UNDERSTANDING

SOURCES &

MLA Style

UNDERSTANDING

SOURCES &

MLA Style

PART 1: Tips For Finding

And Evaluating Sources

• Refer to a good writing or a quality online site

such as the Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL) at

owl.english.purdue.edu

• Your search strategy will directly relate to your

TOPIC. Think it over carefully, then make a list of

the most appropriate sources to consult.

TIP: Consider working with someone in the Writing Center

if you’re struggling with any steps in the writing process.

•Consider these sources:

- the reference librarians (for assistance)

- books

- databases: scholarly articles

- newspapers

- magazines

- searching the Web

Wikipedia???

[ WEB sources can be deceptive! ]

not sure if legitimate

can contain incorrect or

outdated information

authors may not be experts or credible

IF THE SITE IS UNCLEAR,

DON’T USE IT!

About URLS:

The URL specifies the type

of group that hosts the site.

.com = commercial

.org = non-profit

.edu = educational

.gov = government

.mil = military

.net = network

can also indicate country of origin:

.uk (United Kingdom)

PART 2: USING QUOTATION MARKS

Direct quotations of a person‟s words, whether spoken

or written, must be in quotation marks.

“A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds,”

writes Ralph Waldo Emerson.

The American poet Ralph Waldo Emerson writes that,

“A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.”

In his essay, American poet Ralph Waldo Emerson states:

“A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.”

NOTE: Don‟t use quotation marks around indirect quotations.

An indirect quotation reports someone‟s ideas without using that

person‟s exact words. This is also called „paraphrasing.‟

Ralph Waldo Emerson believed that consistency for its own

sake is the mark of a small mind.

IMPORTANT: Either way, you will need to add a citation for the source!

SIDE NOTE: Use „single quotation marks‟ to enclose a quote within a quotation:

According to Paul Eliott, Eskimo hunters “chant an ancient magic

song to the seal they are after: „Beast of the sea! Come and place

yourself before me in the early morning!‟”

Set off long quotations of prose or poetry by indenting.

When a quotation of prose runs to more than four typed lines in your

paper, set it off by indenting one inch (or ten spaces) from the left

margin. Quotation marks are not required because the indented

format tells readers that the quotation is taken word-for-word

from a source. Long quotations are ordinarily introduced by a

sentence ending with a colon.

After making an exhaustive study of the historical record,

James Horan evaluates Billy the Kid as follows:

The portrait that emerges of [the Kid] from the thousands of pages

of affidavits, reports, trial transcripts, his letters, and his testimony

is neither the mythical Robin Hood nor the stereotyped adenoidal

moron and pathological killer. Rather Billy appears as a disturbed,

lonely young man, honest, loyal to his friends, dedicated to his

beliefs, and betrayed by our institutions and the corrupt, ambitious,

and compromising politicians in his time. (158)

Other Quotation Mark Uses & Tips

For your in-text citations, use quotes around the titles of short works, such as newspaper and magazine articles, poems, short stories, songs, episodes of television and radio programs, and chapters or subdivisions of books.

Katherine Mansfield‟s short story “The Garden Party” provoked a lively

discussion in our short-story class last night.

Titles of books, plays, Web sites, television and radio programs, films, magazines, and newspapers are put in italics or underlined.

Eisenstein‟s film The Battleship Potemkin is a groundbreaking work in

the use of montage and cutting techniques.

How to set off words used as “words” for emphasis:

The words “accept” and “except” are frequently confused.

The words accept and except are frequently confused.

Place periods and commas inside quotation marks,

except when the cited quote appears at the end of

your citation.

“The Whigs were not averse to extending the blessings of

American liberty, even to Mexicans and Indians,” said

historian James McPherson (48).

Historian James McPherson states that the Whigs “were

not averse to extending the blessings of American liberty,

even to Mexicans and Indians” (48).

When you set off and indent a long

quotation, the opposite is true:

After making an exhaustive study of the historical record,

James Horan evaluates Billy the Kid like as follows:

The portrait that emerges of [the Kid] from the thousands of

pages of affidavits, reports, trial transcripts, his letters, and

his testimony is neither the mythical Robin Hood nor the

stereotyped adenoidal moron and pathological killer. Rather

Billy appears as a disturbed, lonely young man, honest, loyal

to his friends, dedicated to his beliefs, and betrayed by our

institutions and the corrupt, ambitious, and compromising

politicians in his time. (158)

PART 3: Ways To Introduce Quoted

Material:

After a word group that introduces a quote, choose a

colon (:), a comma, or no punctuation at all, whichever is

appropriate in context.

FORMAL INTRODUCTION

If a quotation has been formally introduced, a colon is appropriate.

Morrow views personal ads in the classifieds as

an art form: “The personal ad is like a haiku of

self-celebration, a brief solo played on one‟s own

horn” (132).

EXPRESSIONS LIKE „SAID‟ „STATES‟ „WRITES‟ „ACCORDING TO‟

Use a comma …

Author Stephan Leacock once said, “I am a great believer in

luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it” (25).

“You can be a little ungrammatical if you come from the right part of

the country,” writes Robert Frost (155).

According to an executive named Coleman, “Personal Internet use

and casual office conversations often turn into new business ideas

or suggestions” (qtd. in Frauenheim 351).

BLENDED QUOTATION

When a quotation is blended into the writer‟s own sentence, either

a comma or no punctuation is appropriate, depending on the way

in which the quotation fits into the sentence structure.

The future champion could, as he put it, “float like a

butterfly and sting like a bee” (2.10).

Charles Hudson notes in his memoir that the prisoners escaped

“by squeezing through a tiny window eighteen feet above the floor

of their cell” (289).

BEGINNING OF SENTENCE

If a quotation appears at the beginning of a sentence, set it off with

a comma unless the quotation ends with a question mark or an

exclamation point.

“We shot them like dogs,” boasted Davy Crockett,

who was among Jackson‟s troops.

“What is it?” I asked, bracing myself.

ANOTHER EXAMPLE RE PUNCTUATION & QUOTES…

Author Rosie Thomas asks, “Is there nothing in life ever straight

and clear, the way children see it?” (77).

INTERRUPTED QUOTATION

If a quoted sentence is interrupted by explanatory words, use

commas to set off the explanatory words.

“A great many people think they are thinking,” observes William

James, “when they are merely rearranging their prejudices” (444).

If two successive quoted sentences from the same source are

interrupted by explanatory words, use a comma before the

explanatory words and a period after them.

“I was a flop as a daily reporter,” admitted E. B. White. “Every

piece had to be a masterpiece — and before you knew it, Tuesday

was Wednesday” (39).

Using signal phrases in MLA papersTo avoid monotony, try to vary both the language and the placement of your signal phrases.

Model signal phrases

According to researchers Greenfield and Davis, “. . .”

As legal scholar Jay Kesan notes, “. . .”

The ePolicy Institute, an organization that advises companies about reducing risks from technology, reports that “. . .”

Kizza and Jones offer a persuasive counterargument: “. . .”

More Verbs in signal phrases

acknowledges comments endorses reasonsadds compares grants refutes claimsadmits confirms illustrates rejects statesagrees contends implies reports writesargues declares insists responds thinksasserts denies notes suggests believesdisputes observes emphasizes points out