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Stands for Modern Language Association
International association that provides
mechanics & rules for writing, researching,
and documenting research.
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Most common style for high schools and
undergraduate college programs.
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Used by many publishers & researchers as
well
What is the Point?
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To give proper credit to ideas
and information that are not
your own!
To avoid plagiarism!
First page of your paper should have the
following:
◦ Header in upper right hand corner with your
last name and page number on each page,
example: Smith 4
2. Heading - upper left hand corner with your
name, your teacher’s name, due date, and
class title
3. Title of your paper centered, two spaces
below your main heading
4. Your entire paper should be double spaced,
have 1” margins (top, bottom, left, right) and
be typed in 12-pt Times New Roman font
1.
First page of your research paper
•Double space
•12 pt. Times New Roman
•1” margins – Top, Bottom, Left & Right
•HeaderLast name
& page #
each
page!
 References
to an author and page
number inside your paper.
 They always correspond to what’s
on your Works Cited list!
 They are found in parentheses,
inside your paper, and can look
like the examples below:
(Smith 14) or (14)
Common knowledge
A simple statement or basic fact that is
likely to be known by a lot of people.
Your own opinions
Common sayings/proverbs
If you are unsure of whether or
not you have to cite, just cite to
be safe!
Three types of intext citations:
1. Direct short quote
2. Direct long quote
3. Paraphrase
1) Mention author in sentence = only need page
number in citation (parentheses)
Example of a short quote where we mention the
author:
According to Charles Dickens, the eighteenth
century was both “the best of times and the worst of
times” (35).
2)
Do not mention author in sentence = need
author’s last name and page number in citation
Example of a short quote where we do not
mention the author:
The eighteenth century was both “the best of
times and the worst of times” (Dickens 35).
Direct Quotations:
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Information taken word for word from the author
 Does not have to be dialogue
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Should contribute to and support your ideas
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Always introduce your quotes! They need to flow
with the rest of your paper!
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Only select information that is important &
relevant!
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Don’t overuse direct quotes! Too many quotations
in a paper conveys the impression that you have
little to say for yourself
Direct Short Quotes
 Word for word, exactly as it
is written in your source
 Four lines or less
 No special formatting in the
text
 Enclose in quotation marks
 Period comes after the
parentheses (citation).
Mentioning author in the text:
“He was obeyed,” writes Joseph Conrad of the company
manager in Heart of Darkness, “yet he inspired neither love
nor fear, nor even respect” (87).
Not mentioning author in the text:
The eighteenth century was both “the best of times and the
worst of
times” (Dickens 35).
*period comes after the parentheses (citation) in short
quotes!
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Also called a “block” quote
Must be at least five lines long
Introduce quote with a colon
Set apart from text by starting on a new line &
indenting another inch from the 1” margin
Quote should be lined up to the right margin
Do not use quotation marks since quote is set
apart from text and is easily recognizable as a
direct long quote
Punctuation comes before the citation
(parentheses).
Introduce quote with a
statement and put colon after
introductory statement
Example of Direct Long Quote:
At the conclusion of Lord of the Flies, Ralph and the other boys realize the horror of their actions:
The tears began to flow and sobs shook him. He gave himself
1”
up to them now for the first time on the island; great, shuddering spasms of
grief that seemed to wrench his whole body. His voice rose under the black
smoke before the burning wreckage of the island; and infected by that
emotion, the other little boys began to shake and sob too. (Golding 186)
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Indent one inch from left margin (tab two times)& double space entire quote!
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Quote should be lined up to the left margin
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period comes before the parentheses (citation) in long quotes
Long Quotes must be at least 5 lines long!
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What is a paraphrase?
Taking something someone said and
putting it into your own words
When you paraphrase you should be
summarizing and condensing the
author’s words
You must change more than just a
few words!
You must always cite paraphrases!
 You
can’t paraphrase what you do not
understand!
◦ Read your sources/articles carefully!
◦ Make sure you know what each word
in article means!
 Highlight the truly important facts.
◦ Say what you’ve learned from the
article in your own words without
looking at the original.
 If
you have ideas from one
source, in one paragraph, you may
cite just once at the end of the
paragraph, since the info would all
be from the same source!!
◦ In this case, you should mention
the author in the beginning of
the paragraph!
Format of a Paraphrase
1.
Type right alongside your text, no need to indent or start
a new line
2.
Do not use quotation marks since these are your OWN
WORDS!
3.
Period comes after the citation, or parentheses.
4.
There is no set length on a paraphrase
Example: (mentioning the author in the text)
As Wendy Martin suggested, Emily Dickenson firmly
believed that we cannot fully comprehend life unless we
also understand death (625).
notice, no quotation marks!
period comes after the citation!
Original:
The Antarctic is the vast source of cold on our planet, just as the
sun is the source of our heat, and it exerts tremendous control on
our climate. The cold ocean water around Antarctica flows north to
mix with warmer water from the tropics, and its upwellings help to
cool both the surface water and our atmosphere; Yet the fragility of
this regulating system is now threatened by human activity.
From: Cousteau, Jean Michael. “Climate Change.” Discovery.
May 2007: 17.
Paraphrased passage:
According to Jean Michael Cousteau, the activity of people is
jeopardizing a delicate natural mechanism that controls the earth’s
climate. He fears that human activity could interfere with the
balance between the sun, the source of the earth’s heat, and the
important source of cold from Antarctic waters that flow north and
cool the oceans and atmosphere (17).
◦If you do not know the author
of an article/source, you must
put part of the title in the
citation:
◦Example - article with no
author:
(“Hurricane Katrina” 47)
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If your source has no page numbers, how do
you cite it in your paper?
(video/movie, interview, photo)
Mention the creator’s name (if you have one)
and title of the work in the sentence – no
citation in parentheses needed, since there
will be no pages!
Example (film):
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The PBS video titled Dust Bowl shows how
hard it was to be a farmer in the southwestern
plains of the United States during the 1930s.
No Works Cited
or in-text
citations
=
plagiarism!!!!

Borrowing someone’s paper and putting your
name on it, trying to pass it off as your own.
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Handing in the same paper twice, for two
different grades!
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Copying and pasting from the Internet,
without paraphrasing (even if you cite it!)
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Using too many of the author’s original
words in your paraphrase (if it sounds a lot
like the original, it’s probably not a good
paraphrase)!
Pretend this is your paper.
This is “an example of a short
quote with an unknown
author”(“Alexander” 51). This
sentence is an example of a
paraphrase (Lund 19).
Sample Works Cited
“Alexander the Great.”
World Book Encyclopedia.
2003. 51.
All sources listed in your Works
Cited list must be cited at least
once in your paper!!!
Lund, Joe. Crime and Society.
Miami: Watermark Books,
2001. 19-25.
 Double
space everything on a
Works Cited page.
 Center the title Works Cited (no
bold, italics, or underlining) and
place it at the top of the page.
 Use a “hanging indent” after the
first line of each entry.
Bergen Community College ©
2005
28
OK: so what does it look like?
Centered
Title
“Hanging
” Indent
Everything is doublespaced, and there are
no line spaces between
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entries.
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The author is usually first in a Works Cited
entry, followed by the source’s title(s) and
publication information.
Place the titles of smaller works (articles,
short stories, book chapters, poems, songs)
in quotation marks.
Italicize the titles of larger works (books,
journals, magazines, newspapers, and films).
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Capitalize the first letter of each word in
titles (except articles, short prepositions, or
conjunctions).
Include publication medium (Print or Web) in
each citation.
All Web sources need the date that the
copyright or update date and the date the
information was accessed from the Internet.
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In-text Citation
Columbia University Professor Jeffrey Johnson spent seventeen years recording
the viewing habits of children in 707 families in Upstate New York and found that
the ones “who watched one to three hours of television
each day . . . were 60% more likely to be involved in assaults and fights as those
who watched less TV” (“Research”).
Works Cited
Entry
Works Cited
“Research on the Effects of Media Violence.” Media Awareness Network.
2005. Web. 12 Mar. 2005
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