M.L.A. Format & Citing Quotations

Q: Why can’t I use footnotes?

MLA footnotes: extra information

E.G. Definition of a word; more information about a concept needed to understand your argument

MLA Footnotes

Sigmund Freud’s concept of the Ego[1] is essential to understanding Leonardo’s motivations. Leonardo’s actions seem directly influenced by his need…

[1] Id, ego, and super-ego are the three parts of the psychic apparatus defined in Sigmund Freud's structural model of the psyche; they are the three theoretical constructs in terms of whose activity and interaction mental life is described.

MLA Basics

“Modern Language Association”

Used universally in the study of English

In text citations

MLA = In Text Citations

Samuel Johnson once wrote, “What is written without effort is in general read without pleasure” (Johnson 21).

Last name of author

Page reference

Punctuation

How to Cite…

Sophisticatedly

Part One:

Integrating a Quotation into the Essay

What NOT to do…

The young boy is clearly immature. When Mangan’s sister speaks to him for the first time, he demonstrates this immaturity. “When she addressed the first words to me I was so confused that I did not know what to answer” (Joyce 183).

Why not?

The young boy is clearly immature. When Mangan’s sister speaks to him for the first time, he demonstrates this immaturity. “When she addressed the first words to me I was so confused that I did not know what to answer” (Joyce 183).

There’s no flow to this sentence. The quote is sitting off by itself, asking the reader to understand it out of context.

What TO do…

Integrate! Make it FLOW!

The young boy is clearly immature. When Mangan’s sister speaks to him for the first time, he demonstrates this immaturity. He reflects, “When she addressed the first words to me I was so confused that I did not know what to answer” (Joyce 183). Because he does not know how to speak to this girl, the young boy is clearly ill-equipped to deal with the complexities of love.

Part Two:

Dealing with a long quote

What NOT to do…

Do not use an excessively long quote if the entire thing is not RELEVANT to your argument

Why?

It’s unnecessary essay “padding;” it interferes with the “conciseness” of your argument

What TO do…

Cut out any unnecessary parts of the quote

Add an ellipsis in square brackets […] where you remove words

Be sure the quote still flows in proper sentences!

For Example Let’s say I want to use the following quote to

demonstrate how the bazaar girl is disinterested in the little boy:

“Observing me the young lady came over and asked me did I wish to buy anything. The tone of her voice was not encouraging; she seemed to have spoken to me out of a sense of duty. I looked humbly at the great jar that stood like eastern guards at either side of the dark entrance to the stall and murmured:-No, thank youThe young lady changed the position of one of the vases and went back to the two young men. They began to talk of the same subject. Once or twice the young lady glanced at me over her shoulder.”

It’s too Much!

A lot of the quote isn’t relevant; doesn’t help to prove the point

So, I pick and choose what I want…

“Observing me the young lady came over and asked me did I wish to buy anything. The tone of her voice was not encouraging; she seemed to have spoken to me out of a sense of duty. I looked humbly at the great jar that stood like eastern guards at either side of the dark entrance to the stall and murmured:-No, thank youThe young lady changed the position of one of the vases and went back to the two young men. They began to talk of the same subject. Once or twice the young lady glanced at me over her shoulder.”

Pick & Choose…then Piece Together

Now I take the relevant parts and string them together. I insert an ellipsis in square brackets […] where I’ve removed words.

The tone of her voice was not encouraging; she seemed to have spoken to me out of a sense of duty. […] The young lady changed the position of one of the vases and went back to the two young men. […] Once or twice the young lady glanced at me over her shoulder” (Joyce 186).

I can even chop to create new sentences…

“Observing me the young lady came over and asked me did I wish to buy anything. The tone of her voice was not encouraging; she seemed to have spoken to me out of a sense of duty.

“Observing me the young lady came over and [...] seemed to have spoken to me out of a sense of duty.

Part Three:

Dealing with Dialogue

What NOT to do…

You CANNOT string dialogue together side-by-side in a sentence

E.g. The narrator witnesses the girl and older boys at the bazaar talking and flirting, saying, “O, I never said such a thing!” “Oh, but you did!” “Oh, but I didn’t” (Joyce 186).

What TO do…

Set the text off as you would ANY quote longer than four lines

No quotation marks Citation appears at end

The Narrator witnesses the girl and older boys at the bazaar talking and flirting:

-O, I never said such a thing! -Oh, but you did!- Oh, but I didn’t (Joyce 186).

How to Create a Works Cited Page

The last page of your essay should display the literary works you used.

It should have its own page with just the books, essays, poem

For ex. To cite The Kite Runner: Hosseini, Khaled. The Kite Runner. Canada:

Anchor Canada, 2003. Print. Refer to the SJAM website or to Owl Purdue

Online Writing Lab.