Using MLA

Effectively Using MLA Can Be a Challenge.

Karen S Wright

Why Use MLA??

Two of the many reasons to use MLA:•Gives you credibility as a

student and author.• Protects you from

plagiarism.

Avoid Plagiarism—Protect Your Reputation

•Using MLA prevents plagiarism.•Plagiarism is a serious offense.•You could fail the assignment, the class, or even be removed from school.

Where Do I Find MLA?

•MLA Handbook for Writers, 7th ed.•Library •MLA Guidelines 2011

MLA Has 2 Important Parts

•Works Cited•Parenthetical Citations

Works Cited Page

The works cited page helps you to be like an open book to your readers. It is—•An alphabetical complete list of sources used in your paper.•Gives readers important information as to where you found your source.•Makes your research more credible.

Bierce, Ambrose. “Academy.” The Devil’s Dictionary. The Collected Works Of Ambrose Bierce. Vol. 7. New York: Neale, 1911.

N. pag. The Ambrose Bierce Project. Web. 24 Jan. 2011. <http:// www.ambrosebierce.org/> Bordo, Susan. “The Moral Content of Nabokov‟s Lolita.” Aesthetic

Subjects. Ed. Pamela R. Matthews and David McWhirter. Minneapolis: U of Minnesota P, 2003. 125-52. Print.

Eaves, Morris, Robert Essick, and Joseph Viscomi, eds. The William Blake Archive. Lib. Of Cong., 28 Sept. 2007. Web. 20 Nov.

2007. <http://www.blakearchive.org/blake/>

Lansbury, Angela. Interview. Off-Camera: Conversations with the Makers Of Prime-Time Television. By Richard Levison and William Link. New York: Plume-NAL, 1986. 72-86. Print.

Example of Works Cited Page

Include in the Works Cited

When you put a works cited together, include•Author’s last name, first name•Title of work•Publication information•URL•If it is a print publication, the word print needs to be at the end.

USING PARENTHETICALCITATIONS

Summarizing facts and/or ideas from a source means—• Using a large passage from a source and

putting the information in your own words.Paraphrasing facts and/ or ideas from a source means— • Using a large passage from a source but

changing the phrasing into your own words.

Parenthetical Citations Using parenthetical citations in the text of your paper:If there is no author use an abbreviated version of the title and page number (if there is one).

Women were also treated with electroshock therapy to maintain muscle tone, which was due to the lack of mobility of the patients (“Rest Cure” A10).

Using parenthetical citations in the text of your paper for long quotes is different than for short quotes:

In “The Yellow Wallpaper”, the narrator is diagnosed with female hysteria by her husband:

he does not believe I am sick! And what can one do? If a physician of high standing, and one's own husband,

assures friends and relatives that there is nothing the matter with one but temporary nervous depression—a slight

hysterical tendency—what is one to do?...Personally, I

disagree with their ideas...excitement and change, would do me some good. (Gilman 380)The narrator's comments symbolizes women's early struggle with subordinate existence.

Using Long Quotes in the Text

Using MLA

Using MLA might be a challenge, but it is worth the effort to do it right.