What Is MLA Style?
The style recommended by the association for preparing
scholarly manuscripts and student research papers concerns itself with
the mechanics of writing, such as punctuation, quotation, and documentation
of sources.
MLA style has been widely adopted by schools, academic departments,
and instructors for nearly half a century. MLA guidelines are also currently
used by over 125 scholarly and literary journals, newsletters, and magazines
with circulations over one thousand; by hundreds of smaller periodicals;
and by many university and commercial presses. MLA style is commonly
followed not only in the United States but in Canada and other countries
as well
The Modern Language Association does not
publish its documentation guidelines on the Web. For an authoritative
explanation of MLA style, see the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research
Papers (for high school and undergraduate college students) and the
MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing (for graduate students,
scholars, and professional writers).
www.mla.org
Two Steps in Citing a Source
When ever you use borrowed information,
you must cite its source (tell where the information came from.) There
are two steps in citing a source
Step 1 : An
in-text citation -insert
a short reference in the body of your paper.
Step 2: A
works-cited list - prepare a list describing all your sources completely.
In-text Citations
The citation at the end of the
sentence tells us that the information in the sentence came from page
353 of a work written by Hogue. If readers want more information about
this source, they can go to the works-cited list and find this information
under the name Hogue. Example:
The purpose
of an in-text citation is to refer the reader to the works-cited
list at the end of your
paper.
In-text citations are also called parenthetical references because
they are enclosed in parentheses. Place in-text citations immediately
after the borrowed information, usually at the end of a sentence, before
the final period (Hogue
353).
Works-cited List
The second step in citing sources is to list all
the sources that you actually used in your paper. (Don't include
sources
that you read but didn't use.) List
them alphabetically by last
name of the author or, if there is no author, by the first word
of the
title (disregarding A, An and The). Include
information about each source as follows. Pay close attention
to punctuation and capitalization, and indent the second line five
spaces (Hogue
355). Example:
Hogue, Ann. The essentials
of English: a writer's handbook. New York: Pearson Education,
Inc. 2003.
The above information would appear
in the works-cited list at the end of the paper. (On this
web page, the citation is located at the bottom of the page.)
Common Types of in-text Citations
| AUTHORS |
IN TEXT CITATION |
ONE AUTHOR |
(Davis 64-65) |
TWO OR THREE AUTHORS |
(Hall and Hall 140) If there are two or three authors, give
all their names. |
FOUR OR MORE AUTHORS |
(Singleton et al. 345)
If there are four or more authors, use
the first author's name and the Latin abbreviation et al. (shortened
from et al ii, "and others). Note the period after the
abbreviation al. |
ENTIRE ARTICLE ON ONE PAGE |
(Allen) |
AUTHOR ALREADY MENTIONED |
(140)
If you have already mentioned the
author's name in the text, do not repeat the name in your citation. For
example, if you introduced the borrowed information with a
phrase such
as "According to Davis" or "As Hall and Hall wrote",
give only the page number. |
SAME AUTHOR, TWO DIFFERENT WORKS |
(Tannen, Gender 220)
(Tannen, You Just 47)
When you use information in a paper from
two different works by the same author, include a short name
for each work to differentiate
them. In the examples, an author named Tannen wrote two books. The
title of the first book is shortened to Gender,
and the title of the second book is shorted ed to You
Just. |
NO AUTHOR |
("Earthquakes" 212)
If there is no author, use
a short title in quotations marks. |
ENCYCLOPEDIA ARTICLE |
("Global Warming")
For an encyclopedia article,
use the author's name if you know it. If you don't know
it, use the title of the article in quotations marks. You
do not need a page number since encyclopedia articles are arranged
alphabetically and your reader will be able to find the source
easily. |
ELECTRONIC RESOURCE |
(J&J "Credo" screen 2)
For an electronic source (online or CD-ROM) follow the same system
as for print sources. If there are no page numbers, use whatever
numbering system the source has --section number (abbreviated
as "sec."), paragraph number (abbreviated as "par."), screen
number--or use no number.
(Hogue 355-56) |
Common
types of Work-cited citations:
Books |
Articles from Magazines, Journals & Newspapers | Internet
Documents
For more detailed explanations
of how to use these formats, consult the official style manual for
the format you are using. Ask a librarian to show you one of these
books: 1) MLA Style Manual and 2) Guide to Scholarly Publishing (REF
PN 147 G444 1998)
Online Citation Creator
Warlick, David, "Son of Citation Machine." Apr 2006. The Landmark Project. 30 Nov 2006 <http://www.citationmachine.net>
Books
|
Author |
Title |
Publisher City |
Publisher Name |
Year |
 |
 |
 |
|
1962 |
|
Hitchcock, Alfred. |
Alfred Hitchcock's Ghostly Gallery . |
New York: |
Random House, |
1962. |
Author's last name, First name. Middle initial (if any). Title. Place of publication: Publisher, Year of publication.
| AUTHORS |
BOOK CITATION |
| One author |
Hitchcock,
Alfred. Alfred Hitchcock's Ghostly Gallery. New York:
Random
House, 1962.
|
Two or three
authors |
Stewart, David W. and David H. Furse. Effective
Television Advertising:
A Study of 1000 Commercials.
Lexington: Lexington Books, 1986.
Note: 1) last name, first 2) first name last name. List first author's
last name, followed by first name, and middle initial (if any);
then, second author's first name, middle initial (if any),
and last name.
|
Four or more
authors |
Holloway, Susan D., et al. Through My Own
Eyes: Single Mothers
and the Cultures of Poverty. Cambridge:
Harvard UP, 1997.
If there are four or more authors,
use the first author's name and the Latin abbreviation
et al. (shortened from et al ii, "and others). Note
the period after the abbreviation al.
|
Editor(s) rather
than author(s): |
Baughman, Cynthia, ed. Women
on Ice: Feminist Essays on the
Tonya Harding/Nancy Kerrigan
Spectacle. New York: Routledge, 1995. |
|
Articles from Periodicals
Magazines:
|
Authors |
Title |
Magazine Name |
Date |
Pages |
 |
"Certified Organic" |
 |
|
 |
|
Underwood, Ann
Karen Springen. |
"Certified Organic." |
Newsweek |
3 Sept. 2002 |
23+ |
Author's last name, first name middle initial (if any). "Title
of Article." Title of Magazine.
Day (if given) Month (abbreviated except May, June, and July) Year:
Page numbers of article (if the article is not printed on consecutive
pages, give the first page followed by a + (plus symbol).
EXAMPLE:
Underwood,
Ann, Karen Springen. "Certified Organic." Newsweek.
3 Sep. 2002: 23+
|
Journal articles:
| Authors |
Title |
Journal |
Vol. & No. |
Date |
Pages |
 |
"Effectiveness
of . . . " |
 |
Vol 288,
No.11 |
|
|
|
Hodnett, et al. |
"Effectiveness of Nurses as Providers
of Birth Labor Support in North American Hospitals" |
The American Journal of Anesthesiology |
288.11 |
(18 Sept. 2002): |
p 1373-81 |
Author's Last name, First name Middle initial (if any). "Title
of article." journal title volume number. Issue number (if each number of journal begins on page
1) (Date of publication): page numbers.
EXAMPLE (Multiple Authors):
Hodnett, et al. "Effectiveness of Nurses as Providers
of Birth Labor Support in North American Hospitals." The
American Journal of Anesthesiology 288.11 (18 Sept. 2002):
1373-81.
|
Newspaper articles:
|
Author |
Title |
Newspaper |
Date |
Sec. & Page no. |
 |
"Universities
Face . . . " |
 |
|
|
|
Schevitz, Tanya. |
"Universities Face Student Deluge." |
San Francisco Chronicle |
4 Sept. 2002: |
A16+ |
Author's last name, first name, with middle initial (if any). "Title
of article." Title of newspaper.
Day (if given) Month (abbreviated except May, June, and July) Year:
Page numbers of article. Section and Page Number(s): If the article is not printed on consecutive pages, just give the first
page followed by + (a plus symbol).
EXAMPLE: Schevitz,
Tanya."Universities Face Student Deluge." San
Francisco Chronicle 4 Sept 2000: A16+.
|
Internet
Web
Page:
| Authors |
Web Page Title |
Site Title |
Date of Publication |
Sponsoring Institution |
Date of Access |
<URL> |
|
"MLA Formatting and Style Guide " |
 |
|
Purdue |
|
 |
| Stolley, Karl. |
"MLA Formatting and Style Guide ."
|
The OWL at Purdue. |
2002. |
Purdue University
Writing Lab
. |
18 July 2003. |
http://owl.english.
purdue.edu/
owl/resource
/557/01/ |
Author's last name (if author is given), first name, middle initial
(if any). Title of Page. Title of Site. (If no title
is given, provide description, such as Home Page) Date of publication
or latest update (abbreviated, except May, June, and July). Name of
any institution or organization sponsoring or associated with the website
(if given). Day Month (abbreviated, except May, June, and July) Year
of researcher's visit.<URL (web address) of the page>.
Note: If any of the information above
is not given (such as last update, author, ...), leave the information
out.
EXAMPLES:
Stolley, Karl. "MLA Formatting and Style Guide." The OWL at Purdue. 10 May 2006. Purdue University Writing Lab. 12 May 2006 <http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/557/01/>.
"Avoiding Plagiarism." The OWL at Purdue. 2002.
Purdue University Writing Lab. 11 Sept.2003. <http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/589/01/>
DeBono, Steve, Terri Rosen. "Accidental Hero: Benefits
of Forensics." 2002. PBS - KQED. 10 Jan. 2003. <http://www.pbs.org/accidentalhero/>
Automated Resource: http://www.studygs.net/citation/mla.htm |
URLs that won't fit on one line of your Works Cited list should be broken at slashes, when possible.
Movies (Media)
| Title |
Director |
Performers |
MediaType |
Recording Studio |
Date of Release |
| The Birds |
|
|
 |
 |
|
| The Birds |
Dir. Hitchcock |
Perf. Tippi Hedron |
Film. |
Universal Pictures |
28 Mar 1963 |
List films by their title, and include the name of the director, the film studio or distributor and its release year. If other information, like names of performers, is relevant to how the film is referred to in your paper, include that as well.
EXAMPLE:
The Usual Suspects. Dir. Bryan Singer. Perf. Kevin Spacey, Gabriel Byrne, Chazz Palminteri, Stephen Baldwin, and Benecio del Toro. Film. Polygram, 1995.
Citizen Kane. Dir. Orson Welles. Perfs. Orson Welles, Joseph Cotton. Film. RKO Radio Pictures, 1941.
Medicine at the Crossroads. Prod. 13/WNET and BBC TV. Videocassette. PBS Video, 1993
See Resources below for other kinds of media.
|
NOTE: The MLA formats
for electronic publications are not completely standardized. For more
information see: Bedford/St. Martin's, "Online:
Using Italics and Underlining in MLA Style."http://www.bedfordstmartins.com/online/cite5.html#1 (Box
5.3)
Underlining vs. italics 
"When composing in HTML, don't substitute underlining for italics,
because underlining in HTML indicates that the underlined text is an
active hypertext link. (All HTML editing programs automatically underline
any text linked to another hypertext or Web site.) When composing Web
documents, use italics for titles, for emphasis, and for words, letters,
and numbers referred to as such. When you write with programs such as
email that don't allow italics, type an underscore mark _like this_
before and after text you would otherwise italicize or underline."
(1)
Example: Works Cited - MLA (doc file)
Continue to "Drag
& Drop" Practices | ! 
(Currently the above practices are not working with Safari.
Centers for Teaching and Learning, San Mateo Community College District, CA USA Updated 9/12/2008 by Sevastopoulos
|
