Summer 2013
MLA 7th Edition Quick Reference
Best Sources
Acceptable Sources
Unacceptable Sources
Choosing Sources for Your MLA Paper
Rely on peer reviewed journal articles.
In addition to journal articles, you may occasionally use books, magazine articles, or
government websites (i.e., .gov websites).
Avoid using blogs, Wikipedia, YouTube, private or commercial websites (e.g., .com or
.net websites), or sources missing important information (e.g., publication date, author).
In-Text Citations
Citing a Paraphrased (i.e., reworded) Idea or Quotation
LAST NAME WITHIN SENTENCE + Page # as part of a
LAST NAME(S) + PAGE # as an end-citation…
sentence…
Smith has argued this point (3).
Depression and anxiety are related (Smith 3).
Smith, Jacobson, and Roberts found that depression was
Depression and anxiety are related (Smith, Jacobson, and
related to anxiety (4).
Roberts 3).
Citing Sources with NO AUTHOR listed
Citing Sources with NO PAGE listed
Shortened title instead of author’s name…
Author’s last name and chapter number or similar
designation…
Depression is highly related to anxiety (Report 34).
Depression is highly related to anxiety (Smith ch. 14).
Citing Sources with Multiple Authors
Others, like Jakobson and Waugh (210-15), hold the opposite point of view.
1-2 Author in text
1-2 Author in reference
Others hold the opposite point of view (Jakobson and Waugh 210-15).
References
Book with one author
Electronic Sources
Franke, Damon. Modernist Heresies: British Literary
Editor, author, or compiler name (if available). Name of
History, 1883-1924. Columbus: Ohio State UP, 2008.
site. Version number. Name of institution/organization
Print.
affiliated with the site (sponsor or publisher), date of
resource creation (if available). Medium of publication.
Date of access.
Book with multiple authors
Hutcheon, Linda, and Michael Hutcheon. Bodily
Charm: Living Opera. Lincoln: U of Nebraska P, 2000.
Print.
Book with anonymous/No author
American Heritage Guide to Contemporary Usage and
Style. Boston: Houghton, 2005. Print. The Holy Bible.
Wheaton: Crossway-Good News, 2003. Print. Eng.
Standard Vers.
Journal article (with issue and volume)
Piper, Andrew. “Rethinking the Print Object: Goethe
and the Book of Everything.” PMLA 121.1 (2006): 12438. Print.
Online government publication
United States. Dept. of Justice. Office of Juvenile
Justice and Delinquency Prevention. Law
Enforcement and Juvenile Crime. By Howard N. Snyder.
2001. National Criminal Justice Reference Service.
Web. 15 May 2008.
Speech, Lecture, Address, or Reading
Matuozzi, Robert. “Archive Trauma.” Archive Trouble.
MLA Annual Convention. Hyatt Regency, Chicago. 29
Dec. 2007. Address. Alter, Robert, and Marilynne
Robinson. “The Psalms: A Reading and Conversation.”
92nd Street Y, New York. 17 Dec. 2007. Reading.
Journal article (with only issue numbers)
Kafka, Ben. “The Demon of Writing: Paperwork, Public
Safety, and the Reign of Terror.” Representations 98
(2007): 1-24. Print.
Taken from Purdue University’s Writing Center site ( http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/ ) and
MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, 7th Edition.
Call (815) 753-6636 for an appointment.
Summer 2013
MLA 7th Edition Quick Reference


Include a header on EACH page with your last
name and the page number. Header should
be right justified, .5”
1” Margins on ALL SIDES

First page should include the following
information, left justified at the top of the page
and double-spaced in this order:
o
Your name
o
Your instructor’s name
o
Course (subject and course
number)
o
Date (day month year, e.g. 28
August 2010)

The first page should also include the title of
your paper, centered, in regular font (do not
underline, or bold the text, and do not use
quotation marks or capital letters unless the
words would be written that way in the text)
Double space between the title and the first
line of the text

Works Cited Page

All entries should be double spaced and listed alphabetically by author’s last name (or by the first
significant word in the title, if no author name is provided). Use a hanging indent to indent every line
beyond the first in each entry.
Works Cited
Franke, Damon. Modernist Heresies: British Literary History, 1883-1924. Columbus: Ohio State UP, 2008.
Print.
Miscellaneous Facts
Numbers
 Spell out numbers written in one or two words - two, twenty-nine, two thousand, four million
 NOTE: If your paper calls for frequent use of numbers, use numerals for all numbers that precede units of
measurement (75 feet, 140 knots, 2 inches, etc).
 Use numerals for numbers written in more than two words: 2 ½, 350, 12,554
 Be consistent in number use: Were 12 of the 127 people in attendance? She sold 3 shirts, 16 skirts, and 12
aprons.
 Spell out any number that begins a sentence: Three hundred students passed the exam.
 Use numerals for page numbers (page 16), percentages (7%), money ($3.85), and addresses (308 W. State
Street).
Titles


Italicize titles of independently published works, which include books, plays, pamphlets, films, CDs,
periodicals (newspapers, magazines, journals), and paintings. (The Great Gatsby, Hamlet, A Streetcar
Named Desire, Jagged Little Pill, Newsweek, etc.)
Quotation marks are used for titles of works published within larger works, such as articles, essays,
chapters of books, and short stories or poems, songs on an album, scenes in a film, etc.
Taken from Purdue University’s Writing Center site ( http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/ ) and
MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, 7th Edition.
Call (815) 753-6636 for an appointment.