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A Practical Guide To MLA

The document provides a practical guide to formatting a paper according to the MLA style, including how to format the first page, citations within the text, long quotes, and the works cited page. It explains the proper formatting for citations of books, journal articles from print and databases, and webpages. The guide recommends doing the works cited page first to ensure all citations are correctly formatted.

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Diana Nikkel Nance
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81 views

A Practical Guide To MLA

The document provides a practical guide to formatting a paper according to the MLA style, including how to format the first page, citations within the text, long quotes, and the works cited page. It explains the proper formatting for citations of books, journal articles from print and databases, and webpages. The guide recommends doing the works cited page first to ensure all citations are correctly formatted.

Uploaded by

Diana Nikkel Nance
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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A Practical Guide to MLA Style

The First Page


Top Left Corner: Your Name, Instructors Name, Course, Date

No Need for a Title page unless your instructor requests one

Barnett
Header with last name and page in upper right corner

Leecy Barnett
Dr. Smith

Dialog of Self and Society


10 October 2008
Title---Center & Capitalize Important Words

A Practical Guide to MLA Style


immediately

Begin your paper When the MLA style was first conceived more than a half

The Body
10 October 2008 A Practical Guide to MLA Style
Indent s Always double space

When the MLA style was first conceived more than a half century ago,

the main purpose was to develop standards for the publication of manuscripts in

the field of English and other modern, as opposed to ancient, languages (Modern
Language Assoc. xvi). Although designed for those who intend to publish, Houghton and Houghton point out that, numerous colleges and universities adhere to these stringent guidelines ( xii). Learning to do MLA style well shows you are concerned about doing thorough research and giving proper credit to those

In Text Citations--Ideas
Whenever you get an idea from a source, cite it using the authors name and page number in parentheses at the end of the sentence or paragraph describing their idea. The period goes after the final parenthesis. Example: When the MLA style was first conceived more than a half century ago, the main

purpose was to develop standards for the publication of manuscripts in the field of
English and other modern, as opposed to ancient, languages (Modern Language Assoc. xvi).
Modern Language Association is a corporate author.for corporate authors abbreviate words with standard abrievations.

In Text CitationsAuthor in text


If you refer to the author(s) in the text of your paper, cite the source simply with page number (s) in parentheses next to the authors name. Example: According to Fox, the internet has played a significant role in the increase of plagiarism in academia today (27).

In Text Citations Short Direct Quote


When you directly quote a source you need to add quotation marks around the words or sentence you copy. You put the parenthetical citation and final period after the closing quotation mark. Example: Although designed for those who intend to publish point out that

numerous colleges and universities adhere to these stringent guidelines


(Houghton and Houghton xii).

In Text CitationsLong Direct Quote


When your direct quotation is longer than 4 typed lines of prose or 3 lines of poetry, put it in an indented paragraph without quotation marks. Example: The Owl at Purdue clearly explains MLA long quotations:

Place quotations longer than four typed lines 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 the closing Whenafter quoting from a webpage, punctuation mark. (Kunka et al. par. 8)
determine the paragraph # quoted and use that instead of a page #

Tip: Do the Reference Page 1st

The Works Cited Page


Center Works Cited

Barnett 10

Gibaldi, Joseph . MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. New York: Modern Language Association, 2003. Print. Kunka , Jennifer Liethen et al. MLA Formatting and Style Guide--- Formatting Quotations. The Owl at Purdue. Purdue University, 30 Sept. 2008. Web. 13 Oct. 2008.

Alphabetical by Lipson Charles. Doing Honest Work in College: How to Prepare Citation, Avoid Authors Last Name Hanging Indent Plagiarism and Achieve Real Academic Success. Chicago: University Double Space of Chicago
Press, 2004. Print.

Books
Author---Last name, First name. Authors can also be a company or organization

TitleItaliacs.
Publication information---City and state (if mentioneduse postal abbreviation) , publisher and year of publication.

Medium of PublicationPrint.
Example: Lipson Charles. Doing Honest Work in College: How to Prepare Citation, Avoid Plagiarism and Achieve Real Academic Success. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004. Print.

Journal Articles---Print
Author --same as book Article Title in quotation marks

Journal Titleitalics

Volume number only

Issue---number only

Date in parentheses, followed by colon Page Numbers Medium of Publication--Print. Example:

Raymond, Richard C. "When Writing Professors Teach Literature: Shaping Questions,


Finding Answers, Effecting Change. " College Composition and Communication 59.3 (2008): 473-502. Print.

Journal Articles---Database
Author --same as book Article Title in quotation marks

Journal Titleitalics
Volume number only Issue---number only

Date in parentheses, followed by colon Page Numbers

If you get your journal from a database add: Name of databasein italics Medium of publication--Web. Date you got it (d/m/yr)

Example:

Wang, Yu-Wei. "University Student Online Plagiarism. " International Journal on ELearning 7.4 (2008): 743-757. ProQuest. Web. 18 Aug. 2009.

Webpage
Author --- same as book if available. More than 3 authors, use first author given and et. al. ( et. al. means and others) Add: Name of Producing No Author---use title of page Organization Date produced or Title of page in quotation marks updated (d/m/yr) Medium of Name of Website---in italics publication---Web. Date Retrieved Example: (d/m/yr) Kunka , Jennifer Liethen et al. MLA Formatting and Style Guide--Formatting Quotations. The Owl at Purdue. Purdue University, 30 Sept. 2008. Web. 13 Oct. 2008.

Using Microsoft Word 2010


Warning: The Reference Tab does not have the latest version of MLA!

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