NWSS Library's MLA 7 Bootcamp
Why do we cite information?
Citations
give credit to the sources of information you
used in your research.
Citations show that your product is your own work. In
other words, you have not copied information from
other sources.
The Modern Language Association (MLA) provides
rules for creating citations.
The rules differ depending upon the source
of information used (book, encyclopedia, web site, database,
electronic book, etc.).
The MLA rules tell you what to include and
how to capitalize and punctuate the citation.
Bibliography
A bibliography appears at the end of a paper. It lists citations for each source you use.
The main ingredients of a citation are:
Book: author’s name, title of book, place of publication, name of
publisher, year of publication
Electronic and online sources: author's name, title of article, title of resource, name of database, type
of medium, date of document or download, date retrieved
Arrangement of citations is:
first lines of entries are flush left and any subsequent lines are indented 5 spaces. alphabetical order by
the author’s family name (or by the first word of the title if no author is given) and double spaced.
Book Citation: Print
Last Name, First Name. Title. Place of Publication: Publisher,
Copyright date. Medium.
.
,
:
Website
Last Name, First Name. "Title of Web Page." Name of Main
Page.
Publisher of website; if not
available use N.p., Date
created or revised. Medium. Date accessed.
Periodical Citation - Magazine: Electronic
Last Name, First Name. "Title of Article." Title of Publication
Resource. Medium.
Retrieval Date.
.
Volume.Issue (Date): page(s). Online
,
"
"
:
2007 EBSCO Industries
11/30/06
Bibliography
"Canada's New $5 and $10 Bills are a Design Disaster:
UQAM Prof." CBC. CBC. 13 Nov. 2013. Web. 3 Dec.
2014.
"For Children's Books In 2013, Divergent Led The Pack."
Publishers Weekly 261.11 (2014): 39-48. Canadian
Reference Centre. Web. 4 Dec. 2014.
Roth, Veronica. Divergent. New York: Katherine Tegen
Books, 201. Print.
Fix these citations...
Christie Davies. "Velazquez in London." New Criterion 25.5
May 2007: 53+. General OneFile. Web.
Author Name.
Date Found.
Wrong Date format.
Italicize
Bleem, Jerry. Servant of the servants. U.S. Catholic May 2011:
50. Web. 1 Mar. 2012.
Bruce, Donald "Elsheimer and Velazquez in London."
Contemporary Review 88.1683 (2006) General
OneFile. Web. 29 Feb. 2012.
Quotation Marks on Title.
Database.
Italicize
Capitalization
Page number
Missing period after Author
name.
Missing colon after year.
Italicize
Put these citations in order.
Davies, Christie. "Velazquez in London." New Criterion 25.5
(2007): 53+. General OneFile. Web. 1 Mar. 2012.
Bleem, Jerry. "Servant of the Servants." U.S. Catholic (2011):
OneFile. Web. 1 Mar. 2012.
50. General
Veliz, Zahira. "Signs of Identity in Lady with a Fan by Diego Velazquez: Costume and
Likeness Reconsidered." The Art Bulletin 86.1. (2004): 75+. General OneFile. Web. 1
Mar. 2012.
Bruce, Donald. "Elsheimer and Velazquez in London." Contemporary Review
288.1683 (2006): 470+. General OneFile. Web. 29 Feb. 2012.
Choosing
and
Using
Quotations
in
Essays
Don't roll the dice! Do it
right every time!
What is a quotation?
Quotations, or textual evidence, are words, phrases,
sentences, or passages from another source (book,
story, article, movie, etc.) that you use in your own essay
to support your thesis.
Don't forget: The thesis is the sentences that tells your reader what
the entire essay is about. It is the point you are trying to prove to the
reader.
You mean I have to find something the author
already wrote to prove my point?
Yes, it isn't enough to have your own opinion about it
or to make vague (unclear) references to the text.
The best way to prove the point (your thesis) is to use
the author's own words.
How am I supposed to find a quotation to use
in my essay? The source is so long....
It can be very challenging to find a really good quotation to
support your thesis, but there are some simple steps to follow
that will help you.
1. Know what your thesis is. What point are you trying to
prove?
2. What is an example in the source that proves that point?
3. Reread that part of the source. Look for the paragraph or
two that describes that supports your thesis.
4. Narrow down the paragraph to least amount of text needed
to prove your point.
CHECK IT!
You have to reread parts of the source to find a quotation.
Use the least amount of a quoted passage you
can to support your point.
Don’t quote less relevant parts of a passage; use only what supports your point directly,
even cutting the quote down to only the most significant words from a sentence. This allows
you the space in your paper to fully explain the significance of the quote. Your voice should
be the dominant one in your paper.
CHECK IT!
You have to use an entire paragraph in order to have a
quotation for your essay.
Explain the quotation.
Don’t assume the reason you are using a piece of textual evidence is obvious to your reader.
For every line of a source you quote, expect to write two or three lines of your own analysis
and explanation after it.
CHECK IT!
You only need one sentence to explain the quotation you
use in your essay.
Be Careful!
Don't Change the Meaning of the Quotation
Okay. I found the quotation. I'm done now,
right?
Sorry, finding the quotation is a big part of this process, but
you still have to know how to put it into your essay.
This is called INTEGRATING quotations.
CHECK IT!
What does "integrating" mean?
How do I INTEGRATE my quotations?
There are three simple things that you need to do in order to
INTEGRATE your quotations.
1. Introduce the quotation using a signal phrase before the
quotation.
2. Copy the quotation correctly out of the story.
3. Add the in-text/parenthetical citation.
Signal phrases? Am I driving somewhere?
Signal phrases are short introductions to the quote. They usually use the author's name and a
verb that reflects the author's relationship to the quotation. Signal phrases are the best way to
integrate quotes into your writing. Here are three ways to use signal phrases.
Many of the same rules we use for punctuating dialogue apply to punctuating integrated
quotations. You keep the punctuation the author uses for the quotation part--but you have
punctuate the signal phrase.
Good Verbs for Signal Phrases
Sometimes you want to take an informative (objective) stance when introducing a quotation.
Other times, you want to take a persuasive (subjective) stance.
CHECK IT!
Trying to convince someone that an author is using social
justice would mean I am taking a subjective stance.
Make sure to change up your signal phrases
so your reader doesn't get bored.
What comes after the signal phrase?
The quotation. Just be sure to copy it
EXACTLY as it appears in the story. Don't
misspell the words or even change the
punctuation.
The LAST step :-)
Give an in-text/parenthetical citation.
It's simple. Just put the author's last name and the page
number of the source where you found the quotation in
parenthesis () after the quotation.
It looks like:
He attacked "taxation without representation" (Jackson 32).
Just make sure it goes: " (
).
MLA Parenthetical Documentation
In-Text (Parenthetical) Citations:
Standard:
(Author Pg#).
If you mention the author in
the sentence:
(Pg#).
If there is no author:
(Most relevant part of title
Pg#).
Footnotes
Notice the asterisk * found in the text above. Why did the author use this symbol?
Sometimes authors' use a * and sometimes a number.
Spinelli, Jerry. Maniac Magee. Little, Brown and Company 1990.
A footnote is sometimes used by an author to note
a definition or to give additional information that is
important.
Why did the author use a footnote in the above text?
Gutman, Dan. The Get Rich Quick Club. Scholastic 2004.
Why did the author use a footnote in the above text?
Spinelli, Jerry. Maniac Magee. Little, Brown and Company 1990.
A footnote can also be used by an author to cite
the source of statements quoted in your text or to
acknowledge an author's idea or argument
Footnote Formatting
Footnotes appear at the bottom of pages
Single space-footnotes, but double-space between them
Begin subsequent lines of a footnote at the left margin
Each citation gets its own number, even if it comes from the same source
You can shorten a reference the second time you use it
Each footnote needs a page number
Using Word to Create Your Citations
Manage Sources
Insert Footnote
Bibliography
In the Footnote and Endnote dialog box, click either Footnotes or Endnotes, and then click the Insert
button at the bottom of the dialog box.
Word will add the foot/endnote mark at the cursor point in the document, which is automatically numbered
for you. A note reference mark with the same number is inserted at the bottom of the page, if you clicked
Footnotes, or at the end of the document, if you clicked Endnotes. Then you would enter the foot/endnote
text to acknowledge the source that refers to the reference number. For example: Author, book title,
publisher, date of publication, page number, and so on.
When you add the next footnote or endnote, Word will automatically number it in the correct sequence. If
you later add a note before this note, Word will number the new note correctly and renumber the other
notes in the document.
Tip: You can skip the dialog box and insert a footnote by pressing ALT+CTRL+F and an endnote by
pressing ALT+CTRL+D.
And just remember: