WHERE DID IT COME FROM?
MLA style was designed by the Modern Language Association of America to create a
uniform way for students to submit research papers on topics associated with the
arts: music, literature, visual art, architecture, etc.
A handbook, MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, is available for purchase
both online and in print at www.mla.org.
Once you purchase the handbook, you are given a code to access their
comprehensive handbook website at www.mlahandbook.org.
THE PARTS OF A MLA PAPER
Page One
This page will include your name, your professor’s name, the course title and number
if applicable, the date, and the title of your paper.
In-Text Citations
In the body of your paper, whenever you quote a source, you need to indicate
immediately after where that quote came from. This is called an in-text citation. It
is also referred to as parenthetical documentation. The author’s last name and
the page number(s) where the quote can be found are indicated in parentheses.
The professor should be able to go directly to your Works Cited page and find the
complete bibliographical entry for that source.
Example:
Romantic poetry is characterized by the "spontaneous overflow of powerful
feelings" (Wordsworth 263).
WORKS CITED PAGE
This is where the crux of MLA style comes into play. Every type of source you use to
find information for your paper must be entered on this page. The challenge is
that there is a very precise way the information about each source is displayed.
The basic information that is included is:
Author’s name, Name of the source, Publisher’s city, Publisher’s name, Year it was
published, What type of source is it
Example:
Jones, Edward. The Book of Research. New York: Norton, 1988. Print.
WORKS CITED PAGE--COMPLICATIONS
Complications arise because there are so many different types of sources out there, and
each Works Cited entry is modified in some small way for each different source type.
What if it’s a magazine article?
What if it’s a film?
What if it’s a website?
What if a book has two authors or no author?
Having a hardcopy of the handbook and access to an online source can really help with
this!
There are some websites that will generate a proper Works Cited entry if you plug in the
right information and Microsoft Word has many features that can help with this as well,
but you have to know how to locate these tools and how to use them.
Works Cited
"Blueprint Lays Out Clear Path for Climate Action." Environmental Defense Fund.
Environmental Defense Fund, 8 May 2007. Web. 24 May 2009.
Clinton, Bill. Interview by Andrew C. Revkin. “Clinton on Climate Change.” New York Times. New
York Times, May 2007. Web. 25 May 2009.
Dean, Cornelia. "Executive on a Mission: Saving the Planet." New York Times. New York Times,
22 May 2007. Web. 25 May 2009.
Ebert, Roger. "An Inconvenient Truth." Rev. of An Inconvenient Truth, dir. Davis Guggenheim.
rogerebert.com. Sun-Times News Group, 2 June 2006. Web. 24 May 2009.
GlobalWarming.org. Cooler Heads Coalition, 2007. Web. 24 May 2009.
Gowdy, John. "Avoiding Self-organized Extinction: Toward a Co-evolutionary Economics of
Sustainability." International Journal of Sustainable Development and World
Ecology 14.1 (2007): 27-36. Print.
An Inconvenient Truth. Dir. Davis Guggenheim. Perf. Al Gore, Billy West. Paramount, 2006.
DVD.
MLA FORMAT
One inch margin on all sides.
Times New Roman, 12 point
Double-Spaced
Do not justify.
One space after periods.
Your last name and the page number at the top of all pages with no comma in between
8 ½ x 11 inch paper of good quality
Single-sided printing
Paper-clipped together
In-text citations are usually placed before the ending period of a quotation.
No comma between author’s name and page number in in-text citations
Works Cited title placed at the center top of that page and not in all caps
Works Cited entries in alphabetical order by author’s last name
Works Cited entries are indented AFTER the first line and for all subsequent lines in the
entry.