MLA DOCUMENTATION & STYLE

Formal MLA Format

1 Header

Heading 1

Title

Title Page

Center your text Go down about 1/3 of your page Add your title and your name. Hit enter eight times, then center my name (Ms. Lane), English 7, and then the date.

Margins and Spacing

Change all margins to 1

1. 2. 3.

Select FILE Select PAGE SETUP Reduce right and left margins to 1

Double space the entire document (THERE ARE NO EXCEPTIONS!)

1. 2. 3.

Select FORMAT Select PARAGRAPH Select LINE SPACING, choose DOUBLE

Header

Insert a header with your last name and the page number
1. 2.

3.
4. 5.

Select VIEW Select HEADER/FOOTER Select right justification Type your last name only Click page number icon Select close

6.

Title and Text

Create a title
1. 2.

3. 4.

Select center justification Capitalize all important words (and first and last) DO NOT: Underline, Italicize, Boldface Make the title clever but indicative of your subject and direction

Begin your text NO extra spaces! Save your document

Mac to PC

Saving a file from a Mac to a pc you first save the original file and keep. The next step will be to select file and open select file, save as then your next pop up you need to go underneath the file name and select the file type as Rich Text Format. Or .rtf Almost all word processing programs can always read rich text because it is a universal file type.

Quotation vs. Paraphrase

Direct copy of the text Word-for-word restatement Uses quotation marks Uses parenthetical citation

Summary restatement of the text SIGNIFICANT changes to syntax and diction No quotation marks
Uses parenthetical citation

Quote

Paraphrase
The job of the admissions officer is to select students for the freshman class who will contribute to the overall success of the college or university.

Admissions officers see themselves as being responsible to their school as a whole. They are building a freshman class, which must become a successful part of the college or university at large.

Formatting Quotations

Citation follows the quotation directly At the time we thought, gone are the days of care (Frick 29), but now we know different. Punctuation always outside parenthesis
Do dreams always alter our perception of waking reality (Wilson 8)?

Formatting Quotations

Long quotations (+4 typed lines) should be blocked

Indent

one additional tab No quotation marks Citation outside of punctuation

Formatting Quotations

Omit words using ellipses Pete remembers, It was like he changed . . .right before my eyes (97). Add words using brackets He explains, There is no escape anywhere . . . .It is impossible to break through [the daggers of flames] (66).

Be careful!

Plagiarism = a citation that appears in your paper but is not accompanied by a correct Works Cited reference Plagiarism = a Works Cited reference that has no corresponding parenthetical citation in the text of the paper

Parenthetical Citation

Usually contains
Authors

(Jones 54).
No comma!

last name Page number for that information

No page number?
Authors

last name only

No author?
Title

of the work (full the first time) Underline or use Quotation Marks as appropriate

Parenthetical Citation

May contain only the page number IF:

The

previous citation was from the same source, only a different page The authors name appears in the leadin/context of the quote/paraphrase Morrison aptly concludes the novels quest theme with Milkmans final insight: if you surrendered to the air, you could ride it (337).

Parenthetical Citation

Use it when:
You

Dont use it when:

You

quote directly from the source You paraphrase (change SYNTAX and DICTION) from the source

refer to common knowledge You quote familiar proverbs You quote common quotations

When in doubt, USE IT!

Parenthetical Citation

Should directly follow information cited

Multiple

sentences from the same page of same source? Citation follows the last.

Should appear as part of the sentence as Kennedy did in 1963 (Brown 6).

Parenthetical Citation

Two authors with same last name?

Include

first initial (or first name if same) title: (Jones, Waking Up 54).

Two works by same author?

Include

Indirect source?
Include

qtd. in: Ulrich argues that high school has become a stomping ground for thugs (qtd. in Jones 54).

Works Cited Format

Begins after the last page of the paper (a separate page from all other text) Includes the header with the last page number Is double spaced as the rest of the paper (NO EXTRA SPACES!) Has the words Works Cited centered at the top of the page (no bold, underline or quotation marks)
W:\Miller\Students Read Only\mla formatting.doc

Works Cited Format

Has all entries alphabetized by first information (usu. authors last name) Uses a hanging indent for all entries
Backwards

of a paragraph (or first line indent) Means the first line is not indented, but all subsequent lines are Go to HOME tab, select PARAGRAPH, under indentation select SPECIAL and HANGING
W:\Miller\Students Read Only\mla formatting.doc

Works Cited Citations

General format for most sources:

Authors last name, first name. Title of the Work. (short piece titles in quotation marks, long pieces in italics) Publication information.

Sources by more than one author list all authors (up to three) with the second and third as first name last name separated by and (2 people) and a comma (3 people). More than one source by an author lists subsequent sources by ---.

Most Common Works Cited Citations

Book by single author: Jones, Bob. I Wish I Were an Oscar Meyer Weiner. Philadelphia: Houghton-Mifflin, 1987. Book by multiple authors: Crothers, Amy and Marci Smith. All I Want to Know. New York: Doubleday, 1981.

Most Common Works Cited Citations

Article in a daily newspaper: McNulty, Timothy. Ravenstahl Finds Lettermans Spotlight Bittersweet. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 15 September 2006: A1. Article in a monthly magazine: Gray, Jim. All Around the Mulberry Bush. Country Living April 2001: 23-25, 27.

Most Common Works Cited Citations

Article in a weekly magazine: Kendal, Geoff. Vision and Re-Vision of Artisans. Time 13 June 1987: 34. On-line version of a printed magazine: Kendal, Geoff. Vision and Re-Vision of Artisans. Time 13 June 1987. <http://www.time.com/13Jun1987/fo od/artisians/1348284763.html>

Most Common Works Cited Citations

Article from a professional website Disneyland Refurbishments and Additions Bring Improvements to Park. The Disneyland Report 15 May 2006. The Disneyland Report. 15 Sept. 2006. <http://www.disneylandreport.com/di sneynews/060515-Disneylandrefurbishments-news.html>

Most Common Works Cited Citations

Article from a database Brooker, Jewel Spears. "T. S. Eliot." Dictionary of Literary Biography. Peter Quartermain, ed. Gale Research Company, 1986. DISCovering Authors. Online Edition. Gale, 2003. Student Resource Center. Thomson Gale. 15 Sept. 2006

SRC Student Resource Center -- Reference Display

Works Cited How-to

Avoid CITATION MAKERS Rather, LOOK IT UP:

MLA

Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, 6th ed. A Guide to MLA Documentation, 5th ed. On-line guide to MLA style http://geocities.com/researchguide/12biblio.htm l