MLA Style

Why Use MLA?

Why Use MLA

• It adds credibility to your paper.

• It gives credit to your source while using proper citation.

• If you don't cite your sources, then you are plagiarizing.

In-Text Citation

• Often called parenthetical citation.

• Used to reference a source listed on the Works Cited page.

• Ex: "It was the worst season for potato farming in all of the past twenty years" (Nelson 12).

• The speaker is named Henry Nelson and this quote is from page twelve.

In-Text Citation

Works Cited

Works Cited

• List all sources you used and cited directly or indirectly.

• Your in-text parenthetical citations refer directly to the Works Cited page.

• It begins on a new page and should be the last section of your paper.

Paraphrase or Direct Quote?

Paraphrase

• Paraphrasing is when you summarize what the author says in your own words.
• Paraphrasing requires citation.
• Basic citation for a paraphrase includes the author's last name and page number at the end of the parenthetical citation. If the author's name is in the signal phrase, then it can be left out of the parenthetical citation.

• Direct Quote: In the book Economic Prosperity for the Future, Reginald Steelwell said, "We already spend much more money on education than what is necessary and it could be better spent on the iron industry" (4).

• Paraphrase: In Economic Prosperity for the Future, the central argument revolves around spending money on the iron industry instead of education (Steelwell 4).

Block Quotes

• Start the block quote as its own paragraph and indent the entire quote.

• After your quote, continue your paragraph as normal.

• Use block quotes when a quote is four or more lines long.

• Don't put quote marks around the quote.

• Follow the signal phrase with a colon [:]

Block Quotes

(41).

(41).

Unkown _________

• When the author is unknown, refer to the title in the signal phrase or a short form of the title in the parentheses.

• Remember to italicize book titles and

put articles in quotations.

• If the page number is unknown, then you may leave it out.

• Ex: The people believed that he had come to save them (Read).

Unknown Author

Citing for Multiple Authors

• One Author: Use the author's last name with the page number in parentheses. Ex: (Blanch 5).

• Two or Three Authors: Cite them in the signal phrase or at the end of the parenthetical reference.

• Ex: In the end, the results of the experiment were inconclusive (Moore and Bennet 17).

• Four or More Authors: List each of the author's names or list the first author followed by et al.

• Ex: (Miyamoto, Sakurai, Granger, and Walker 112-113).

• Ex: (Miyamoto et al. 112-113).

How Many Authors?

Book Format

Last Name, First Name. Title of Book. City Published in, year published.

If there is no author listed, you may begin the entry with the name of the article.

*Medium of publication is no longer necessary for print sources.

*Note: the City of Publication should only be used if the book was published before 1900, if the publisher has offices in more than one country, or if the publisher is unknown in North America (The Purdue OWL Family of Sites)

Scholarly Journal/Article Format

Scholarly Journal

For Offline Sources: Last Name, First Name. "Title of Article." Title of Journal, Volume, Issue, Year, pages. Remember to indent by half an inch for every line of the entry past the first line.

For Online Sources: Do the same, but also include the Database used, URL and Access Date. *As of MLA 8th, you do not need to include the access date if you have the date published or updated.

Example:

Mundkur, Nipun. “The Bionic Human: A Review of Interface Modalities

for Externally Powered Prosthetic Limbs.” McGill Science Undergraduate Research Journal, vol. 14, no. 1, Apr. 2019, pp. 46–49. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=137671186&site=ehost-live, Accessed 07 Aug. 2019.

Other Common Sources

Other Common Sources

A TV Series:

Daniels, Greg and Michael Schur, creators. Parks and Recreation. Deedle-Dee

Productions and Universal Media Studios, 2015.

A Television Episode:

"The One Where Chandler Can't Cry." Friends: The Complete Sixth Season,

written by Andrew Reich and Ted Cohen, directed by Kevin Bright, Warner Brothers, 2004.

Films or Movies:

Lucas, George, director. Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. Twentieth Century Fox,

1977.

A Podcast:

“Best of Not My Job Musicians.” Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me! from NPR, 4 June 2016,

www.npr.org/podcasts/344098539/wait-wait-don-t-tell-me.

For more examples see Purdue Owl:

"MLA Works Cited: Other Common Sources." The Purdue OWL Family of Sites. The

Writing Lab and OWL at Purdue and Purdue U, 2008, https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/mla_style/mla_formatting_and_style_guide/mla_works_cited_other_common_sources.html. Accessed 07 Aug. 2019

Works Cited Issues?

Works Cited

Issues?

• If you are still confused about how to cite a Works Cited entry, feel free to use Purdue Owl's Citation machine.

• If you found your source on Opposing Viewpoints in Context or on EBSCO, then you may use their auto citation features as well.

• Use only these functions as a way to get started on your citation. They are not guaranteed to be 100% accurate.

• It is still your responsibility to check the accuracy of each Works Cited entry.

• Use an MLA Style handbook or Purdue Owl's MLA Style Guide to check the accuracy of each source.