MLA Format

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MLA Format

• Portland State Writing Center
• 2002

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Important!

• This handout is intended to help students
  understand more about citing sources in the MLA
  style. It is not intended to substitute for
  firsthand acquaintance with the MLA Handbook for
  Writers of Research Papers, 4th ed.

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Table of Contents

• Section One MLA Manuscript Guidelines
• Section Two How, When, Why to Quote
• Section Three Citation
• In-text Parenthetical Citation
• Reference Page Criteria
• Section Four MLA Links

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MLA Manuscript Guidelines

• Type or print on one side only of white, unruled
  paper
• Double-space the entire paper--text, notes, works
  cited and block quotations. Left justify text
  only no right flush text.

• Leave a minimum one inch margin on all sides of
  each page.
• Number all pages consecutively in the upper
  right-hand corner, one half inch from the top.

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MLA Manuscript Guidelines

• Type your last name before the page number. Your
  name and page number together are referred to as
  the running head.
• A separate title page is not required.

• Beginning one inch from the top and flush with
  the left margin, type name,instructor's name,
  course number, and date.
• Center the title. Double-space between the lines
  of the title and the first line of the text.

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MLA Manuscript Guidelines

• Indent the beginning of each paragraph 5 spaces.
• Your final paper should appear similar to the
  front page shown at left.

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MLA Manuscript Guidelines

• Remember to document all quotations and
  paraphrased information.
• When using a long quotation, indent ten spaces
  and omit quotation marks.

• Clarissa absolves her parents and creates
  alternate enemies
• I beg your excuse for not
• writing sooner. Alas my
• dear, I have sad prospects
• before me! My brother and
• sister have succeeded in
• all their views. They have
• found out another love for
• me a hideous one . . . .
• (Richardson 58)

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MLA Manuscript Guidelines

• Two kinds of notes can be used with parenthetical
  documentation
• Content reader comment, explanation.
• Bibliographic publication information.

• Graphs, charts, figures, and tables should be
  placed near the paragraph to which they relate.
• Some instructors may prefer to have illustrations
  in an appendix.

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MLA Manuscript Guidelines

• The Works Cited list is alphabetized according to
  the authors last name--or title if no author is
  given--and includes information about publication.

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How, When, Why of Quotes

• Your own words should clearly dominate. You are
  in control, not your sources. If you rely
  heavily on other peoples words, then you are not
  writing the paper they are.

• Use a variety of sources. If you rely too much on
  one source, your reader may as well go directly
  to that source instead of reading your paper.

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How, When, Why of Quotes

• Choose your quotations carefully and for specific
  reasons.
• Later reference.
• Memorable language.
• Authority
• Accuracy
• Brevity

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How, When, Why of Quotes

• Cite a source and page number for each quotation
  and paraphrase.
• Unless the information is common knowledge, you
  must cite a source.

• Avoid plagiarism by paraphrasing carefully.
• Paraphrasing is more than substituting noun or
  verb synonyms it involves changes in sentence
  structure. Paraphrasing is complex and requires
  practice everyone finds it difficult at first.

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How, When, Why of Quotes

• Always use your own words between quotations.
• Never use quotations back to back without your
  own words.

• Make sure that your reader knows where your
  words end and another persons ideas or words
  begin.

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How, When, Why of Quotes

• According to Annie Dillard in An American
  Childhood, adolescence made her realize how
  adults had died to themselves through
  self-consciousness and caused her to question
  whether she too would lose forever the passion
  peculiar to children (225).
• Dillards adolescent turmoil caused her to
  question whether she must lose the passion
  peculiar to children as she matured (225).
• One writer focuses on the passion peculiar to
  children in her exploration of adolescence
  (Dillard 225).
• Notice that the authors name appears in the text
  when the author is central to your paper. When
  the author is not central to your paper (e.g.,
  the author is one of many writing on the
  subject), the authors name appears in
  parentheses.

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How, When, Why of Quotes

• Avoid wordiness in introducing quotations.
• Select right verb and tense. Dont overuse
  says or states. Here are some alternatives
• adds, admits, agrees, alleges, argues, asserts,
  claims, compares, concludes, contends, contrasts,
  declares, deduces, defines, demonstrates,
  disagrees, establishes, explains, finds, grants,
  holds, implies, includes, infers, juxtaposes,
  maintains, mentions, notes, observes, points out,
  posits, proposes, provides, reports, reveals,
  shows, speculates, stresses, suggests, supposes,
  thinks, views, volunteers.

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How, When, Why of Quotes

• Put prose quotations in running text when they
  are four lines or fewer.
• When they are more than four lines, indent and
  block them one inch from the left margin.
• Block quotations should be double-spaced but not
  enclosed in quotation marks.

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How, When, Why of Quotes

• Put poetry quotations in running text when they
  are three lines or fewer. Use a slash mark with
  one space on each side of the slash to indicate
  line breaks.

• When poetry lines are more than three lines,
  indent and block them ten spaces from the left
  margin. Block quotations should reproduce the
  format of the original poem and should not be
  enclosed in quotation marks.

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How, When, Why of Quotes

• At times, change position of your quotations to
  provide variety in your sentences.
• At the beginning
• What is known can seldom be immediately told,
  and when it might be told it is no longer known,
  says Johnson on the subject of biography (116).
• At the end
• In the Life of Addison, Johnson further
  acknowledges the biographers difficulties
  What is known can seldom be immediately told,
  and when it might be told it is no longer known
  (116).

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How, When, Why of Quotes

• In the middle
• About biography, Johnson says that what is known
  can seldom be immediately told, and when it might
  be told it is no longer known (116), thus
  expressing both his discretion and his desire for
  intimate knowledge which led to interviews with
  the servants of his subjects.
• Split up
• What is known, says Johnson about biography,
  can seldom be immediately told, and when it
  might be told it is no longer known (116).

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How, When, Why of Quotes

• After youve finished your first complete draft,
  scan the entire paper to make sure that youre
  not quoting too much. If necessary, revise the
  paper to quote less and paraphrase more.
• If you notice long chunks of indented quotations,
  then you need to revise.
• If within the text your voice seems to have been
  drowned by the voices of your sources, consider
  working harder to paraphrase your sources.
  Remember its your paper.

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In-text Citation

• Sentence including quotation, wherein author is
  introduced
• In Clarissa, Richardson writes, I beg your
  excuse for not writing sooner (58).
• Quotation without introduction, including
  authors name.
• Clarissas regret is clearly stated I beg your
  excuse for not writing sooner (Riichardson 58).

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In-text Citation

• Paraphrase citation
• In the early eighteenth century, our present day
  concept of the integrity of the individual began
  to exert a prominence in cultural consciousness
  just as capitalism replaced agrarianism resulting
  in our modern day economy (Hof 78).
• Long quotation
• Richardsons heroine absolves her parents and
  creates alternate enemies
• I beg your excuse for not writing
  sooner. Alas, my dear, I
• have sad prospects before me! My
  brother and sister
• have succeeded in all their views.
  They have found out
• another lover for me a hideous
  one!--yet he is
• encouraged by everybody . . . .
  (146-147)

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In-text Citation

• Short poetry quotation
• God, however, is not diverted from Adams own
  guilt within the affair and charges, Was she
  thy God, that thou didst obey/ Before his Gods
  voice . . . . (146-147).
• Long poetry quotation
• Despite knowing he should protect his wife, he
  damns her and her maker
• This woman whom thou madst to be
  my help,
• And gavist me as they perfet gift,
  so good,
• So fit, so acceptable, so Divine,
• That from her hand I could suspect
  no ill . . .
• She gave me the of the Tree, and I
  did eate. (137-141)

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Reference Citation Books

• Book
• Authors name. Title. Location of Publication
  Publisher, date.
• Book with two authors
• Jacobs, Allan and Diana Peach. Title. Location
  of Publication Publisher, date.
• Book with an editor
• Authors Name. Title. Ed. Name. Location of
  Publication Publisher, date.
• Or
• Lazy, Larry, ed. A Whole Bunch of Stuff. New
  York Woowoo Press, 2001.

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Reference Citation Articles

• Article in a scholarly journal, issue paginated
• Authors name. Title of Article. Title of
  Journal 13.3-4 (date) page number(s).
• Article in a Scholarly Journal, volume paginated
• Authors name. Title of Article. Title of
  Journal 49 (date)
• page s.
• If a book or article has no author, alphabetize
  by the title.

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Reference Citation Articles

• Article in a Newspaper
• Lala, May. Title of Article. Title of Newspaper
  6 Apr. 2002, late ed A1.
• Film or Video Recording
• Its a Wonderful Life. Dir. Frank Capra. Perf.
  James Stewart, Donna Reed, Lionel Barrymmore, and
  Thomas Mitchell. RKO, 1946.
• Sound Recording
• Bartolli, Cecilia. Chant damour. London, 1996.

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MLA Links

• MLA Website
• Portland State Writing Center
• Purdue Writing Center/MLA Page