Question

which in-text citation is formatted correctly in mla style?
○ homer writes that the men’s oars “sent the white foam scuddling by” (30)
○ homer writes “that the men’s oars sent the white foam scuddling by” (30)
○ homer writes “that the men’s oars sent the white foam scuddling by,” (30)
○ homer writes that the men’s oars “sent the white foam scuddling by” (30)

Explanation:

In MLA in - text citation, when integrating a quote, the punctuation (like the comma or period) should be placed correctly. Also, the wording of the sentence and the quote integration matter. Let's analyze each option:

• Option 1: There is a typo “oats” instead of “oars”, so it's incorrect.
• Option 2: The structure “Homer writes 'that the men's oars sent the white foam scuddling by' (30)” is incorrect as the quote should be integrated more naturally with “that” outside the quote marks when the quote is part of the reported speech.
• Option 3: The comma inside the quote is incorrect as per MLA style for this kind of integration, and also the typo (if we consider the previous option's error) and the quote structure.
• Option 4: “Homer writes that the men's oars "sent the white foam scuddling by" (30)” has the correct integration of the quote (using “that” to introduce the reported speech, correct spelling of “oars”, and proper punctuation placement with the quote marks and the citation at the end).

Answer:

D. Homer writes that the men's oars "sent the white foam scuddling by" (30) (assuming the options are labeled A - D in the order given, with the last option being D)