A Practical Guide to MLA Style

Barnett 1

Leecy Barnett

Dr. Smith

Dialog of Self and Society

10 October 2008

A Practical Guide to MLA Style

When the MLA style was first conceived more than a half

No Need for a Title page unless your instructor

requests one

Begin your paper immediately

The First Page

Title---Center & Capitalize Important Words

Top Left Corner: Your Name, Instructor’s

Name, Course, Date

Header with last name and page in upper right

corner

10 October 2008

A Practical Guide to MLA Style

When the MLA style was first conceived more than a half century ago,

the main purpose was to develop standards for the publication of manuscripts in

the field of English and other modern, as opposed to ancient, languages (Modern

Language Assoc. xvi). ―Although designed for those who intend to publish,‖

Houghton and Houghton point out that, ―numerous colleges and universities

adhere to these stringent guidelines‖ ( xii). Learning to do MLA style well shows

you are concerned about doing thorough research and giving proper credit to those

Indent ¶s

Always double space

The Body

In Text Citations--Ideas Whenever you get an idea from a source, cite it using the author’s name and page

number in parentheses at the end of the sentence or paragraph describing their

idea. The period goes after the final parenthesis.

Example:

When the MLA style was first conceived more than a half century ago, the main

purpose was to develop standards for the publication of manuscripts in the field of

English and other modern, as opposed to ancient, languages (Modern Language

Assoc. xvi).

Modern Language

Association is a corporate

author….for corporate

authors abbreviate words

with standard abrievations.

In Text Citations—Author in text If you refer to the author(s) in the text of your paper, cite the source simply with

page number (s) in parentheses next to the author’s name.

Example:

According to Fox, the internet has played a significant role in the

increase of plagiarism in academia today (27).

In Text Citations— Short Direct Quote

When you directly quote a source you need to add quotation marks around the

words or sentence you copy. You put the parenthetical citation and final period

after the closing quotation mark.

Example:

―Although designed for those who intend to publish point out that

numerous colleges and universities adhere to these stringent guidelines‖

(Houghton and Houghton xii).

In Text Citations—Long Direct Quote

When your direct quotation is longer than 4 typed lines of prose or 3 lines of

poetry, put it in an indented paragraph without quotation marks.

Example:

The Owl at Purdue clearly explains MLA long quotations:

Place quotations longer than four typed lines in a free-standing block of text,

and omit quotation marks. Start the quotation on a new line, with the entire

quote indented one inch from the left margin; maintain double-spacing. Only

indent the first line of the quotation by a half inch if you are citing multiple

paragraphs. Your parenthetical citation should come after the closing

punctuation mark. (Kunka et al. par. 8)

When quoting from a webpage, determine the paragraph # quoted and

use that instead of a page #

The Works Cited Page Barnett 10

Works Cited

Gibaldi, Joseph . MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. New York: Modern

Language Association, 2003. Print.

Kunka , Jennifer Liethen et al. ―MLA Formatting and Style Guide--- Formatting

Quotations.‖ The Owl at Purdue. Purdue University, 30 Sept. 2008. Web. 13

Oct. 2008.

Lipson Charles. Doing Honest Work in College: How to Prepare Citation, Avoid

Plagiarism and Achieve Real Academic Success. Chicago: University of Chicago

Press, 2004. Print.

Center

•Alphabetical by Author’s Last Name •Hanging Indent •Double Space

Tip: Do the

Reference Page 1st

Author---Last name, First name. Authors can also be a company or

organization

Title—Italiacs.

Publication information---City and state (if mentioned—use postal

abbreviation) , publisher and year of publication.

Medium of Publication—Print.

Example:

Lipson Charles. Doing Honest Work in College: How to Prepare

Citation, Avoid Plagiarism and Achieve Real Academic Success.

Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004. Print.

Books

Author --same as book

Article Title— in quotation marks

Journal Title—italics Volume– number only Issue---number only

Date– in parentheses, followed by colon

Page Numbers

Medium of Publication--Print.

Example:

Raymond, Richard C. "When Writing Professors Teach Literature: Shaping Questions,

Finding Answers, Effecting Change. " College Composition and

Communication 59.3 (2008): 473-502. Print.

Journal Articles---Print

Author --same as book

Article Title— in quotation marks

Journal Title—italics

Volume– number only Issue---number only

Date– in parentheses, followed by colon

Page Numbers

Example:

Wang, Yu-Wei. "University Student Online Plagiarism. " International Journal on ELearning 7.4 (2008): 743-757. ProQuest. Web. 18 Aug. 2009.

Journal Articles---Database

If you get your journal from a database add: •Name of database—in italics •Medium of publication---Web. •Date you got it (d/m/yr)

Author --- same as book if available. More than 3 authors, use first

author given and et. al.

( et. al. means and others)

No Author---use title of page

Title of page —in quotation marks

Name of Website---in italics

Example:

Kunka , Jennifer Liethen et al. ―MLA Formatting and Style Guide---

Formatting Quotations.‖ The Owl at Purdue. Purdue University, 30

Sept. 2008. Web. 13 Oct. 2008.

Webpage

Add: •Name of Producing Organization •Date produced or updated (d/m/yr) • Medium of publication---Web. •Date Retrieved (d/m/yr)

Using Microsoft Word 2010

Warning:

The Reference Tab does not have the latest version of MLA!