What is a DOI? | Finding and Using Digital Object Identifiers

A DOI (Digital Object Identifier) is a unique and never-changing string assigned to online (journal) articles, books, and other works. DOIs make it easier to retrieve works, which is why citation styles, like APA and MLA Style, recommend including them in citations.

You may find DOIs formatted in various ways:

  • doi:10.1080/02626667.2018.1560449
  • https://doi.org/10.1111/hex.12487
  • https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02626667.2018.1560449
  • https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychires.2017.11.014

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Chicago Style Citation Examples | Website, Book, Article, Video

The Chicago Manual of Style provides guidelines for two styles of citation: author-date and notes and bibliography:

  • In notes and bibliography style (mostly used in the humanities), you use footnotes or endnotes to cite sources.
  • In author-date style (mostly used in the sciences), you use brief parenthetical references to cite sources in the text.
To automatically generate accurate Chicago references, you can use Scribbr’s free reference generator:

Chicago Reference Generator

In both styles, full source citations are listed in an alphabetized Chicago style bibliography or reference list. Make sure to pay attention to punctuation (e.g., commas, parentheses, and quotation marks) in your notes and citations.

The Chicago Manual of Style is regularly updated. Our examples are all based on the 17th edition, which is the most recent (published in 2017).

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Block quoting in MLA style

When you include a long quote in an MLA paper, you have to format it as a block quote. MLA style (8th edition) requires block quote formatting for:

  • Quotes of poetry longer than three lines
  • Quotes of prose longer than four lines

An MLA block quote is set on a new line, indented 0.5 inches, with no quotation marks. The MLA in-text citation goes after the period at the end of the block quote.

Tip
Every source you cite should also appear in your Works Cited page. You can try our free MLA Citation Generator to easily create MLA citations.

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How to Block Quote | Length, Format and Examples

A block quote is a long quotation, set on a new line and indented to create a separate block of text. No quotation marks are used. You have to use a block quote when quoting more than around 40 words from a source.

In APA and MLA styles, you indent block quotes 0.5 inches from the left, and add an in-text citation after the period. Some other citation styles have additional rules.

Block quote example
Although Brontë lived an isolated life, she writes about human emotion with remarkable insight, as exemplified by Heathcliff’s impassioned speech:

Catherine Earnshaw, may you not rest as long as I am living; you said I killed you – haunt me, then! The murdered DO haunt their murderers, I believe. I know that ghosts HAVE wandered on earth. Be with me always – take any form – drive me mad! only DO not leave me in this abyss, where I cannot find you! Oh, God! it is unutterable! I CANNOT live without my life! I CANNOT live without my soul! (Brontë, 1847, 268)

Continue reading: How to Block Quote | Length, Format and Examples