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MLA Style Guide

General Guidelines

 Type your paper on a computer and print it out on standard, white 8.5 x 11-inch paper.
 Double-space the text of your paper, and use a legible font (e.g. Times New Roman). Whatever
font you choose, MLA recommends that the regular and italics type styles contrast enough that
they are recognizable one from another. The font size should be 12 pt.
 Leave only one space after periods or other punctuation marks (unless otherwise instructed by
your instructor).
 Set the margins of your document to 1 inch on all sides.
 Indent the first line of paragraphs one half-inch from the left margin. MLA recommends that you
use the Tab key as opposed to pushing the Space Bar five times.
 Create a header that numbers all pages consecutively in the upper right-hand corner, one-half inch
from the top and flush with the right margin. (Note: Your instructor may ask that you omit the
number on your first page. Always follow your instructor's guidelines.)
 Use italics throughout your essay for the titles of longer works and, only when absolutely
necessary, providing emphasis.
 If you have any endnotes, include them on a separate page before your Works Cited page. Entitle
the section Notes (centered, unformatted).
 Use online resources to help with works cited (www.bibme.org, www.easybib.com,
www.sourceaid.com)

Formatting the First Page of Your Paper

 Do not make a title page for your paper unless specifically requested.
 In the upper left-hand corner of the first page, list your name, your instructor's name, the course,
and the date. Again, be sure to use double-spaced text.
 Double space again and center the title. Do not underline, italicize, or place your title in quotation
marks; write the title in Title Case (standard capitalization), not in all capital letters.
 Use quotation marks and/or italics when referring to other works in your title, just as you would in
your text: Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas as Morality Play; Human Weariness in "After Apple
Picking"
 Double space between the title and the first line of the text.
 Create a header in the upper right-hand corner that includes your last name, followed by a space
with a page number; number all pages consecutively with Arabic numerals (1, 2, 3, 4, etc.), one-
half inch from the top and flush with the right margin. (Note: Your instructor or other readers may
ask that you omit last name/page number header on your first page. Always follow instructor
guidelines.)
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When a Citation Is Not Needed

Common sense and ethics should determine your need for documenting sources. You do not need to give
sources for familiar proverbs, well-known quotations or common knowledge. Remember, this is a
rhetorical choice, based on audience. If you're writing for an expert audience of a scholarly journal, for
example, they'll have different expectations of what constitutes common knowledge.

In-Text Citations for Book: Author-Page Style

MLA format follows the author-page method of in-text citation. This means that the author's last name
and the page number(s) from which the quotation or paraphrase is taken must appear in the text, and a
complete reference should appear on your Works Cited page. The author's name may appear either in the
sentence itself or in parentheses following the quotation or paraphrase, but the page number(s) should
always appear in the parentheses, not in the text of your sentence. For example:

Wordsworth stated that Romantic poetry was marked by a "spontaneous overflow of powerful
feelings" (263).

Romantic poetry is characterized by the "spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings"

(Wordsworth 263).

Wordsworth extensively explored the role of emotion in the creative process (263).

Both citations in the examples above, (263) and (Wordsworth 263), tell readers that the information in the
sentence can be located on page 263 of a work by an author named Wordsworth.

In-text Citations for Print Sources with No Known Author

When a source has no known author, use a shortened title of the work instead of an author name. Place
the title in quotation marks if it's a short work (e.g. articles) or italicize it if it's a longer work (e.g. plays,
books, television shows, entire websites) and provide a page number.

We see so many global warming hotspots in North America likely because this region

has “more readily accessible climatic data and more comprehensive programs to monitor

and study environmental change . . . ” (“Impact of Global Warming” 6).

In this example, since the reader does not know the author of the article, an abbreviated title of the article
appears in the parenthetical citation which corresponds to the full name of the article which appears first
at the left-hand margin of its respective entry in the Works Cited. Thus, the writer includes the title in
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quotation marks as the signal phrase in the parenthetical citation in order to lead the reader directly to the
source on the Works Cited page.

Citing a Work by Multiple Authors

For a source with three or fewer authors, list the authors' last names in the text or in the parenthetical
citation:

Smith, Yang, and Moore argue that tougher gun control is not needed in the United States (76).

The authors state "Tighter gun control in the United States erodes Second Amendment rights"
(Smith, Yang, and Moore 76).

Citing Indirect Sources

Sometimes you may have to use an indirect source. An indirect source is a source cited in another source.
For such indirect quotations, use "qtd. in" to indicate the source you actually consulted. For example:

Ravitch argues that high schools are pressured to act as "social service centers, and they

don't do that well" (qtd. in Weisman 259).

Note that, in most cases, a responsible researcher will attempt to find the original source, rather than
citing an indirect source.

Short Quotations

To indicate short quotations (fewer than four typed lines of prose or three lines of verse) in your text,
enclose the quotation within double quotation marks. Provide the author and specific page citation (in the
case of verse, provide line numbers) in the text, and include a complete reference on the Works Cited
page. Punctuation marks such as periods, commas, and semicolons should appear after the parenthetical
citation. Question marks and exclamation points should appear within the quotation marks if they are a
part of the quoted passage but after the parenthetical citation if they are a part of your text. For example:

According to some, dreams express "profound aspects of personality" (Foulkes 184), though
others disagree.

According to Foulkes's study, dreams may express "profound aspects of personality" (184).

Is it possible that dreams may express "profound aspects of personality" (Foulkes 184)?

Mark breaks in short quotations of verse with a slash, /, at the end of each line of verse: (a space should
precede and follow the slash)
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Cullen concludes, "Of all the things that happened there / That's all I remember" (11-12).

Long Quotations

For quotations that extend to more than four lines of verse or prose: place quotations 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 after the closing
punctuation mark. When quoting verse, maintain original line breaks. (You should maintain double-
spacing throughout your essay.) For example:

Nelly Dean treats Heathcliff poorly and dehumanizes him throughout her narration:

They entirely refused to have it in bed with them, or even in their room, and I had no more

sense, so, I put it on the landing of the stairs, hoping it would be gone on the morrow. By

chance, or else attracted by hearing his voice, it crept to Mr. Earnshaw's door, and there he

found it on quitting his chamber. Inquiries were made how it got there; I was obliged to

confess, and in recompense for my cowardice and inhumanity was sent out of the house.

(Bronte 78)

Adding or Omitting Words In Quotations

If you add a word or words in a quotation, you should put brackets around the words to indicate that they
are not part of the original text.

Jan Harold Brunvand, in an essay on urban legends, states: "some individuals [who retell urban
legends] make a point of learning every rumor or tale" (78).

If you omit a word or words from a quotation, you should indicate the deleted word or words by using
ellipsis marks, which are three periods ( . . . ) preceded and followed by a space. For example:

In an essay on urban legends, Jan Harold Brunvand notes that "some individuals make a point of
learning every recent rumor or tale . . . and in a short time a lively exchange of details occurs" (78).

Please note that brackets are not needed around ellipses unless adding brackets would clarify your use of
ellipses.
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MLA Works Cited Page: Basic Format

According to MLA style, you must have a Works Cited page at the end of your research paper. All entries
in the Works Cited page must correspond to the works cited in your main text.

Basic Rules

 Begin your Works Cited page on a separate page at the end of your research paper. It should have
the same one-inch margins and last name, page number header as the rest of your paper.
 Label the page Works Cited (do not italicize the words Works Cited or put them in quotation
marks) and center the words Works Cited at the top of the page.
 Double space all citations, but do not skip spaces between entries.
 Indent the second and subsequent lines of citations five spaces so that you create a hanging indent.
 List page numbers of sources efficiently, when needed. If you refer to a journal article that
appeared on pages 225 through 250, list the page numbers on your Works Cited page as 225-50.

Additional Basic Rules New to MLA 2009

 For every entry, you must determine the Medium of Publication. Most entries will likely be listed
as Print or Web sources, but other possibilities may include Film, CD-ROM, or DVD.
 Writers are no longer required to provide URLs for Web entries. However, if your instructor or
publisher insists on them, include them in angle brackets after the entry and end with a period. For
long URLs, break lines only at slashes.
 If you're citing an article or a publication that was originally issued in print form but that you
retrieved from an online database, you should type the online database name in italics. You do not
need to provide subscription information in addition to the database name.

Capitalization and Punctuation

 Capitalize each word in the titles of articles, books, etc, but do not capitalize articles (the, an),
prepositions, or conjunctions unless one is the first word of the title or subtitle: Gone with the
Wind, The Art of War, There Is Nothing Left to Lose.
 New to MLA 2009: Use italics (instead of underlining) for titles of larger works (books,
magazines) and quotation marks for titles of shorter works (poems, articles)

Listing Author Names

Entries are listed alphabetically by the author's last name (or, for entire edited collections, editor names).
Author names are written last name first; middle names or middle initials follow the first name:

Burke, Kenneth
Levy, David M.
Wallace, David Foster
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Do not list titles (Dr., Sir, Saint, etc.) or degrees (PhD, MA, DDS, etc.) with names. A book listing an
author named "John Bigbrain, PhD" appears simply as "Bigbrain, John"; do, however, include suffixes
like "Jr." or "II." Putting it all together, a work by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. would be cited as "King,
Martin Luther, Jr.," with the suffix following the first or middle name and a comma.

Work with No Known Author

Alphabetize works with no known author by their title; use a shortened version of the title in the
parenthetical citations in your paper. In this case, Boring Postcards USA has no known author:

Baudrillard, Jean. Simulacra and Simulations. [...]

Boring Postcards USA. [...]

Burke, Kenneth. A Rhetoric of Motives. [...]

When you are gathering book sources, be sure to make note of the following bibliographic items: author
name(s), book title, publication date, publisher, place of publication. The medium of publication for all
“hard copy” books is Print.

Basic Format

The first-give author’s name or a book with a single author's name appears in last name, first name
format. The basic form for a book citation is:

Lastname, Firstname. Title of Book. Place of Publication: Publisher, Year of Publication. Medium.

Book with One Author

Gleick, James. Chaos: Making a New Science. New York: Penguin, 1987. Print.

Henley, Patricia. The Hummingbird House. Denver: MacMurray, 1999. Print.

Book with More Than One Author

The first given name appears in last name, first name format; subsequent author names appear in first
name last name format.

Gillespie, Paula, and Neal Lerner. The Allyn and Bacon Guide to Peer Tutoring. Boston: Allyn, 2000. Print.

If there are more than three authors, you may choose to list only the first author followed by the phrase et
al. (Latin for "and others") in place of the subsequent authors' names (Note that there is a period after “al”
in “et al.” Also note that there is never a period after the “et” in “et al.”).

Wysocki, Anne Frances, et al. Writing New Media: Theory and Applications for Expanding the Teaching of
Composition. Logan, UT: Utah State UP, 2004. Print.

Two or More Books by the Same Author

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List works alphabetically by title. (Remember to ignore articles like A, An, and The.) Provide the author’s
name in last name, first name format for the first entry only. For each subsequent entry by the same
author, use three hyphens and a period.

Palmer, William J. Dickens and New Historicism. New York: St. Martin's, 1997. Print.

---. The Films of the Eighties: A Social History. Carbondale: Southern Illinois UP, 1993.
Print.

Book with No Author

List by title of the book. Incorporate these entries alphabetically just as you would with works that
include an author name. For example, the following entry might appear between entries of works written
by Dean, Shaun and Forsythe, Jonathan.

Encyclopedia of Indiana. New York: Somerset, 1993. Print.

Remember that for an in-text (parenthetical) citation of a book with no author, provide the name of the
work in the signal phrase and the page number in parentheses. You may also use a shortened version of
the title of the book accompanied by the page number. For more information see In-text Citations for
Print Sources with No Known Author section of In-text Citations: The Basics, which you can link to at
the bottom of this page.

Article in a Magazine

Cite by listing the article's author, putting the title of the article in quotations marks, and italicizing the
periodical title. Follow with the date of publication. Remember to abbreviate the month. The basic format
is as follows:

Author(s). "Title of Article." Title of Periodical Day Month Year: pages. Medium of publication.

Poniewozik, James. "TV Makes a Too-Close Call." Time 20 Nov. 2000: 70-71. Print.

Buchman, Dana. "A Special Education." Good Housekeeping Mar. 2006: 143-48. Print.

Article in a Newspaper

Cite a newspaper article as you would a magazine article, but note the different pagination in a
newspaper. If there is more than one edition available for that date (as in an early and late edition of a
newspaper), identify the edition following the date (e.g., 17 May 1987, late ed.).

Brubaker, Bill. "New Health Center Targets County's Uninsured Patients." Washington Post 24 May 2007:
LZ01. Print.

Krugman, Andrew. "Fear of Eating." New York Times 21 May 2007 late ed.: A1. Print.

If the newspaper is a less well-known or local publication, include the city name and state in brackets
after the title of the newspaper.
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Behre, Robert. "Presidential Hopefuls Get Final Crack at Core of S.C. Democrats." Post and Courier
[Charleston, SC] 29 Apr. 2007: A11. Print.

Trembacki, Paul. "Brees Hopes to Win Heisman for Team." Purdue Exponent [West Lafayette, IN] 5 Dec.
2000: 20. Print.

MLA Works Cited: Electronic Sources (Web Publications)

MLA lists electronic sources as Web Publications. Thus, when including the medium of publication for
electronic sources, list the medium as Web.

It is always a good idea to maintain personal copies of electronic information, when possible. It is
good practice to print or save Web pages or, better, using a program like Adobe Acrobat, to keep your
own copies for future reference. Most Web browsers will include URL/electronic address information
when you print, which makes later reference easy. Also, you might use the Bookmark function in your
Web browser in order to return to documents more easily.

Important Note on the Use of URLs in MLA: MLA no longer requires the use of URLs in MLA
citations. Because Web addresses are not static (i.e. they change often) and because documents
sometimes appear in multiple places on the Web (e.g. on multiple databases), MLA explains that most
readers can find electronic sources via title or author searches in Internet Search Engines.

For instructors or editors that still wish to require the use of URLs, MLA suggests that the URL appear in
angle brackets after the date of access. Break URLs only after slashes.

Aristotle. Poetics. Trans. S. H. Butcher. The Internet Classics Archive. Web Atomic and Massachusetts
Institute of Technology, 13 Sept. 2007. Web. 4 Nov. 2008. ‹http://classics.mit.edu/›.

Abbreviations Commonly Used with Electronic Sources

If publishing information is unavailable for entries that require publication information such as publisher
(or sponsor) names and publishing dates, MLA requires the use of special abbreviations to indicate that
this information is not available. Use n.p. to indicate that neither a publisher nor a sponsor name has
been provided. Use n.d. when the Web page does not provide a publication date.

When an entry requires that you provide a page but no pages are provided in the source (as in the case of
an online-only scholarly journal or a work that appears in an online-only anthology), use the abbreviation
n. pag.

Basic Style for Citations of Electronic Sources (Including Online Databases)

Here are some common features you should try and find before citing electronic sources in MLA style.
Not every Web page will provide all of the following information. However, collect as much of the
following information as possible both for your citations and for your research notes:

 Author and/or editor names (if available)

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 Article name in quotation marks (if applicable)
 Title of the Website, project, or book in italics. (Remember that some Print publications have Web
publications with slightly different names. They may, for example, include the additional
information or otherwise modified information, like domain names [e.g. .com or .net].)
 Any version numbers available, including revisions, posting dates, volumes, or issue numbers.
 Publisher information, including the publisher name and publishing date.
 Take note of any page numbers (if available).
 Date you accessed the material.
 URL (if required, or for your own personal reference).

Citing an Entire Web Site

It is necessary to list your date of access because web postings are often updated, and information
available on one date may no longer be available later. Be sure to include the complete address for the
site.

Remember to use n.p. if no publisher name is available and n.d. if no publishing date is given.

Editor, author, or compiler name (if available). Name of Site. Version number. Name of
institution/organization affiliated with the site (sponsor or publisher), date of resource creation (if available).
Medium of publication. Date of access.

The Purdue OWL Family of Sites. The Writing Lab and OWL at Purdue and Purdue U, 2008. Web. 23
Apr. 2008.

Felluga, Dino. Guide to Literary and Critical Theory. Purdue U, 28 Nov. 2003. Web. 10 May 2006.

A Page on a Web Site

For an individual page on a Web site, list the author or alias if known, followed by the information
covered above for entire Web sites. Remember to use n.p. if no publisher name is available and n.d. if no
publishing date is given.

"How to Make Vegetarian Chili." eHow.com. eHow, n.d. Web. 24 Feb. 2009.

An Image (Including a Painting, Sculpture, or Photograph)

Provide the artist's name, the work of art italicized, the date of creation, the institution and city where the
work is housed. Follow this initial entry with the name of the Website in italics, the medium of
publication, and the date of access.

Goya, Francisco. The Family of Charles IV. 1800. Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid. Museo
National del Prado. Web. 22 May 2006.

Klee, Paul. Twittering Machine. 1922. Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Artchive. Web. 22
May 2006.

If the work is cited on the web only, then provide the name of the artist, the title of the work, the medium
of the work, and then follow the citation format for a website. If the work is posted via a username, use
that username for the author.
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brandychloe. "Great Horned Owl Family." Photograph. Webshots. American Greetings, 22 May 2006.
Web. 5 Nov. 2009.

An Article in a Web Magazine

Provide the author name, article name in quotation marks, title of the Web magazine in italics, publisher
name, publication date, medium of publication, and the date of access. Remember to use n.p. if no
publisher name is available and n.d. if not publishing date is given.

Bernstein, Mark. "10 Tips on Writing the Living Web." A List Apart: For People Who Make Websites. A List
Apart Mag., 16 Aug. 2002. Web. 4 May 2009.

A Painting, Sculpture, or Photograph

Include the artist's name. Give the title of the artwork in italics. Provide the date of composition. If the
date of composition is unknown, place the abbreviation n.d. in place of the date. Finally, provide the
name of the institution that houses the artwork followed by the location of the institution.

Goya, Francisco. The Family of Charles IV. 1800. Museo del Prado, Madrid.

For photographic reproductions of artwork (e.g. images of artwork in a book), cite the bibliographic
information as above followed by the information for the source in which the photograph appears,
including page or reference numbers (plate, figure, etc.).

Goya, Francisco. The Family of Charles IV. 1800. Museo del Prado, Madrid. Gardener's Art Through the
Ages. 10th ed. By Richard G. Tansey and Fred S. Kleiner. Fort Worth: Harcourt Brace. 939. Print.

For artwork in an online format, consult “An Image (Including a Painting, Sculpture, or Photograph)” by
following the link Works Cited: Electronic Sources at the bottom of this page.

Films or Movies

List films (in theaters or not yet on DVD or video) by their title. Include the name of the director, the film
studio or distributor, and the release year. If relevant, list performer names after the director’s name. Use
the abbreviation perf. to head the list. List film as the medium of publication. To cite a DVD or other
video recording, see “Recorded Films and Movies” below.

The Usual Suspects. Dir. Bryan Singer. Perf. Kevin Spacey, Gabriel Byrne, Chazz Palminteri, Stephen
Baldwin, and Benecio del Toro. Polygram, 1995. Film.

To emphasize specific performers (perf.) or directors (dir.), begin the citation with the name of the
desired performer or director, followed by the appropriate abbreviation.

Lucas, George, dir. Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. Twentieth Century Fox, 1977. Film.
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Works Cited

"Blueprint Lays Out Clear Path for Climate Action." Environmental Defense Fund. Environmental

Defense Fund, 8 May 2007. Web. 24 May 2009.

Clinton, Bill. Interview by Andrew C. Revkin. “Clinton on Climate Change.” New York Times. New York

Times, May 2007. Web. 25 May 2009.

Dean, Cornelia. "Executive on a Mission: Saving the Planet." New York Times. New York Times, 22 May

2007. Web. 25 May 2009.

Ebert, Roger. "An Inconvenient Truth." Rev. of An Inconvenient Truth, dir. Davis Guggenheim.

Rogerebert.com. Sun-Times News Group, 2 June 2006. Web. 24 May 2009.

GlobalWarming.org. Cooler Heads Coalition, 2007. Web. 24 May 2009.

Gowdy, John. "Avoiding Self-organized Extinction: Toward a Co-evolutionary Economics of

Sustainability." International Journal of Sustainable Development and World Ecology 14.1

(2007): 27-36. Print.

An Inconvenient Truth. Dir. Davis Guggenheim. Perf. Al Gore, Billy West. Paramount, 2006. DVD.

Leroux, Marcel. Global Warming: Myth Or Reality?: The Erring Ways of Climatology. New York:

Springer, 2005. Print.

Milken, Michael, Gary Becker, Myron Scholes, and Daniel Kahneman. "On Global Warming and

Financial Imbalances." New Perspectives Quarterly 23.4 (2006): 63. Print

Nordhaus, William D. "After Kyoto: Alternative Mechanisms to Control Global Warming." American

Economic Review 96.2 (2006): 31-34. Print.

---. "Global Warming Economics." Science 9 Nov. 2001: 1283-84. Science Online. Web. 24 May 2009.

Shulte, Bret. "Putting a Price on Pollution." Usnews.com. US News & World Rept., 6 May 2007. Web. 24

May 2009.

Uzawa, Hirofumi. Economic Theory and Global Warming. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2003. Print.