Editing Encyclopedia:Manual of Style (section)

==Quotations==
{{See|Wikipedia:Do not include the full text of lengthy primary sources}}
{{for|the essay|Wikipedia:Quotations}}
{{Redirects here|MOS:QUOTE|the section on quotation characters|MOS:CURLY}}
{{Shortcut|MOS:QUOT|MOS:QUOTE|MOS:QUOTATIONS}}

[[Wikipedia:Non-free content#Guideline examples|Brief quotations of copyrighted text]] may be used to illustrate a point, establish context, or attribute a point of view or idea. While quotations are an indispensable part of Wikipedia, excessive use of them is incompatible with an encyclopedic writing style and may be [[Wikipedia:Copyrights|copyright infringement]], so most of the content should be in the editor's own words. Consider paraphrasing quotations into plain and concise text when appropriate (while being aware that [[Wikipedia:Close paraphrasing|close paraphrasing]] can still violate copyright). [[Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Text formatting#Quotations|Do not put quotations in italics]] unless the material would be italicized for some other reason.

Per [[Wikipedia:Verifiability|the verifiability policy]], direct quotations {{em|must}} be accompanied by an [[WP:INCITE|inline citation]] from a [[WP:RS|reliable source]] that supports the material. This is especially important in articles that are about or contain material about [[WP:BLP|living or recently deceased people]] (BLPs).

===Original wording===
<span class="anchor" id="Principle of minimal change"></span><span class="anchor" id="Minimal change"></span><span class="anchor" id="PMC"></span><span class="anchor" id="PLC"></span><span class="anchor" id="MINIMALCHANGE"></span><span class="anchor" id="MINCHANGE"></span><span class="anchor" id="LEASTCHANGE"></span>
{{Redirect|WP:PMC|closure of requested moves by page movers|Wikipedia:Requested moves/Closing instructions#Closure by a page mover}}
{{Redirect|WP:PLC|inclusion guidelines for organizations|Wikipedia:Notability (organizations and companies)|the handling of the abbreviation "plc" in article titles|Wikipedia:Naming conventions (companies)}}
{{Shortcut|MOS:PMC|MOS:SIC|MOS:TYPOFIX|WP:QUOTETYPO}}

Quotations must be [[Wikipedia:Verifiability|verifiably]] attributed, and the wording of the quoted text must be faithfully reproduced. This is referred to as the {{strong|principle of minimal change}}. Where there is good reason to change the wording, square bracket the changed text; for example, {{!xt|"Ocyrhoe told him his fate"}} might be quoted as {{xt|"Ocyrhoe told [her father] his fate"}}. If there is a significant error in the original, follow it with {{tlx|sic}} (producing {{xt|{{sic}}}}{{hsp}}) to show that the error was not made by Wikipedia. (for example, {{xt|"his interview with the Dolly Llama {{sic|nolink=y}}"}}) <!-- IF EDITING THE FOLLOWING SENTENCE, PLEASE UPDATE THE DOCUMENTATION AT [[Template:Sic/doc]] ACCORDINGLY --> However, insignificant spelling and typographic errors should simply be silently corrected (for example, correct {{!xt|basicly}} to {{xt|basically}}). When applied to text that is linked, the syntax of the template may be adjusted to {{tlx|sic|2=nolink=y}} (producing {{sic|nolink=y}} in the resulting linked text; for example in the link: [[Template:Sic|{{sic|nolink=y}} template]]).{{efn|name="sicwarning"|{{tl|Sic}} should not be used between {{tag|ref}} tags, or within [[Wikipedia:Citation templates|citation templates]] such as [[Help:Citation Style 1|Citation Style 1]] and [[Help:Citation Style 2|Citation Style 2]], because it includes markup that will pollute the [[COinS]] metadata they produce; see [[Wikipedia:COinS]].<!-- Per [[Template:Sic]] there is a {{COinS safe|n}} warning that it "should not be used in citation templates such as Citation Style 1 and Citation Style 2, because it includes markup that will pollute the COinS metadata they produce; see Wikipedia:COinS." -->}} For the sake of accuracy and indexing, the titles of referenced sources should not be corrected for spelling, but minor typographic adjustments (like changing [[MOS:CURLY|curly quotes]] to straight) may be made silently. Inline citations in the quoted text, to sources not used in the Wikipedia article, should be silently removed.

Use [[#Ellipses|ellipses]] to indicate omissions from quoted text. Legitimate omissions include extraneous, irrelevant, or parenthetical words, and unintelligible speech ({{!xt|umm}} and {{!xt|hmm}}), but do not omit text where doing so would remove important context or alter the meaning of the text. Vulgarities and obscenities should be shown exactly as they appear in the quoted source; Wikipedians should [[Wikipedia:Offensive material#How to treat offensive material in articles|never bowdlerize words]] ({{!xt|G-d d--m it!}}), but if the text being quoted {{em|itself}} does so, copy the text verbatim and use {{tlx|sic}} to indicate that the text is quoted as shown in the source.

In direct quotations, retain dialectal and archaic spellings, including capitalization (but not archaic glyphs and ligatures, as detailed below in {{slink||Typographic conformity}}).

===Point of view<span class="anchor" id="Quotation point of view"></span>===
{{Shortcut|MOS:QUOTEPOV}}
{{See also|Wikipedia:Neutral point of view#Attributing and specifying biased statements|Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Words to watch#Expressions of doubt}}

Quotation should be used, with attribution, to present emotive opinions that cannot be expressed in Wikipedia's own voice, but never to present cultural norms as simply opinional:

*Acceptable: {{xt|Siskel and Ebert called the film "unforgettable".}}
*Unacceptable: {{!xt|The site is considered "sacred" by the religion's scriptures.}}

Concise opinions that are not overly emotive can often be reported with attribution instead of direct quotation. Use of quotation marks around simple descriptive terms can [[Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Words to watch#Expressions of doubt|imply something doubtful]] regarding the material being quoted; sarcasm or [[weasel words]] such as ''supposedly'' or ''so-called'', might be inferred.

*Permissible: {{xt|Siskel and Ebert called the film interesting.}}
*Unnecessary and may imply doubt: {{!xt|Siskel and Ebert called the film "interesting".}}
*Should be quoted: {{xt|Siskel and Ebert called the film "interesting but heart-wrenching".}}

===Typographic conformity===
{{Shortcut|MOS:CONFORM}}

A quotation is not a [[wikt:facsimile|facsimile]] and, in most cases, it is not a requirement that the original formatting be preserved. Formatting and other purely typographical elements of quoted text{{efn|"Quoted text" for typographic conformity and many other purposes includes titles of works, names of organizations, and other strings that are, in essence, quoted. Example: things like "Mexican-American War" are routinely corrected to "Mexican–American War" on Wikipedia, including in titles of cited sources, whether in article prose, citation footnotes, or elsewhere on the page. This has no effect on searching for the works we have cited, since all major search engines disregard punctuation marks.}} should be adapted to English Wikipedia's conventions without comment, provided that doing so will not change or obscure meaning or intent of the text. These are alterations which make no difference when the text is read aloud, for example:

*Normalize dashes and hyphens: see {{Section link||Dashes}}. Use the style chosen for the article: unspaced [[em dash]] or spaced [[en dash]].
*Convert apostrophes and quotation marks to Wikipedia's style:
**These should be straight, not curly or slanted. See {{section link||Quotation marks}}.
**When quoting a quotation that itself contains a quotation, alternate between using double and single quotes for each quotation. See {{section link||For a quotation within a quotation}} for details.
*When quoting text from non-English languages, the outer punctuation should follow [[Wikipedia:Manual of Style#Quotation marks|the Manual of Style for English quote marks]]. If there are nested quotations, follow the rules for correct punctuation in that language. If there are multiple styles for a language, the one used by the Wikipedia for that language is preferred unless the punctuation itself is under discussion.
*:{{xt|The cynical response "{{lang|fr|italic=unset|L'auteur aurait dû demander&nbsp;: «&nbsp;à quoi sert-il d'écrire ceci&nbsp;?&nbsp;» mais ne l'a pas fait}}" was all he wrote.}}
*Remove spaces before punctuation such as periods and colons.
*Generally preserve bold and italics {{crossref|pw=y|(see {{section link||Italics}})}}, but most other styling should be altered. {{!xt|{{Underline|Underlining}}}}, {{!xt|spac&nbsp;ing}} within words, {{!xt|1=co<span style="color:Goldenrod;">lor</span>s}}, {{!xt|ALL CAPS}}, {{Smallcaps|{{!xt|small caps}}}}, etc. should generally be normalized to plain text. If it {{em|clearly}} indicates emphasis, use italic {{em|emphasis}} ({{tlx|em}}) or, in an already-italic passage, boldface (with {{tlx|strong}}). For titles of books, articles, poems, and so forth, use italics or quotation marks following [[Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Titles|the guidance for titles]]. Italics can also be added to mark up [[#Non-English terms|non-English terms]] (with the {{tlx|lang}} template), for an [[#Animals, plants, and other organisms|organism's scientific name]], and to indicate a [[#Words as words|words-as-words]] usage.
*Expand an abbreviation (not already used in the content before the quotation) as a square-bracketed change, or explain it using {{tlx|abbr}}.
*Normalize archaic glyphs and ligatures in English that are unnecessary to the meaning (except in proper names and for languages where ligatures are standard, per {{section link||Ampersand}} and [[MOS:LIGATURE]]). Examples include ''[[æ]]''→''ae'', ''[[œ]]''→''oe'', ''[[Long s|ſ]]''→''s'', and ''[[Thorn (letter)#Abbreviations|þ<sup>e</sup>]]''→''the''. 

{{crossref|pw=y|See {{section link|Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Titles#Typographic conformity}} for special considerations in normalizing the typography of titles of works.}}

However, national varieties should not be changed, as these may involve changes in vocabulary. For example, a quotation from a British source should retain British spelling, even in an article that otherwise uses American spelling. {{crossref|pw=y|(See {{section link||Consistency within articles}}.)}} Numbers also usually [[Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Dates and numbers#Quotations, titles, etc.|should not be reformatted]].

Direct quotation should not be used to preserve the formatting preferred by an external publisher (especially when the material would otherwise be unchanged), as this tends to have the effect of [[Scare quotes|scare-quoting]]:
*{{em|Acceptable}}: {{xt|The animal is listed as endangered on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.}}
*{{em|Unacceptable}}: {{!xt|The animal is listed as "Endangered" on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.}}

Italics can be used to mark a particular usage as a [[term of art]] (a case of "[[Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Text formatting#Words as words|words as words]]"), especially when it is unfamiliar or should not be reworded by a non-expert:
*{{em|Permissible}}: {{xt|The animal is listed as ''critically endangered'' on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.}}

When quoting a complete sentence, it is usually recommended to keep the first word capitalized. However, if the quoted passage has been integrated into the surrounding sentence (for example, with an introduction such as "{{var|X}} said that"), the original capital letter may be lower-cased.
*{{xt|LaVesque's report stated: "The equipment was selected for its low price. This is the primary reason for criticism of the program."}}
*{{xt|LaVesque's report said that "the equipment was selected for its low price".}}
*{{xt|The program was criticized primarily because "the equipment was selected for its low price", according to LaVesque.}}

It is normally unnecessary to explicitly note changes in capitalization. However, for more precision, the altered letter may be put inside square brackets: {{nobr|"The" → "[t]he".}}
*{{xt|The program was criticized primarily because {{nobr|"[t]he}} equipment was selected for its low price", according to LaVesque.}}

===Attribution===
The reader must be able to determine the source of any quotation, at the very least via a footnote. The source must be named {{em|in article text}} if the quotation is an opinion {{crossref|pw=y|(see {{Section link|Wikipedia:Neutral point of view|Attributing and specifying biased statements}})}}. When attributing a quotation, avoid [[Wikipedia:Words to avoid#Synonyms for said|characterizing it in a biased manner]].

===Quotations within quotations===
See {{section link||For a quotation within a quotation}}.

===Linking===
{{Shortcut|MOS:LINKQUOTE|MOS:LWQ}}

Be conservative when linking within quotations; link only to targets that correspond to the meaning clearly intended by the quote's author. Where possible, link from text outside of the quotation instead – either before it or soon after. (If quoting [[hypertext]], add an editorial note, {{xt|[link in original]}} or {{xt|[link added]}}, as appropriate, to avoid ambiguity as to whether the link was made by the original author.)

===Block quotations<span class="anchor" id="Block quotations"></span><span class="anchor" id="Block quotes"></span>===
{{Shortcut|MOS:BQ|MOS:BLOCKQUOTE}}

Format a long quote (more than about forty words or a few hundred characters, or consisting of more than one paragraph, regardless of length) as a [[block quotation]], indented on both sides. Block quotations should be enclosed in {{tlx|blockquote}}.

Do not enclose block quotations in quotation marks (and especially avoid large, decorative quotation marks; those provided by the {{tlx|cquote}} template have been disabled in mainspace). Block quotations using a colored background are also discouraged.

Use {{tnull|blockquote}} and so on only for actual quotations; [[#Indentation|indentation for other purposes]] is done differently.

It is conventional to precede a block quotation with an introductory sentence (or sentence fragment) and append the source citation to that line. Alternatively, the {{tnull|blockquote}} template provides parameters for attribution and citation which will appear below the quotation. {{crossref|pw=y|(For use of dashes with attributions, see {{section link||Other uses for em dashes}}.)}} This below-quotation attribution style is intended for famous quotations and is unusual in articles because it may strike an inappropriate tone. A quotation with no cited source should be flagged with {{tlx|quote without source}}, or deleted.

Line breaks and indentation inside a {{tnull|blockquote}} or {{tag|blockquote|o}} are generally ignored; use {{xtag|poem}} or {{tlx|poem quote}} for poetry, lyrics, and similar material:

<syntaxhighlight lang="wikitext">
{{blockquote|<poem>
What this grim, ungainly, ghastly, gaunt, and ominous bird of yore
            Meant in croaking "Nevermore."
</poem>}}
</syntaxhighlight>
This gives:
{{xt|{{blockquote|<poem>
What this grim, ungainly, ghastly, gaunt, and ominous bird of yore
            Meant in croaking "Nevermore."
</poem>}}}}

Or quote such material inline, with line breaks indicated by <code><nowiki>{{nbsp}}/</nowiki></code>, and paragraph or stanza breaks by <code><nowiki>{{nbsp}}//</nowiki></code>.

{{Shortcut|MOS:PQ|MOS:PULLQUOTE}}
{{Anchor|Pull quotes|Pull quote|Pull quotations|nocquote|reason=The old name of Template:Pull_quote was Template:Cquote, and "nocquote" was historically used to refer to this MOS section, which now has its own shortcuts.}}
[[Pull quote]]s do not belong in Wikipedia articles. These are the [[Wikipedia:What Wikipedia is not#Wikipedia is not news|news and magazine style]] of "pulling" material already in the article to reuse it in attention-grabbing decorative quotations. This unencyclopedic approach is a form of [[Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Words to watch#Editorializing|editorializing]], produces [[Wikipedia:Writing better articles#Provide context for the reader|out-of-context]] and [[Wikipedia:Neutral point of view#Due and undue weight|undue emphasis]], and may [[Wikipedia:No original research|lead the reader to conclusions]] not supported in the material.

Note that although this section does not provide a maximum limit of quotation length, extensive quotation of copyrighted text is prohibited. See: [[WP:COPYQUOTE]].

===Non-English quotations<span class="anchor" id="Foreign-language quotations"></span>===
{{Shortcut|MOS:FOREIGNQUOTE|MOS:QUOTEFOREIGN}}

Quotations from non-English language sources should appear with a translation into English, preferably a modern{{efn|name=recent}} one. Quotations that are translations should be explicitly distinguished from those that are not. Indicate the original source of a translation (if it is available, and not first published within Wikipedia), and the original language (if that is not clear from the context).

If the original, untranslated text is available, provide a reference for it or include it, as appropriate.

When editors themselves translate text into English,{{efn|[[Wikipedia:No original research#Translations and transcriptions|The translation itself does not require sourcing when done by an editor]]; however for quotations used in [[WP:REF|references]], [[Wikipedia:Verifiability#Quoting|translations by reliable sources are preferred]], or [[Wikipedia:Verifiability#Citing|better yet English-language sources]].}} care must always be taken to include the original text, {{em|[[MOS:FOREIGNITALIC|in italics]]}} ([[MOS:BADITALICS|except for non-Latin-based writing systems]], and best done with the {{tlx|lang}} or {{tlx|langx}} templates which both italicize as appropriate and provide language metadata); and to use actual and (if at all possible) common English words in the translation. Unless you are certain of your competency to translate something, see [[Wikipedia:Translation]] for assistance.