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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 1
Thesis Construction ........................................................................................................... 2
Thesis Construction Example ............................................................................................ 5
Researching........................................................................................................................ 6
Integrating Resources........................................................................................................ 8
Quoting, Paraphrasing, and Summarizing...................................................................... 10
Formatting ........................................................................................................................ 13
First Page Example .......................................................................................................... 14
First Page Example .......................................................................................................... 15
Citation Style .................................................................................................................... 16
Research Paper Example ................................................................................................ 19
Works Cited Example ....................................................................................................... 21
Citations ............................................................................................................................ 22
Articles .......................................................................................................................... 22
Books ............................................................................................................................ 23
Web-Based ................................................................................................................... 24
Other ............................................................................................................................. 25
APUS MLA Style Guide
1
INTRODUCTION
The Modern Language Association (MLA) is an organization of scholars from various
disciplines in the humanities including linguistics, English literature, foreign languages, and
communication studies.
The seventh edition of the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers was released
in 2009. This edition includes a few changes in the MLA style. Most importantly, the MLA
adjusted the type of information that is included in the works-cited list items. Online sources
and other nonprint media sources are now easier to list and cite, and all entries list the
medium of the source.
In addition to the handbook, MLA also publishes the MLA Style Manual and Guide to
Scholarly Publishing. Both the handbook and the manual follow the same format and
citation guidelines, but the audience of the handbook is primarily students whereas the
audience of the manual is primarily scholars and researchers. You will probably find the
handbook easier to use and more applicable to your studies.
APUS MLA Style Guide
2
THESIS CONSTRUCTION
In MLA style, your thesis statement is the
foundation of a quality paper. It identifies both
what your paper is about (your topic) and what
you plan to say about that topic (your point). A
strong thesis will be:
•
an answer to a question or problem.
More importantly, it is your answer—one
that you have synthesized from what you
know and what other people have said
about the question or problem.
•
an argument. While your instructors may ask you to write assignments that primarily
inform rather than persuade, you still need to make a clear statement in reply to a
question or problem.
•
the focal point of your essay. Every main point and subpoint should contribute to
supporting it. Directly relate opposing arguments to the thesis and address the points
through refutation and rebuttal.
•
a statement for writing. In other words, your thesis statement is what you want to
convey to your audience as your write—but as you research and write, you will
encounter new information that may cause you to rethink your argument and revise
the thesis. You want this process to happen—revision is about refining and reshaping
your ideas to make them more accurate and effective.
APUS MLA Style Guide
3
When using MLA style, keep two questions in
mind:
1. Who is my audience?
If you understand your audience well,
you will be able to adjust your language,
organization, logical reasoning, and level
of detail to increase the comprehension
of your message for that specific person
or group of people.
2. What is my purpose?
If you have a clear purpose, you can revise your work as you write to make sure that
every point and piece of evidence works together to accomplish that purpose. Once
you understand the purpose of your writing and your audience, you can begin to
develop a thesis statement.
A strong thesis statement:
•
is a single, complex sentence that
concentrates on one specific question
or problem related to your topic. It
should distill your entire argument into
a brief form.
•
is arguable. Readers should be able to
disagree with your conclusions.
•
encourages discussion.
•
often has two parts: an arguable claim or the specific position you take and a brief
justification of that position. Together, the claim and justification make up an
enthymeme.
APUS MLA Style Guide
4
Academic writing tends to be deductive in
structure, which means the student:
1. introduces the conclusion drawn from
research; and
2. explains or justifies the conclusion
using logical reasoning and evidence
in the rest of the work.
In a short essay, for example, a student might
make a claim (in the form of a thesis
statement) in the first paragraph or two. In a long paper, a student might make a claim
somewhere on the first page.
PREVIEW VERSUS THESIS
In addition to your thesis statement, you can help your reader navigate your work by
including a preview of the main points of your argument. In short assignments, the
enthymeme often functions as a preview, but in longer papers include a paragraph to
summarize the main points. This preview can function as a road map of your essay and how
you plan to develop your ideas.
APUS MLA Style Guide
THESIS CONSTRUCTION EXAMPLE
5
APUS MLA Style Guide
6
RESEARCHING
Strong academic writing begins with thorough research. A great way to begin is to review the
APUS Research Primer which provides an overview of the concepts underlying academic
research. Additionally, the APUS Online Library offers library guides and program portals that
provide useful starting points for many disciplines.
Before beginning research, develop a specific question that you want to answer. Start with a
general topic, and then narrow it down. You can use a number of techniques, such as
brainstorming, mind mapping, and outlining, to find a good question.
APUS MLA Style Guide
7
HOW DO I KNOW WHAT TO LOOK FOR?
To write effectively in an academic context, you need to be aware of:
•
The published research (also known as scholarly literature) that covers your subject.
o
Find out what other people already know about your research question or
problem.
o
Try to find peer-reviewed publications. This means that other experts in the
same subject area scrutinized the work before it was published. Those experts
can identify problems with the design of the study, collection and
interpretation of data, and the way new knowledge is communicated to
others. Just as important, most scholarly works are reviewed blindly, meaning
the peers who review the work do not know who wrote it, so their judgment is
less likely to be influenced by their feelings about the author.
•
The methods of study used in your discipline.
o
A research method is basically a systematic approach to collecting and
interpreting data. Some disciplines recognize very few methods; others
recognize many. While the methods used in academic writing may seem
foreign to you, they are not arbitrary rules. They are standards and processes
based on trial, error, and learning, and they will continue to evolve as long as
people seek to understand their world.
•
The specialized vocabulary, or jargon, used in your discipline.
o
The more specialized the topic, the more often you will find unfamiliar jargon.
Learning the vocabulary will help you understand what you are reading.
•
the style manual that those in your discipline use to present their research to the
public.
APUS MLA Style Guide
8
INTEGRATING RESOURCES
After conducting research, you must integrate what you have learned into your writing. In
other words, use outside sources to corroborate your argument.
The trick is to balance your own thoughts and arguments with your audience's need for
evidence.
Your personal thoughts, reasoning skills, experience, and ideas are valuable, and you should
use your academic writing to explore them. However, they are also subjective, which means
that others may not understand or agree with you.
Academic resources are often more objective and broader in scope, but can overlook the
personal and subjective. Such resources demonstrate to your audience that your ideas have
meaning and significance for others as well as yourself.
WHY DO I NEED TO USE OUTSIDE SOURCES?
When you use strong, credible sources to support your arguments, you increase your
credibility in the following ways:
• You show the audience that you are a responsible researcher who understands the
context of your argument and gives credit where credit is due.
• You demonstrate that you are part of the group of people who speak, study, and write
about the same topic; you’re part of the community with which you share the same
knowledge base, vocabulary, and conventions.
• You show that you understand the research in your field of study and what is relevant
for your argument.
• You reveal that you not only understand your opponents' arguments, but that you can
overcome them.
APUS MLA Style Guide
9
While there are many ways to balance the use of personal thoughts and outside research in
your academic writing, a good general practice is to support every assertion you make with
explicit logic, evidence, or both.
Keep in mind, though, that what constitutes acceptable logic or evidence can vary. Some
disciplines that use MLA style accept certain patterns of logical reasoning.
Some disciplines that use MLA style are strongly quantitative, relying on mathematical proof
or statistical analysis, while others are strongly qualitative, relying on narratives, case
studies, or observation.
Some disciplines that use MLA style utilize both qualitative and quantitative evidence. One
of your jobs as a student is to learn what discipline your study uses most often and how to
use those techniques.
HOW DO I INTEGRATE SOURCE MATERIAL INTO MY OWN WORDS?
No matter which type of evidence you use, you must find a way to synthesize it into your own
writing so that it is coherent (it makes sense) and cohesive (every part of the work is related
to the others and to the whole work).
The following guidelines are helpful for introducing material from outside sources:
1. Provide the reader with some context before introducing the source material. Use
your own words.
2. Quote, paraphrase, or summarize the source material itself, and cite it appropriately.
3. Explain the significance of the material in your own words.
While this pattern may not be appropriate in all situations, it helps the reader link your ideas
and the evidence you use, and it gives you a chance to interpret the evidence for the reader.
APUS MLA Style Guide
10
QUOTING, PARAPHRASING, AND SUMMARIZING
WHAT IS A QUOTATION?
When you quote someone, you use another person's exact words (including his or her
errors).
Follow these guidelines when using quotations:
• Be selective about what you quote. Brief quotations tend to be most effective since
you can better integrate them using your own style, tone, and syntax.
• Quote only what is necessary. You do not have to quote whole sentences. In fact, it is
better to work quoted words and phrases into a grammatically correct, coherent
sentence. You can leave out words as long as you maintain the meaning of the
quotation and note omissions with an ellipsis ( . . . ).
• Always cite quotations.
• If the quotation is brief, enclose it between quotation marks.
• If the quote is long, or if it is from a poem or play, format it as explained in section
3.7 of the MLA Handbook.
• Avoid beginning a sentence or paragraph with a quotation; doing so rarely gives the
reader enough context to make it understandable.
WHAT IS A PARAPHRASE?
When you paraphrase, you change both the wording and sentence structure of the original
work. Put the writer's ideas into your own words, and keep roughly the same level of detail.
Follow these guidelines when paraphrasing someone else’s work:

Use no more than three of the original work's words in sequence, and reorganize the
wording of the sentence. Simply replacing some of the words in an existing sentence
with synonyms is not paraphrasing.

Use paraphrasing to interpret the source material for your reader.
APUS MLA Style Guide

11
Mix quotations and paraphrased passages, making sure to enclose quoted material
in quotation marks.

Always cite paraphrased passages, no matter how brief, and include the page or
paragraph number as appropriate.
WHAT IS A SUMMARY?
When you summarize, you condense another person's ideas into a brief form using your own
words.
Follow these guidelines to summarize someone else’s work:
• Change both the wording and the sentence structure of the original work.
• Include quoted material within the summary, if you wish.
• Always cite summarized passages. Citations of summaries may omit page numbers
when they condense large portions of an original work.
APUS MLA Style Guide
12
The table below provides examples of quoting, paraphrasing, and summarizing using MLA
guidelines.
See: Citation Examples for more details about how to cite source material.
APUS MLA Style Guide
13
FORMATTING
When you format an assignment according to MLA standards, pay attention to how the
document looks on the page. The design of the page affects how easily your audience can
read the document and navigate within it.
Use the guidelines in the table below to format a paper in MLA style.
APUS MLA Style Guide
14
FIRST PAGE EXAMPLE
While some style guides call for a title page at the beginning of a research paper, MLA style
does not. Instead, research papers simply begin on the first page.
Follow these guidelines to format the first page of your paper:
1. In the left corner of your paper, one inch from the top of the first page, list your name,
the instructor's name, the course title and section number, and the date the
assignment is due. These items should be each on a separate line and doublespaced.
2. After the last line, provide a title that describes the topic of the essay; one word titles
are generally inadequate. Center and capitalize the title. Do not underline it or use
bold, all uppercase letters, or quotation marks. Only use italics when referencing a
published work in your title.
3. On the next line, begin your first paragraph. Indent the first line.
Be sure to double-space the text for all three steps.
APUS MLA Style Guide
15
FIRST PAGE EXAMPLE
APUS MLA Style Guide
16
CITATION STYLE
The key to MLA style is the works-cited list located at the end of every document that uses
outside sources. As its name implies, the works-cited list includes an entry for every source
that is mentioned (cited) in the text. It does not list additional sources consulted that are not
mentioned in the text. Works-cited entries provide all the information a reader might need to
find the source. The resources are organized alphabetically by author’s last name or by the
title of the work if no author is listed.
Use the following guidelines to format a works-cited page:
APUS MLA Style Guide
17
When you summarize or paraphrase the ideas of another work or quote more than three
words, you must both acknowledge that source in the text and include it on the works-cited
list. When you summarize or paraphrase, follow that information with a parenthetical citation
at the end of the sentence. When you quote, use quotation marks (unless it is a block
quotation) and immediately follow that information with a parenthetical citation.
A parenthetical citation is simply a note, set off from the text by parentheses, that refers
readers to a specific entry in the works-cited list.
Most parenthetical citations follow the same pattern, but there are some minor variations,
as noted in the following table.
APUS MLA Style Guide
18
Parenthetical citations point the reader to the works-cited list, which includes all the
information a reader needs to find the sources listed.
In the following example of a works-cited list entry, pay particular attention to capitalization
and punctuation, which are important elements of MLA citation style
APUS MLA Style Guide
RESEARCH PAPER EXAMPLE
19
APUS MLA Style Guide
20
APUS MLA Style Guide
21
WORKS CITED EXAMPLE
APUS MLA Style Guide
22
CITATIONS
ARTICLES
JOURNAL OR MAGAZINE
Format:
Last name, first name. "Article title." Journal title Volume: issue (Year): pages.
Example:
Allen, Emily. "Staging Identity: Frances Burney's Allegory of Genre." Eighteenth-Century
Studies 31:2 (1998): 433-51.
ONLINE PERIODICAL OR PERIODICAL DATABASE RETRIEVAL
Format:
Last name, first name. "Article title." Periodical title Volume (Year): pages. Database
name. Medium. Day month year of access.
Example:
Dolby, Nadine. "Popular Culture and Public Space in Africa: The Possibilities of Cultural
Citizenship." African Studies Review 49 (2006): 31-47. JSTOR. Web. 29 Aug.
2010.
NEWSPAPER ARTICLE
Format:
Last name, first name. "Article title." Newspaper title [city] day month year, ed.: page.
Medium.
Example:
Webb, Tim. "Tropical Storm Forces BP to Halt Relief Well Drilling." The Guardian
[London] 12 Aug. 2010, final ed.: 23. Print.
ONLINE JOURNAL ARTICLE
Format:
Last name, first name. "Article title." Journal title (Year): page number. Web. Day month
year of access.
Example:
Belau, Linda. "Trauma and the Material Signifier." Postmodern Culture 11.2 (2001):
n.pag. Web. 20 Feb. 2009.
APUS MLA Style Guide
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REVIEW ARTICLE
Format:
Last name, first name. "Review title." Rev. of title of work, author of reviewed
work. Publication title Day month year: pages. Medium.
Example:
Chotiner, Isaac. "Globish For Beginners: If the Whole World Speaks English, Will It Still Be
English?" Rev. of Globish, Robert McCrum. The New Yorker 31 May 2010: n.p.
Web.
BOOKS
*Shorten the publisher's name when possible. If the publisher is a university press, use
"UP" as the abbreviation.
PRINT BOOK
Format:
Last name, first name. Book title. City: publisher, year. Medium.
Example:
Bruner, Jerome. The Culture of Education. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1996. Print.
EBOOK
Format:
Last name, first name. Book title. City: Publisher, year. Online source. Medium. Day
month year of access.
Example:
Edensor, Tim. National Identity, Popular Culture and Everyday Life. New
York: Berg, 2002. NetLibrary.com. Web. 29 Aug. 2010.
CORPORATE AUTHOR
Format:
Corporation/organization. Book title. City: Publisher, year. Medium.
Example:
Board on International Comparative Studies in Education. International
Comparative Studies in Education. Washington, DC: Board, Commission on
Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education, National Research Council, 1995.
Web. 29 Aug. 2010.
APUS MLA Style Guide
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MULTIPLE AUTHORS
Format:
Last name, first name, and first and last name. Book title. City: publisher, year. Medium.
Example:
Segrin, Chris, and Jeanne Flora. Family Communication. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum, 2005.
Web. 29 Aug. 2010.
WEB-BASED
WEBSITE
Format:
Organization or author last and first name. "Page title." Website title. Sponsor, year
updated. Medium. Day month year of access. URL
Example:
"Tutorial & Student Study Center." American Public University System Online
Library. APUS, 2010. Web. 29 Aug. 2010. http://www.apus.edu/OnlineLibrary/tutorials/index.html
WEB LOG POST
Format:
Last name, first name. "Entry title." Blog name. Sponsor, year updated. Medium. Day
month year of access. URL
Example:
Harding, Ryan. "Examining Entry-Level Government Jobs." American Public
University System Career Services Blog. APUS, 2010. Web. 29 Aug. 2010.
http://www.apus-csb.com
EMAIL
Format:
Last name, first name. "Subject line." Message to recipient name. Day month year sent.
Medium.
Example:
Miller, Sharon. "Exam Review." Message to Sarah Jones. 22 Nov. 2010. Email.
APUS MLA Style Guide
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OTHER
MEDIA/VIDEO
Format:
Film title. Dir. first and last name. Perf. first and last names. Distributor. Year of release.
Medium.
Example:
The Fighting Seabees . Dir. Edward Ludwig. Perf. John Wayne, Susan Hayward,
Dennis O'Keefe, and William Frawley. Republic Pictures. 1944. Film.
RADIO/TELEVISION
Format:
"Title of segment or episode." Program or series title . By first and last name of
writer. Dir. first and last name. Perf. first and last names. Narr. first and last name.
Network. Local station and location, day month year of broadcast Medium.
Example:
"The Pirate Solution." Big Bang Theory. By Chuck Lorre. Perf. John Galecki, Jim
Parsons, Kaley Cuoco. Simon Helberg, and Kunal Nayyar. CBS, 12 Oct. 2009.
Television.
DISSERTATIONS
Format:
Last name, first name. "Dissertation title." Diss. Institution name, year. Medium.
Example:
Yong-Sup, Han. "Designing and Evaluating Conventional Arms Control Measures: The Case
of the Korean Peninsula." Diss. RAND, 1993. Web.
GOVERNMENT DOCUMENTS
Format:
Government agency. Department. Agency. "Document title." Website title.
Publisher/Sponsor, publication month day year. Medium. Day month year of access.
Example:
United States. Dept. of Energy. Energy Information Administration. "International Energy
Outlook 2010." U.S. Energy Information Administration. Dept. of Energy, July
2010. Web. 29 Aug. 2010.