Transcript Using MLA Format

Using MLA Format
OWL—Online Writing Lab at Purdue
And………
Diana Hacker—A Writer’s Reference
Why Use MLA Format?
 Allows
readers to crossreference your sources easily
 Provides consistent format
within a discipline
 Gives you credibility as a
writer
 Protects you from plagiarism
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Cross-Referencing Your Sources
Preparing a works cited
enables readers to find your
original source material.
If they become really
interested in some of your
sources and want to use them
for their own research, they’ll
be able to find them.
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Establishing Credibility
Using MLA style shows that
you are trustworthy and
honest. You give credit to
the person who came up
with the idea, research, or
words first.
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Where Do I Find MLA Format?
MLA Handbook for Writers of
Research Papers, 5th ed.
 Hacker’s A Writer’s Reference, pp.
355-412
 www.mla.org
 OWL website:
owl.english.purdue.edu

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Works Cited Page
 Lists
every source you use
in your essay
 Gives enough information to
allow readers to find your
sources
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Book
Author (last name, first name).
Title. City: Publisher, date.
Byatt, A. S. Babel Tower. New
York: Random House, 1996.
Lamott, Anne. “Shitty First
Drafts.” Bird By Bird: Some
Instructions on Writing and Life.
New York: Anchor, 1994. 21-27.
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Article in a journal
Ryan, Katy. "Revolutionary
Suicide in Toni Morrison's
Fiction." African American
Review 34 (2000): 389-412.
Wood, Michael. "Broken Dates:
Fiction and the Century."
Kenyon Review 22.3 (2000):
50-64.
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WORK FROM A SERVICE SUCH AS
INFOTRAC
For sources retrieved from a library's
subscription database service, give as
much of the following information as is
available:
 publication information for the source
 the name of the database, underlined
 the name of the service
 the name and location of the library where
you retrieved the source
 your date of access
 the URL of the service
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InfoTrac
Johnson, Kirk. "The Mountain Lions of
Michigan." Endangered Species
Update 19.2 (2002): 27+.
Expanded Academic Index.
InfoTrac. Marymount U Lib.,
Arlington, VA. 26 Nov. 2008
<http://infotrac.galegroup.com>.
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EBSCOhost
Barrera, Rebeca María. "A Case for
Bilingual Education." Scholastic
Parent and Child Nov.-Dec. 2004: 7273. Academic Search Premier.
EBSCOhost. Marymount U Lib.,
Arlington, VA. 1 Feb. 2009
<http://search.ebscohost.com>.
Stedman, Lis. “The Environmental
Impact of Food Waste.” Water 21:
Magazine of the International
Water Association. Oct. 2008: 1011. Environment Complete.
EBSCOhost. Marymount U Lib.,
Arlington, VA. 14 Nov. 2008
<http://search. ebscohost.com>.
Young, Richard. “Not All Meat Is
Created Equal.” Ecologist 38:8
(2008): 20-23. GreenFILE.
EBSCOhost. Marymount U Lib.,
Arlington, VA. 14 Nov. 2008
<http://search.ebscohost.com>.
ProQuest
Kolata, Gina. "Scientists Debating
Future of Hormone Replacement.”
New York Times 23 Oct. 2002:
A20. ProQuest. Marymount U Lib.,
Arlington, VA. 26 Oct. 2007
<http://www.proquest.com>.
AN ENTIRE WEB SITE
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name of the author or corporate author (if
known)
the title of the site, underlined
the names of any editors
the date of publication or last update
the name of any sponsoring organization
the date you accessed the source
the URL in angle brackets.
Provide as much of this information as is
available.
Some Examples
With author
Peterson, Susan Lynn. The Life of
Martin Luther. 2002. 24 Jan.
2005<http://
www.susanlynnpeterson.com/
luther/home.html>.

With corporate (group) author
United States. Environmental
Protection Agency. Drinking
Water Standards. 8 July 2004. 24
Jan. 2005<http://www.epa.
gov/safewater/standards.html>.
Some Examples
Author unknown
Margaret Sanger Papers Project.
18 Oct. 2000. History Dept., New
York U. 6 Dec. 2004 <http://
www.nyu.edu/projects/sanger>.
With editor
Exploring Ancient World Cultures.
Ed. Anthony F. Beavers. 1997. U
of Evansville. 24 Jan. 2005
<http://eawc.evansville.edu
/index.htm>.
NOTE: If the site has no title, substitute a
description, such as "Home page," for the
title. Do not underline the words or put
them in quotation marks.
Yoon, Mina. Home page. 29 Sept.
2004. 12 Jan. 2005<http://
www. pa.msu.edu/~mnyoon>.
SHORT WORK FROM A WEB SITE
Include as many of the following elements
as apply and as are available:
 author's name
 title of the short work, in quotation marks
 title of the site, underlined
 date of publication or last update
 sponsor of the site (if not named as the
author or given as the title of the site)
 date you accessed the source
 the URL in angle brackets
 Usually at least some of these elements
will not apply or will be unavailable.
With author
Shiva, Vandana. "Bioethics: A
Third World Issue." NativeWeb.
15 Sept. 2004 <http://www.
nativeweb.org/pages/legal/
shiva.html>.
Here no sponsor or date of publication was
available. (The date given is the date on
which the researcher accessed the
source.)

Author unknown
"Media Giants." Frontline: The
Merchants of Cool. 2001. PBS
Online. 7 Feb. 2005 <http://
www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/front
line/shows/cool/giants>.
Examples
NOTE: When the URL for a short work from a
Web site is very long, you may give the URL
for the home page and indicate the path by
which readers can access the source.
"Obesity Trends among US Adults
between 1985 and 2001." Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention.
3 Jan. 2003. 17 Feb. 2003 <http://
www. cdc.gov>. Path: Health
Topics A-Z; Obesity Trends; US
Obesity Trends 1985 to 2001.

For government documents published online,
give as much publication information as is
available and end your citation with the date of
access and the URL.
United States. Dept. of Transportation.
Natl. Highway Traffic Safety
Administration. An Investigation of
the Safety Implications of Wireless
Communications in Vehicles. Nov.
1999. 20 May 2001<http://www.
nhtsa.dot.gov/people/injury/
research/wireless>.
Article in a Magazine
List, in order, separated by periods:
 the author's name
 the title of the article, in quotes
 the title of the magazine, underlined
 the date and the page numbers,
separated by a colon
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Examples: Monthly and Weekly
Magazines
Fay, J. Michael. "Land of the Surfing
Hippos." National Geographic Aug.
2004: 100+.
Lord, Lewis. "There's Something about
Mary Todd." US News and World
Report 19 Feb. 2001: 53.
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ARTICLE IN AN ONLINE PERIODICAL
When citing online articles, follow the
guidelines for printed articles, giving
whatever information is available in the
online source.
 End the citation with your date of access
and the URL.
 NOTE: In some online articles,
paragraphs are numbered. For such
articles, include the total number of
paragraphs in your citation.

Belau, Linda. "Trauma and the
Material Signifier." Postmodern
Culture 11.2 (2001): 37 pars. 30
Mar. 2001 <http://jefferson.
village.virginia.edu/pmc/current
. issue/11.2belau.html>.
Article in a Daily Newspaper
Begin with the name of the author, if
known.
 Give the title of the article.
 Next give the name of the newspaper, the
date, and the page numbers (including
the section letter).
 Use a plus sign (+) after the page number
if the article does not appear on
consecutive pages.

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Examples
Brummitt, Chris. "Indonesia's Food
Needs Expected to Soar." Boston
Globe 1 Feb. 2005: A7.
If the city of publication is not obvious,
include it in brackets after the name of
the newspaper:
 City Paper [Washington, DC].

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Examples
Tommasini, Anthony. “Master
Teachers Whose Artistry Glows in
Private.” New York Times 27 Oct.
1998: B2.
Article with no known author:
“Cigarette Sales Fall 30% as
California Tax Rises.” New York
Times 14 Sept. 1999: A17.
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From an online newspaper
Rubin, Joel. "Report Faults
Charter School." Los Angeles
Times 22 Jan.2005. 24 Jan. 2005
<http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/
latimes/search.html>.
GOVERNMENT PUBLICATION
Treat the government agency as the author,
giving the name of the government
followed by the name of the agency.
United States. Dept. of Labor.
America's Dynamic Workforce.
Washington: US Dept. of Labor, 2004.
Handling Quotes in Your Text

Author’s last name and page number(s) of
quote must appear somewhere:
Romantic poetry is characterized by the
“spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings”
(Wordsworth 263).
Wordsworth stated that Romantic poetry was
marked by a “spontaneous overflow of
powerful feelings” (263).
Handling Parenthetical Citations
Sometimes more information is necessary
 More than one author with the same last
name
(W. Wordsworth 23); (D. Wordsworth 224)
 More than one work by the same author
(Joyce, Portrait 121); (Joyce, Ulysses 556)
 Citing indirect sources
(Johnson qtd. in Boswell 250)

Handling Parenthetical Citations
If the source has no known author, then use
an abbreviated version of the title:
Full Title: “California Cigarette Tax
Deters Smokers”
Citation: (“California” A14)
 If the source is only one page in length or is
a web page with no apparent pagination:
Source: Dave Poland’s “Hot Button” web
column
Citation: (Poland)

Handling Long Quotations
David becomes identified and defined by James
Steerforth, a young man with whom David is acquainted
from his days at Salem House. Before meeting Steerforth,
David accepts Steerforth’s name as an authoritative power:
There was an old door in this playground, on which the
boys had a custom of carving their names. . . . In my
dread of the end of the vacation and their coming back, I
could not read a boy’s name, without inquiring in what
tone and with what emphasis he would read, “Take care
of him. He bites.” There was one boy—a certain J.
Steerforth—who cut his name very deep and very often,
who I conceived, would read it in a rather strong voice,
and afterwards pull my hair. (Dickens 68)
For Steerforth, naming becomes an act of possession, as well
as exploitation. Steerforth names David for his fresh look
and innocence, but also uses the name Daisy to exploit
David's romantic tendencies (Dyson 122).
Draft for Monday:
I need to see at least three full pages.
 I need to see an attempt at creating a
works cited list.
 I need to see some in-text citations.
 Don’t make the mistake of thinking
you’ll “go back and insert your sources
later.” This wastes a lot of time and
puts you in danger of plagiarizing.

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