If you are writing an academic paper that quotes from an author that uses the ellipsis in a way that differs from MLA style (such as the script of a modern play that uses “…” to indicate when a speaker is interrupted, or a graphic novel that might use “…” to indicate a meaningful silence in a speech bubble) my general advice is to remain true to the original source, while also not making it look like you are making a careless MLA style error.
This might mean avoiding the problem by paraphrasing a quote, or including a screenshot of a speech bubble. However, your professor probably wouldn’t want you to slow down your own argument to insert a digression about punctuation — unless, of course, your academic argument is actually about the punctuation.
Post was last modified on 26 Sep 2023 3:56 pm
I played hooky to go see Wild Robot this afternoon, so I went back to…
I first started teaching with this handout in 1999 and posted it on my blog…
In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. @thepublicpgh