“A QUICK AND DIRTY GUIDE TO
MLA DOCUMENTATION”
BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE WRITING CENTER
AT BURLINGTON COLLEGE
(Stay tuned for “Everything You Wanted to Know
About APA but Were Afraid to Ask”)
Documentation is not fun or exciting.
It is also not a “police action” designed
to bust you for plagiarism.
Instead…
• It allows you to participate in a conversation
about your topic.
• It is an unavoidable part of writing a paper.
• Everyone who incorporates research has to
use documentation.
• We’re a team, and we all wear the same
jerseys.
Luckily, you don’t have to
memorize a thing!
You can turn to many sources to see how
to document your research. One of the
best sources is the OWL: Purdue
University’s Online Writing Lab.
Google it!
Their website shows you how
to create “in-text citations” and a
“Works Cited” page.
Both of these are needed in every
research paper.
Why, you may ask?
Because…
• Your reader wants to know who you have
invited into your paper!
• In-text citations tell the reader when
someone else besides you is “speaking.”
Put the writer’s last name and the page number
in parentheses, followed by a period.
(Hirsh 25).
This in-text citation is a flag. When the
reader sees this, he or she knows that
more information about your “guest” is
on the Works Cited page at the end of
the paper.
The Works Cited page shows your
sources in alphabetical order and gives
publishing details.
Interested readers can find the sources
you used and learn more about your
topic.
The following info is required for a book
with one author:
Author. Title of Book. City of Publication:
Publisher, Date of Publication. Mode of
Publication.
For example:
Hirsch, Edward. Responsive Reading.
Ann Arbor, Michigan: U of Michigan
Press, 1999. Print.
Writers must use both in-text citations
and Works Cited entries. Having one
without the other is like wearing
only one shoe!
The OWL gives examples of almost any kind of source
you could find: books with editors, collections in an
anthology, newspapers, films, scholarly journals,
even YouTube videos and other electronic sources
now commonly used in research.
This is how you write an in-text citation for an online
article called “How to Read a Poem” which does not
give the author’s name and does not have a page
number:
(“How to Read a Poem”).
The corresponding Works Cited entry looks
like this:
“How to Read a Poem.” Poetry Foundation.
Harriet Monroe Poetry Institute. 2012.
Web. 10 Jan 2013.
This citation includes all the information
available about the source, and it gives the
mode of publication and the date accessed.
Now there is a quiz!
Let’s say you quote an online article that
does have an author but no page numbers.
What goes in the parentheses for your in-text
citation – the author’s name or the title of the
article?
“Emerson was an avid, creative, and
intoxicated reader, and he was an assiduous
journal keeper” (???)
Here’s the correct in-text citation:
“Emerson was an avid, creative, and intoxicated
reader, and he was an assiduous journal keeper”
(Hirsch).
Here’s the correct Works Cited entry:
Hirsch, Edward. “Ralph Waldo Emerson: Life is an
Ecstasy.” Poets on Poetry. The Academy of
American Poets. 1997. Web. 10 Jan 2013.
REMEMBER: You don’t have to
remember this!
Just consult the OWL or your MLA
handbook every time you write a
research paper –
you can’t get it wrong!
Visit the Burlington College Writing
Center if you need help!