MLA Basic Style Guide
MLA Basic Style Guide
Overview
Modern Language Association style is commonly referred to as MLA. When
making references to sources, titles are included. Individual works such as
books, films, paintings, and records are italicized, while articles, chapters and
episodes are indicated with quotation marks " ". With MLA, citations are only
direct references to the texts you have read, and these appear on a Works Cited
page. Citations are written in-text (written in the body of the work) or
parenthetical citations (written in brackets after statement). Since the citation is
considered part of your sentence, the period comes after the parentheses. Unlike
in other styles, a page number(s) must be given when paraphrasing in MLA.
As Singh elucidates the men who were surveyed “tended to prefer apples”
(66).
Paraphrase
A part of the author’s idea is put into your own words. The author’s last name and
page number must be given:
The survey revealed that men enjoyed apples over pears (Singh).
All of the citation information must appear only once per sentence; there is no
need to mention the author’s name in the sentence, and then again in
parentheses. Notice that the researched information is not simply dropped into
the page. Instead, leading into the information creates flow.
• Emphasize the author by placing their name first:
Avolio and Van Gest argue for a distinction between snow and slush since
"they affect traffic and pedestrians differently" (34).
• For emphasis, place the citation information at the end of the sentence:
There is a distinction between snow and slush since "they affect traffic and
pedestrians differently" (Avolio and Van Gest 34).
When citing a citation appearing in another work, indicate the name of both
authors:
Block Quotation
Longer quotations of text or poetry are set off from the main body. The quotation
is indented and double-spaced. The page number is given after the period. There
are no quotation marks.
Works Cited
Books
Last Name, First Name. Title. Publisher, Publication Date.
Gilbert, Sandra M., and Susan Gubar, editors. The Female Imagination and the
Del Fuego, Aurelia. "B.P. Nichol, The Sacred and the Feminine." New Horizons,
Article in a Newspaper
Last Name, First Name. “Title of Article.” Title of Newspaper, Date, Page.
Last Name, First Name. “Title of Journal Article.” Title of Journal, Volume, Issue,
259.
Website
Author/Publisher. Title of Website/Project, Publisher, Day Month Year (of
Film
Title of Film. Dir. Name. Distributor, Year.
Lecture
Last Name, First Name. “Title of Lecture.” Title of Meeting/Conference/Course.
Heally, Twyla, and Rowan Twerp. "Twitter or Fritter?" The Annual Meeting of