There are some pitfalls to watch out for when using ellipses. Four is the maximum number of spaced periods in an ellipsis.A period follows the sentence that precedes an ellipsis at the beginning of the next line.An ellipsis should be considered a “unit” of punctuation therefore, the three (or four) periods must always be kept together.Do not use an ellipsis at the beginning or end of a quoted passage unless necessary for clarity.Use four periods for omitted text at the end of a sentence, with no space before the first period that indicates the end of the sentence (e.g., “End of previous sentence.Do not use brackets around your ellipsis.Use three periods with space before and after each (e.g., “.The following are the basic guidelines for using an ellipsis in the APA format. Here, we discuss the APA protocols for writers when using an ellipsis. The Modern Language Association ( MLA) suggests surrounding an ellipsis with brackets.

The American Psychological Association ( APA) and Chicago Manual of Style ( CMOS) have similar styles for formatting ellipses. There are rules for inserting ellipses into text depending on the style guide used. In most cases, an ellipsis is used within quotations, but it is also used in conversations to indicate a pause or unfinished thought, as in the following example: An ellipsis is a series of three periods (also called “ellipsis points” or “ellipsis dots”) that are used to replace missing or purposely omitted text.

Apa 40 word block quote