MLA Format


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MLA Format and Citation Guidelines The Modern Language Association (MLA) has specific rules for what is included in a bibliography or works cited entry. Follow these guidelines and formats for the type of source you are using. You must include everything that the format requires. You must check punctuation and capitalization. If your works cited is poorly prepared, you may face charges of plagiarism. Plagiarism, intentionally or unintentionally, is borrowing the ideas and/or words of another person and failing to give credit to that person. Plagiarism results in a referral on the first offense and loss of credit in the class on the second offense. Works Cited Preparation BASIC BOOK ENTRY --MLA prefers underlining to italics. Include this information in this order Last name, First. Title. Place of publication: Publishing company, date of publication. Steinbeck, John. The Pearl. New York: Vintage, 1954. Basic Periodical Entry --is how magazine and newspaper articles are cited: Last name, First. “Article.” Magazine/ Newspaper Title 11 December 2003: 21-25. Curtis, Sam. “ Saving the Salmon.” Field and Stream May 2001: 16. BASIC ELECTRONIC SOURCE —avoid homepages. Use sites with edu, gov, or org in the URL. If you doubt the validity of the source, check with your teachers. If the source is accessed through a database, that information is also included. You will have two dates: the date the material was posted and the date the material was accessed. You also need to decide if you are using a portion of the site or if you are using the entire site. The sponsor or manager of the site is given between the dates. The URL for the site goes inside the carets. Last name, First. “Article in the Site.” The Site's Title. Date posted. Sponsor. Date accessed <URL>. Davidson, Ian. “John Steinbeck.” American Authors. 23 Sept. 2002. Internet Public Library. February 2004 <URL >. The following are variations on the above basic formats for different sources. If what you are seeking is not here, check Writer's Inc., Write for College or MLA Handbook for further help. Article in a Reference Book Nutel, Hazel. “John Steinbeck.” Contemporary American Writers . Vol. 3. Ed. Eudora Welty. Chicago: Grove Weidefield, 1986. 603. EDITOR, TRANSLATOR, ETC. - place the first name and last name behind the title as in the entry above. Article in a Collection or Anthology Campbell, John. “Allegory in the The Pearl.” Hudson Review 12 Mar. 1968: 14-17. Rpt. Contemporary Literary Criticism. Vol. 34. Ed. Louis Reed. Detroit: Gale Research Co., 1976. 302. Article From a Database Johnson, Carol. “Environmentalists Win a Round.” Engineering News-Record 19 May 2003: 13. MasterFILE Premier . EBSCO. Meridian High School Library. 29 January 2004 <URL>. Article From a Loose-Leaf Collection O'Conner, Laura. “Busy Teens Feel the Beep.” Idaho Statesman 8 June 2002: B3. Rpt. Youth. Vol. 4. Ed. Bonita Smith. Boca Raton: SIRS, 2003. Art. 23. CD-ROM “The Chemistry of Air Pollution.” Macgill's Survey of Science. CD-ROM 1998 ed. Los Angles: Salem Corp., 1998. Government Document Online United States. U.S. Census Bureau. Poverty in the United States 1998. Sept. 1999. 12 Nov. 2000 <http://www.census.gov>. Government Publication United States. National Institute on Drug Abuse. Preventing Drug Use Among Children. Chicago: National Institute of Health. No Author, No URL “Environmentalists Win a Round.” Engineering News-Record 19 May 2003: 13. MasterFILE Premier. EBSCO. Meridian High School Library 29 January 2004. Pamphlet Teenage Drug Abuse. Phoenix: Freedom Coalition, 2002. Personal or Telephone Interview Jones, Maryellen. Personal interview. 13 March 2004. Jones, Maryellen. Telephone interview. 13 March 2004. Television Program “Saving the Salmon.” Frontline. Narr. Bill Cosby. Dir. D.W. Griffith. PBS. WGBH, Boston. 9 March 2004. Two or More Authors Eggins, Suzanne, and Diane Slade. John Steinbeck and Landscape. London: Penguin Ltd. 1970. Translation Kafka, Franz. The Trial . Trans. Max Brod. New York: Penguin, 1973. Internal Citation MLA documents or cites material with parenthetical (internal) citation. The following are guidelines to help you do this correctly. 1. Use the first word of the works cited entry and the page number: (Steinbeck 42). 2. If you are quoting a sentence that ends in a period, move the period to after the parentheses: (Steinbeck 42). 3. If the quotation ends with a question mark, exclamation point, or comma, include the punctuation, and add a period after the parentheses: “Into the valley of death rode the six hundred!” (Tennyson 54). 4. If the sources lists two authors: (Steinbeck and Tennyson 97). 5. If the source does not have an author, use the first words in the works cited entry. If this is a long title, use only a portion of it, and if it is the title, punctuate it as you would to show if it is the title of a book or article: (“Iraqi Troops Protest” 12). 6. If you name the author in the text of your sentence, you only need the page numbers in parentheses. 7. If your source does not have page numbers, the first time you cite it, use n.p. (the abbreviation for no page): (Dickens n.p.). 8. Some fine points and exceptions involve the length of a quotation or if the quotation is verse. If a quotation is more than four lines, it is set off ten spaces from the left-hand margin, quotation marks are omitted, and the period after the parentheses omitted. Poems and other sources that use line numbers are cited by line. A quotation from a Shakespeare play would be cited for act, scene, line in this manner: (1.5.22-32). Typing the Paper MLA format requires papers to be typed in a particular format. Follow these rules: 1. Header in upper right-hand corner with the student's last name and page number on all pages, including the works cited page. 2. Only on first page, beginning two lines down from header but on the left-hand side, type in this order and double spaced between lines: 1) student's full name, 2) teacher's name, 3) class, 4) date in this format—11 March 2005. 3. Only on first page, one double space down from date, but centered, the title in the same font, and type size as the rest of the paper 4. Everything, EVERYTHING, including all quotations and the works cited page, is double, spaced and typed in Times New Roman 12 pt. 5. Other than the top margin on page 1, all margins are one inch. Online Help Try these sites: citationmachine.net www.mla.org

MLA Format and Citation Guidelines

The Modern Language Association (MLA) has specific rules for what is included in a bibliography or works cited entry. Follow these guidelines and formats for the type of source you are using. You must include everything that the format requires. You must check punctuation and capitalization. If your works cited is poorly prepared, you may face charges of plagiarism. Plagiarism, intentionally or unintentionally, is borrowing the ideas and/or words of another person and failing to give credit to that person. Plagiarism results in a referral on the first offense and loss of credit in the class on the second offense.

Works Cited Preparation

BASIC BOOK ENTRY

--MLA prefers underlining to italics. Include this information in this order

Last name, First. Title. Place of publication: Publishing company, date of publication.

Steinbeck, John. The Pearl. New York: Vintage, 1954.

Basic Periodical Entry

--is how magazine and newspaper articles are cited:

Last name, First. “Article.” Magazine/ Newspaper Title 11 December 2003: 21-25.

Curtis, Sam. “ Saving the Salmon.” Field and Stream May 2001: 16.

BASIC ELECTRONIC SOURCE

—avoid homepages.

Use sites with edu, gov, or org in the URL. If you doubt the validity of the source, check with your teachers. If the source is accessed through a database, that information is also included. You will have two dates: the date the material was posted and the date the material was accessed. You also need to decide if you are using a portion of the site or if you are using the entire site. The sponsor or manager of the site is given between the dates. The URL for the site goes inside the carets.

Last name, First. “Article in the Site.” The Site's Title. Date posted. Sponsor. Date

accessed <URL>.

Davidson, Ian. “John Steinbeck.” American Authors. 23 Sept. 2002. Internet Public

Library. February 2004 <URL >.

The following are variations on the above basic formats for different sources. If what you are seeking is not here, check Writer's Inc., Write for College or MLA Handbook for further help.

Article in a Reference Book

Nutel, Hazel. “John Steinbeck.” Contemporary American Writers . Vol. 3.

Ed. Eudora Welty. Chicago: Grove Weidefield, 1986. 603.

EDITOR, TRANSLATOR, ETC. - place the first name and last name behind the title as in the entry above.

Article in a Collection or Anthology

Campbell, John. “Allegory in the The Pearl.” Hudson Review 12 Mar. 1968: 14-17.

Rpt. Contemporary Literary Criticism. Vol. 34. Ed. Louis Reed. Detroit:

Gale Research Co., 1976. 302.

Article From a Database

Johnson, Carol. “Environmentalists Win a Round.” Engineering News-Record 19 May

2003: 13. MasterFILE Premier . EBSCO. Meridian High School Library. 29

January 2004 <URL>.

Article From a Loose-Leaf Collection

O'Conner, Laura. “Busy Teens Feel the Beep.” Idaho Statesman 8 June 2002:

B3. Rpt. Youth. Vol. 4. Ed. Bonita Smith. Boca Raton: SIRS, 2003.

Art. 23.

CD-ROM

“The Chemistry of Air Pollution.” Macgill's Survey of Science. CD-ROM

1998 ed. Los Angles: Salem Corp., 1998.

Government Document Online

United States. U.S. Census Bureau. Poverty in the United States 1998. Sept.

1999. 12 Nov. 2000 <http://www.census.gov>.

Government Publication

United States. National Institute on Drug Abuse. Preventing Drug Use Among Children.

Chicago: National Institute of Health.

No Author, No URL “Environmentalists Win a Round.” Engineering News-Record 19 May 2003: 13.

MasterFILE Premier. EBSCO. Meridian High School Library 29 January 2004.

Pamphlet

Teenage Drug Abuse. Phoenix: Freedom Coalition, 2002.

Personal or Telephone Interview

Jones, Maryellen. Personal interview. 13 March 2004.

Jones, Maryellen. Telephone interview. 13 March 2004.

Television Program

“Saving the Salmon.” Frontline. Narr. Bill Cosby. Dir. D.W. Griffith.

PBS. WGBH, Boston. 9 March 2004.

Two or More Authors

Eggins, Suzanne, and Diane Slade. John Steinbeck and Landscape.

London: Penguin Ltd. 1970.

Translation

Kafka, Franz. The Trial . Trans. Max Brod. New York: Penguin, 1973.

Internal Citation

MLA documents or cites material with parenthetical (internal) citation. The following are guidelines to help
you do this correctly.

1. Use the first word of the works cited entry and the page number: (Steinbeck 42).
2. If you are quoting a sentence that ends in a period, move the period to after the parentheses: (Steinbeck
42).
3. If the quotation ends with a question mark, exclamation point, or comma, include the punctuation, and add a
period after the parentheses:
“Into the valley of death rode the six hundred!” (Tennyson 54).
4. If the sources lists two authors: (Steinbeck and Tennyson 97).
5. If the source does not have an author, use the first words in the works cited entry.
If this is a long title, use only a portion of it, and if it is the title, punctuate it as you would to show
if it is the title of a book or article: (“Iraqi Troops Protest” 12).
6. If you name the author in the text of your sentence, you only need the page numbers in parentheses.
7. If your source does not have page numbers, the first time you cite it, use n.p. (the abbreviation for no
page): (Dickens n.p.).
8. Some fine points and exceptions involve the length of a quotation or if the quotation is verse. If a
quotation is more than four lines, it is set off ten spaces from the left-hand margin, quotation marks are
omitted, and the period after the parentheses omitted. Poems and other sources that use line numbers are
cited by line. A quotation from a Shakespeare play would be cited for act, scene, line in this manner:
(1.5.22-32).

Typing the Paper

MLA format requires papers to be typed in a particular format. Follow these rules:

1. Header in upper right-hand corner with the student's last name and page number on all pages,
including the works cited page.

2. Only on first page, beginning two lines down from header but on the left-hand side, type in this
order and double spaced between lines: 1) student's full name, 2) teacher's name, 3) class, 4) date in this
format—11 March 2005.

3. Only on first page, one double space down from date, but centered, the title in the same font,
and type size as the rest of the paper

4. Everything, EVERYTHING, including all quotations and the works cited page, is double,
spaced and typed in Times New Roman 12 pt.

5. Other than the top margin on page 1, all margins are one inch.

Online Help

Try these sites:

citationmachine.net

www.mla.org