(also known as How to Write a Research Paper that Does Not Drive Your Teacher Crazy)

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A Brief Note

This Guide is meant to help you with the in-text citations and Works Cited

formatting for a suitable final draft. It is assumed that you have done most

of the prewriting steps already.

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ContentsYou can also click on the title or page number to go directly to the section you need.

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Topic Page

Setting Up/Formatting: Margins 4

Setting Up/Formatting: Font Size 5

Setting Up/Formatting: Header and Page # 6, 7

Setting Up/Formatting: Line Spacing 8, 9

Setting Up/Formatting: Heading and Title 10

Introductions and Thesis Statements 11

Citations: Why? 12

Citing Books: Both In-text and on the Works Cited Page 13

Citing A Short Story/Poem/Part of a Book: Both In-text and on the Works Cited Page 14

Citing a Poem: Both In-text and on the Works Cited Page 15

Citing Internet Sources: In-Text Citations 16

Citing Internet Sources: The Works Cited Page 17

Citing Plays: Both In-text and on the Works Cited Page 18

Citing Plays from the Textbook: Works Cited Page 19

Citing the Bible: Both In-Text and on the Works Cited Page 20

Citing the U.S. Constitution/Declaration of Independence 21

Using and Citing Quotes 22,

Formatting a Works Cited Page 23, 24

Sample Works Cited of All Examples Used. 25

Other Information 26

Setting up/Formatting: Margins

Before you begin, you should set up your document so that it formats your paper according to MLA Style.

Make sure the margins are all set to ONE inch on all sides.If you are using Microsoft Word, you should go to “Page Layout.” Then click on “Margins, “ and select “Normal.”

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Setting up/Formatting: Font Size

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Once your margins are set, then change the font and font size to size 12 Times New Roman.

If you are not sure how to do this, go to “Home” and adjust the font size to size 12 Times New Roman.

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Setting up/Formatting: Page Number

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Now that you have set your font, you need to adjust your Header so that the program will automatically insert the running header on all the pages of your paper.

Go to InsertHeaderPage Number. Then choose “Plain Number 3” and the page number should appear on the right margin.

Setting up/Formatting: Page Number

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Click on the left side of the number, write your last name, and then press the space button ONE time.

Setting up/Formatting: Line Spacing

Close the Header and Footer menu and set your line spacing so that your paper is double-spaced (Right-click on the mouseParagraph)

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Setting up/Formatting: Line Spacing

Then, make all the adjustments needed for your paper. You should make sure the line spacing is “Double” with both the “Before” and “After” set to “0 pt.” Also make sure that there is a check mark next to “Don’t add space between paragraphs of the same style.”

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Setting up/Formatting: Heading and Title

Notice that there is no extra room around the title and that the first line of the paragraph is indented with a single press of the TAB key. Please make sure that there are no extra spaces (other than the pre-formatted double-space) between paragraphs.

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Then write the MLA heading (Student Name, Teacher Name, Class and Period, and Date). There should be no extra spaces in between lines. Remember, you are using the DUE DATE and NOT the date you wrote the paper. The date should have the number of the day, followed by the written-out month and the number for the year—with no commas.

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Introductions and Thesis Statements Good introductions grab the reader’s attention and prepares them for the points you

intend the make in your paper. They do NOT inform the reader of the obvious point that they are reading an essay/report/paper. As such, you should avoid phrases such as “In this paper, I will write . . . “ or “The main point of this essay is . . . “

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Citations: Why?

Every time you use an idea that has not come out of your own head, you must say where you got that information. This is called citing a source. You must cite whenever you do any of the following:Quote a writerSummarize a writer’s ideasPut another writer’s ideas into your own words

In general, citing a source means putting the writer’s name and page number in parentheses before ending your sentence.Ex. In Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare uses romance and violence to

show the relationship between love and hate (Bevington 978-979).

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Citing Books: Both In-text and on the Works Cited Page When you cite books (in English class, it will usually be a novel), you put the author

and page number in parentheses (brackets) before ending the sentence.

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The Works Cited for books/novels is as follows: Author’s Last Name, Author’s First Name. Title of the Book. City of Publication: Publisher,

Year. Type of Media

*Notice how the second entry has a ½ inch hanging indent because it takes more than one line.

Citing A Short Story/Part of a Book: Both In-text and on the Works Cited Page

When you cite short stories or a section of the book, you put the author and page number in parentheses (brackets) before ending the sentence.

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The Works Cited is as follows: Author’s Last Name, Author’s First Name. “Title of Poem/Short Story/Section.” Title of the Book. Editor

(if any—Write first name first). City of Publication: Publisher, Year. Page #. Type of Media.

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Citing A Poem: Both In-text and on the Works Cited Page

When you cite poetry, you put the poet’s last name and the specific lines of poetry in parentheses (brackets) before ending the sentence.

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The Works Cited is as follows: Poet’s Last Name, Poet’s First Name. “Title of Poem.” Title of the Book. Editor (if any—Write first

name first). City of Publication: Publisher, Year. Page #. Type of Media.

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Citing Internet Sources: In-Text Citations If the electronic source (website, e-article, etc.) has an author, then you cite the

author’s name and the title of the article in quotes.

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If not, then cite the organization or company name.

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Citing Internet Sources: Works Cited Page

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You should include as much of the following information on the Works Cited page as possible:

Author/Organization Name. “Title of Specific Web Page.” Name of Web Site. Copyright/Last Updated Date. Type of Media. Date information was accessed by you.

Note: If you don’t know the date, write n.d. if no copyright/last updated date is available (without the bold).

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Citing Plays: Both In-text and on the Works Cited Page

Use the following format for in-text citation of plays—(Title of the Play, Act#.Scene#.page#).

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The Works Cited Entry Should have: Playwright. Title of Play. Editor (if any). City of Publication: Publisher, Year.

Type of Media.

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Citing Plays from the Textbook: Works Cited Page

If you are using a play from a textbook, the Works Cited information is slightly different:

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Playwright. Title of Play. Title of Textbook. Editor (if any). City of Publication: Publisher, Year. Type of Media.

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Citing the Bible: Both In-text and on the Works Cited Page

Use the following format for in-text citation of biblical verses—(Version of the Bible, Book abbreviation. Chapter.Verse).

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The Works Cited Entry Should have:

Title/Version of Bible. Editor (if any). City of Publication: Publisher, Year. Type of Media.

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Citing the U.S. Constitution or the Declaration of Independence

The title of the United States Constitution or Declaration of Independence is always in plain text. Do not underline, italicize, or put the title into quotes.

In-text citation depends on the part of the Constitution being used. In general the format is as follows: (Name of Document, Section).

Preamble: (U.S. Constitution, Preamble). Articles: (U.S. Constitution, art. 1, sec. 3). Amendments/Bills of Rights: (U.S. Constitution, Amendment V).—notice that

amendments are referred to by their Roman numerals. For example, if you wanted to cite the 13th Amendment, you would cite as follows: (U.S. Constitution, Amendment XIII).

The U.S. Constitution and the Declaration of Independence do not need to be on the Works Cited page. However, any book, magazine, website, etc. ABOUT the U.S. Constitution or the Declaration of Independence must be cited separately in-text and put on the Works Cited page.

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Using and Citing Quotes If you want to use a writer’s exact words, you must put them in quotation marks AND cite the

source. If not, then you are plagiarizing. Limit yourself to one or two quotes per paper. Your quotes should not be longer than one or two lines.

Do not just drop a quote into your paper. Use a lead-in and make the quote part of an existing sentence. Do NOT use “ and I quote . . . “ or “the writer quotes” as lead-ins.

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If you quote uses more than 3 full typed lines, then you use a block quote. You should not use more than one block quote per 4 pages, and your discussion of the quote should be at least twice the length of the quote itself. Block quotes are tabbed twice and do not use quotation marks. They are still cited, though.

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Formatting a Works Cited Page

Works Cited pages are listed in on a separate page with the title “Works Cited” (without the quotation marks). Please make sure of the following:Entries are listed in alphabetical order (according to

author/article name—ignore A, An, or The if they begin the name of the entry),

Hanging indents (in which the first line meets the margins, but the other lines in the entry are indented ½ an inch.

There is no extra space between the Works Cited Title or each entry.

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Works Cited Page for Examples Used in this Guide

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Works Cited Page for Examples Used in this Guide (continued)

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Other InformationThis guide is meant to deal with the major issues that come with writing

research papers, but it doesn’t cover everything. You can use the following sources for more complete information.

Book: The MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers (7th Ed) by Joseph Gibaldi.

Website: Online Writing Lab (OWL) at Purdue University - http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/

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