Explanation I use in comments on student papers:
For quotations of prose longer than a sentence or two, use the inset quotation form (indented, no quote marks). The following is an inset quote:
The Archiving/Exhibition Sub-committee will survey the field to catalog lost and at-risk work and assess the magnitude of the challenge, and it will work with the Technology/Software Design group to analyze software routines in use now and likely to be in use to help that sub-committee explore software solutions. (citation here)
Quotations of poetry longer than about three lines of verse should also be inset. In the case of poetry, the inset quote should respect the original line breaks (without either quote marks or slash marks at the ends of lines). For example the following is a quotation in the inset form form:
so much depends
upon
a red wheel
barrowglazed with rain
waterbeside the white
chickens.
upon
a red wheel
barrowglazed with rain
waterbeside the white
chickens.
