Transcript MLA Style Guidelines

MLA Style Guidelines
Modern Language Association
MLA
• Modern Language Association
Guidelines
–Format for writing papers
–The rules and guidelines used to
type your work.
Basic Rules
• 12 point font, Times New Roman
– No fancy fonts!
• Double spaced
• White paper
• Margins are one inch
Heading
Name
Instructor’s Name
Title of the Class
Date of Assignment
Title Gets Centered
The first line begins right away , with the
paragraph indent made by pressing the TAB key
on the left.
Header
• When your paper runs more than one page,
you need to add a header.
Insert a header that includes JUST your last name
and page number.
Printing and Stapling
• In the library, if your paper does not print
immediately, ask for help. Do not attempt to
print over and over again without checking
the printer and getting help.
• Only staple in upper left corner. You are not
creating a book.
• Save your paper to an email or flash drive.
Saving it to the library computer will be a
problem. You are WARNED!
Adding the Experts
• A paraphrase is a restatement of the text of your source in
your own words.
• Quotations can be direct (using quotation marks) or indirect
(no quotation marks and often introduced by ‘that’).
– A noted scientist states, “A hundred years ago, the average
temperature of the earth was about 13.7°C (56.5°F); today,
it is closer to 14.4°C (57.9°F)” (Silver 11).
– A noted scientist observes that the earth’s current average
temperature is 57.9°F compared to 56.5°F a hundred years
ago (Silver 11).
How Do I Cite?
There are two parts to citing according
to MLA style:
1. Brief In-text citations (in parentheses)
within the body of your essay or paper
2. List of full citations in the Works Cited
page at the end of your paper
Adding the Experts/ Citing a Source
Note:
References cited in the text must appear
in the Works Cited.
Conversely, each entry in the Works Cited
must be cited in the text.
In - Text Citations
• You must provide information that will allow
the reader to locate exactly where you found
information in your sources. Usually this is the
author's last name and a page number, for
example: (Polar 188)
Place the parenthetical reference at the end of the
sentence before the punctuation mark.
– The average world temperature is rising at an
alarming rate of 200 degrees Celsius per year (Polar
188).
Adding the expert to your argument.
• Basically, X is saying “____________” (pg).
• In other words, X believes “ ____________”
(pg).
• In making this comment, X argues that
“______________” (pg).
• If there is no page, then you do not add it.
MLA provides these
guidelines for citations:
In-text:
“References in the text must clearly point to
specific sources in the list of works cited”
(Gibaldi 214).
Works Cited:
“Identify the location of the borrowed
information as specifically as possible”
(Gibaldi 215).
In –Text Citations
If you use an author's name in a sentence (known as a
“signal phrase”), do not use it again in the parenthetical
citation. Simply give the page numbers:
– Polar argues that global warming will help heat our
jacuzzis (122).
If there is no known author, use the title and page number
in your citation:
– A single car trip from Los Angeles to San Francisco
produces more pollution than a tree does in its entire
lifetime (Save My Greenhouse 47).
They say … I say
• Use the frameworks to help you write
smoothly. The MLA citations just ask you
to give credit to someone else for their
words/ You are using these experts to
strengthen your position.
Works Cited ( sample)
Aristotle. Poetics. Ed. S. H. Butcher. The Internet
Classics Archive. Massachusetts Institute of
Technology. Sept. 2007. Web. 23 Nov. 2011.
Gillespie, Paula, and Neal Lerner. The Allyn and
Bacon Guide to Peer Tutoring. Boston: Allyn,
2000. Print.
Wysocki. Anne Frances. Writing New Media: Theory
and Applications for Expanding the Teaching of
Composition. Logan, UT: Utah State UP, 2004.
Print.
Working the Works Cited
• Begins on a separate page and is labeled Words Cited
(no italics or quotation marks).
• Double space, but do not skip spaces between entries.
• Indent the second and subsequent lines five spaces.
• List page numbers only when needed.
• Determine the Medium of Publication. Most will be
print or web sources.
Basic Format: Last name, First name. Title of Book. Place
of Publication: Publisher, Year of Publication. Medium
of Publication.