Last Name 1
Firstname Lastname
Ms. Ball (teacher name)
English 10D (class)
Day Month Year (date paper is due, in this order)
MLA Formatting for a Formal PaperTitle
This shows how a paper should be formatted in MLA. Notice the top left hand
side of the page, which has your name, the name of the teacher of the class, the class
title, and the date on which the paper is due. This header only appears on the first
page. Notice also in the upper right corner, should be your last name, and the page
number. This should appear on every page of the paper.
All papers in MLA should be double-spaced. Papers should have a title as
well, which is centered at the top of your paper. Remember to put all book titles in
italics, and all “article and poetry titles” in quotation marks. As a general rule, if a
text is a larger, whole work in of its own, it goes in italics. If the text is part of a
larger work (for example, an article is a part of an entire newspaper or website), it
goes in quotation marks.
In-Text Citation:
If citing a quote without mentioning the author:
This ignorance can be seen through Mildred, who states, “Let me alone, (…) I
didn’t do anything.” (Bradbury 52). <--Make sure the period comes after the
parenthetical citation.
If citing a quote while mentioning the author:
Bradbury uses Mildred as a symbol for complacent ignorance, when she
states, “Let me alone, (…) I didn’t do anything.” (52).
Note: If you are citing something that does not have a page number (poem, article,
etc), simply list the last name of the author.
Last Name 2
MLA Citation:
A specific page from a website:
A Book by One Author
Lastname, Firstname . Title of Book. City of Publication:
Publisher, Year of Publication. Medium of Publication.
Example:
King, Stephen. On Writing. New York: Scribner, 2000. Print.
Author (if available). “Title of Page.” Name of Site. Version number.
Name of institution/organization affiliated with the site (sponsor or
publisher, if not available, put n.p.), date of resource creation or last
update (if not available, put n.d.). Medium of Publication. Date of access.
Example:
Thomas, Dylan. “Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night.” Poets.org. Academy
of American Poets, 2015. Web. 16 March 2015.
Work in an Anthology
Lastname, First name. "Title of Work." Title of Collection. Ed. Editor's Name(s).
City of Publication: Publisher, Year. Page range of entry. Medium of
Publication.
Example:
Davis, Peter. “Four “Addresses”.” Best American Poetry 2010. Ed. Amy Gerstler
and David Lehman. New York: Scribner, 2010. 38-39. Print.
Last Name 3
Poetry Foundation (poetryfoundation.org)
“I Am Offering This Poem” by Jimmy Santiago Baca
“Mother to Son” by Langston Hughes
“This is Just to Say” by William Carlos Williams
“Sea Fever” by John Masefield
“Incident” by Natasha Trethewey
Ted Talks
“Touchscreen” Marshall Davis Jones
“If I should have a daughter…” by Sarah Kay
YouTube Video
“How and Why We Read: Crash Course in English Literature #1” John Green
Note: MLA does not have a prescribed way to cite YouTube videos, here is was
Purdue OWL suggests:
Author’s Name or Poster’s Username. “Title of Image or Video.” Media Type
Text. Name of Website. Name of Website’s Publisher, date of posting. Medium. date
retrieved
Example Works Cited:
Works Cited
Davis, Peter. “Four “Addresses”.” Best American Poetry 2010. Ed. Amy Gerstler and
David Lehman. New York: Scribner, 2010. 38-39. Print.
King, Stephen. On Writing. New York: Scribner, 2000. Print.
Thomas, Dylan. “Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night.” Poets.org. Academy of
American Poets, 2015. Web. 16 March 2015.
If you have questions on MLA formatting or citation, check Purdue OWL for
help.