If a source you are quoting from includes names, words, or even entire passages that have been redacted—for legal reasons or to avoid offensive language, for instance—reproduce the redacted portions of the quotation using one of the following methods:
Include the word redacted in square brackets in place of the name, word, or passage that has been redacted. For instance:
In chapter 1 of Fair Game, Valerie Plame Wilson recounts, “After nearly ten weeks of physical conditioning [redacted], we felt we could eat nails for breakfast” (16).
Work Cited
Wilson, Valerie Plame. Fair Game: How a Top CIA Agent Was Betrayed by Her Own Government. Simon and Schuster, 2008.
Alternatively, you may use two em dashes (——) in place of the redacted portions of the quotation, as in the following example:
In chapter 1 of Fair Game, Valerie Plame Wilson recounts, “After nearly ten weeks of physical conditioning ——, we felt we could eat nails for breakfast” (16).
Work Cited
Wilson, Valerie Plame. Fair Game: How a Top CIA Agent Was Betrayed by Her Own Government. Simon and Schuster, 2008.
If you opt to use two em dashes in place of redacted material, explain this method prior to first use, either in the prose of your essay or in a note (e.g., “Dashes have been added by the author to indicate material that has been redacted in the source”).