Using Sources in MLA Format
Referring to sources in your writing:
When trying to decide how to refer to a source or a piece of information in a source, use the
following guidelines:
1. Quote texts when the wording is particularly precise, powerful, concise, or well-put.
2. Paraphrase information that is not worth quoting, but has details you want to include.
3. Summarize longer passages whose main points, but not whose details, are important.
* You must cite the source for all three of these uses.*
* Always cite at the end of your use, even if you have a several sentence summary.*
Introducing Quotes:
1. Anytime you are using the exact wording of a source, you are quoting it.
2. Never let a quote stand on its own! Always introduce the work or author, giving the quote a place
to fit naturally into a sentence.
3. Incorporate short quotations (less than 4 lines) into your paragraph and set them aside with
quotation marks.
Example: In his latest novel, Walker Percy proclaims, “We live in a deranged age” (75).
a. For short quotations, the page number goes in parentheses after the quotation marks and
is followed by a period.
4. Set aside long quotations (5 or more lines) in a block paragraph, indented from the left margin by
one inch. The first line in a block quote is not tabbed in any further than the other lines.
Example: In the first chapter of Treasure Island, Jim Hawkins introduces the reader to
Doctor Livesey:
Doctor Livesey came late one afternoon to see the patient . . . . and I remember
observing the contrast the neat, bright doctor, with his powder as white as snow, and
his bright, black eyes and pleasant manners, made with the coltish country folk, and
above all, with that filthy, heavy, bleared scarecrow of a pirate of ours, sitting far
gone in rum, with his arms on the table. (16)
a. For block quotes, you do not use quotation marks unless they appear in the text itself.
b. The page number appears in parenthesis outside of the punctuation.
c. Poetry is usually block quoted, no matter how many lines you quote
5. Use signal phrases to introduce a quote, but make sure you pick an appropriate one.
Examples: claims, confirms, disagrees, reports, suggests, argues, concludes, observes, etc.
Good – In Poor Richard’s Almanack, Franklin explains, “He that cannot obey,
cannot command” (72).
Bad – In Poor Richard’s Almanack, Franklin describes, “He that cannot obey,
cannot command” (72).
6. If your introduction to a quote is not a complete sentence, use one of the following sentence
formulas to lead into your quote.
Option 1: Source + signal phrase + comma + quote
As Franklin explains, “He that cannot obey, cannot command” (72).
Option 2: Source + signal phrase + sentence structure that naturally fits quote
Walker Percy insists that our current age is “more deranged that usual, because in
spite of great scientific and technological advances, man has no the faintest idea of
who he is or what he is doing (75).
7. If your introduction to a quote can stand on its own as a complete sentence, separate it and your
quote with a colon.
Example: See #4 above.
8. If your quote ends with a punctuation mark other than a period, include the mark, close the
quotation marks, then add the page number and a period.
Example: Hamlet exclaimed, “Let us hear the play!” (155).
9. Quoting Dialogue: If the quote you are using has quotation marks within it, replace them with
single quotation marks like these: ‘quote’
Example: Long John Silver responds with fear at Tom’s touch: “‘Hands off!’ cried Silver,
leaping back a yard, as it seemed to me, with the speed and security of a trained
gymnast” (93).
10. Changing words within a quote or eliminating a chunk of a quote are possible, but tricky. If you
cannot avoid doing one or both, ask the teacher for specific help.
In-text Citation:
1. Known Author:
a. Always try to introduce the author when you reference the text. If you have clearly stated
the author’s name, you only need to include the page number of your information in the
parentheses. Example: Benjamin Franklin stated, “Reading makes a full man” (10).
b. If you haven’t mentioned the author’s name, you must put his last name before the page
number. Example: It is true that “Reading makes a full man” (Franklin 10).
2. Poetry: Use the same rules as books, but give line numbers instead of page numbers.
3. Organization as Author: If you know the organization, but not the specific author, give that
organization’s name as the “author’s” name according to #1.
4. Unknown Author: Use the title of the work in the parentheses.
5. One page article: Just use the author’s name in the parentheses
Works Cited:
1. Put your works cited in alphabetical order by the first word of the citation. You do not need to
number your sources.
2. The first line of a citation is not indented. Subsequent lines, however, are indented by .5” (1 tab)
3. If the work has no author, begin your citation with the title.
One author:
Author’s last name, first name. Title. Publication city: Publisher, Year of publication. Medium
Two or more works by the same author:
Author’s last name, first name. Title that comes first alphabetically. Publication city: Publisher, Year of
publication. Medium
---. Title that comes next alphabetically. Publication city: Publisher, Year of publication. Medium.
Two authors:
First author’s last name, first name and Second Author’s first and last names. Title. Publication city:
Publisher, Year of publication. Medium.
Organization as author:
Organization name. Title. Publication city: Publisher, Year of publication. Medium.
Article in a reference book:
Author’s last name, first name. “Title of article.” Title of Reference Book. Edition number. Year of
publication. Medium.
Work from a website:
Author’s last name, first name. “Title of work.” Title of Website. Sponsoring institution, Date posted
or last updated. Medium. Day Month Year of access.
Buff, Rachel Ida. “Becoming American.” Immigration History Research Center. University of Minnesota,
24 Mar. 2008. Web. 4 April 2008.
Article in an online reference book:
“Title of article.” Title of reference work. Sponsor of work, Date of work. Medium. Day Month Year of
access.
Entry in a wiki:
“Title of entry.” Title of Wiki. Sponsoring institution, Day Month Year updated. Day Month Year of
access.
“Pi.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 28 Aug. 2008. Web. 2 Sept. 2008.