films and this formatting explains how to cite a documentary in text if necessary.

Both movies and Netflix documentaries citing follow this example:

      “ My mama always said life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get .” (Zemeckis, 1994).

The References page will have to include all the people who produced the film with their respective roles, following each other, then placing an obtained release year. Any movie title comes with formatting in square brackets, country of origin, and the studio name.

See this example:

      Finerman, R. (Producer), & Zemeckis, R. (Director). (1994). Forrest Gump. [Motion Picture]. The United States. Paramount Pictures. 

• Audio Recording Citing in APA

For an in-text citation, you have to include the name of the author (speaker), then paraphrase your content, and state the year of a given recording. See here:

      " The majority of praise and worship ceremonies revolve around Biblical scriptures. " (Morley,  2011).

      In a challenging conversation about religious practices, Morley (2011) states that "...(your quote)".

The References page must include the last name of a speaker with relevant initials, mention specific roles in the brackets, then a year, title, and format of our recording in the brackets. Then specify your source, a web page, or a place where the recording can be accessed or downloaded. Follow this example:

      Morley, N. (Speaker). (2011). Modern Religious Practices (CD Recording Vol. 3). Miami, FL: Praise & Worship Library Archives.

• Radio Broadcast Citing in APA

An in-text citation includes broadcast's name in the brackets with the year after your quote:

      " In most cases, mechanical engineers turned to additional education courses to catch up with technology. " (Jones, 2015)

The same rules apply to Podcast recordings, yet you must include a radio station, creator's name, date, and location.

Our Bibliography page goes as follows:

    Jones, K. (Narrator). (2015, February 4). The Mechanical Engineering Versus Machine  Learning [Radio broadcast episode]. In W. Carlton (Producer), Evening Edition. Seattle, WA: KTTH AM 770.

If you have a film or DVD in another language, use this template:

      Director, D. D. (Director). (Date of publication). Title of a motion picture in original  language [Translated title] [Film]. Production company.

Now our in-text citation both for MLA in-text citation movie quote or Youtube video remains the same:

      According to (“Star Wars”, 1975), the characters…

YouTube video has this format:

      Person or group who uploaded a video. (Date of publication). Title of video [Video]. Website host. URL

The Podcast goes as follows: 

     Executive Producer, E. P. (Executive Producer). (Range of publication). Title of podcast  [Audio podcast]. Production company. URL

Once again, you can use a free APA citation generator to simplify the process and save your time.

• Chicago Citing Rules

If you do not know how to cite a quote from a movie in Chicago format, there is no need to fear once you learn some basic rules. Let's start with a motion picture reference rules. Since Chicago makes it possible to use notes, it ends up in three formatting styles. See below:

      First footnote/endnote: August Rush , DVD, directed by Kirsten Sheridan. (2007; Chicago, IL: Warner Bros. Pictures, 2008).

      Subsequent notes: August Rush .

     Bibliography page: August Rush . DVD. Directed by Kirsten Sheridan. 2007; Chicago, IL: Warner Bros. Pictures, 2008.

•  Audio recording

      First footnote/endnote: Nirvana, Nevermind , Geffen Records, 1991, Compact disc.

      Subsequent notes. Nirvana, Nevermind .

      Bibliography page: Nirvana, Nevermind . Geffen Records. 1991. Compact disc.

• Radio recording

   First footnote/endnote: " Tom Sawyer's principles ," Morning Broadcast, Radio Disney (Riverside, CA: Radio Disney, February 7, 2011).

       Subsequent notes. " Tom Sawyer's principles ".

      Bibliography page: " Tom Sawyer's principles. " Morning Broadcast, Radio Disney Riverside, CA: Radio Disney, February 7, 2011.

Chicago format is often considered as the most confusing, which is only partially true. Check out our Chicago style citation website generator to try and fill in available information. This AI system will provide you with examples free of charge, so you can learn how this particular formatting works.

How to Make Sure that My Video Source is Credible?

It may seem easy to find a good reference, yet not all sources are approved by college professors. The most important part is to keep within the basic citing rules that will help you to stay safe.

• Finding the original author or writer's credits.

If you want to include something in a research paper, avoid using blogs or unreliable websites when citing a video because it is not a published paper or a reference that can provide statistical data or clear reasoning. Use Google Scholar or scientific journals that have authors with a decent background. If it is not possible to use anything credible, look for information about the author to find out their expertise level.

• Secondary Source Danger.

If you need a primary source, check similar scientific papers or Bibliography pages to find out whether your information is a secondary or a primary source. Every journal article, including your own paper, will appear as a secondary source unless it is your own argumentation. The primary sources stand for credibility, which is why a movie quote or an audio recording is like a first-hand experience.

• Visit the local library.

If you cannot find a particular video on YouTube or do not have the required information to quote a movie, text to video content, or an audio recording, visit the college’s local library as such information is usually listed in the notes. Alternatively, you can ask the college librarian for information, which will help you to cite and specify the source.

• Do not use too much multimedia referencing.

While it is good for some projects to include movie or audio citing, do not overdo it because it will make the paper hard to read and will keep the bias away from your own opinion. Even when you write a non-technical, creative paper, it is still necessary to include some analysis among the videos that only seem natural. It will make your sources fit in a much better way!

How to Make My Essay Perfect?

Citing a movie or any other source is crucial if you want to receive good marks and deliver a credible paper. Considering all existing citation challenges, it is not surprising that even good essays still receive low grades because of minor omissions. Thankfully, there are ways to check your paper before you submit it. A safe approach to get things right is EduBirdie where you can double-check your paper, correct the formatting issues when you need to cite a video, eliminate grammar mistakes, and process your project for plagiarism risks among other things, such as an option to  pay someone to write my research paper . Do not wait any longer because there are safe and affordable ways to receive an excellent essay!

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How to Cite a Movie: MLA, APA, and Chicago Style

• Posted on January 28, 2022

Writing a research paper doesn’t mean limiting your sources to books and articles. You might use a movie, and if you do, you need to know how to cite it properly. Since there are different citation guides , you must follow the directions specific to your paper style.

The most popular formats are MLA style, APA format, and Chicago style. Each style guide has unique, yet very specific guidelines for spacing, punctuation, italics, and more.

Creating a movie citation for a motion picture you’re referencing protects you against plagiarism. When you’re using other people’s ideas or words, you have to credit them in your work. Otherwise, it looks like you’re passing the information off as your own. If you write anything that isn’t an original idea, you need to credit the person who said it first or you are plagiarizing.

Referencing a movie in your paper can take many different forms. You might mention the film in passing. You might compare it to other films or works of literature. You could also dedicate a whole paper to discussing one specific movie and its impact on popular culture.

You can quote lines from films in your paper just as you’d quote a researcher. Put the sentence in quotation marks and include an in-text citation. You’ll find out how to do that when you learn how to cite a movie in MLA, APA, and Chicago Style.

Common Movie Citation Formats

To cite a motion picture, you’ll need some basic information. Having these details on hand will help whether you’re using MLA, APA, or Chicago style for the film citation. All citation guides require information like:

• Title of the movie
• Name of the director
• Production company
• Film distributor
• Year of release

There are certain instances to use each format, so below are citation examples for MLA style, APA style, and Chicago style.

The  Modern Language Association  created MLA style. The handbook has undergone many changes over the years and is now in its ninth edition. It’s updated as technology and research change. The original handbook had information about citing books and papers, yet the modern edition tells you how to cite song lyrics, social media posts, and more.

You’re likely to use MLA style when writing papers for the humanities, such as language arts or cultural studies. Writing a film critique or using movies to comment on society falls under the humanities umbrella, and you are likely to use MLA style for such projects.

MLA Style Movie Citations

Citing a movie in MLA style is very similar to citing other sources. Start with the movie title in italics, then identify the director or directors. You can list a few stars if you mention them in your paper. This level of detail helps readers find the exact citation in your MLA Works Cited page.

Most of the punctuation in a movie citation using MLA format is a comma. This punctuation differs from other MLA citations that use a lot of periods or put information in parenthesis. Here is an example of a movie formatted for an MLA citation:

Movie. Directed by Bob Action, performances by Ima Star, Big Name, and Too Famous, Movie Studios, 2020.

It’s a straightforward process with room to specify what version you’re referencing if there are multiple versions of the film. In that case, you would add the version after the director’s name. For example:

Movie. Directed by Bob Action, extended version, Movie Studios, 2020.

If you watched the movie on a streaming service, you should indicate that information. Just as when you’re citing journal articles found online with a URL or DOI, the streaming service helps the reader find the exact film.

Most streaming services upload the regular version of the movie, but including this detail erases all doubt.  Netflix  and other streaming services change up their inventory periodically, so cover your bases by including the date you watched the movie. Otherwise, a reader might think you’re making up information because the film isn’t currently available through the service.

Maybe the service censored the line you quoted, and people who own the DVD know the real language. They might think you got the information wrong in your paper. When they go to your reference page, they’ll see where you accessed the movie and understand how your experience could differ. Here is an example of a movie formatted for an MLA citation if it was on a streaming service:

Movie. Directed by Bob Action, Movie Studios, 2020. Netflix, 13 May 2021.

You can also cite movies you watched on  YouTube . The format is similar to that of a streaming service, except you include the name of the user who uploaded the film and the specific URL. For example:

Movie. Directed by Bob Action, Movie Studios, 2020. Movie. Directed by Bob Action, performances by Ima Star, Big Name, and Too Famous, Movie Studios, 2020. YouTube, uploaded by Film Appreciation Community, 13 May 2021, http://www.youtube.com/specificvideo .

When you compile your works cited list, you’ll put the movie citation in alphabetical order according to the movie title.

MLA Style In-text Citations

You need to include an in-text citation whenever you mention the film in your paper. If you paraphrase anything from the movie, you need to show the reader what you’re referencing. Text citations are easy to figure out once you have the reference completed for your works cited page.

Use parentheses to signal that you’re citing a source in the body of your paper. After the opening parenthesis, put the movie title in italics. For example:

However, there are other times when you’ll need in-text citations. If you use a direct quote from the movie, close the quotation marks of the passage, and include the text citation before the ending punctuation. This citation will include the title of the movie and the timestamp of when the character speaks the specific line. You still put the movie title in italics inside of the parenthesis. Follow the title with the timestamp and duration of the line using a semicolon to show the time. For example:

(Movie 15:10-35)

If the quote goes beyond one minute, clarify the time range with more details, such as:

(Movie 15:10-16:07)

You can also mention the movie title in your text using general context without needing an in-text citation. For example:

In Movie, the viewer goes on a wild adventure that spans just two hours.

If you mention a specific part of the movie, you’ll need to add an in-text citation with the time stamp. For example:

In Movie, the viewer first visits the graveyard at night (1:03-50).

If the movie title is long, you can shorten it to the first few words, so your in-text citations are concise.

The  American Psychological Association  created the APA style guide. It has detailed parameters for academic and research papers. You use the APA format when working in the social sciences, like psychology, sociology, economics, and related fields.

APA Style Movie Citations

While a movie citation in MLA style is very basic, there is more specific formatting for an APA citation. Instead of starting with the movie title, you list the director starting with the last name, then the first initial. Specify that the person is the director in parentheses. Documentaries would have a producer instead of a director, so you’d use that job title instead.

Next, you put the year the company produced the movie, then the title. In square brackets, specify that it’s a film because TV shows use a similar style, and last is the name of the production company. Here is an example of a movie formatted for an APA citation:

Action, B. (Director). (2020). Movie [Film]. Movie Studios.

You might refer to the special features included on a DVD version of the film, so you’ll add this information to your citation. For example:

Action, B. (Director). (2020). Movie [Film; DVD release]. Movie Studios.

If you watched the film on a streaming service, the citation includes those details as well. For example:

Action, B. (Director). (2020). Movie [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.netflix.com

When you compile your reference list, you’ll put the movie citation in alphabetical order according to the director’s last name.

APA Style In-text Citations

In-text citations for APA format are similar to those of MLA style. As always, you use parentheses to offset the information from the body of your paper and the citation goes inside of the ending punctuation of a sentence.

While MLA uses the movie title, APA calls for the director’s last name and the year of the movie. For example:

(Action, 2020)

If you’re quoting the film or mentioning a specific scene, include the timestamp after the director’s name and year. For example:

(Action, 2020, 0:15:10)

Chicago Style

The University of Chicago created  Chicago Style  for use in the humanities, sciences, and social sciences. This format differs from both MLA and APA by having a bibliography instead of works cited or reference pages. Some papers using Chicago Style ask for you to create endnotes as well.

Chicago Style Movie Citations

Chicago Style has two options: author-date or notes-bibliography. Your professor will tell you what to use for a student paper. If you’re writing an article to submit to a journal, the submission guidelines will clarify which format you need to use.

The author-date format is similar to APA citations. You start with the director’s last name, then their first name, then the job title of the director. This detail is to clarify the person’s role in the movie because a documentary would have a producer instead of a director.

Next is the year the production company released the movie, followed by the movie’s title in italics. Check out this citation example to see how similar it is to APA format:

Action, Bob, director. 2020. Movie. Movie Studios.

If you watched the movie online, you would add the streaming service and direct URL to the movie. Here is an example:

Action, Bob, director. 2020. Movie. Netflix. http://www.netflix.com/movieaddress

If you’re using the notes-bibliography style instead of author-date, you need all the same information but the order is different. Here is an example:

Action, Bob, director. Movie. Movie Studios, 2020.

If you watched the movie online through a streaming service, you add that information in slightly different places as well. For example:

Action, Bob, director. Movie. Netflix, 2020. http://www.netflix.com/movieaddress

Chicago Style In-text Citations

The author-date in-text citation format is also similar to APA’s text citation, without a comma. In Chicago Style, an author-date in-text citation example is:

(Action 2020)

If you’re referencing a specific quote or scene, you’d include the timestamp of the duration. Instead of using a dash like in MLA format, you write the word “to.” Here is an example:

(Action 2020 0:15:10 to 0:15:35)

The in-text citations for author-date style are the same whether you watched the movie on DVD or on Netflix. The reader can find that information when they look for the citation in your bibliography.

When you’re using the notes-bibliography style, in-text citations are understandably different. You number the note and include all the information from the bibliography citation for the first note. Later, you can use a shortened note to reference each movie version because you’ve already given the entire information in the first note.

Considerations for Citing Movies

Citing a movie isn’t too different from citing a book across various style guides, but you must pay attention to the details. Streaming services like Netflix and Hulu  changed the TV industry . It’s very simple to access movies and TV series you might not find otherwise.

When you watch movies online, make sure to cite if it came from Netflix or if it’s a YouTube video. While this article focused on movie citations, there are also differences when citing a TV show or podcast.

Easy Ways to Cite a Movie

Once you learn the basic information needed for a citation, it’s relatively simple to follow the specific formats for MLA, APA, or Chicago Style.

Doing large amounts of research can make it hard to focus on your references. Using the  Quetext citation generator  simplifies the process for you. Whether you’re working on an academic paper, a professional article, or checking your students’ work, Quetext helps with the citations while also checking for any sign of plagiarism.

Take out the stress and confusion of punctuation and parentheses, and let Quetext do the work for you.

Sign Up for Quetext Today!

Click below to find a pricing plan that fits your needs.

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APA Style (7th Edition) Citation Guide: Films/Videos/TV Shows

• Introduction
• Journal Articles
• Magazine/Newspaper Articles
• Books & Ebooks
• Government & Legal Documents
• Biblical Sources
• Secondary Sources
• Films/Videos/TV Shows
• How to Cite: Other
• Additional Help

Table of Contents

Film or Video

Streaming Video From a Website (YouTube, Vimeo, etc.)

Streaming video from a subscription media website (netflix, amazon prime, hulu, etc.), streaming video from a library database, television series episode.

Note: All citations should be double spaced and have a hanging indent in a Reference List.

A "hanging indent" means that each subsequent line after the first line of your citation should be indented by 0.5 inches.

This Microsoft support page contains instructions about how to format a hanging indent in a paper.

Who to Credit - Film or Video

The director should be credited as the author of a film. If the director is unknown, someone in a similar role, such as a producer and/or writer, can be credited. To clarify what role the person has in the production, their job title such as Director is put after their name in round brackets if the job title is known.

Who to Credit - Streaming Video from a Website

For videos from websites such as YouTube or Vimeo, credit the person who posted the content. If a real name is provided, use that followed by the person's user name in square brackets. If the real name of the person who posted the content is not known, just use their user name without brackets.

Note : It is not necessary to specify how you watched a film or video (e.g. motion picture, DVD, streaming online). 

In the Body of a Paper

Books, Journals, Reports, Webpages, etc.: When you refer to titles of a “stand-alone work,” as the APA calls them on their APA Style website, such as books, journals, reports, and webpages, you should italicize them. Capitalize words as you would for an article title in a reference, e.g., In the book Crying in H Mart: A memoir , author Michelle Zauner (2021) describes her biracial origin and its impact on her identity.

Article or Chapter: When you refer to the title of a part of a work, such as an article or a chapter, put quotation marks around the title and capitalize it as you would for a journal title in a reference, e.g., In the chapter “Where’s the Wine,” Zauner (2021) describes how she decided to become a musician.

The APA Sample Paper below has more information about formatting your paper.

• APA 7th ed. Sample Paper

Film or Video

When the Director, Producer and/or Writer is known:

Director/Producer/Writer's Last Name, First Initial. Second Initial if given. (Job Title). (Year film was produced).  Title of film: Subtitle if any  [Film]. Production Company.

Note: If not produced in the United States, list the city name and the country.

Hallam, J. (Producer, Writer), & Lam, K. (Producer, Director). (2010).  Staff relations in healthcare: Working as a team  [Film]. Insight Media.

• When you have more than one producer, writer and/or writer to credit, separate the names with a comma and put an ampersand (&) before the last person's last name.
• Serling, R. (Executive Producer). (1959–1964). The twilight zone [TV series]. Cayuga Productions; CBS Productions.

In-Text Paraphrase:

(Producer/Director/Writer's Last Name, Year)

Example: (Hallam & Lam, 2010)

Note: This example has two people to credit, so both last names are given)

In-Text Quote:

(Producer/Director/Writer's Last Name, Year, Timestamp)

Example: (Hallam & Lam, 2010, 2:30)

Note: Because the timestamp serves the same purpose in a video as page numbers, paragraph numbers or section headings, you include it in the in-text citation. Include only the beginning timestamp.

When the Director, Producer and/or Writer is not known:  Start the citation with the film title.

Title of film: Subtitle if any  [Film]. (Year film was produced). Production Company if Known.

Era of viruses  [Film]. (2006). Films for the Humanities and Sciences.

( Title of Film , Year)

Example: ( Era of Viruses , 2006)

Note: Italicize the title of the film and capitalize the words for the in-text citation.

( Title of Film , Year, Timestamp)

Example: ( Era of Viruses , 2006, 40:00)

When the Poster's Name is known: 

Last Name, First Initial. Second Initial. of person who posted the video if known. [User name that posted the video]. (Year video was posted, Month Day).  Title of video  [Video]. Website Name. URL

Note: According to APA, for citing purposes the person who posted the video is credited as the author.

Nye, B. [TheRealBillNye]. (2009, April 8).  Bill Nye the science guy on energy  [Video]. YouTube. http://youtu.be/0ASLLiuejAo

(Creator's Last Name, Year)

Example: (Nye, 2009)

(Creator's Last Name, Year, timestamp)

Example: (Nye, 2009, 0:55)

When the Poster's Name is not known: 

User name that posted the video. (Year video was posted, Month Day).  Title of video  [Video]. Website Name. URL

All Aces Media. (2012, January 19).  Often awesome the series  [Video]. Vimeo. http://vimeo.com/35311255

(User name, Year)

Example: (All Aces Media, 2012)

Example: (All Aces Media, 2012, timestamp)

Producer's Last Name, First Initial. Second Initial if Given. (Producer). (Year of Publication).  Title of Video  [Video]. Website Name. URL

Note:  When you have one producer (Producer) is used after the producer's name. If you have more than one producer use (Producers) instead.

Allen, T., et. al. (Producers). (2017). The story of Diana  [Video]. Netflix. http://www.netflix.com

(Producer Last name, Year)

Example: (Allen, et. al., 2017)

(Producer Last name, Year, Timestamp)

Example: (Allen, et. al., 2017, 6:45)

Name of Company/Organization that Provided Content or Creator's Last Name, First Initial. Second Initial. if known. (Year video was created, Month Day if known).  Title of video  [Video]. Database Name.

National Film Board of Canada. (2014).  Making movie history: The women  [Video]. NFB Campus. 

(Name of Company/Organization, Year)

Example: (National Film Board of Canada, 2014)

(Name of Company/Organization, Year, Timestamp)

Writer, Producer and/or Director's Last Name, First Initial. Second Initial if given. (Job Title) if known. (Year the episode was originally aired). Title of episode (Season No., Episode No.) [TV series episode]. In Executive Producer's First Initial. Last Name (Executive producer) if known,  Television series name . Production Company.

Note: For other countries, list the city name and the country.

Young, R. (Writer, Producer, Director). (2010). Flying cheap (Season 2010, Episode 2) [TV series episode]. In  Frontline . American University School of Communication's Investigative Reporting Workshop.

(Writer, Producer and/or Director's Last Name, Year)

Example: (Young, 2010)

(Writer, Producer and/or Director's Last Name, Year, Timestamp)

Example: (Young, 2010, 15:38)

Television Series Episode Viewed on a Subscription Media Website 

Writer, Producer and/or Director's Last Name, First Initial. Second Initial if given. (Job Title) if known. (Year the episode was originally aired). Title of episode (Season No., Episode No.) [TV series episode]. In Executive Producer's First Initial. Last Name (Executive producer) if known,  Television series name . Streaming Video Site. URL

Attenborough, D. (Writer). (2001). Ocean world (Season 1, Episode 1) [TV series episode]. In A. Fothergill (Executive producer),  Blue planet: A natural history of the oceans . Netflix. http://www.netflix.com

Example: (Attenborough, 2001)

 (Writer, Producer and/or Director's Last Name, Year, Timestamp)

Example: (Attenborough, 2001, 10:12)

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• Last Updated: Sep 5, 2024 3:20 PM
• URL: https://libguides.up.edu/apa

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MLA Formatting Quotations

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When you directly quote the works of others in your paper, you will format quotations differently depending on their length. Below are some basic guidelines for incorporating quotations into your paper. Please note that all pages in MLA should be double-spaced .

Short quotations

To indicate short quotations (four typed lines or fewer of prose or three lines of verse) in your text, enclose the quotation within double quotation marks. Provide the author and specific page number (in the case of verse, provide line numbers) in the in-text citation, and include a complete reference on the Works Cited page. Punctuation marks such as periods, commas, and semicolons should appear after the parenthetical citation.

Question marks and exclamation points should appear within the quotation marks if they are a part of the quoted passage, but after the parenthetical citation if they are a part of your text.

For example, when quoting short passages of prose, use the following examples:

When using short (fewer than three lines of verse) quotations from poetry, mark breaks in verse with a slash, ( / ), at the end of each line of verse (a space should precede and follow the slash). If a stanza break occurs during the quotation, use a double slash ( // ).

Long quotations

For quotations that are more than four lines of prose or three lines of verse, place quotations in a free-standing block of text and omit quotation marks. Start the quotation on a new line, with the entire quote indented 1/2   inch  from the left margin while maintaining double-spacing. Your parenthetical citation should come  after the closing punctuation mark . When quoting verse, maintain original line breaks. (You should maintain double-spacing throughout your essay.)

For example, when citing more than four lines of prose, use the following examples :

Nelly Dean treats Heathcliff poorly and dehumanizes him throughout her narration: They entirely refused to have it in bed with them, or even in their room, and I had no more sense, so, I put it on the landing of the stairs, hoping it would be gone on the morrow. By chance, or else attracted by hearing his voice, it crept to Mr. Earnshaw's door, and there he found it on quitting his chamber. Inquiries were made as to how it got there; I was obliged to confess, and in recompense for my cowardice and inhumanity was sent out of the house. (Bronte 78)

When citing long sections of poetry (four lines of verse or more), keep formatting as close to the original as possible.

In his poem "My Papa's Waltz," Theodore Roethke explores his childhood with his father:

The whiskey on your breath Could make a small boy dizzy; But I hung on like death: Such waltzing was not easy. We Romped until the pans Slid from the kitchen shelf; My mother's countenance Could not unfrown itself. (qtd. in Shrodes, Finestone, Shugrue 202)

When citing two or more paragraphs, use block quotation format, even if the passage from the paragraphs is less than four lines. If you cite more than one paragraph, the first line of the second paragraph should be indented an extra 1/4 inch to denote a new paragraph:

In "American Origins of the Writing-across-the-Curriculum Movement," David Russell argues,

Writing has been an issue in American secondary and higher education since papers and examinations came into wide use in the 1870s, eventually driving out formal recitation and oral examination. . . .

From its birth in the late nineteenth century, progressive education has wrestled with the conflict within industrial society between pressure to increase specialization of knowledge and of professional work (upholding disciplinary standards) and pressure to integrate more fully an ever-widening number of citizens into intellectually meaningful activity within mass society (promoting social equity). . . . (3)

Adding or omitting words in quotations

If you add a word or words in a quotation, you should put brackets around the words to indicate that they are not part of the original text:

If you omit a word or words from a quotation, you should indicate the deleted word or words by using ellipses, which are three periods ( . . . ) preceded and followed by a space. For example:

Please note that brackets are not needed around ellipses unless they would add clarity.

When omitting words from poetry quotations, use a standard three-period ellipses; however, when omitting one or more full lines of poetry, space several periods to about the length of a complete line in the poem:

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• MLA Style Manual

How to Cite a Movie Using MLA Style

Last Updated: February 17, 2020

This article was co-authored by Christopher Taylor, PhD . Christopher Taylor is an Adjunct Assistant Professor of English at Austin Community College in Texas. He received his PhD in English Literature and Medieval Studies from the University of Texas at Austin in 2014. This article has been viewed 392,416 times.

You might need to use Modern Language Association (MLA) style guidelines if you're writing a paper for your middle, high school, or college-level class. You may also be a graduate student or researcher who uses MLA citations all the time! If you're writing a paper about movies, or you want to include a movie in a research paper on some other topic, you'll need to cite it properly. Making a correctly formatted Works Cited and adding in-text citations to your essays shows your audience that you're not plagiarizing.

Citation Templates

Making the Works Cited

• For now, your citation should just look like: “ Notting Hill .”
• If the title is a translation, include the original title in brackets. For example, “ The Chorus [Les Choristes] .”

• Your citation should now look something like this: “ Notting Hill . Dir. Roger Michell.”

• These citations look like this: “Michell, Roger, dir. Notting Hill .”

• The citation should now look like: “ Notting Hill . Dir. Roger Michell. Perf. Julia Roberts, Hugh Grant, and Richard McCabe.”
• If your paper is about a particular actor, you can begin the citation with their name. This formatting looks like this: “Roberts, Julia, perf. Notting Hill . Dir. Roger Michell.”

• Almost there! Your citation should now look something like this: “ Notting Hill . Dir. Roger Michell. Perf. Julia Roberts, Hugh Grant, and Richard McCabe. Universal Pictures, 1999.”

• If you watched the film online, you can skip to step 8.
• For VHS, type out “videocassette” in your citation. It'll look like this: “ Notting Hill . Dir. Roger Michell. Perf. Julia Roberts, Hugh Grant, and Richard McCabe. Universal Pictures, 1999. Videocassette.”
• If you watched the movie at the theater, you can just type out “Film” for a complete citation! It'll look like this: “ Notting Hill . Dir. Roger Michell. Perf. Julia Roberts, Hugh Grant, and Richard McCabe. Universal Pictures, 1999. Film.”

• If you watched Notting Hill on Blu-Ray, for example, your citation will look like this: “ Notting Hill . Dir. Roger Michell. Perf. Julia Roberts, Hugh Grant, and Richard McCabe. 1999. Universal Pictures, 2013. Blu-Ray.”

• This citation will look something like this: “ Notting Hill . Dir. Roger Michell. Perf. Julia Roberts, Hugh Grant, and Richard McCabe. Universal Pictures, 1999. Netflix . Web. 18 July 2017.”

• Your Works Cited should be on a separate page at the end of the paper, and it should be titled Works Cited. You don't need to put quotation marks around the words Works Cited, or italicize them.
• Make the whole document double-spaced, but don't add extra spaces between citations.

Doing In Text Citations

• For example, “ Notting Hill is a perfect illustration of a typical late 1990s rom-com ( Notting Hill ).”

• “Michell went for a personal touch in his directing for this film (Michell, Notting Hill ).”

• So, for example, “Roberts's classic wide smile made appearances throughout the movie (Roberts, Notting Hill ).”

• Add the timestamp like this: “Roberts lays her heart out on the floor in front of Grant at the end of the film (Roberts, Notting Hill , 02:01:33-02:03:10).”

Expert Q&A

• MLA citation requirements for movies and television are a little more flexible than those for other sources, which is why you're allowed to sometimes start with director or performers' names. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0

You Might Also Like

• ↑ https://www.american.edu/library/documents/upload/Film-Video-Citation-Guide.pdf
• ↑ https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/05/
• ↑ http://libguides.bates.edu/mla

About This Article

Citing a movie using Modern Language Association style is relatively simple once you know how. If you’re discussing the movie in general, write the title in italics and parenthesis at the end of the sentence when you mention it. If you’re discussing a director or actor in the movie, include their surname in the parenthesis before the title. If you’re referencing a specific shot, you should also include a timestamp at the end. In your works cited section, start with the title in italics, then write “Dir.” followed by the director’s full name. Then, include any relevant actors by writing “perf.” followed by their names. After that, write the movie’s distributor, like Universal Pictures, and the release date. Finally, write the format you watched the movie in, like VHS, DVD, or Netflix. If you saw it in the cinema, write “film” instead. For more tips from our Educational co-author, including how to organize your works cited list, read on! Did this summary help you? Yes No

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• How to Quote | Citing Quotes in APA, MLA & Chicago

How to Quote | Citing Quotes in APA, MLA & Chicago

Published on April 15, 2022 by Shona McCombes and Jack Caulfield. Revised on May 31, 2023.

Quoting means copying a passage of someone else’s words and crediting the source. To quote a source, you must ensure:

• The quoted text is enclosed in quotation marks or formatted as a block quote
• The original author is correctly cited
• The text is identical to the original

The exact format of a quote depends on its length and on which citation style you are using. Quoting and citing correctly is essential to avoid plagiarism which is easy to detect with a good plagiarism checker .

Table of contents

How to cite a quote in apa, mla and chicago, introducing quotes, quotes within quotes, shortening or altering a quote, block quotes, when should i use quotes, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about quoting sources.

Every time you quote, you must cite the source correctly . This looks slightly different depending on the citation style you’re using. Three of the most common styles are APA , MLA , and Chicago .

Citing a quote in APA Style

To cite a direct quote in APA , you must include the author’s last name, the year, and a page number, all separated by commas . If the quote appears on a single page, use “p.”; if it spans a page range, use “pp.”

An APA in-text citation can be parenthetical or narrative. In a parenthetical citation , you place all the information in parentheses after the quote. In a narrative citation , you name the author in your sentence (followed by the year), and place the page number after the quote.

Punctuation marks such as periods and commas are placed after the citation, not within the quotation marks .

• Evolution is a gradual process that “can act only by very short and slow steps” (Darwin, 1859, p. 510) .
• Darwin (1859) explains that evolution “can act only by very short and slow steps” (p. 510) .

Complete guide to APA

Citing a quote in mla style.

An MLA in-text citation includes only the author’s last name and a page number. As in APA, it can be parenthetical or narrative, and a period (or other punctuation mark) appears after the citation.

• Evolution is a gradual process that “can act only by very short and slow steps” (Darwin 510) .
• Darwin explains that evolution “can act only by very short and slow steps” (510) .

Complete guide to MLA

Citing a quote in chicago style.

Chicago style uses Chicago footnotes to cite sources. A note, indicated by a superscript number placed directly after the quote, specifies the author, title, and page number—or sometimes fuller information .

Unlike with parenthetical citations, in this style, the period or other punctuation mark should appear within the quotation marks, followed by the footnote number.

Complete guide to Chicago style

Prevent plagiarism. Run a free check.

Make sure you integrate quotes properly into your text by introducing them in your own words, showing the reader why you’re including the quote and providing any context necessary to understand it.  Don’t  present quotations as stand-alone sentences.

There are three main strategies you can use to introduce quotes in a grammatically correct way:

• Add an introductory sentence
• Use an introductory signal phrase
• Integrate the quote into your own sentence

The following examples use APA Style citations, but these strategies can be used in all styles.

Introductory sentence

Introduce the quote with a full sentence ending in a colon . Don’t use a colon if the text before the quote isn’t a full sentence.

If you name the author in your sentence, you may use present-tense verbs , such as “states,” “argues,” “explains,” “writes,” or “reports,” to describe the content of the quote.

• In Denmark, a recent poll shows that: “A membership referendum held today would be backed by 55 percent of Danish voters” (Levring, 2018, p. 3).
• In Denmark, a recent poll shows that support for the EU has grown since the Brexit vote: “A membership referendum held today would be backed by 55 percent of Danish voters” (Levring, 2018, p. 3).
• Levring (2018) reports that support for the EU has grown since the Brexit vote: “A membership referendum held today would be backed by 55 percent of Danish voters” (p. 3).

Introductory signal phrase

You can also use a signal phrase that mentions the author or source, but doesn’t form a full sentence. In this case, you follow the phrase with a comma instead of a colon.

• According to a recent poll, “A membership referendum held today would be backed by 55 percent of Danish voters” (Levring, 2018, p. 3).
• As Levring (2018) explains, “A membership referendum held today would be backed by 55 percent of Danish voters” (p. 3).

Integrated into your own sentence

To quote a phrase that doesn’t form a full sentence, you can also integrate it as part of your sentence, without any extra punctuation .

• A recent poll suggests that EU membership “would be backed by 55 percent of Danish voters” in a referendum (Levring, 2018, p. 3).
• Levring (2018) reports that EU membership “would be backed by 55 percent of Danish voters” in a referendum (p. 3).

When you quote text that itself contains another quote, this is called a nested quotation or a quote within a quote. It may occur, for example, when quoting dialogue from a novel.

To distinguish this quote from the surrounding quote, you enclose it in single (instead of double) quotation marks (even if this involves changing the punctuation from the original text). Make sure to close both sets of quotation marks at the appropriate moments.

Note that if you only quote the nested quotation itself, and not the surrounding text, you can just use double quotation marks.

• Carraway introduces his narrative by quoting his father: “ “ Whenever you feel like criticizing anyone, ” he told me, “ just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had ” ” (Fitzgerald 1).
• Carraway introduces his narrative by quoting his father: “‘Whenever you feel like criticizing anyone,’ he told me, ‘just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had ” (Fitzgerald 1).
• Carraway introduces his narrative by quoting his father: “‘Whenever you feel like criticizing anyone,’ he told me, ‘just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had’” (Fitzgerald 1).
• Carraway begins by quoting his father’s invocation to “remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had” (Fitzgerald 1).

Note:  When the quoted text in the source comes from another source, it’s best to just find that original source in order to quote it directly. If you can’t find the original source, you can instead cite it indirectly .

Often, incorporating a quote smoothly into your text requires you to make some changes to the original text. It’s fine to do this, as long as you clearly mark the changes you’ve made to the quote.

Shortening a quote

If some parts of a passage are redundant or irrelevant, you can shorten the quote by removing words, phrases, or sentences and replacing them with an ellipsis (…). Put a space before and after the ellipsis.

Be careful that removing the words doesn’t change the meaning. The ellipsis indicates that some text has been removed, but the shortened quote should still accurately represent the author’s point.

Altering a quote

You can add or replace words in a quote when necessary. This might be because the original text doesn’t fit grammatically with your sentence (e.g., it’s in a different verb tense), or because extra information is needed to clarify the quote’s meaning.

Use brackets to distinguish words that you have added from words that were present in the original text.

The Latin term “ sic ” is used to indicate a (factual or grammatical) mistake in a quotation. It shows the reader that the mistake is from the quoted material, not a typo of your own.

In some cases, it can be useful to italicize part of a quotation to add emphasis, showing the reader that this is the key part to pay attention to. Use the phrase “emphasis added” to show that the italics were not part of the original text.

You usually don’t need to use brackets to indicate minor changes to punctuation or capitalization made to ensure the quote fits the style of your text.

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If you quote more than a few lines from a source, you must format it as a block quote . Instead of using quotation marks, you set the quote on a new line and indent it so that it forms a separate block of text.

Block quotes are cited just like regular quotes, except that if the quote ends with a period, the citation appears after the period.

To the end of his days Bilbo could never remember how he found himself outside, without a hat, a walking-stick or any money, or anything that he usually took when he went out; leaving his second breakfast half-finished and quite unwashed-up, pushing his keys into Gandalf’s hands, and running as fast as his furry feet could carry him down the lane, past the great Mill, across The Water, and then on for a mile or more. (16)

Avoid relying too heavily on quotes in academic writing . To integrate a source , it’s often best to paraphrase , which means putting the passage in your own words. This helps you integrate information smoothly and keeps your own voice dominant.

However, there are some situations in which quoting is more appropriate.

When focusing on language

If you want to comment on how the author uses language (for example, in literary analysis ), it’s necessary to quote so that the reader can see the exact passage you are referring to.

When giving evidence

To convince the reader of your argument, interpretation or position on a topic, it’s often helpful to include quotes that support your point. Quotes from primary sources (for example, interview transcripts or historical documents) are especially credible as evidence.

When presenting an author’s position or definition

When you’re referring to secondary sources such as scholarly books and journal articles, try to put others’ ideas in your own words when possible.

But if a passage does a great job at expressing, explaining, or defining something, and it would be very difficult to paraphrase without changing the meaning or losing the weakening the idea’s impact, it’s worth quoting directly.

If you want to know more about ChatGPT, AI tools , citation , and plagiarism , make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples.

• ChatGPT vs human editor
• ChatGPT citations
• Is ChatGPT trustworthy?
• Using ChatGPT for your studies
• What is ChatGPT?
• Chicago style
• Paraphrasing
• Critical thinking

 Plagiarism

• Types of plagiarism
• Self-plagiarism
• Avoiding plagiarism
• Academic integrity
• Consequences of plagiarism
• Common knowledge

A quote is an exact copy of someone else’s words, usually enclosed in quotation marks and credited to the original author or speaker.

In academic writing , there are three main situations where quoting is the best choice:

• To analyze the author’s language (e.g., in a literary analysis essay )
• To give evidence from primary sources
• To accurately present a precise definition or argument

Don’t overuse quotes; your own voice should be dominant. If you just want to provide information from a source, it’s usually better to paraphrase or summarize .

Every time you quote a source , you must include a correctly formatted in-text citation . This looks slightly different depending on the citation style .

For example, a direct quote in APA is cited like this: “This is a quote” (Streefkerk, 2020, p. 5).

Every in-text citation should also correspond to a full reference at the end of your paper.

A block quote is a long quote formatted as a separate “block” of text. Instead of using quotation marks , you place the quote on a new line, and indent the entire quote to mark it apart from your own words.

The rules for when to apply block quote formatting depend on the citation style:

• APA block quotes are 40 words or longer.
• MLA block quotes are more than 4 lines of prose or 3 lines of poetry.
• Chicago block quotes are longer than 100 words.

If you’re quoting from a text that paraphrases or summarizes other sources and cites them in parentheses , APA and Chicago both recommend retaining the citations as part of the quote. However, MLA recommends omitting citations within a quote:

• APA: Smith states that “the literature on this topic (Jones, 2015; Sill, 2019; Paulson, 2020) shows no clear consensus” (Smith, 2019, p. 4).
• MLA: Smith states that “the literature on this topic shows no clear consensus” (Smith, 2019, p. 4).

Footnote or endnote numbers that appear within quoted text should be omitted in all styles.

If you want to cite an indirect source (one you’ve only seen quoted in another source), either locate the original source or use the phrase “as cited in” in your citation.

In scientific subjects, the information itself is more important than how it was expressed, so quoting should generally be kept to a minimum. In the arts and humanities, however, well-chosen quotes are often essential to a good paper.

In social sciences, it varies. If your research is mainly quantitative , you won’t include many quotes, but if it’s more qualitative , you may need to quote from the data you collected .

As a general guideline, quotes should take up no more than 5–10% of your paper. If in doubt, check with your instructor or supervisor how much quoting is appropriate in your field.

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If you want to cite this source, you can copy and paste the citation or click the “Cite this Scribbr article” button to automatically add the citation to our free Citation Generator.

McCombes, S. & Caulfield, J. (2023, May 31). How to Quote | Citing Quotes in APA, MLA & Chicago. Scribbr. Retrieved September 6, 2024, from https://www.scribbr.com/working-with-sources/how-to-quote/

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Step-by-Step Instructions on How to Cite a Movie Quote

At first sight, it seems easy to write a movie essay, where you can place movie quotes. Other than the simplicity of converting your topic into a description of film ideas, it can be complicated for students when it comes to the process of quoting a movie.

Photo from Depositphotos

When you want to find out the secret of proper citation style, which cheap essay writing services use, we propose you to learn the citation rules that match with different formatting styles. This article brings knowledge on how to quote a film in such popular formats as MLA and APA.

How to Cite a Quote From a Movie MLA Format

The Modern Language Association (MLA) has its own standard rules for formatting quotes from films. When you want to make your argument stronger, you can use a film quote by paraphrasing or using a direct quotation.

When you place a citation in the references list with MLA formatting, use this template:

Name of the Film. Directed by Name of Director, Performances by Name of Main Actors, Name of film studio, year of film.

If you need to include a direct quote from a film, you can use this example:

“Every time I see you, you’re buying a chicken” (9½ Weeks ).

Sometimes, students need to know not just how to quote a film, but a television show, a movie on DVD, and a YouTube video as well.

How to form a citation from a television show:

“Name of Episode.” Name of TV Series , written by First name Last name, directed by First name Last name, Name of the film studio, year of release.

How to include a citation from the film on DVD:

Surname, Name (Director). Name of the Film [Name of the Genre]. Country: Name of the film studio, original release year. DVD.

How to place a citation from a YouTube video and similar online platforms:

Name of the creator. (Date video was released). “Name of the Video.” Name of Platform , Uploaded by Uploader, date of publication, URL link of the video.

How to Quote a Movie in APA Format

American Psychological Association (APA) citation style for movie quotes represents basic formatting requirements for books, documents, articles, and other forms.

For the 7th edition of the APA style guide, referencing a film is simpler than ever. APA recommends omitting the parenthetical citations if possible in most instances, but the director(s) and date are necessary to place in the citation if they cannot be fit into the sentence. Here is an example:

Tom Hanks’s character, Forrest Gump, said, “My Mama always said you’ve got to put the past behind you before you can move on” (Zemekis, 1994).

When you cite the movie for the first time in the body of the text, don’t forget to include all last names of the directors (if there are multiple), and the year of release. For this example, we will list the producers instead of director:

“Mama always said, dying was a part of life” (Finerman, Starkey, & Tisch, 1994).

The following citations include only the last name of the first credited author and the “et al.” abbreviation for subsequent citations of the movie if it has multiple directors:

“I never thanked you for saving my life” (Finerman, et al., 1994).

When the author of the essay wants to direct the reader to a specific part of the movie, they can add a time-stamp:

“Run, Forrest! Run!” (Zemekis, 1994; 1:52:41).

To include a source for your citation in the references, please, follow this guide:

Last name, First in abbreviation. (Director). (Release year). Title of motion picture [film]. Name of distributor or format of the movie [DVD]. Country of origin: the name of the film studio.

Now you know a couple of basic rules on how to quote a movie or video and insert citations in your papers properly, or ask an expert who helps you to satisfy your “ write my essay for me cheap ” request . These citations allow your readers to find out more about their favorite movies and look behind the scenes in the world of cinema.

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How to Quote a Movie in an Essay in Different Styles?

Movies are more than just entertainment—they're also valuable resources for academic writing. Quoting movies in essays can bring your arguments to life and make them more relatable to your readers. Whether you're emphasizing a point, establishing authority, or enhancing clarity, a well-placed movie quote can pack a punch that paraphrasing or summarizing simply can't match.

In today's educational landscape, where courses often integrate audiovisual materials, knowing how to quote a movie is becoming increasingly important. Whether you're studying Arts, Engineering, Programming, Sound Recording, or 3D Design, you'll likely encounter situations where citing films is necessary.

But it's not just about throwing in a quote here and there. Improper citing can land you in plagiarism trouble, especially when dealing with audiovisual sources. That's why understanding the proper methods for putting a quote in an essay is crucial.

This guide will walk you through the ins and outs of how to cite movie quotes, covering everything from formatting requirements to citation styles. By following these guidelines, you'll not only enhance the credibility and engagement of your work but also ensure it meets the standards of academic writing.

Types of Citations

Citing different types of quotes in an essay correctly requires sticking to the right instructions. These instructions usually come from formatting guidelines found in popular styling guides such as APA, MLA, and the Chicago Manual of Style. Sometimes, Turabian styling is also used, which is quite similar to the Chicago manual.

In practice, you'll use two main types of citations: in-text citations and a bibliography. In text citation for a movie points directly to your quote within the text and guides readers to the full source listed in your bibliography. Making mistakes in one can throw off the accuracy of the other, so it's crucial to get both right.

You don't have to become an expert in every styling guide out there, though. Whether it's an APA citation for movie or MLA, you'll just need to know the specific rules of the one your professor or publisher asks for.

Now, understanding how to cite a movie quote MLA or APA style can be a bit challenging. Academic writing formats can vary, and when it comes to citing online sources like YouTube or physical media such as CDs, things can get even trickier. Universities usually prefer APA, MLA, or Chicago academic formats, each with its own unique features. But don't worry, that's where we come in—to guide you through the specifics of each style when it comes to knowing how to quote a film.

Audiovisual Citations

Though written sources are more common in academic research, using audiovisual content is getting more popular, especially in areas like media studies, communication, and film analysis. It's important to know how to cite these materials correctly to maintain academic honesty and give credit to creators. Audiovisual citations cover a wide range of materials like:

• documentaries
• online videos

When citing audiovisual sources, you need to think about the format of the material and how accessible it is, as well as its role in your research. For example, citing movie quotes might be different from citing a YouTube video or a podcast episode. You might need to include details like the director, producer, actors, release date, and even the specific part you're referencing.

By giving detailed citations for audiovisual content, researchers make it easier to check sources and keep academic standards high in a world where multimedia is increasingly important. Below are some examples of how to quote a film, along with other audiovisual sources.

MLA Movie Citation

Knowing how to cite a movie MLA 8 follows a specific format to ensure clarity and consistency in academic writing. When citing a movie in your bibliography or works cited page, you need to include key information such as the title, director, performers, studio, release year, and format. Ensure the name of the movie is italicized, and list performers after the director's name.

Format: Author(s). Title of Movie . Director's Name, Performers' Names, Studio, Release Year.

For specific examples of how to quote movies and different audiovisuals, keep on reading!

Audio Recording

Citing audio recordings, such as podcasts or music albums, in MLA style requires attention to detail to accurately credit the creators. In addition to the title and creator(s), you also need to include information about the medium (e.g., podcast episode, song) and any relevant contributors (e.g., guest speakers, featured artists).

Format: Author(s)/Performer(s). Title of Recording . Publisher, Publication Date.

Example 1: Podcast Episode Gladwell, Malcolm. "The Lady Vanishes." Revisionist History, Slate, 2016.

In this example:

• Gladwell, Malcolm is the creator of the podcast episode.
• The Lady Vanishes is the title of the podcast episode.
• Slate is the publisher.
• 2016 is the publication date of the episode.

If you want to include an in text citation example MLA, you might write something like: Gladwell discusses the mysterious disappearance in his podcast episode "The Lady Vanishes" (Gladwell).

Example 2: Music Album Swift, Taylor. Folklore . Republic Records, 2020.

• Swift, Taylor is the performer and likely the main creator of the music album.
• Folklore is the title of the music album.
• Republic Records is the publisher.
• 2020 is the publication date of the album.

Below, let's find out how to cite a movie quote in MLA!

Film/Motion Picture

When citing a film or motion picture in MLA style, it's important to include essential details such as the director, performers, studio, release year, and format. This ensures that readers can easily locate the referenced material and understand its context within your research.

Format: Director(s). Title of Film . Performers' Names, Studio, Release Year, Format.

Example: Tarantino, Quentin. Pulp Fiction . Performances by John Travolta and Uma Thurman, Miramax Films, 1994, film.

• Tarantino, Quentin is the director of the film.
• Pulp Fiction is the name of the film.
• John Travolta and Uma Thurman are performers in the film.
• Miramax Films is the studio that produced the film.
• 1994 is the release year of the film.

Now, if you want to know how to quote a movie in MLA, follow these guidelines:

• If you're quoting dialogue from a movie, include the character's name and the timestamp of the scene in the format (Director's Last Name timestamp). For example, (Tarantino 01:23:45).
• Ensure that the quote is faithfully reproduced from the movie and enclose it in double quotation marks.
• Provide the specific details of the scene to help readers locate the quote within the movie.
• Remember to include the movie title in italics and the director's last name in parentheses in your in-text citation.

For instance, if you were quoting a memorable line from "Pulp Fiction" directed by Quentin Tarantino, your in-text citation would look like this:

"The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men" (Tarantino 00:42:17).

Radio Broadcast

Moving on from the MLA in text citation movie quote, citing a radio broadcast in MLA style also requires attention to detail to provide context for the material being referenced. In addition to the title and creator(s), you should include information about the program title, broadcast date, and any relevant contributors (e.g., guest speakers, hosts).

Format: Author(s)/Host(s). "Title of Broadcast." Title of Program , Radio Station, Broadcast Date.

Example: Smith, Emma, and James Johnson. "Breaking News Update." Morning Edition , NPR, 10 May 2023.

In the example above:

• Smith, Emma, and James Johnson are the hosts or reporters of the broadcast.
• Breaking News Update is the name of the radio broadcast.
• Morning Edition is the name of the program.
• NPR is the radio station that broadcasted the program.
• 10 May 2023 is the broadcast date.

APA Movie Citation

Citing a movie in APA style involves providing detailed information about the film to help readers locate it. Key elements include the director, producer, release year, and studio. The format for citing a movie in APA style is as follows:

Format: Director, A. A. (Director). (Year). Title of movie [Film]. Production Company.

Now, if you want to know how to in text cite a documentary, here's how to do it:

• Identify the director(s) and the year of release of the documentary.
• Use the last name of the director(s) and the year of release within parentheses.
• If the director(s) is mentioned in the sentence, only include the year of release in parentheses.

Example 1: The documentary "13th" explores the intersection of race, justice, and mass incarceration (DuVernay, 2016).

Example 2: According to DuVernay (2016), in her documentary "13th," the history of racial inequality in the United States can be traced through the criminal justice system.

If you're also curious about how to quote films in an essay using APA style, here's the steps to take:

• Include the name of the film and the timestamp of the scene.
• Enclose the quote in double quotation marks to indicate direct speech from the film.
• Specify the source of the quote in parentheses after the quote itself.

For example:

• "I'll be back" (Cameron, 1984, 01:23:45).

This quote is from the movie "The Terminator," directed by James Cameron, released in 1984, and occurs at the timestamp 01:23:45.

When citing an audio recording in APA style, such as a podcast episode or a music track, include details like the author or performer, the name of the recording, the year it was published or aired, and the medium. Here's the format for citing an audio recording in APA style:

Format: Author/Performer. (Year). Title of recording [Medium]. Publisher.

Example: Brown, S. (Host). (2022). Exploring Space [Podcast episode]. ABC Podcasts.

• Brown, S. is the host of the podcast episode.
• Exploring Space is the name of the podcast episode.
• 2022 is the year the podcast episode was published.
• ABC Podcasts is the publisher.

Ensure the name of the recording is italicized, and specify the medium in square brackets after the title.

As we mentioned above, when using APA style for citing movies, you should include the director, producer, release year, and studio. Here's the format for citing a film or motion picture in APA style:

Format: Director, A. A. (Director). (Year). Title of film [Film]. Production Company.

Example: Spielberg, S. (Director). (1993). Jurassic Park [Film]. Universal Pictures.

• Spielberg, S. is the director of the film.
• Jurassic Park is the name of the film.
• 1993 is the year the film was released.
• Universal Pictures is the production company.

Ensure the title of the film is italicized, and list the director's name with their initials followed by "(Director)" in parentheses. Also, specify the format as "[Film]" after the name of the movie.

As you're reading this article, take a moment to explore our exclusive guide on how to write a movie title in an essay . We've got you covered with all the essential details!

Citing a radio broadcast in APA style requires providing details such as the author or host, the title of the broadcast, the year it aired, and the medium.

Format: Author/Host. (Year). Title of broadcast [Radio broadcast]. Radio Station.

Example: Johnson, E., & Brown, J. (2024). Breaking News Update [Radio broadcast]. NPR.

• Johnson, E., & Brown, J. are the hosts of the radio broadcast.
• Breaking News Update is the name of the broadcast.
• 2024 is the year the broadcast aired.
• NPR is the radio station.

Chicago Style Movie Citation

In Chicago style, citing a movie requires providing detailed information about the director, name, release year, and studio to ensure accurate referencing. Here's the format for citing a movie in Chicago style:

Format: Director's Last Name, First Name. Title of Movie . Production Company, Release Year.

Now, let's find out how to cite a quote from a movie Chicago style:

• Include the name of the movie and the timestamp of the scene.
• Enclose the quote in double quotation marks to indicate direct speech from the movie.
• "Here's looking at you, kid" (Curtiz 1942).

This quote is from the movie "Casablanca," directed by Michael Curtiz and released in 1942.

When citing an audio recording, such as a podcast episode or music track, in Chicago style you should provide essential details like the creator, title, publication year, and format.

Format: Creator's Last Name, First Name. Title of Recording . Year of Publication.

Example: Gladwell, Malcolm. Revisionist History: The King of Tears . 2016.

• Gladwell, Malcolm is the creator of the recording.
• Revisionist History: The King of Tears is the title of the recording.
• 2016 is the year of publication.

Here's the detailed example for citing a film in Chicago style:

Format: Director's Last Name, First Name. Title of Film . Production Company, Release Year.

Example: Coen, Joel and Ethan Coen. No Country for Old Men . Miramax Films, 2007.

• Coen, Joel and Ethan Coen are the directors of the film.
• No Country for Old Men is the name of the film.
• Miramax Films is the production company.
• 2007 is the release year of the film.

Now, if you're citing a radio broadcast in Chicago style, make sure to include details such as the author or host, name of the broadcast, publication year, and medium. Ensure the title of the broadcast is italicized, and list the author or host's name in natural order (last name, first name).

Format: Author/Host. Title of Broadcast . Year. Medium.

Example: Smith, Terry Gross. Fresh Air . 2019. Radio.

• Smith, Terry Gross is the host of the broadcast.
• Fresh Air is the name of the broadcast.
• 2019 is the publication year.
• Radio specifies the medium.

5 Useful Movie Citation Tips to Consider

By now, you've probably got the hang of how to cite a quote from a movie or any other audiovisual sources. But beyond just knowing how to format things, here are some tips our experts want to share:

• Give Background: When citing a movie, think about adding a bit of context in your paper. Explain why you're referencing the movie and how it fits into your argument or research.
• Show Original Source: If the movie is based on a book or another source, acknowledge it in your citation. This helps readers understand the connection between the movie and its original material.
• Talk About the Director: Sometimes, the director's vision or style can be crucial to your discussion. If it's relevant, mention the director's influence in your citation or paper.
• Highlight Great Acting: If there are standout performances in the movie that relate to your analysis, talk about them. It adds depth to your discussion and understanding of the movie's impact.
• Handle Tough Topics Carefully: If the movie tackles sensitive subjects, handle them thoughtfully. Provide warnings if needed and approach the material with sensitivity and respect for your readers.

When you're citing a movie in your academic writing, it's important to get the details right. Forgetting key information like the director's name or release year can make your citation incomplete. So, as you start referencing movies in your essays, remember to include all the necessary details to make your citation accurate and useful for your readers. We hope our guide has given you a confidence boost, and if you ever need a hand with other academic tasks, such as using a movie review writing service , we're here to help!

Frequently asked questions

How to cite a quote from a movie, how to quote dialogue from a movie in an essay, how to quote a character in a movie.

• added new sections;
• added FAQs.
• Research guides: APA citation style guide (7th edition): Audiovisual media . Audiovisual Media - APA Citation Style Guide (7th Edition) - Research Guides at Thompson Rivers University Library. (n.d.). https://libguides.tru.ca/apa/audiovisual

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• Writing Tips

How to Cite a Film or Documentary in MLA Referencing

• 3-minute read
• 4th December 2020

If you’re writing an essay, you may need to cite a film or documentary. But how does this work in MLA style ? In this post, we’ll show you how to format both in-text citations and the Works Cited list entry for a film.

How to Cite a Film in MLA Referencing

When citing a film or documentary as a whole in MLA style , simply cite its title. This can be either in the text or in parentheses. For instance:

Another crime film, Goodfellas , depicts the making of a mafia boss.

The film depicts the making of a mafia boss ( Goodfellas ).

However, if you’re focusing on a particular contributor to the film, such as the director or an actor, you should cite the surname of that contributor:

Scorsese’s direction is notably dynamic.

The film is directed with great dynamism (Scorsese).

In addition, if you are referring to a particular scene, you may want to include a time stamp with the timing or range of times for the scene cited:

The scene in this version of the film shows us the brutality of mafia life, but arguably risks glamorizing it ( Goodfellas 00:58:06-01:08:21).

Here, for instance, the time stamp shows us that the citation is for a scene that lasts from 58 minutes and 6 seconds to 1 hour, 8 minutes and 21 seconds into the film. The reader will then know exactly where to look for it.

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Films in an MLA Works Cited List

The entry for a film in an MLA Works Cited list should include all the information required for readers to find the version cited. When citing the film as a whole, this will usually include the following core elements :

Title . Contribution by Main Contributor’s Name (usually the director or creator), other contributors (if relevant to your discussion), version (if more than one version is available), publisher, year.

You won’t always need to include all this information (e.g., if there is only one version of a film available, you can ignore the ‘version’ section), but make sure to include as much detail as needed to identify the exact source.

In practice, for instance, we could reference Goodfellas as follows:

Goodfellas. Directed by Martin Scorsese, performance by Paul Sorvino, Warner Bros., 1990.

If you have cited the name of a contributor – rather than the film title – in your essay, start the entry with the surname of that contributor:

Scorsese, Martin, director. Goodfellas . Performance by Paul Sorvino, Warner Bros., 1990.

This ensures that readers can match the citations to the full reference.

Expert MLA Proofreading

We hope this explains how to cite a film or documentary in MLA style! If you’d like an expert to make sure your MLA referencing is clear, consistent and error free, though, why not upload a document for proofreading today ?

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• Bibliography Answers

How to cite a movie in APA, MLA, or Harvard style

It’s not often that you need to cite a movie, but it’s actually straightforward to do so. Our guide below details how to cite a movie in APA, MLA, or Harvard format.

 How to cite a movie automatically

If you want to skip the tedium of writing a movie citation out by hand then we’ve made a citation generator to do it for you. Simply select Film/Movie from the More dropdown below, complete the form, and we’ll put everything in the right order.

 How to cite a movie manually

To cite a movie yourself just follow the instructions below. For the 3 most popular styles–APA, MLA 8, and Harvard–this is as follows:

 In APA style

You need to locate these details for the movie: director, movie title (duh!), release date, distributor, distributor location, and medium (or format) .

• The director can usually be found in the credits for the movie, or on the IMDb or Wikipedia page for the movie.
• The movie title should be pretty straightforward – it’s the name of the movie you’re citing.
• The release date is the date that the movie was first released or published. This can also be found on the IMdb or Wikipedia page.
• The distributor is the company that handled publishing of the movie. For example, the movie Avengers 2: Age of Ultron was distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures.
• The distributor location is the city or state that the distributor is located in. You can find this by looking up the distributor on Wikipedia.
• The medium is the format that you watched the movie in. This could be something like DVD, internet stream, or cinema.

Then use this template, replacing the colored placeholders with the information you found on the page:

Author last name , Author first name initial . ( release date year , release date month and day ). Page title [ medium ]. Distributor location : Distributor .

The final formatted citation should look like this:

Whedon, J. (2015). Avengers 2: Age of Ultron [DVD]. California: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures.

 In MLA 8 style

You need to locate these details for the movie: director, movie title, release date, and distributor .

Then use this template:

Director last name , Director first name . Movie title . Distributor , Year published .

Whedon, Joss. Avengers 2: Age of Ultron . Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, 2015.

 In Harvard style

Harvard format is very similar to APA. First, locate these details for the movie: director, movie title, release date, distributor, distributor location, and medium (or format) .

Author last name , Author first name initial . ( release date year ) Movie title . Distributor location : Distributor .

Whedon, J. (2015) Avengers 2: Age of Ultron . California: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures.

Daniel is a qualified librarian, former teacher, and citation expert. He has been contributing to MyBib since 2018.

Do I need to cite a movie if I'm explaining scenes throughout my paper?

Yes, cite any movie you are discussing in your paper.  

• If using exact lines from the film, treat these in-text as a quotation.
• If explaining what happened in the movie or other ideas from the film (in other words, paraphrasing), then this is an in-text paraphrase.
• See below for examples of in-text quotations and in-text paraphrases.

Visit the APA Help guide to see an example.

• Click on References and In-text Citation Examples
• Select Other and see Film/TV .

Film / Motion Picture

Richter, J. (Producer), & Hausmann, J. (Director). (1985).  Cezanne: The man and the mountain  [Motion picture]. United States: Home Vision.

In-text Paraphrase : (Richter & Hausmann, 1985).  Quotation : (Richter & Hausmann, 1985, Timestamp)

Thank you for using ASK US. For more information, contact your  Campus Library/ARC .

• Last Updated Oct 17, 2019
• Views 65794
• Answered By Baker Librarians

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Comments (2)

• What if the purpose of the paper is to analyze the movie? If I'm explaining scenes from the movie for most of the paper, do I need to have an in-text citation on almost every sentence? by Kevin on Jul 31, 2019
• If you are paraphrasing a few different sentences in the same paragraph, but they are not all in a row or together, you would have to cite after each sentence. You may also want to take a look at the following ASK US question/answer (http://askus.baker.edu/a.php?qid=1177498). It deals with whether one citation should be used at the end of a multiple sentence paragraph or after every sentence. If you are concerned about citing a lot from the same source, you may want to take a look at Section 6.11 One Work by One Author (p. 174) of the APA Manual, 6th edition. It provides examples where author's name appears multiple times in a single paragraph. The fact that there is a rule suggests that, even though it may seem like it is excessive, it is still necessary to have the in-text citations. by Kelly Bayee on Aug 02, 2019

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Home / Guides / Citation Guides / Harvard Referencing / Harvard Referencing Style Examples / How to Reference a Movie in Harvard Referencing Style

How to Reference a Movie in Harvard Referencing Style

This article will help you learn the correct way of citing a film based on the Harvard style of referencing. Specifically, you’ll need to cite your source in two places:

• In your paper via an in-text citation
• In your reference list via a full reference

An in-text citation is when you refer to the source material within the body of your work or text. The reference list is usually placed at the end of your work. It has a full reference for every source that has an in-text citation. The reference list goes beyond the in-text citation and gives a complete list of information about the works you have cited, so that the reader can find and read the original source.

If you are trying to cite a source that was posted on YouTube, you’ll instead need to know how to cite a YouTube video in Harvard style .

Here are some examples of how to reference films in Harvard style:

Film seen at the cinema

To reference a film seen at a cinema, you’ll need the following information:

• Title (in italics)
• Release year (in round brackets)
• Director name
• [Feature film]
• Place of distribution: Distributor

The Help (2011) Directed by Tate Taylor. [Feature film]. Burbank, CA: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures.

For the in-text citation, the title of the film is used, followed by the release year separated by a comma, if the film title is not mentioned already. If the title is mentioned in the text, then only the year should be given, in round brackets.

The characters in The Help (2011) reveal…

The film showcases race relations during the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s in Jackson, Mississippi ( The Help , 2011).

Film from a streaming service

If you are referencing a film you viewed via a streaming service, here’s the information you’ll need for your reference:

• Name of the streaming service or DOI
• (Accessed: date)

Changeling (2008) Directed by Clint Eastwood. Available at: Netflix (Accessed: 22 September 2020).

For the in-text citation, the title of the film and date are used, separated by a comma, if the film title is not already mentioned. If it is, then only the date is necessary.

In Changeling (2008), Angelina Jolie plays the character…

Angelina Jolie ( Changeling , 2008) plays the character of a mother whose…

Film from a physical copy (DVD/Blu-ray)

If you want to reference a film you viewed on DVD or Blu-ray, you’ll need the following information:

• [DVD, catalogue number] or [Blu-ray, catalogue number] (in square brackets)

The BFG: Big Friendly Giant (2016) Directed by Steven Spielberg. [Blu-ray, 8042180]. Burbank, CA: Buena Vista Home Entertainment.

The in-text citation method is the same as in the previous two examples.

Key takeaways

• The methods for referencing films and videos differ according to the mode of viewing.
• The name of the film and year suffice for in-text citations of films viewed at the cinema, on DVD or through a streaming platform.

Published October 29, 2020.

Harvard Formatting Guide

Harvard Formatting

• et al Usage
• Direct Quotes
• In-text Citations
• Multiple Authors
• Page Numbers
• Writing an Outline
• View Harvard Guide

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How to Cite a Movie Quote

When you are caught up in writing an essay , paper, or article, you may need to throw in a direct quote here and there. The purposes may vary depending on the type of quote you're using or the effect you want to achieve. You may wish to add emphasis, authority, or clarity to your work. A quote can accomplish things that a paraphrase or summary simply cannot. A clear and direct voice can easily drive a point home better than the best group of sentences you can come up with.

Wait a minute. Here's your essay - we put some excellence in it!

And along with this, in the process of sorting out your notes and research data, you may find that the quotes you'd like to include in your paper are not all from books and journal articles. Considering that your information can come from many sources, whether they be print, online, or audiovisual, it's a good chance that you can have sources ranging from books and government documents to mp3s, YouTube films and videos, and motion pictures. All of which need to be correctly cited a formatted. Which inevitably begs the question - how to cite a movie?

Referencing is always the most annoying part about creating academic papers. So many formats and requirements - you can easily get lost on a regular day, let alone quoting a movie! How to quote a film? Is citing movie quotes even allowed in college? How to cite movie quotes? How to quote a movie in an essay? How to cite a movie quote in MLA? Should you include the movie name? We answer all that and more in our article - read on to learn!

The improperly cited quote is a big problem. That's why we decided to help students and post this guide. You should be extremely careful when formatting your quotes because one mistake and you'll be accused of plagiarism. Assisting students in improving their writing skills is only one part of our work. Another and even more important one is online writing assistance.

Our name suggests that we are the  best custom writing service , and the fact that we share such valuable information for free proves it.

Formatting and Citation Styles Overview

A prerequisite to citing anything is a format and guideline to follow. It usually comes about from the three basic styling guides, APA , MLA, and Chicago Manual of Style (the Turabian styling guide is also popular but closely resembles the Chicago manual in many respects, the two are sometimes categorized together). A professor or publisher will usually request one of the three types of formatting styles, for both in-text and bibliographic listings.

These are the two main types of citations: one that appears in the text of a work and one that appears at the end. The in-text is how you indicate the source of your quote in the lines of the text of your paper and the work cited, bibliography or reference pages are where your source will show up at the end of your document.

It will be helpful to become familiar with all the styling guides to make things easier for you in the long run, but typically, you'll just need to know the details of the one being requested of you.

These are just the basics of formatting, but they can be confusing for inexperienced students or those who always ignore formatting rules. If you belong to one of these categories, our service is ready to lend you a helping hand. BestCustomWriting.com is more than just a website where you can get your essay or any other academic paper written by a professional writer.

If you face the need to use a movie quote in your essay and don't know how to cite it properly - we can help you. We help clients write their papers and guide them from the very beginning to the end. It means that we can create an essay from scratch and deliver a fully finished and formatted paper.

Audiovisual Citations

In most cases, since mostly the written word is used in research (whether online or in print), the chances of you using audiovisual material for research may be minimal. So this type of citing is usually not as common as the rest. But it still needs to be addressed to ensure that no traces of plagiarism in any fashion were found on a work of yours.

The following list is categorized by medium and provides details of both in-text citations and also ones that appear in a list at the end of the document.

APA (American Psychological Association)

Audio recording.

Let's say you've found a perfect podcast where someone brings up an argument that will prove your essay point. To create an in-text citation for this, include the name of the speaker in the parenthetical citation brackets followed by a comma and the year of the airing. When you want to include the name(s) of the speaker(s) into the text itself, paraphrase their quote and state the author with the year in brackets.

• [Quote] (Krasdale, 2010)
• In the discussion, Krasdale (2010) states that [paraphrased quote].

For the reference listing, state the last name of the speaker with their initials following after a comma and place a period before noting their role and the year of the airing in brackets after another period. Then comes the title of the material and its format in square brackets, with the name of website pages (or a web page) or a place where it can be accessed. The next sentence is the place of the recording's origin.

• Krasdale, S. (Speaker). (2010). The way money works (Cassette Recording No. 17). New York, NY: Education Plus Inc.

Film/Motion Picture

To quote films, you have to possess enough information about them and their creators. When you go with the in-text citation movie, the drill is the same as with the audio materials. Note the names of the producer and the director in parenthetical brackets, with the year the film came out included after a comma. Here's how to quote movies in APA:

• "We all have secrets: the ones we keep... and the ones that are kept from us." (Arad & Webb, 2012)

When referencing the film or a movie, type out the people who produced the film with their roles in brackets following each other, then goes the year of the movie release. The title comes with the format in square brackets, and then the country of origin along with the studio. It will look like this:

• Arad, A. (Producer), & Webb, M. (Director). (2012). The Amazing Spider-Man [Motion Picture]. United States: Columbia Pictures

Radio Broadcast

Radio quotes are used quite rarely these days, but you never know what awaits you around the corner!

If you're focused on carrying across the paraphrased point, meaning when you're providing the in-text citation, the scheme is usual.

• [Quote] (Lopez, 2013)

When listing, this goes similar to the podcast referencing, but you also need the radio studio and the creators to be placed after the name of the broadcast apart from just date and location.

• Lopez, P. (Narrator). (2013, March 1). The harms of secondhand smoke amongst children [Radio broadcast episode]. In E. McDonnell (Producer), Morning Edition. Washington, DC: National Public Radio.

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MLA (Modern Language Association)

Here, you don't need the year of the airing to provide a quote from a podcast. The name of the composer that produced the audio is enough.

• [Quote] (Kent)

Work cited listing goes a bit differently. Don't forget to write the full name of the performer followed by the name and the year of recording and the year of release following the name of the studio. Then goes the format.

• Kent, Abdullah. The diseases of the heart. 1995. True Audio, 1999. Audiocassette.

To quote a movie in MLA, just write its name in the brackets. Be advised to include the quotes from a movie in quotation marks if you're taking it word-by-word.

• "We all have secrets: the ones we keep... and the ones that are kept from us." (The Amazing Spider-Man)

For the work cited listing mention the director of the film and the studio, plus the year and the format.

• The Amazing Spider-Man . Dir. Marc Webb. Columbia Pictures, 2012. Film.

For in-text citation, the name of the broadcast is to be included in brackets.

• [Quote] ("Fun with marriage")

Work cited listing is an expanded version of the movie format but for radio and without the name of the creator.

• " Fun with marriage". Morning Digest. Philadelphia-Delaware Radio. WXKF, Philadelphia. 12 June 2002. Radio.

MLA basic rule of thumb. When providing in-text citations for MLA, you may notice that the in-text citation matches the beginning of the work cited listing. This is the basic setup for MLA referencing . To make finding a source relatively easy, the in-text citation will simply mirror the beginning of the listing that is found at the end of the paper.

Chicago Manual of Style

In Chicago, you only need to mention and give credit to someone if they actively participated in the creation of the work. You may also notice that Chicago allows you to make notes, which results in three formats as opposed to MLA/APA's two. Apart from that, there are quite a few similarities with previously mentioned styles, as you will see from the examples we provide below.

• First foot/endnote. Randolph Klein, Understanding French , Knowledge Productions 1678-CD, 2012, Compact disc.
• Subsequent notes. Klein, Understanding French .
• Bibliography. Klein, Randolph. Understanding French . Knowledge Productions 11678-CD. 2012. Compact disc.
• First foot/endnote. The Life of the Ruler , DVD, directed by Tod Lewis (1982; New Orleans, LA: Castle Light Productions, 2000).
• Subsequent notes. The Life of the Ruler .
• Bibliography. The Life of the Ruler . DVD. Directed by Tod Lewis. 1982; New Orleans, LA: Castle Light Productions, 2000.
• First foot/endnote. " Cleaning up after the tsunami ," Morning Digest, WXKF Philadelphia-Delaware Radio (Philadelphia, PA: WPKT, January 10, 2005).
• Subsequent notes. " Cleaning up after the tsunami "
• Bibliography. " Cleaning up after the tsunami ." Morning Digest. WXKF Philadelphia-Delaware Radio. Philadelphia, PA: WPKT, January 10, 2005.

Citing Tips

Citing using any manual of style can be a tedious process. When obtaining a movie or film quote, save some time by not watching anything at all. You can venture into the whole watching process until the point of no return, but all the videos found on YouTube can prove to you how much time you can save!

Tons of video recording, films, and motion pictures have transcripts available for them (as well as audio recordings). This is a tremendous help when providing direct quotations. Instead of struggling to decipher and record an exact statement, a keyword search in the work's transcript can just as easily provide the same results.

Please note that for some citation guidelines (such as MLA film or video recording citations), there is no one-size-fits-all method of citing. There are a few different methods citing based on what you would like to emphasize in your referencing (for example, the director or the people involved). Your citation would be changed because of that.

Also, your citation may be altered based on whether you provide a signal phrase or include the full reference in the text of your paper as opposed to using parenthetical citations. The default method for all the in-text citations above is parenthetical, with no signal phrases. And finally, there is no in-text citation format for the Chicago manual of style because footnotes and endnotes are utilized with this guide instead.

There is an even easier way to organize your references than manually. Look up citation generators and machines and thank us later!

We hope our guide on how to cite a quote from a movie and other audio sources in a paper helped you gain a little confidence.

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How to Cite a Movie Scene

If you quote, analyze or refer to a film in an academic paper, you should cite it in your Works Cited page of the essay in the Modern Language Association (MLA style), the citation style usually used in the liberal arts and humanities. Unlike citations of books and other sources, the format of film citations varies depending on the focus of your paper. Citing a specific scene in a film follows the same citation as that for citing the film in general, such as its plot or the characters; however, the citation differs from that used for citing a specific person in a film or scene, such as the director or a performer.

Citing Films/Scenes in General

Write the film title in italics, followed by a period.

List the director and performers, indicated by the abbreviations "Dir." and "Perf." Put a period after the director and separate the performers with commas.

List the production company if you watched an original release and the distributor if you watched a DVD, followed by a comma and the release or distribution date. Add a period after the distribution date.

Write the medium followed by a period, such as DVD or film.

For example, the entire citation reads: "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2. Dir. David Yates. Perf. Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint. Warner Bros. Pictures, 2011. DVD."

Citing the Director or a Performer

Write the director or performer's name first in the format Last name, First Name, role.

For example, the entry for David Yates reads "Yates, David, dir."

List the director and performers, indicated by the abbreviations "Dir." and "Perf." If the director is listed before the title, list only the performers; if a performer is listed first, list the director and the other performers.

Cite the production company if you watched an original release and the distributor if you watched a DVD, followed by a comma and the release or distribution date. Place a period after the distribution date.

List the medium followed by a period, such as DVD or film.

For example, the entire citation reads: "Yates, David, dir. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2. Perf. Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint. Warner Bros. Pictures, 2011. DVD."

When you paraphrase a scene of the film in the text of your essay, you don't need to provide an in-text citation; you only need to be sure to obviously and directly refer to the title of the film and its material as distinct from the analytical voice of the essay.

• Defiance College: MLA In-Text Citation for a Film or Documentary

Rebekah Richards is a professional writer with work published in the "Atlanta Journal-Constitution," "Brandeis University Law Journal" and online at tolerance.org. She graduated magna cum laude from Brandeis University with bachelor's degrees in creative writing, English/American literature and international studies. Richards earned a master's degree at Carnegie Mellon University.

32 Memorable Quotes From Steel Magnolias

"Laughter through tears is my favorite emotion" might just sum up this whole movie.

Why did I watch Steel Magnolias so often as a young teen? Did I just love all of the humor and appreciate a good cry, even in my earlier years? The film is based on a play by Robert Harling, who adapted it for the screen (and would later go on to pen the screenplay for another gem - First Wives Club ). As an adult, I've come to appreciate how it's a movie that depicts the bonds of female friendship in a beautiful way.

And can we talk about the cast? I mean: Dolly Parton , Sally Field, Olympia Dukakis, Shirley MacLaine, Daryl Hannah and Julia Roberts . This is not to discount the men in this movie — Tom Skerritt, Dylan McDermott , Sam Shepard and Kevin J. O’Connor in particular — who are all excellent. But when it comes to the performances of the women, Steel Magnolias is a symphony of emotional range, talent, and comedic timing. Suffice to say, I know I'm not alone in loving this film. It was all I could do not to quote the entire movie here, but I do hope I managed to include some of your favorites…

“There’s so much static electricity in this room, I pick up everything but boys and money.” 

Truvy (Dolly Parton) charms from the moment she first appears. And we get to see her politely brushing off Annelle's nervousness (and the little fuzzies on her shirt after getting her hair done) by blaming the static electricity.

“Hi Miss Ouiser.” Shelby's brothers, “Ugh, leave me alone.” Ouiser

Shelby’s brothers Tommy (Knowl Johnson) and Jonathan (Jonathan Ward) seem amused when Ouiser (Shirley MacLaine) comes storming through the house, chasing Drum into the backyard. They offer her as polite a greeting as I imagine they’re capable of, and she responds as honestly as she’s capable of.

“You can’t screw up her hair. You just tease it and make it look like a brown football helmet” Shelby

Shelby (Julia Roberts) eases Annelle's nervousness about doing M'Lynn's hair by explaining the simplicity of making her mother’s hair look like… well, a brown football helmet.

“Oh, I used to have one. But I slammed it against the wall when I couldn’t figure out where the batteries went. Of course, I know now that I was suffering from pre-menstrual syndrome.” Truvy

When Shelby suggests a radio for the beauty parlor as a way of giving people a reason not to have to talk so much, Truvy reveals what actually happened to the one she once had.

“Her colors are pink and pink.” M’Lynn, “My colors are blush and bashful, Momma.” Shelby

The level of pink involved in Shelby’s wedding aesthetic is not going to be for everyone, but Shelby is clearly happy with the look. In fact, when M’Lynn tries to reduce the wedding colors to “pink and pink,” Shelby insists they be referred to by their proper names - blush and bashful.

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“Well, any good shoe, I wear a size 6, but a 7 feels so good, I buy a size 8.” Truvy, “They’re 8 1/2.” Clairee, “Perfect” “Truvy”

As a kid, I thought this comment might make more sense to me when I was older, because why would she want shoes that were two-and-a-half sizes too big? Now, I think it's that she’s secretly an 8 1/2 but likes to say she’s a 6? Whether that's correct, I still think this is an adorable Truvy moment. Side-note: I’m also still wondering why they ever thought it was a good idea to stack that many trays of eggs in the trunk of a car…

“Drum would never, ever point a gun at a lady.” M’Lynn, “He’s a real gentleman. I bet he takes the dishes out of the sink before he pees in it.” Ouiser

M’Lynn (Sally Field) is doing her best to downplay her husband’s behavior, but Ouiser’s not having it. Never mind that there are blanks in the gun Drum’s shooting at the Magnolia tree to scare off the birds, I’m siding with Ouiser on this whole debacle. There has to be a better way to deal with the situation (and no, fireworks are not the answer). I feel bad for the poor dog.

"Don't try to get on my good side, Truvy, I no longer have one." Ouiser

Not even Truvy’s charm can penetrate Ouiser’s grumpy nature. Any attempts to break through to a good side will be met with a reveal that she no longer has one.

“I can’t talk about it.” Annelle, “Of course you can!” Truvy and Clairee at the same time

While the other women were polite enough not to pry into Annelle’s mysterious past upon meeting her, Ouiser immediately begins questioning the young woman about her background. What’s hilarious here is the way the other women quickly close in once they see that Ouiser’s getting some information. And then there’s Truvy and Clairee’s (Olympia Dukakis) friendly and perfectly synced “of course you can!” the moment Annelle tries to deflect by saying that she can’t talk about it.

“I really don’t think things could get any worse.” Annelle, “Of course they can.” Ouiser

If you want warmth and compassion, your best bet is probably Truvy. If you want brutal honestly, Ouiser’s your woman. Though I’m not sure if saying things can get worse is brutal honesty or just plain pessimism. I guess it depends on how optimistic a person you are… or how bad you've seen things get.

“Her mother and I do!” Drum

Drum (Tom Skerritt) proved he wasn’t the kind of man to give up on a challenge, which is how he ended up unable to hear much by the time the wedding ceremony began. After using fireworks to scare the birds out of the magnolia tree, Drum was left temporarily unable to hear anything quieter than a shout. He had one part during the wedding ceremony after walking his daughter down the aisle, which was to give his daughter away. And he did. Loudly.

“Well, I haven’t left the house without lycra on these thighs since I was fourteen.” Truvy, “You were brought up right.” Clairee

Truvy and Clairee are not above gossip, ever. While watching a woman cut loose on the dance floor without what they deem to be an appropriate level of support beneath her pricy dress, Truvy shares this tidbit with Clairee, who approves of her friend’s upbringing.

“The older you get, the sillier you get.” Clairee, “The older you get, the uglier you get.” Ouiser

As harsh as this quote might seem on paper, it’s actually one of the sweeter moments between Clairee and Ouiser. Never mind that Ouiser lives nearby, she doesn’t feel comfortable walking home by herself. Or maybe she just wants a bit more time with her friend. Either way, she and Clairee give each other a hard time as they leave the wedding together.

“Oh no! Nobody move, nobody movie, my contact!” Annelle

Annelie’s personal story seems to really be about journeying into womanhood, and figuring out who she is and what she wants for herself. This moment comes amidst one of those glimpses of how she's changing, as she animatedly talks about all of the stuff she’s been up to when her contact lens pops out, causing a major halt in the carnival fun.

“You are special, Shelby. There are limits to what you can do.” M’Lynn

Not all of the quotes here are the happy kind. It’s easy to see how much M’Lynn cares about her family, and I imagine there’s nothing she wouldn’t do to protect her daughter. So when Shelby, who has diabetes, reveals that she’s pregnant (though her doctors had warned her that she shouldn’t have children due to her health), M’Lynn is unable to celebrate this news due to how worried she is. It’s a heartbreaking scene, and not the only one in this movie.

“I’m not crazy, M’Lynn, I’ve just been in a very bad mood for forty years.” Ouiser

Ouiser’s perpetually grumpy, so it’s easy to imagine that her friends are used to her moodiness. Still, M’Lynn does offer her friend information on counseling, which Ouiser refuses. She’s just in a bad mood and has been for a few decades. Maybe talking it out with someone wouldn't be the worst thing?

“Well, as somebody always said, if you can’t say anything nice about anybody, come sit by me.” Clairee

There’s little Clairee seems to enjoy more than good gossip, even when she’s the one sharing it. We see that on display at a Christmas party, when Clairee and Truvy sit together for a chat.

“Nothing pleases Shelby more than proving me wrong.” M’Lynn

M’Lynn is too worried about Shelby’s well-being to be able to celebrate her daughter’s pregnancy. It really isn’t until M’Lynn’s friends surround her with love and support, quite literally, that she allows their optimism to seep in a bit and try to feel the joy in the situation.

“Because I’m an old southern woman, and we’re supposed to wear funny looking hats and ugly clothes and grow vegetables in the dirt. Don’t ask me those questions. I don’t know why. I don’t make the rules.” Ouiser

While there are moments in Steel Magnolias that show us how good and caring Ouiser actually is beneath her rough exterior, most of the time she’s very humorously playing the role she’s cast herself in. That applies here, when she brings her home-grown tomatoes to Truvy’s, and insists that this was just something she has to do as an “old southern woman."

“Drum loves pork and beans. Eats ’em with everything.” Clairee, “That explains a lot.” Ouiser

When M’Lynn prepares to undergo surgery to donate a kidney to Shelby, her friends rally to look after Drum and the boys in her absence. For Clairee, that includes piling numerous cans of pork and beans into her grocery cart. The number of cans is almost as funny as Ouiser’s lack of surprise that Drum eats pork and beans with everything.

“I think we should pray” Annelle, “Oh, I’d rather eat dirt.” Sammy

Annelle and Sammy’s relationship clearly has its ups and downs. We see one of the down moments after Sammy (Kevin J. O’Connor) makes the mistake of leaving beer in Annelle’s Frigidaire. He doubles down during the argument by using the Lord’s name in vain. All Annelle can do in response is pray, but Sammy would rather do anything else.

“Ouiser never did a religious thing in her life.” Clairee, “Now that is not true. When I was in school, a bunch of my friends and I would dress up as nuns and go bar-hopping.” Ouiser

Clairee seems to know Ouiser pretty well, but clearly she wasn’t aware of her friend’s religious past. Or what Ouiser thinks is a religious act, anyway. I’m not sure bar-hopping while dressed as a nun counts.

“I do not see plays because I can nap at home for free. And I don’t see movies because they’re trash, and they got nothing but naked people in them. And I don’t read books ‘cause if they’re any good, they’re gonna make them into a miniseries.” Ouiser

This is one of the many scenes throughout the movie that demonstrates Shirley MacLaine’s perfect line delivery. When Clairee attempts to introduce a bit of culture into their conversation, Ouiser delivers this brief monologue, which is enhanced by the fact that she’s wearing wax strips on her upper-lip as Annelle works on her face.

“I realize, as a woman, how lucky I am. I was there when that wonderful creature drifted into my life, and I was there when she drifted out. It was the most precious moment of my life.” M’Lynn

If I haven’t already cried yet while watching this movie, this is the scene that’ll usually do it. After Shelby’s funeral, we see M’Lynn display pretty much every stage of grief in the span of a monologue with her friends. Amidst this, she recognizes the preciousness of witnessing her daughter’s death after having been there to see her come into the world once upon a time .

“I just want to hit somebody until they feel as bad as I do. I just want to hit something. I want to hit it hard.” M’Lynn, “Here. Hit this. Go ahead, M’Lynn. Slap her!” Clairee

Steel Magnolias is truly one of Sally Field’s best movies , and her performance in this scene is nothing short of magnificent, and also hearth-wrenching. While crying over the loss of her daughter, she finally erupts in anger. And then the tension is obliterated with sweet comic relief as Clairee offers up Ouiser as a thing M’Lynn can hit if it’ll make her feel better. It does the trick in making M’Lynn laugh (though it also leaves Ouiser seething).

“You are evil, and you must be destroyed.” Ouiser

Maybe Clairee really is too twisted for color TV, as Ouiser puts it, but she means well. And when she contritely approachers Ouiser for forgiveness after suggesting M’Lynn hit her to relieve her grief, Ouiser doesn’t let her off the hook right away.

“Laughter through tears is my favorite emotion.”

If there’s one quote that I think sums up the heart of Steel Magnolias , it’s Truvy’s line about laughter through tears. Because that is the emotion of this entire film as far as I’m concerned. There’s so much joy in the movie, but it will also rip your heart out every time.

“I have a strict policy that nobody cry alone in my presence.” Truvy

As a sympathy cryer, I get this one. When Shelby tears up at the beauty parlor, Truvy begs her not to, insisting that she refuses to let anyone cry alone. It’s one of many sweet moments from Truvy, but also one of great emotional moments featuring Shelby, and a demonstration of Julia Roberts’ talent as a dramatic actress. Steel Magnolias is undoubtedly one of Roberts’ best movies , particularly from earlier in her career.

“A dirty mind is a terrible thing to waste.” Ouiser

When her friends are plying her for information about her potential relationship with an old flame, Ouiser attempts to shut down their interrogation with this little quip about a dirty mind. That they’re on their way out of church during the conversation is neither here nor there.

“The only thing that separates us from the animals is our ability to accessorize.” Clairee

Clairee really does have it all figured out. I’m not sure the ability to accessorize is the only thing that separates us from the animals, but it is one thing, right?

“The only reason people are nice to me is because I have more money than God.” Ouiser

It’s one of many amusing moments where Ouiser demonstrates her self-awareness, while also downplaying the things about her that make her lovable. Because ok, some people probably wouldn’t want to be nice to her if not for her money, but her friends clearly love her for who she is.

“Shelby was right. This is a brown football helmet.” M’Lynn

The funny-but-also-devastating moment M'Lynn sees her hair and realizes her daughter's snarky comment about her hair looking like a brown football helmet was right all along.

Kelly joined CinemaBlend as a freelance TV news writer in 2006 and went on to serve as the site’s TV Editor before moving over to other roles on the site. At present, she’s an Assistant Managing Editor who spends much of her time brainstorming and editing feature content on the site. She an expert in all things Harry Potter, books from a variety of genres (sci-fi, mystery, horror, YA, drama, romance -- anything with a great story and interesting characters.), watching Big Brother, frequently rewatching The Office, listening to Taylor Swift, and playing The Sims. 

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