MLA Info

Editor's Notes

• #2: Welcome to “MLA Formatting and Style Guide”. This Power Point Presentation is designed to introduce your students to the basics of MLA Formatting and Style. You might want to supplement the presentation with more detailed information available on the OWL’s “ MLA 2009 Formatting and Style Guide ” at http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/ Designer: Ethan Sproat Based on slide designs from the OWL “APA Formatting and Style Guide “powerpoint by Jennifer Liethen Kunka and Elena Lawrick. Contributors: Tony Russell, Alllen Brizee, Jennifer Liethen Kunka, Joe Barbato, Dave Neyhart, Erin E. Karper, Karl Stolley, Kristen Seas, Tony Russell, and Elizabeth Angeli.
• #3: This PPT will cover the 2009 updates to MLA, general guidelines, first page format, section headings, in-text citations, formatting quotations, and the Works Cited page.
• #4: There are two main manuals for MLA formatting. MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, 7th ed. and MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing, 3rd ed. The Handbook is used mostly by undergraduate and graduate students when writing papers for class. The Style Manual is used by professionals who are formatting documents in preparation for publication (like journal articles, books, book chapters, etc.). Many formatting elements are the same between the two books. This presentation will mostly focus on MLA formatting and style concerns that affect writing research papers. MLA style is often used in the following disciplines: Humanties, languages, Literature, Linguistics, Philosophy, Communication, Religion, and others. MLA format provides writers with a uniform format for document layout and documenting sources. Proper MLA style shows that writers are conscientious of the standards of writing in their respective disciplines. Properly documenting sources also ensures that an author is not plagiarizing.
• #5: This slide presents three basic areas regulated by MLA students need to be aware of—document format, in-text citations, and Works Cited. The following slides provide detailed explanations regarding each area.
• #6: In Summer 2008, the Modern Language Association released its third edition of the MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing, which publicly unveiled modifications to MLA Style for the upcoming year. These changes go into effect April 2009 with the release of MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers (7th edition). General paper formatting (margins, headings, etc.) and in-text citations will remain the same, but all Works Cited style entries will be different from the 6th edition guidelines. The Purdue OWL will begin listing these changes in all our MLA resources in April 2009. Here are some of the more noteworthy changes: ･ No More Underlining! Underlining is no more. MLA now recommends italicizing titles of independently published works (books, periodicals, films, etc). ･ No More URLs! While website entries will still include authors, article names, and website names, when available, MLA no longer requires URLs. Writers are, however, encouraged to provide a URL if the citation information does not lead readers to easily find the source. ･ Publication Medium. Every entry receives a medium of publication marker. Most entries will be listed as Print or Web, but other possibilities include Performance, DVD, or TV. Most of these markers will appear at the end of entries; however, markers for Web sources are followed by the date of access. ･ New Abbreviations. Many web source entries now require a publisher name, a date of publication, and/or page numbers. When no publisher name appears on the website, write N.p. for no publisher given. When sites omit a date of publication, write n.d. for no date. For online journals that appear only online (no print version) or on databases that do not provide pagination, write n. pag. for no pagination.
• #7: Many instructors who require their students to use MLA formatting and citation style have small exceptions to different MLA rules. Every bit of instruction and direction given in this presentation comes with this recommendation: ALWAYS follow the specific instructions given by your instructor.
• #8: ･ Type your paper on a computer and print it out on standard, white 8.5 x 11-inch paper ･ Double-space the text of your paper, and use a legible font (e.g. Times New Roman). Whatever font you choose, MLA recommends that the regular and italics type styles contrast enough that they are recognizable one from another. The font size should be 12 pt ･ Leave only one space after periods or other punctuation marks (unless otherwise instructed by your instructor). ･ Set the margins of your document to 1 inch on all sides ･ Indent the first line of paragraphs one half-inch from the left margin. MLA recommends that you use the Tab key as opposed to pushing the Space Bar five times.
• #9: ･ Create a header that numbers all pages consecutively in the upper right-hand corner, one-half inch from the top and flush with the right margin. (Note: Your instructor may ask that you omit the number on your first page. Always follow your instructor's guidelines.) ･ Use italics throughout your essay for the titles of longer works and, only when absolutely necessary, providing emphasis ･ If you have any endnotes, include them on a separate page before your Works Cited page. Entitle the section Notes (centered, unformatted).
• #10: ･ Do not make a title page for your paper unless specifically requested ･ In the upper left-hand corner of the first page, list your name, your instructor's name, the course, and the date. Again, be sure to use double-spaced text. ･ 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. ･ 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” ･ Double space between the title and the first line of the text. ･ 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 consecutively with Arabic numerals (1, 2, 3, 4, etc.), one-half inch from the top and flush with the right margin. (Note: Your instructor or other readers may ask that you omit last name/page number header on your first page. Always follow instructor guidelines.)
• #11: ･ Do not make a title page for your paper unless specifically requested ･ In the upper left-hand corner of the first page, list your name, your instructor's name, the course, and the date. Again, be sure to use double-spaced text. ･ 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. ･ 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” ･ Double space between the title and the first line of the text. ･ 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 consecutively with Arabic numerals (1, 2, 3, 4, etc.), one-half inch from the top and flush with the right margin. (Note: Your instructor or other readers may ask that you omit last name/page number header on your first page. Always follow instructor guidelines.)
• #12: Basic In-Text Citation Rules 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 ･ The source information required in a parenthetical citation depends (1.) upon the source medium (e.g. Print, Web, DVD) and (2.) upon the source ﾕ s entry on the Works Cited (bibliography) page. ･ 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.
• #13: In-Text Citations: Author-Page Style 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. The both citations in the in-text examples on this slide, (263) and (Wordsworth 263), tell readers that the information in the sentence can be located on page 263 of a work by an author named Wordsworth. If readers want more information about this source, they can turn to the Works Cited page, where, under the name of Wordsworth, they would find the information in the corresponding Works Cited entry also shown on this slide. Reduce font size on slide to allow breathing room and space. Also, use a different font for the sample text so instructions look different from the excerpt.
• #14: In-text Citations for 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. These examples must correspond to an entry that begins with Burke, which will be the first thing that appears on the left-hand margin of an entry in the Works Cited (as noted in the corresponding Works Cited entry on this slide). See comments from previous slide.
• #15: And this is how the Works Cited listing should look.
• #16: In-text Citations for 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 (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. In this example, since the reader does not know the author of the article, an abbreviated title of the article appears in the parenthetical citation which corresponds to the full name of the article which appears first at the left-hand margin of its respective entry in the Works Cited. Thus, the writer includes the title in quotation marks as the signal phrase in the parenthetical citation in order to lead the reader directly to the source on the Works Cited page. See comments from previous slide.
• #17: And this is how the Works Cited listing should look.
• #18: Author-Page Citation for Classic and Literary Works with Multiple Editions Page numbers are always required, but additional citation information can help literary scholars, who may have a different edition of a classic work like Marx and Engels's The Communist Manifesto (as illustrated in the first example on this slide) . In such cases, give the page number of your edition (making sure the edition is listed in your Works Cited page, of course) followed by a semicolon, and then the appropriate abbreviations for volume (vol.), book (bk.), part (pt.), chapter (ch.), section (sec.), or paragraph (par.). Citing Authors with Same Last Names Sometimes more information is necessary to identify the source from which a quotation is taken. For instance, 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. This is illustrated in the second example on this slide.
• #19: 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. 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.
• #20: Citing Multiple Works by the Same Author If you cite more than one work by a particular author, include a shortened title for the particular work from which you are quoting to distinguish it from the others. This is illustrated in the first example on this slide. Additionally, if the author's name is not mentioned in the sentence, you would format your citation with the author's name followed by a comma, followed by a shortened title of the work, followed, when appropriate, by page numbers. This is illustrated in the second example on this slide.
• #21: 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.) This is illustrated in the first example on this slide. Citing the Bible In your first parenthetical citation, you want to make clear which Bible you're using (and underline or italicize the title), as each version varies in its translation, followed by book (do not italicize or underline), chapter and verse. This is illustrated in the second example on this slide. If future references employ the same edition of the Bible you ﾕ re using, list only the book, chapter, and verse in the parenthetical citation.
• #22: 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. This is illustrated in the first example on this slide. Note that, in most cases, a responsible researcher will attempt to find the original source, rather than citing an indirect source. Multiple Citations To cite multiple sources in the same parenthetical reference, separate the citations by a semi-colon. This is illustrated in the second example on this slide.
• #23: Sometimes writers are confused with how to craft parenthetical citations for non-print sources (such as films or presentations) because of the absence of page numbers, but often, these sorts of entries do not require any sort of parenthetical citation at all. Include in the text the first item that appears in the Work Cited entry that corresponds to the citation (e.g. author name, article name, website name, film name, etc.). In the example on this slide “Herzog” from the in-text example lead readers to the corresponding entry on the Works Cited page.
• #24: Sources from the Internet With more and more scholarly work being posted on the Internet, you may have to cite research you have completed in virtual environments. While many sources on the Internet should not be used for scholarly work (reference the OWL's Evaluating Sources of Information resource located here: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/553/01/), some Web sources are perfectly acceptable for research. When creating in-text citations for electronic, film, or Internet sources, remember that your citation must reference the source in your Works Cited. Sometimes writers are confused with how to craft parenthetical citations for electronic sources because of the absence of page numbers, but often, these sorts of entries do not require any sort of parenthetical citation at all. For electronic and Internet sources, follow the following guidelines: ･ Include in the text the first item that appears in the Work Cited entry that corresponds to the citation (e.g. author name, article name, website name, film name). ･ You do not need to give paragraph numbers or page numbers based on your Web browser ﾕ s print preview function. ･ Unless you must list the website name in the signal phrase in order to get the reader to the appropriate entry, do not include URLs in-text. Only provide partial URLs such as when the name of the site includes, for example, a domain name, like CNN.com or Forbes.com as opposed to writing out http://www.cnn.com or http://www.forbes.com.
• #25: Short Quotations To indicate short quotations (fewer than four typed lines of prose or three lines of verse) in your text, enclose the quotation within double quotation marks. Provide the author and specific page citation (in the case of verse, provide line numbers) in the text, and include a complete reference on the Works Cited page. Punctuation marks such as periods, commas, and semicolons should appear after the parenthetical citation. Question marks and exclamation points should appear within the quotation marks if they are a part of the quoted passage but after the parenthetical citation if they are a part of your text. This is all illustrated in the first three examples on this slide. Mark breaks in short quotations of verse with a slash, /, at the end of each line of verse (a space should precede and follow the slash). This is illustrated in the last example on this slide.
• #26: Long Quotations For quotations that are four or more lines of verse or prose: place quotations in a free-standing block of text and omit quotation marks. Start the quotation on a new line, with the entire quote indented one inch from the left margin; maintain double-spacing. Only indent the first line of the quotation by a half inch if you are citing multiple paragraphs. Your parenthetical citation should come after the closing punctuation mark. When quoting verse, maintain original line breaks. (You should maintain double-spacing throughout your essay.)
• #27: Adding or Omitting Words In Quotations If you add a word or words in a quotation, you should put brackets around the words to indicate that they are not part of the original text. This is illustrated in the first example on this slide. If you omit a word or words from a quotation, you should indicate the deleted word or words by using ellipsis marks, which are three periods ( . . . ) preceded and followed by a space. Please note that brackets are not needed around ellipses unless adding brackets would clarify your use of ellipses. This is illustrated in the second example on this slide.
• #28: Basic Rules ･ Begin your Works Cited page on a separate page at the end of your research paper. It should have the same one-inch margins and last name, page number header as the rest of your paper. ･ Label the page Works Cited (do not italicize the words Works Cited or put them in quotation marks) and center the words Works Cited at the top of the page. ･ Double space all citations, but do not skip spaces between entries. ･ Indent the second and subsequent lines of citations five spaces so that you create a hanging indent. ･ List page numbers of sources efficiently, when needed. If you refer to a journal article that appeared on pages 225 through 250, list the page numbers on your Works Cited page as 225-50. Additional Basic Rules New to MLA 2009 ･ For every entry, you must determine the Medium of Publication. Most entries will likely be listed as Print or Web sources, but other possibilities may include Film, CD-ROM, or DVD. ･ Writers are no longer required to provide URLs for Web entries. However, if your instructor or publisher insists on them, include them in angle brackets after the entry and end with a period. For long URLs, break lines only at slashes. ･ If you're citing an article or a publication that was originally issued in print form but that you retrieved from an online database, you should type the online database name in italics. You do not need to provide subscription information in addition to the database name.Capitalization and Punctuation ･ Capitalize each word in the titles of articles, books, etc, but do not capitalize articles, short prepositions, or conjunctions unless one is the first word of the title or subtitle ･ New to MLA 2009: Use italics (instead of underlining) for titles of larger works (books, magazines) and quotation marks for titles of shorter works (poems, articles) Listing Author Names Entries are listed by author name (or, for entire edited collections, editor names). Author names are written last name first; middle names or middle initials follow the first name. Do not list titles (Dr., Sir, Saint, etc.) or degrees (PhD, MA, DDS, etc.) with names. A book listing an author named "John Bigbrain, PhD" appears simply as "Bigbrain, John"; do, however, include suffixes like "Jr." or "II." Putting it all together, a work by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. would be cited as "King, Martin Luther, Jr.," with the suffix following the first or middle name and a comma. More than One Work by an Author If you have cited more than one work by a particular author, order the entries alphabetically by title, and use three hyphens in place of the author's name for every entry after the first. Work with No Known Author Alphabetize works with no known author by their title; use a shortened version of the title in the parenthetical citations in your paper.
• #29: Works Cited Page: Books When you are gathering book sources, be sure to make note of the following bibliographic items: author name(s), book title, publication date, publisher, place of publication. The medium of publication for all “hard copy” books is Print. Book with More Than One Author The first given name appears in last name, first name format; subsequent author names appear in first name last name format. If there are more than three authors, you may choose to list only the first author followed by the phrase et al. (Latin for "and others") in place of the subsequent authors' names, or you may list all the authors in the order in which their names appear on the title page. (Note that there is a period after “al” in “et al.” Also note that there is never a period after the “et” in “et al.”). Two or More Books by the Same Author List works alphabetically by title. (Remember to ignore articles like A, An, and The.) Provide the author ﾕ s name in last name, first name format for the first entry only. For each subsequent entry by the same author, use three hyphens and a period. There are many other possible factors that may arise when citing books. For a more complete list of rules and examples see the OWL’s “MLA 2009 Works Cited Page: Books” at http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/06/.
• #30: Article in a Magazine Cite by listing the article's author, putting the title of the article in quotations marks, and italicizing the periodical title. Follow with the date of publication. Remember to abbreviate the month. Please note the first example on this slide. An Article in a Scholarly Journal In previous years, MLA required that researchers determine whether or not a scholarly journal employed continuous pagination (page numbers began at page one in the first issue of the years and page numbers took up where they left off in subsequent ones) or non-continuous pagination (page numbers begin at page one in every subsequent issue) in order to determine whether or not to include issue numbers in bibliographic entries. The MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers 7th edition (2009) eliminates this step. Always provide issue numbers, when available. Please note the second example on this slide. There are many other types of periodical publication. For a more thorough list of examples, please see the OWL’s “ MLA 2009 Works Cited: Periodicals ” at http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/07/
• #31: Works Cited: Electronic Sources (Web Publications) MLA lists electronic sources as Web Publications . Thus, when including the medium of publication for electronic sources, list the medium as Web . Citing an Entire Web Site It is necessary to list your date of access because web postings are often updated, and information available on one date may no longer be available later. Be sure to include the complete address for the site. Remember to use n.p. if no publisher name is available and n.d. if not publishing date is given. It is always a good idea to maintain personal copies of electronic information, when possible. It is good practice to print or save Web pages or, better, using a program like Adobe Acrobat, to keep your own copies for future reference. Most Web browsers will include URL/electronic address information when you print, which makes later reference easy. Also, you might use the Bookmark function in your Web browser in order to return to documents more easily. Important Note on the Use of URLs in MLA MLA no longer requires the use of URLs in MLA citations. Because Web addresses are not static (i.e. they change often) and because documents sometimes appear in multiple places on the Web (e.g. on multiple databases), MLA explains that most readers can find electronic sources via title or author searches in Internet Search Engines. For instructors or editors that still wish to require the use of URLs , MLA suggests that the URL appear in angle brackets after the date of access. Break URLs only after slashes. See previous slide comment. There are many other possible kinds of sources that can be cited from the Internet. For a more thorough list of examples, see the OWL’s “ MLA 2009 Works Cited: Electronic Sources (Web Publications) ” at http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/08/
• #32: And here are some examples.
• #33: Works Cited Page: Other Common Sources An Interview Personal interviews refer to those interviews that you conduct yourself. List the interview by the name of the interviewee. Include the descriptor Personal interview and the date of the interview. Speeches, Lectures, or Other Oral Presentations (including Conference Presentations) Provide the speaker’s name. Then, give the title of the speech (if any) in quotation marks. Follow with the name of the meeting and organization, the location of the occasion, and the date. Use the descriptor that appropriately expresses the type of presentation (e.g. Address, Lecture, Reading, Keynote speech, Guest Lecture). Remember to use the abbreviation n.p. if the publisher is not known; use n.d. if the date is not known. Films or Movies List films (in theaters or not yet on DVD or video) by their title. Include the name of the director (after the abbreviation “Dir.”), the film studio or distributor, and the release year. If relevant, list performer names after the director’s name. Use the abbreviation perf. to head the list. List film as the medium of publication. There are other common types of sources which include broadcast television or radio programs, recorded films or movies, recorded television episodes, sound recordings, spoken word albums, digital files (PDFs, MP3s, JPEGs), paintings, sculptures, photographs, published conference processdings, and others. For a more thorough list of different kinds of commonly referenced sources, see the OWL’s “ MLA 2009 Works Cited: Other Common Sources ” at http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/09/ Insert “For more information” slide after this one. You can download that slide from posted OWL PPTs.
• #34: Here is a film example.