Download MLA Style Formatting

Mrs. MacMillan – Richmond Academy 2011-2012

M.L.A. (Modern Language Association) guidelines for formatting papers and using
the English language in writing.
 Provides writers with a system for referencing
their sources, through citation, in their essays and
Works Cited pages.

SOURCE – a place, person or thing from
which something originates or is obtained.

BIBLIOGRAPHY – list of books used in a research
paper, placed as the last page of your paper.

WORKS CITED – MLA formatted list of all
resources used in a research paper, placed as the
last page of your paper.

REFERENCE PAGE – APA formatted list of all
resources used in a research paper, placed as the
last page of your paper.

QUOTE/QUOTATION – to repeat, or copy
out, a passage or remark from another
source.

PARAPHRASE – to reword something; to
express meaning of in other words. Author
must be given a citation.

PARANTHETICAL CITATION (a.k.a. in-text
citation) – a reference to a source that is placed
in parentheses (brackets) at the end of a
sentence, but before the period.
Example:
 “In an early case, Baker vs. Nelson, the
Minnesota Supreme Court held that the state’s
marriage statue does not authorize marriage
licenses for people of the same sex and that this
did not violate constitutional principles” (Suffolk
University 89).
PART I

According to MLA style, you must have a
Works Cited page (bibliography) at the end of
your research paper.

All entries in the Works Cited page MUST
match the sources cited in your paper.

Entries are always ALPHABETICAL!

Begin your Works Cited page on a separate page
at the end of your research paper.

It should have a chronological page number the
same as the rest of your paper
 (i.e. if your paper is 5 pages long, then your Works
Cited should be page 6).

Label the page Works Cited and center the
words at the top of the page.
 Do not italicize, bold, or underline the words or put
them in quotation marks!

Double space all citations, but do not skip spaces
between entries.

Indent the second (and following) lines of citations so
that you create a hanging indent.
Example:
“The Impact of Global Warming in North America.”
GLOBAL WARMING: Early Signs. 1999.
Web. 23 Mar. 2009.
Basic Format
 The author’s name or a book with a single
author's name appears in last name, first
name format. The basic form for a book
citation is:

Lastname, Firstname. Title of Book. City of
Publication: Publisher, Year of Publication.
Medium of Publication.
Lastname, Firstname. Title of Book. City of
Publication: Publisher, Year of Publication.
Medium of Publication.
Book with One Author
Gleick, James. Chaos: Making a New Science.
New York: Penguin, 1987. Print.
Henley, Patricia. The Hummingbird House.
Denver: MacMurray, 1999. Print.
Book with More Than One Author
 The first given name appears in last namefirst name format; other author names
appear in first name-last name format.
Gillespie, Paula, and Neal Lerner. The Allyn and
Bacon Guide to Peer Tutoring. Boston: Allyn,
2000. Print.
Book with No Author
 List by title of the book.
 Use these entries alphabetically just as you
would with works that include an author
name.
Example:
Encyclopedia of Indiana. New York: Somerset,
1993. Print.

MLA no longer requires the use of URLs (link
or web address) in citations.
WHY?
 Because Web addresses change often and
because documents sometimes appear in
multiple places on the Web, teachers can find
electronic sources via title or author searches
in Internet Search Engines.

For teachers who still wish to require the use
of URLs, it should appear in angle brackets
after the date of access.
Example:
Aristotle. Poetics. Trans. S. H. Butcher. The
Internet Classics Archive. Web Atomic and
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 13
Sept. 2007. Web. 4 Nov. 2008.
‹http://classics.mit.edu/›.

You MUST list your date of access because web
postings are often updated, and information available
on one date may no longer be available later.

Remember to use n.p. if no publisher name is available
and n.d. if no publishing date is given.
BASIC FORMAT:
Author (if available). Name of Site. Version number.
Name of institution/organization of site (publisher),
date of resource creation (if available). Medium of
publication. Date of access.
Example with author:
 Felluga, Dino. Guide to Literary and Critical
Theory. Purdue U, 28 Nov. 2003. Web. 10 May
2006.
Example with no author:
 The Purdue OWL Family of Sites. The Writing
Lab and OWL at Purdue and Purdue U, 2008.
Web. 23 Apr. 2008.
A Page on a Web Site
 For an individual page on a Web site, list the
author (if known), followed by the
information used for entire Web sites.
Example (no author):
"How to Make Vegetarian Chili." eHow.
Demand Media, Inc., n.d. Web. 24 Feb. 2009.
PART II

In MLA style, referring to the works (your
sources) of others in your text is done by using
what is known as parenthetical citation.

This method involves placing relevant source
information in parentheses (brackets) after a
direct quote or a paraphrase (i.e. in your own
words).

The source information required in an in-text
citation depends
 (1.) upon the source medium (e.g. Print, Web,
DVD) and
 (2.) upon the source’s entry on the Works Cited
(bibliography) page.

Any source information that you provide intext MUST match the source information on
the Works Cited page.

MLA format follows the author-page
method of in-text citation.

This means that the author's last name and
the page number(s) that you got the
quotation or paraphrase from MUST appear
in the text, and a complete reference should
appear on your Works Cited page.

The author's name may appear either in the sentence
or in brackets following the quote or paraphrase, but
the page number(s) should always appear in the
brackets, not in your sentence.
Example #1:
Wordsworth stated that Romantic poetry was marked
by a "spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings" (263).

The author’s name is in the sentence; the page
number is in brackets at the end.
Example #2:
Romantic poetry is characterized by the
"spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings“
(Wordsworth 263).

The author’s name and page number are in
brackets at the end of the sentence.

These in-text citations tell the reader of your
paper that the information in the sentence can
be located on page 263 of a work by an author
named Wordsworth.

If the reader wants more information about this
source, they can turn to your Works Cited page,
where they would find it properly referenced:
Wordsworth, William. Lyrical Ballads. London:
Oxford U.P., 1967. Print.

When a source has no known author, use a
shortened title of the source instead of an
author name.

Place the title in “quotation marks” if it's a
short work (e.g. articles) or italicize it if it's a
longer work (e.g. plays, books, television
shows, entire websites) and provide a page
number.
Example:

We see so many global warming hotspots in
North America likely because this region has
“more readily accessible climatic data and
more comprehensive programs to monitor
and study environmental change . . . ”
(“Impact of Global Warming” 6).

The reader of your paper would then know to
find this source in your Works Cited, as an
entry that appears as follows:
“The Impact of Global Warming in North
America.” GLOBAL WARMING: Early Signs.
1999. Web. 23 Mar. 2009.

Common sense should determine your need
for documenting sources.

You do not need to give sources for familiar
proverbs (sayings), well-known quotations, or
common knowledge.
This power point was adapted from the following
source:
Russell, Tony, Allen Brizee, and Elizabeth
Angeli. "MLA Formatting and Style Guide."
The Purdue OWL. Purdue U Writing Lab, 2012.
Web. 24 Apr. 2012.