INTRODUCTION TO MLA

Mrs. price: CP English 11

Introduction to MLA:

What is it? A system to give credit to any material you

use in your work. Why do I cite at all??

Because they’re not your ideas. When do I use it?

For the arts and humanities Which edition is current?

The Seventh Edition came out in 2009

Citing a Book:

If you use a book and need to cite from it, you’ll need to find the following information:

Author first and last name Title of the book Publisher and place of publication Most recent year of publication Medium in which you obtained the source

Book Citation: Completed

Campbell, Josie P. Student Companion to Zora Neale Hurston. Westport: Greenwood, 2001. Print.

Notice the first line is right tabbed, but subsequent lines are indented five spaces (tab once).

JOURNAL ARTICLES: (Library Database)

To cite an online journal article (found from Infohio) you’ll need the following information:

Author first and last name Title of work/article Volume and Issue Numbers

Example – 16.3 = Volume 16, Issue 3 Note – If Missing give what information you can find

The year (for scholarly articles) Page numbers for full articles

Database Citation:

Cervo, Nathan. “Jackson’s ‘The Lottery’.” Explicator 50.3 (1992): 183-85.

Database Article:

Database Name Use the Full-Text Database See Example – Do NOT Use “MLA” Here If Only Given One – “Database” – Use

ThatMedium For online databases, use “Web.”Date Printed or Viewed (when you got it)

Tying it all together!

Cervo, Nathan. “Jackson’s ‘The Lottery’.” Explicator 50.3 (1992): 183-85. Academic Search Premier. Web. 22 Nov. 2006.

Citing a Website:

Citing a website in the Seventh Edition has changed!!!!

Check out the changes…

Citing Websites:

Here is the information you’ll need to properly cite a website:

Author’s first and last name Not all sites have authors Do not use groups as authors

Title of page or section used Full title of site (in italics) Most recent date

Look for date updated: if not, use date created: if none, use “n.d.”

Medium For websites, use “Web.”

Date Printed or Viewed (when you got it) Only Give URL If Asked or Hard to Find

Citing Websites: All Completed! Padgett, John B. “William Faulkner.”

The Mississippi Writers Page. Dept. of English, U of Mississippi, 11 Nov.

2008. Web. 4 June 2009. <www.something.com>

Guidelines for MLA Parenthetical Citations:

You must provide references for all quotes, paraphrases, and summaries in your paper.

A parenthetical citation includes the author’s last name and the page number in which you found the information provided in the paper

However, there are exceptions to this rule…

Hints:

The first time you refer to any source in the paper, it is essential that you introduce borrowed material with the full name of the author and the work he/she wrote. (See previous example)

Any time after that you can wait until the end of the quote or paraphrase and use the last name and page number.

Example: Topics of student conversation include

“weekend activities, sporting events and even the daily lunch menu” (Kovach 149).

More Hints:

When paraphrasing and summarizing, make certain readers can tell where your ideas end and the borrowed material begins.

Avoid this problem by introducing paraphrases or summarizes with the author’s last name and citing page numbers at the end.

Helpful Hints Continued:

Do not use p. or pp. to indicate page numbers

Do not use any punctuation to separate the author’s last name from the page numbers

Example: (Kovach 5). Note that the period follows the

parenthetical citation.

Incorporating Quotations the Paper:

When you directly quote the works of others in your paper, you will format quotations differently depending on the length.

Short Quotes (fewer than four typed lines of prose or three lines of verse)- Use quotation marks and provide author’s last name and page number (verse provide line numbers)

Punctuation should always follow as it appears within the quote!!!!

Example:

According to some, talk in the hallways “can get completely out of hand when no teachers are present” (Kovach 184).

According to Kovach, talk in the hallways “can get completely out of hand when no teachers are present” (184).

Author NOT mentioned: Author mentioned:

Using Verse:

Mark breaks in short quotes of verse with a slash, / , at the end of each line of verse

Example:Roses are redViolets are blueSugar is sweet And so are you!

Using Verse:

One can tell the main character is completely in love with the girl whose locker is next to his when he says, “Roses are red/violets are blue/sugar is sweet/and so are you” (1-4).

Long Quotations:

Place quotations longer than four typed lines in a free-standing block of text

Omit quotation marks Start the quote on a new line, with the

entire quote indented one inch from the left margin

Maintain double spacing Parenthetical citation should come

after the closing punctuation

Long Quote Example:

…this can be seen at various points throughout history, especially when Burns remarks:

In her time, Titanic surpassed all rivals in luxury and opulence. She offered an on-board swimming pool, a gymnasium, a squash court, a Turkish bath, a

Verandah Cafe and libraries in both the first and second class. First class common rooms were adorned with ornate wood paneling, expensive furniture and other decorations. The third class general room had pine paneling and sturdy teak furniture. There were also barber shops in both the first and second class. In addition, the Café Parisien offered cuisine for the first-class passengers, with a sunlit veranda fitted with trellis decorations. (97)Clearly, the Titanic is a prime example of how luxury was used to…

NO QUOTATION MARKS ARE USED!

Adding Words:

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

Example: “some individuals [who retell “Beowulf”] make a point of learning every Anglo Saxon word” (Smith 5).

Omitting Words:

If you eliminate a word or words from the quote, you need to indicate this with ellipsis marks, which are three periods (…) preceded and followed by a space

Example: “some individuals make it a point of learning every Anglo Saxon word … and in the correct dialect of Old English” (Smith 5).

In- Text Rules of Thumb:

You must always use a lead-in (LI) and follow-up (FU) when using any work in your paper (See handout)

For each new paragraph, use the author’s last name and page number in (), even if you have already introduced the author previously

For paraphrases, you may wait until the end of the source and then use the parenthetical citation

Go out and “Just do it!”

You can do it…You can do it…put quotations into it!put quotations into it!

“” “” “” “”“” “” “” “”