MLA Format

Titles, Headings, Margins, In-text citations, Formatting Quotations and creating a Works cited .

MLA Format

MLA Format

• MLA stands for Modern Language Association.

• The MLA format provides the guidelines for presenting writing used in the humanities (namely languages and literature).

• Any piece of academic writing for Language Arts must be presented in this format.

Writing Your Paper

• MLA Style establishes standards of how to present written language concerning:

• Page layout and format• In-text citations• Formatting quotations• Works Cited page

General Guidelines For Formal Writing

1. Never use contractions or slang.2. Put book titles/larger works in italics.3. Place the names of shorter works and articles in

quotation marks.4. Write in 3rd person present tense . Do not use I,

me, you etc.

Title

• Do not use a separate title page; all the information you need is included on the top of the first page of your paper.

• Make sure to put your name, your teacher's name, class and due date in the top left hand corner.

• The title comes after this information and needs to be centered on the page.

• You also need to include your last name and page number on the top right corner as a header.

Formatting

• Pages margins should be 1 inch.• Always double space your work.• Use size 12, Times New Roman font.• Indent first line of each paragraph half an inch

(press tab once).• Ensure that you cite paraphrased material and

quotations correctly.

Paraphrasing • Using someone else’s idea but explaining it in different words.• Whenever you paraphrase, remember these two points:

1. You must provide a reference by citing the author’s name in parenthesis after their idea(s) as well as in your works cited page.

2. The paraphrase must be entirely in your own words. You must do more than merely substitute phrases here and there.

Let’s look at an example!

The Original Passage Students frequently overuse direct quotation in taking

notes, and as a result they overuse quotations in their final research paper. Probably only about 10% of your final manuscript should appear as directly quoted matter. Therefore, you should strive to limit the amount of exact transcribing of source materials while taking notes.

Lester, James D. Writing Research Papers. 2nd ed. (1976): 46-47.

A Plagiarized Version Students often use too many direct quotations

when they take notes, resulting in too many of them in the final research paper. In fact, probably only about 10% of the final copy should consist of directly quoted material. So it is important to limit the amount of source material copied while taking notes.

A Legitimate Paraphrase

In research papers students often quote excessively, failing to keep quoted material down to a desirable level. Since the problem usually originates during note taking, it is essential to minimize the material recorded verbatim (Lester).

Making it Right

• If you cannot explain this information in your own words, but you still want to use the idea(s), just use a quotation to avoid plagiarism.

• A quotation can be added to a paper in two ways and this depends on how long they are.

Quotations• If your quote is 3 lines or less you insert the quote into the body of

your paragraph and surround it with quotation marks.• If you use the author’s name to introduce the quote you only need

to add the page number on which it is found in parenthesis; however, if you don’t introduce the author you need to place his or her last name and page number after the quote.

“Students frequently overuse direct quotation in taking notes, and as a result they overuse quotations in the final research paper” (Lester, 46).

OR

Lester explains, “Students frequently overuse direct quotation in taking notes, and as a result they overuse quotations in the final research paper” (46).

Quotations• If your quote is more than 3 lines you must use a block

quote. To do this you need to separate it from the body of your paragraph by starting a new line and indenting by 1 inch (press tab twice).

• You do NOT use quotation marks around a block quote and you must place the period after the quotation and before the citation in parenthesis.

• Note that if you introduce the author before the quote, you do not put their last name in the parenthesis.

Block Quotations

Block Quotations

Works Cited

• After you are finished writing, you need to make sure to include a separate works cited page. Just like the rest of your paper, you need to include your last name and page number on the top right hand corner.

• Create your list of cited sources in alphabetical order (last name first). Double space the list and indent all but the first lines of each reference half an inch.

• NOTE: A website alone is not a proper source!

BookAuthor. Book Title. Place of Publication: Publisher,

Year of publication.

Allison, Peter. Whatever You Do, Don't Run Guilford, CT: Lyons, 2008.

Brown, Nathan, & Sheryl Proper. The EverythingPaying for College Book. Avon, MA: Adams,

2005.

Journal Article

Last, First name of author. “Title of Article”. Title of Journal Volume (Year): page.

Wilcox, Rhonda. "Shifting Roles and Synthetic Women in Star Trek: The Next Generation." Studies in Popular Culture 13 (1991): 53-65.

Website Author. Name of Page. Date of posting. Name of

institution/organization affiliated with the site. Date of access. < electronic address>

Kunka, Jennifer. The Purdue OWL. 26 Aug. 2006. The Writing Lab and OWL at Purdue

and Purdue University. 23 April 2008 <http://owl.english.purdue.edu>.

Works Cited