Ah, the direct quote. This is where you copy someone’s exact words, usually because they said something brilliant or hilariously stupid. You still follow the same rule: author names + page number.
For example: As Smith and Jones brilliantly state, “Mistakes are proof that you are trying” (42). See? The period goes after the citation. Always. It’s like the period is the parent and the parentheses are the toddler—they come before the parent. No, wait, that’s backwards. Just remember: text, parentheses, period.
And if the quote is longer than four lines? That’s called a block quote. It gets its own indented party, and the citation goes after the final period. But let’s not go there today. That’s like advanced calculus of citations.
