MLA Style Guide
Citations and References
Adapted for Brooks Secondary School
The MLA (Modern Language Association) is one of the many styles used for documenting sources in academic
writing. It is expected that all students include a Bibliography, Works Cited or Resources Consulted page with
projects, research papers or essays. Sources should be listed alphabetically by last name. The MLA style is
primarily used for the arts such as English and history.
In addition, you will need to include parenthetical references within the body of your essay or assignment.
This tells the reader where you gathered your information.
What kind of sources do I document?
 Direct quotations from a book, article, website, letter, email, conference, lecture, television show, etc.
 References to a book or article
 Ideas you draw from a source but are present entirely in your own words
 Paraphrases or summaries of books, articles, pamphlets, etc.
 Single words, short phrases, sentences and longer passages quoted for books, articles, websites used
 Statistics
How do I introduce sources, references, citations in my essay?
In order to make your writing more coherent and accurate, use the following verbs to introduce
references and citations. This is merely a small list of suggested vocabulary. There are many more strong
verbs that can be used.
addresses
asserts
complains
counters
exclaims
notes
reasons
remarks
states
advocates
assures
concludes
debates
explains
pleads
recognizes
reports
suggests
argues
claims
concurs
declares
insists
points out
recommends
responds
thinks
Parenthetical References
Print Materials – Books
(author’s last name page numbers)
One author
(Reeves 33)
More than one author
(Brooks and Walworth 56-59)
More than three authors (Dawson et al. 30-35)
No author
(first word of title page numbers)
articulates
comments
contends
describes
maintains
proposes
refers
speculates
urges
asks
compares
contradicts
elaborates
mentions
proves
refutes
supposes
warns
Online Journal, Magazine, Newspaper Articles
(author’s last name page numbers if available)
Electronic Book Article
(author’s last name page if available)
Example #1
Canada’s appointed executive body of the Senate is a contentious issue each election period. Many citizen
groups lobby the government for a more representative form of government and campaign for an elected
Senate. Yet elected governments often find various reasons to maintain the status quo. A government finds
senatorships most useful as rewards for duty faithfully performed, as influences to produce immediate
activity in the hope of recognition on the future, as inducements to persuade members of the Commons to
resign and vacate a seat for new or defeated Cabinet Ministers, as aids for keeping restless provinces or
provincial governments in line, and as a convenient scrap-heap on which to cast Ministers who have outlived
their usefulness or who have become for one reason or another trying colleagues to retain in the Cabinet.
(Dawson 68)
Example #2
Canada’s appointed executive body of the Senate is a contentious issue each election period. As Canada grows
older and more experienced in governing more and more leaders are looking at a more expansive
representative governing body which would include an elected Senate. Dawson points out that political
parties campaigning on Senate reform often change their minds once they “gain office and acquire the power
of appointing senators” (68).
*no need to include the author as he is already mentioned within the text