MLA Style

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General MLA guidelines
First page format
Documentation : preparing the list of works
Documentation : citing sources in the text
abbreviations

MLA ( Modern Language Association) style formatting is
often used in various humanities disciplines .

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MLA Regulates :
Document format
In-text citations
Works cited ( a list of all sources
used in the paper )

Write on white 8.5*11 paper
Double space everything
Use 12 pt. Times New Roman font
Leave only one space after punctuation
Set all margins to 1 inch on all sides
Indent the first line paragraph half inch

Header with page numbers in the upper right
corner
Use italics for titles
Endnotes go on a separate page before the
work cited page

Formatting the First Page
1-No title page
2-Double space every thing
3-In the upper left corner of the first page, we list our
name, our instructor name, the course and date
4-Double space again and center the title. Do not
underline, italicize, or place your title in quotation
marks; write the title in Title Case (standard
capitalization), not in all capital letters.

5-Double space between the title and the first line of
the text.
6-Create a header in the upper right-hand corner that
includes your last name, followed by a space with a
page number; number all pages .
7-Use quotation marks and/or italics when
referring to other works in your title, just as you
would in your text: Fear and Loathing in Las
Vegas as Morality Play; Human Weariness in
"After Apple Picking"

Whenever you use somebody else’s ideas in
your research paper you must cite your sources
by:
1.Listing the complete source citation in your
works cited list.
2.Acknowledging the source in the text of your
paper ( in-text documentation).

You must cite your sources when…
1- Quoting any words that are not your own
(repeat “using quotation marks”).
2- Summarizing facts and ideas from a source
(using your own words).
3- Paraphrasing to put somebody’s ideas into
your own words.

What are the differences among quoting, paraphrasing, and
summarizing?
Quotations must be identical to the original, using a narrow segment of
the source. They must match the source document word for word and
must be attributed to the original author.
Paraphrasing involves putting a passage from source material into your
own words. A paraphrase must also be attributed to the original source.
Paraphrased material is usually shorter than the original passage, taking
a somewhat broader segment of the source and condensing it slightly.
Summarizing involves putting the main idea(s) into your own words,
including only the main point(s). Once again, it is necessary to attribute
summarized ideas to the original source. Summaries are significantly
shorter than the original and take a broad overview of the source
material.

Citing sources : MLA style
Example: when citing a book
Books
Basic Format:
Author’s last name, first name. Title. Publisher
city: Publisher, year.

Two or More Works by the Same Author
To cite two or more works by the same author, give the name in
the first entry only. Thereafter, in place of the name, type three
hyphens, followed by a period and the title. The three hyphens
stand for exactly the same name as in the preceding entry.
Borroff, Marie. Language and the Poet: Verbal Artistry in
Frost, Stevens, and Moore. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1979. Print.
---, trans. Pearl. New York: Norton, 1977. Print.
---. “Sound Symbolism as Drama in the Poetry of Robert Frost.”
PMLA
107.1 (1992): 131-44. JSTOR. Web. 13 May 2008.

Citing Periodical Print Publications:
An Article in a Scholarly Journal
General Format :
Author last name, First name. “Title of the article.” journal
title volume. Issue (Year): page range. Medium.
For example:
Piper, Andrew. “Rethinking the Print Object: Goethe and
the Book of Everything.” PMLA 121.1 (2006): 124-38. Print.

An Article in a Scholarly Journal That Uses Only
Issue Numbers
Some scholarly journals do not use volume numbers
at all, numbering issues only. Cite the issue numbers
of such journals alone.
For example:
Kafka, Ben. “The Demon of Writing: Paperwork,
Public Safety, and the Reign of Terror.”
Representation 98 (2007): 1-24. Print.

An Article in a Scholarly Journal With More Than
One Series
Some scholarly journals have been published in more than one
series in citing a journal with numbered series, write the number
(an Arabic digit with the a appropriate ordinal suffix: 2nd, 3rd, 4th,
etc.) and the abbreviation ser. between the journal title and the
volume number.
Striner, Richard. “Political Newtonism: The Cosmic Model of
Politics in Europe and America.” William and Mary Quarterly 3rd
ser. 52.4 (1995): 583-608. Print.

An Article in a Newspaper
General Format
Author last name, First name. “Article Title: Subtitle.”
Newspaper Title Publication Date [Day Month Year]:
page range. Medium.
Example :
Jeromack, Paul. “This Once, a David of the Art World
Does Goliath a Favor.” New York Times 13 July 2002,
late ed.: B7+. Print.

An Article in a Magazine
To cite a magazine published every week or every
two weeks, give the complete date (beginning with the
day and abbreviating the month, except for May, June,
July)
For example
McEvoy, Dermot. “Little Books, Big Success.”
Publishers Weekly 30 Oct. 2006: 26-28. Print.

A review
To cite a review, give the reviewer’s name and
the title of the review(if there is one); then
write Rev. of (neither italicized nor enclosed in
quotation marks), the title of the work
reviewed, a comma, the word by, and the name
of the author.

Review Author. “Title of Review (if there is one) .” Rev.
of performance Title, by Author/Director/Artist. Title of
Periodical
day month year: page. Medium of publication.
For example:
Weiller, K. H. Rev. of Sport, Rhetoric, and Gender:
Historical Perspectives and Media Representations, ed.
Linda K. Fuller. Choice
Apr. 2007: 1377. Print.

An Anonymous Article
If no author’s name is given for the article you are citing, begin
the entry with the title. Ignore any initial A, An, or The when you
alphabetize the entry. Do not include the name of a wire service
or news bureau.
For example:
“It Barks! It Kicks! It Scores!” Newsweek 30 July 2001 : 12.
Print.

A Special Issue
To cite an entire special issue of a journal, begin the entry with the name
of the person or persons who edited the issue, followed by a comma and
the abbreviation ed. Or eds. Next give the title of the special issue
(italicized) and a period, followed by spec. issue of and the name of the
journal (the name is italicized), conclude the entry with the journal’s
volume and issue numbers(separated by a period:”9.1”, the year of
publication( in parentheses), a colon, a space, the complete pagination of
the issue, a period, the medium of publication consulted, and a period.
Appiah, Kwame Anthony, and Henry Louis Gates, Jr., eds. Identities.
Spec. issue of Critical Inquiry 18.4 (1992): 625-884 . Print.

CITING NNOONNPPEERRIIOODDIICCAALL PPRRIINNTT
PPUUBBLLIICCAATTIIOONN
Entries for non periodical print publications, such as books
and pamphlets, consist of several elements in a prescribed
sequence. This list shows most of the possible components
of a book entry and the order in which they are normally
arranged:
1.Name of the author, editor, compiler, or translator,
2.Title of the work (italicized)
3.Edition used
4.Number(s) of the volume(s) used
5.City of publication, name of the publisher, and year of
publication
6.Medium of publication consulted (print)
7.Supplementary bibliographic information and annotation

Book with one author
Author’s name. Title of the book. Publication
information.
Franke, Damon. Modernist Heresies: British
Literary History, 1883-1924. Columbus: Ohio
State UP, 2008. Print.

Book with two or more authors
To cite a book by two or more authors , give their names in the same
order as on the title page and reverse only the name of the first author
, add comma, and give the other names in normal form place a period
after the last name .
For example :
Booth, Wayne C., Gregory G Colomb, and Joseph M. Williams. The Craft of
Research. 2nd ed. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 2003. Print.
If there are more than three authors, name only the first
and add et al.

A Book by a Corporate Author
A corporate author may be a commission, an association, a
committee, or any other group whose individual members
are not identified on the title page. Omit any initial article(A,
An, the) in the name of the corporate author, and do not
abbreviate its name. Cite the book by the corporate author,
even if the corporate author is the publisher.
Example :
National Research Council. Beyond Six Billion: Forecasting
the World’s Population. Washington: Natl. Acad., 2000.
Print.

An Introduction, a Preface, a Foreword, or an
Afterword
To cite an introduction, a preface, a foreword, or an
afterword, begin with the name of its author and then give the
name of the part being cited , capitalized but neither italicized
nor enclosed in quotation marks. Cite the author of the
complete work after its title, giving the full name in normal
order preceded by the word By. Continue with full publication
information .
For example:
Borges, Jorge Luis. Foreword. Selected Poems, 1923-1967. By
Borges. Ed. Norman Thomas Di Giovanni. New York: Delta-Dell,
1973. xv-xvi. Print.

An Anonymous Book
If a book has no author's or editor's name on the
title page, begin the entry with the title. Do not use
Anonymous or Anon. Alphabetize the entry by the
title, ignoring any initial A, An, or The.
Example :
American Heritage Guide to Contemporary Usage
and Style. Boston: Houghton, 2005. Print.

A Translation
To cite a translation, state the author's name first if you
refer primarily to the work itself; give the translator's
name, preceded by Trans., after the title. if the book has
an editor as well as a translator, give the names, with
appropriate abbreviations, in the order in which they
appear on the title page
Example :
Beowulf. Trans. E. Talbot Donaldson. Ed. Nicholas
Howe. New York: Norton, 2001. Print.

A Multivolume Work
If you are using two or more volumes of a multivolume
work, cite the total number of volumes in the work. This
information comes after the title or after any editor's name
or identification of edition and before the publication
information. Specific references to volume and page
numbers(3:212-13) belong in the text.
Example :
Blanco, Richard L., ed. The American Revolution, 1775-
1783: An Encyclopedia. 2 vols. Hamden: Garland, 1993.
Print.

A Brochure, Pamphlet, or Press Release
Treat a brochure or pamphlet as you would a
book.
Example :
Modern Language Association. Language
Study in the Age of Globalization: The College-
Level Experience. New York: MLA, n.d. Print.

A Book Published before 1900
When citing a book published before 1900, you may omit
the name of the publisher and use a comma, instead of a
colon, after the place of publication.
Example :
Brome, Richard. The Dramatic Works of Richard Brome.
3 vols. London, 1873. Print.

A Book without Stated Publication Information or
Pagination
using square brackets to show that it did not come from the
source.
Example :
New York: U of Gotham P, [2008].
If the date can only be approximated, put it after a c., for circa
'around': "[c. 2008]." If you are uncertain about the accuracy of
the information you supply, add a question mark: "[2008?]."
Use the following abbreviations for information you cannot
supply.
n.p. No place of publication given
n.p. No publisher given
n.d. No date of publication given
n. pag. No pagination given

Inserted before the colon, the abbreviation n.p. indicates
no place; after the colon, it indicates no publisher. N. pag.
explains the absence of page references in citations of the
work.
Example :
No Place N.p.: U of Gotham P, 2008.
No Publisher New York: n.p., 2008.
No Date New York: U of Gotham P, n.d.
No Pagination New York: U of Gotham P, 2008. N. Pag.
ex:
Bauer, Johann. Kafka und Prag. [Stuttgart]: Belser, [1971?]. Print.

CITING WEB PUBLICATION
A Work Cited Only on the Web
An entry for a non periodical publication on the Web usually
contains most of the following components, in sequence:
Name of the author, compiler, director, editor, narrator,
performer, or translator of the work.
Title of the work (italicized if the work is independent; in
roman type and quotation marks if the work is part of a larger
work).
Title of the overall Web site (italicized), if distinct from
item 2
Version or edition used

Publisher or sponsor of the site; if not available, use
N.p.
Date of publication(day, month, and year, as available);
if nothing is available, use n.d.
Medium of publication(Web)
Date of access (day, month, and year)
Example :
Antin, David. Interview by Charles Bernstein. Dalkey
Archive Press. Dalkey Archive P, n.d. Web. 21 Aug.
2007.

MMLLAA IInn--TTeexxtt CCiittaattiioonnss
In MLA style, referring to the works of others in
your text is done by using what is known
as parenthetical citation. This method involves
placing relevant source information in parentheses
after a quote or a paraphrase.

General Guidelines
1)The source information required in a parenthetical
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.
2)Any source information that you provide in-text must
correspond to the source information on the Works Cited
page. More specifically, whatever signal word or phrase
you provide to your readers in the text, must be the first
thing that appears on the left-hand margin of the
corresponding entry in the Works Cited List.

MLA format follows the author-page method of in-text
citation. This means that the author's last name and the page
number(s) from which the quotation or paraphrase is taken
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 itself or in parentheses following
the quotation or paraphrase, but the page number(s) should
always appear in the parentheses, not in the text of your
sentence.
For example:
Wordsworth stated that Romantic poetry was marked by a
"spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings" (263).
Romantic poetry is characterized by the "spontaneous overflow of
powerful feelings" (Wordsworth 263).

print sources with known author
For Print sources like books, magazines, scholarly journal
articles, and newspapers, provide a signal word or phrase
(usually the author’s last name) and a page number. If you
provide the signal word/phrase in the sentence, you do not
need to include it in the parenthetical citation.
For example :
Human beings have been described by Kenneth Burke as
"symbol-using animals" (3).
Human beings have been described as "symbol-using
animals" (Burke 3).

print sources with no known author
When a source has no known author, use a shortened title
of the work instead of an author name. Place the title in
quotation marks if it's a short work (such as an article) or
italicize it if it's a longer work (e.g. plays, books,
television shows, entire Web sites) and provide a page
number.
Foe 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).

Citing authors with same last names
If two or more authors have the same last name, provide both authors'
first initials (or even the authors' full name if different authors share
initials) in your citation.
For example:
Although some medical ethicists claim that cloning will lead to designer
children (R. Miller 12), others note that the advantages for medical research
outweigh this consideration (A. Miller 46).
Citing a work by multiple authors
For a source with three or fewer authors, list the authors' last names in
the text or in the parenthetical citation:
Smith, Yang, and Moore argue that tougher gun control is not needed in the
United States (76).

For a source with more than three authors, use the work's bibliographic
information as a guide for your citation. Provide the first author's last
name followed by et al. or list all the last names.
Jones et al. counter Smith, Yang, and Moore's argument by noting that
the current spike in gun violence in America compels law makers to
adjust gun laws (4).
Citing multivolume works
If you cite from different volumes of a multivolume work, always
include the volume number followed by a colon. Put a space after the
colon, then provide the page number(s). (If you only cite from one
volume, provide only the page number in parentheses.)
. . . as Quintilian wrote in Institutio Oratoria (1: 14-17).

Citing indirect sources
Sometimes you may have to use an indirect source. An
indirect source is a source cited in another source. For such
indirect quotations, use "qtd. in" to indicate the source you
actually consulted.
For example:
Ravitch argues that high schools are pressured to act as
"social service centers, and they don't do that well" (qtd. in
Weisman 259).
Note that, in most cases, a responsible researcher will
attempt to find the original source, rather than citing an
indirect source.

AAbbbbrreevviiaattiioonnss
Abbreviations are used regularly in the list of works cited and in
tables but rarely in the text of a research paper (except within
parentheses).
In choosing abbreviations, keep your audience in mind.
Spell out the names of months in the text but abbreviate them in
the list of works cited, except for May, June, and July. Whereas
words denoting units of time are also spelled out in the text
(second, minute, week, month, year, century) some time
designations are used only in abbreviated form (a.m., p.m, AD,
BC, ...)

a.m. before noon (from the latin ante meridiem)
BC before Christ (used after numerals ["19BC"] and reference to centuries
[fifth century BC]
Geographic Names:
Braz. Brazil
Ger. Germany
Common Scholarly Abbreviations and reference words:
acad. academy
anon. anonymous
dept. department
Bible:
Exod. Exodus
Dan. Daniel
Ezek. Ezekiel

MLA Style

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