Working With MLA and

RefWorks

Research and Information LiteracyProfessor Susan Acampora

ALERT

The following presentation covers established conventions of MLA citation style formatting 7th Ed.

However, your instructor may have special requirements.

Always check with your instructor regarding their requirements for MLA style.

Some Sources on MLA

MLA Modern Language Association

MLA Style The Owl at Purdue

Beth Jones and Gina Hurley Purdue Owl MLA Videos

Why MLA?

Publication Manual of the Modern Language Association 7th Edition

Commonly used by freshman composition, literature, English usage, and foreign languages course.

Designed to organize and manage research in a manner recognizable to all in the field

In LTCA your final project will be a Literary Research paper.

The Basics

Use 8 ½ x 11 white paper Any font as long as the italics appear

clearly differentiated from the rest of the text

12 point times font All double spaced 1 inch margins ON ALL SIDES Paragraphs indented by Tab key 1 inch

from margin One space after period or other

punctuation mark

5 Areas to Remember

Header and Heading Title and First Page Sections of the Paper In-Text Citations Work’s Cited Page

The Header and Heading

Header

The header is placed on the upper right corner flush with the right margin, ½” from the top

The header includes your Last Name and # of page.

By Beth Jones and Gina Hurley in collaboration with the Purdue Owl

Heading

Heading is located on the upper left. Heading includes the following

double-spaced: Your Name Professor’s Name Course Date in Day/Month/Year format

Title and First Page

The title is to be centered. Using standard capitalization. DO

NOT CAPITALIZE THE WHOLE TITLE! Do Not Bold or Use Quotations on

Title Use a double space between the title

and the first line of text.

Excerpted from Video by Beth Jones and Gina Hurley in collaboration with the Purdue Owl

Sections within the paper

Sections within the paper

MLA recommends that when you divide an essay into sections that you number those sections with an arabic number and a period followed by a space and the section name. 1. Early Writings 2. The London Years 3. Traveling the Continent 4. Final Years

Purdue Owl: https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/

In-Text Citations

MLA In-Text Citations

include the author's (or authors') last name and the page number(s) following the quotation, paraphrase, idea, or fact you are citing.

Example"When his father told him that he was to go back to school again, Charles's eyes filled with tears of gratitude" (Hibbert 83).  From the Libguide by Peter

NerzakPellissippi State Community

College

You may also refer to the author's name in the text of your paper. In this case, only the page number is needed following at the end of the sentence.

ExampleAccording to Andrea Tone, President John F. Kennedy took up to eight medications a day to treat illness and stress (112). 

Works Cited

Hibbert, Christopher. Charles Dickens: The Making of a Literary Giant. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 1983. Print.

Tone, Andrea. The Age of Anxiety: A History of America's Turbulent Affair with Tranquilizers. New York: Basic Books, 2009. Print.

Citing two or more books by the same author:

Murray states that writing is "a process" that "varies with our thinking style" (Write to Learn 6).

Additionally, Murray argues that the purpose of writing is to "carry ideas and information from the mind of one person into the mind of another" (A Writer Teaches Writing 3).

The Works Cited Page

Works Cited Page

All references listed on a Works Cited page.

A separate page at the end of the paper. 1 inch margins on each side, double-

spaced Include your header on the upper right The page is to be titled Works Cited

Centered with capitalized first letter of each word, no bold, italics

Hanging indent: Line 1 is flush with the margin/ Line 2 is indented ½ inch.

For more on Variations of In-Text Citing: The Owl @ Purdue

Online Writing Lab at Purdue University

https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/02/

Some Examples of MLA Works Cited….

Citing Authors

Authors are cited alphabetically by Last Name.

If there is no author, use title alphabetically

Use the following format: Last Name, First Name Middle Name or

Middle Initial. Do not use Dr. or Professor or PhD It is okay to use suffixes such as Sr. or Jr.

Continued…

For one work by an author the first entry uses Last Name, First Name, I.

But for subsequent works three hyphens replace the author’s name

Pagination

List pages using only numbers, WITHOUT p. or pp.

For double digit page numbers use 13-21

For triple + digit page numbers use 123-45

Publication Medium Required

At the end of each citation you must indicate its type such as Print Web Film DVD CD-Rom

Web URLS

Web site addresses are no longer required.

HOWEVER, your teacher may require them!

If you include a web site address do so at the end of the citation with angle brackets followed by a period

Articles from the Web

If an article you are using was originally published in print but you retrieved it online do the following:

Add and italicize the name of the database such as Academic Search Premier followed by date of access.

You do not need to include the web address or database subscription information

Example:

Excerpted from Video by Beth Jones and Gina Hurley in collaboration with the Purdue Owl

Titles of Works Cited

Capitalize the first letter of each word in the title but not conjunctions such as “and” “or” “the” unless they begin the Title

Use Italics for BOOK title, or JOURNAL title

Use Quotes for essay in a book or article in a journal

Citing Books

http://libguides.pstcc.edu/content.php?pid=24540&sid=503537

From the Libguide by Peter Nerzak

Pellissippi State Community College

Citiing a chapter or essay in a book

From the Libguide by Peter Nerzak

Pellissippi State Community College

Citing Multiple Authors

Citing Three Authors

Citing Four or more authors individually or us et al

Citing a Journal Article (Print)

From a Print Source

From the Libguide by Peter Nerzak

Pellissippi State Community College

Citing a Journal Article (Web)

From the Libguide by Peter Nerzak

Pellissippi State Community College

Citing a Newspaper

From the Libguide by Peter Nerzak

Pellissippi State Community College

Citing a newspaper accessed online

From the Libguide by Peter Nerzak

Pellissippi State Community College

Citing an Entire Website

From the Libguide by Peter Nerzak

Pellissippi State Community College

MLA 7th Formatting Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24Y31UrG2q4&list=PL4917D9E21FA6EDFF

Beth Jones and Gina Hurley in collaboration with the Purdue Owl

MLA 7th Formatting Lists of Works Cited

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EaFcJ3f4fJk&list=PL4917D9E21FA6EDFF

By Beth Jones and Gina Hurley in collaboration with the Purdue Owl

Introduction to RefWorks