MLAFormatting and Style
Guide
Your Instructor Knows Best
#1 Rule for any formatting style:
AlwaysFollow your instructor’s
guidelines
1. Plagiarism is…
the practice of taking someone else's work or ideas and passing them off as one's own.
How do you avoid it?
… by citing (giving credit to) your sources
2. MLA stands for…
Modern
Language
Association
3. Another word for Works Cited is…
Bibliography
4. What is the purpose of a Works Cited page?
…. to give credit to other people for theirideas.
If you don’t show the reader from where you got your evidence, you’re stealing someone else’s ideas.
Works Cited Page: The BasicsSample Works Cited page:
5. Begin your Works Cited page on a new page at the
end of your paper. It should have the same one-inch
margins as the rest of your paper.
6. Write the words Works Cited at the top of a new
page. DO NOT bold the words or put them in italics!
7. Double-space all lines of the page evenly. DO NOT
skip spaces between entries.
8. For every entry, you must determine the Medium of Publication. Most entries will be Print or Web, but other possibilities include E-mail or DVD.
Works Cited Page: Books9. The formula for citing a book is:
Last name, First name. Title of Book. Place of Publication:
Publisher, Year. Medium of Publication.
Example:
Gleick, James. Chaos: Making a New Science. New York:
Penguin, 1987. Print.
Turn to the top of page 2. Put a star beside
“Book With More Than One Author”
10. Write the citation for your AR book…
11. If your citation reaches a second line, indent the second line
and any lines after that.
12. A periodical is…
a magazine or newspaper published at regular intervals.
13. Underline (or use italics) for titles of long works like books
and magazines. Use quotation marks for titles of short works like
poems and articles.
14. Works Cited Page: Periodicals
Last name, First name. "Title of Article." Title of Periodical
Volume.Issue (Year): pages. Medium of publication.
Example:
Duvall, John N. "The (Super)Marketplace of Images: Television
as Unmediated Mediation in DeLillo's White Noise." Arizona
Quarterly 50.3 (1994): 127- 53. Print.
15. Write the citation for any article from a periodical…
Organizing the Works Cited entries
16. Organize your entries alphabetically according to the first letter of each author’s last name.
17. The handouts Ms. Amado gave you in environmental science are articles from online
databases. The formula for citing an article from an online database is:
Last name, First name. “Title of Article.” Name of Publication or Source Volume.Issue (Year): pages (if no pages, write
n.p.). Title of database. Medium of Publication. Date of
access (the date you found it online).
18. Write the citation for “Point: Population Growth is Not a Significant Problem” here:
Proper citation for source #1Lee, M and Geraldine Wagner. “Point: Population Growth is not a
Significant Problem.” Points of View: Population Growth
(2011): n. p. Web. 10 Jan. 2012.
To Do
On a piece of paper, write your Works Cited page for your persuasive essay.
Start with Works Cited at the top!
Remember, you MUST have at least 3 sources!!!
You need:1. Your essay (so you can find your quotes)2. All your environmental science sources3. A piece of paper
Quick-Check:DO NOT WRITE THE QUESTION
1. What is a periodical?
2. How do you know this is the citation for a periodical? Duvall, John N. "The (Super)Marketplace of Image." Arizona
Quarterly 50.3 (1994): 127- 53. Print.
