What are the uses of ellipses in essays?

Question

I’m wondering about how ellipses are used in essays. Are there any examples that I could see?

Answer 1

One use is when you are quoting an outside source but don't want include the whole passage. In this case, the ellipses show that some words were omitted. He's an example from Purdue OWL:

"If the original quote is too long and you feel not all the words are necessary in your own paper, you may omit part of the quote. Replace the missing words with an ellipsis.

Original Quote: The quarterback told the reporter, "It's quite simple. They played a better game, scored more points, and that's why we lost."

Omitted Material: The quarterback told the reporter, "It's quite simple. They . . . scored more points, and that's why we lost."

Make sure that the words you remove do not alter the basic meaning of the original quote in any way. Also ensure that the quote's integration and missing material still leave a grammatically correct sentence."

Answer 2

They are used to show that words were omitted. I used them in my answer to the algebra 2 question about the planet orbiting a distant star.

Answer 3

Ellipses are used in an essay when you need to omit a word, phrase, or sentence from a quote. They can help you highlight relevant information from a source without having to include an excessively long quotation. For example, let's say you only wanted to use the bold portion of this quotation in your paper:

"Ellipses are a great way to break up a quotation. I use them in all of my essays because they keep quotation lengths to a minimum and can improve the overall quality of your excerpt."

In an MLA style paper, the quote might look something like this:

According to Cassidy, "Ellipses are a great way to break up a quotation ... and can improve the overall quality of your excerpt."

While some people place brackets around their ellipses, it is not a required part of MLA formatting. However, adding brackets can sometimes help your reader identify a place where the quote has been shortened. To some extent, it comes down to personal preference as well as the preference of your professor. In the example sentence, the brackets would look like this:

According to Cassidy, "Ellipses are a great way to break up a quotation [...] and can improve the overall quality of your excerpt."

I would personally use brackets if I was removing a portion (or even multiple portions) from an especially long quote.