How To Use the MLA Format

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How To Use the MLA Format

• A Power Point Presentation
• by Mrs. Souza

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What is MLA?

• MLA Modern Language Association
• MLA format documentation format for research
  papers
• MLA is used in most colleges
• Method of keeping all papers uniform in style and
  format

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Basic Layout of MLA Paper

• Font Times New Roman
• Size 12pt
• Alignment Left (except for header)

Alignment side of the page with which the text
is lined-up
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Basic Layout of MLA Paper

• Title Page
• 1/3 page down title
• 2in down YOUR NAME, TEACHERS NAME, CLASS, DATE
  SUBMITTED (double spaced)

Date military style 02 September 2003
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Basic Layout of MLA Paper
(example) John Doe Mr. Smith English 9 B2 15
Sept. 03 Autobiography
Date military style 02 September 2003

• If no title page then place info in this order
• Name
• Teachers Name
• Class
• Date
• Assignment title (optional)

Upper left hand sidewhether typed or
handwritten
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Basic Layout of MLA Paper
Microsoft Word will automatically set left and
right margins at 1.25 inches see handout for
instructions on how to manually change the margins

• Margins 1 inch all around
• 1/2 inch for header
• Header includes Last Name-space-page

See handout for instructions on inserting
headers in Microsoft Word documents.
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Basic Layout of MLA Paper

• 1st page
• Repeat info from title page
• Name, Teacher, Class, Date
• Aligned on left
• Double-spaced

Date military style 02 September 2003
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Basic Layout of MLA Paper

• 1st page
• Repeat title and subtitle before body

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Formatting Main Body

• Double-spaced
• Quotes more than 2 lines
• Indent entire quote 1/2 inch
• Double-spaced
• Numbered consecutively

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IN-TEXT CITATIONS

• Parenthetical Reference

• Authors last name
• Or if no author (ex online source), one word of
  the title of the article
• Page number
• Or paragraph number if electronic source

Parenthetical in parenthesis (a)
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IN-TEXT CITATIONS

• Example single author book/article
• Radical constructivism takes the main tenant of
  constructivist theories further to assert that
  all knowledge is individually constructed within
  cultural and social contexts (Woolfolk 333).

Rememberthe punctuation goes after the
reference!!
In parenthesis put author and page number from
resource
Always put the quote in quotation marks!
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IN-TEXT CITATIONS

• Example multiple author (3)
• Vygotskys social constructivism relies on real
  world, connected experiences to draw out student
  learning which is a social and collaborative
  activity (AL-Bataineh et al. 4).

inserted text goes in brackets
In parenthesis put author and et al. and page
number from resource
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IN-TEXT CITATIONS

• What if I have 2 or more sources by the same
  author?
• Shorten the title of each work to one or two key
  words
• Include shortened title in parenthetical reference

Example Penn emphasized his religious motivation
(Kelley, William Penn 116).
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IN-TEXT CITATIONS

• If you state the author in your sentence, DO NOT
  include the authors name in your reference
• If you state the title of the authors work in
  your sentence, DO NOT include the title in your
  reference

Example Penns political motivation is discussed
by Joseph P. Kelly in Pennsylvania, The Colonial
Years, 16811776 (44).
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IN-TEXT CITATIONS

• Remember
• Punctuation marks always follow the parenthetical
  reference
• EXCEPT when using block quotes (then the
  parenthetical reference comes AFTER the final
  punctuation)

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IN-TEXT CITATIONS
As reported by Blum in Athletic Statistics,
however, these statistics do not necessarily
indicate improvement The decline in the number
of academically under-qualified athletes
going to Division I and II colleges may mean
that more athletes are meeting the standard,
as supporters of the standard contend. (39)
Author and title are mentioned before quote, so
only the page is needed in the reference
Reference is after punctuation
Introduce the quote with a colon
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WORKS CITED

• Numbered consecutively
• Double-spaced
• Center title Works Cited
• Indent all lines (EXCEPT the 1st line) of each
  resource by 1/2 inch

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WORKS CITED
Entire title of book is underlined

• Book by one author
• Bettelheim, Bruno. The Uses of
• Enchantment The Meaning and
• Importance of Fairy Tales. New
• York Knopf, 1976.

Publisher (short for Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.)
Place (city) of publication
Date of publication (year)
If two or three authors Davidson, James and Mark
Hamilton.
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WORKS CITED

• Book by more than three authors
• List only the first author followed by et al.
• Bull, H., et al. The Near East. New York
  Oxford UP, 1990.

et al and others
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WORKS CITED

• Two or more books by the same author
• Thomas, Lewis. The Lives of a Cell Notes of a
  Biology Watcher. New York Viking, 1974.
• ---. The Medusa and the Snail More
• Notes of a Biology Watcher. New
• York Viking, 1979.

Use three un-spaced hyphens followed by a period,
then continue with the rest of the reference
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WORKS CITED
entire web address between lt and gt followed by
period

• Website with author
• Swofford, Jennifer. The Complete Guide to Keeping
  Green Iguanas in Captivity. 28 July 1995. 5 March
  1996 lthttp//gto.ncsa.uiuc. edu/pingleto/herps/igu
  anacare. htmlgt.

Date website was last updated
Date you accessed the website
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WORKS CITED

• Website with unknown or anonymous author
• The Complete Guide to Keeping Green Iguanas in
  Captivity. 28 July 1995. 5 March 1996
  lthttp//gto.ncsa. uiuc.edu/pingleto/herps/iguanaca
  re. htmlgt.

List by title of document or article
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WORKS CITED
Specific rules for the following

• Edited book
• Anthology
• Multivolume
• Translation
• Reprint
• Encyclopedias

• Journals
• Newspapers
• Interview
• Film
• Online newsletters and other websites

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ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

• Websites
• http//www.plagiarism.org
• http//www.bedfordstmartins.com/online/cite5.html
  
• http//campusgw.library.cornell.edu/newhelp/res_st
  rategy/citing/mla.html
• http//www.wisc.edu/writing/Handbook/DocMLA.html
• http//www.mla.org/homepage

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THE END
A Power Point presentation by Mrs. Souza for
CCCS Murrieta 02 September 2003