MLA Documentation
Created by: Mrs. Dovre
Library Media Specialist
jdovre@ballard.k12.ia.us
MLA Documentation
• What is MLA?
• Why do it?
• When should you worry about
MLA?
• Example In-text
• Example Works Cited
• How do you get there?
• Resources...
http://www.mlahandbook.org
What is MLA?
• Fields of study such as science, math, literature, history, religion, and
philosophy all depend on research in order to continue moving
forward.
• Each of these fields agree about the importance of giving credit to
information borrowed from others ("What is Style").
• But, there are different ways to do this. Writings in the humanities
(English and Social Studies) follow the rules of the Modern Language
Association (MLA).
• These rules cover format, style, and bibliography.
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Why do it?
• Give credit to those who deserve credit. You can avoid
plagiarism accusations.
• Gives you, the writer, more support. The more research
you have done, the more knowledgeable you appear.
• Readers can access your sources for more information.
• Maintain integrity (it’s the right thing to do).
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When should you worry about it?
• Anytime you are writing a paper, creating video,
audio, website, etc., for which you have to seek out
information from a source other than yourself.
• These sources must be given credit.
How do
you know?
Because
Einstein said
so!
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What it looks like in your writing:
This resource is provided by The Purdue OWL, “MLA Sample Page.”
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What it looks like in the Works Cited:
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How do you get there?
• Determine which resources are really worth your
research time
• Write down or highlight information that is helpful
from each source
• Jot down the source information
Cont: How do you get there?
Type of source
Items to record
Books, Magazines, Newspapers,
Journals
Author name(s), book title, publication date, publisher,
place of publication.
Individual Page on
Web Sites
Name of page, Editor, author, or compiler name, name
of site, name of organization sponsoring or publishing
the site, date of creation, date of access.
Electronic Resources
Paintings, Sculptures, or
Photographs
Author/editor name, article name, title of website,
version numbers, publisher name and date, pages, date
of access.
Artist name, name of piece, date of creation, location
where housed, name of website, date of access.
These are the most common sources, visit one of
the resources for others.
Cont: How do you get there?
• Then, write your paper.
• Wherever you rely on information from your
notes/sources, give credit to that source in two places:
 Following the information
 At the end of the paper (Works Cited)
o Use MLA guides/handouts for directions
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Resources...
•
•
•
•
MLA Handbook
Online Writing Lab (OWL) at Purdue
Citation Machine
Easy Bib
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Works Cited
(for this presentation)