MLA Formating
Page Layout,
Parenthetical Citations,
And Works Cited Page
MLA Format Overview
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12-point font size
Times New Roman is an acceptable style
of font (nothing “funky”)
Double-spaced
Black ink
1-inch margins all around (top, bottom,
right, and left)
Header-all pages
Name-Heading, double spaced
1”
Last name page number
Teacher-First page only
Class
Date
1”
Center Title
(Double space between the title and first paragraph)
Indent
1/2” or
5 spaces
The whole paper is double spaced.
Do not skip extra lines between paragraphs.
1”
1”
Parenthetical Citations
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When Should You Use Parenthetical Citations?
 When quoting any words that are not your own
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When summarizing facts and ideas from a source
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Quoting means to repeat another source word for word,
using quotation marks
Summarizing means to take ideas from a large passage of
another source and condense them, using your own words
When paraphrasing a source
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Paraphrasing means to use the ideas from another source
but change the phrasing into your own words
What are Parenthetical Citations
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Act as a “flag” or “marker” to help reader
find full citation information on Works
Cited page
Placed in parentheses, usually after direct
quotes or paraphrased or summarized
segments of information
Information inside parentheses depends
upon type of source used
Example Citations
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Usually author’s last name and page
number (no first name, and no comma
between last name and page number)
Example: (Smith 32). Or (Smith 32)?
Note that punctuation comes after
parentheses, not before (and certainly not
both!)
More Examples
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NOVEL or ESSAY—Use author’s last name
and page number. If no author is given,
use title and page number.
(Faulkner 234).
(“Short Story” 13).
(Novel 35).
(“Article Title” 2).
Still More Examples
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Sometimes more information is necessary
More than one author with the same last
name
(W. Wordsworth 23); (D. Wordsworth 224)
More than one work by the same author
(Joyce, Portrait 121); (Joyce, Ulysses 556)
Handling Long Quotations
David becomes identified and defined by James Steerforth, a young
man with whom David is acquainted from his days at Salem House. Before
meeting Steerforth, David accepts Steerforth’s name as an authoritative
power:
There was an old door in this playground, on which the boys had a
custom of carving their names. . . . In my dread of the end of the
vacation and their coming back, I could not read a boy’s name,
without inquiring in what tone and with what emphasis he would
read, “Take care of him. He bites.” There was one boy—a certain
J. Steerforth—who cut his name very deep and very often, who I
conceived, would read it in a rather strong voice, and afterwards
pull my hair. (Dickens 68)
For Steerforth, naming becomes an act of possession, as well as
exploitation. Steerforth names David for his fresh look and innocence, but
also uses the name Daisy to exploit David's romantic tendencies (Dyson
122).
Citing Poetry
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When citing lines from a work of poetry, use line
numbers. If more than one line of poetry is
quoted, use a hyphen between line number
range in in-text citation.
(4-6). (13).
If using more than one work by the same
author, use poem’s title and line numbers for
clarity.
Citing the Internet
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CORRECT electronic/internet source citations:
(Smith 32). (“Article Title” 4).
(Smith).
(“Article Title”).
INCORRECT electronic/internet source citation:
(http://www.yahoo.com).
(www.authors.text.com).
Works Cited Page
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A complete list of every source that you
make reference to in your essay
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If it is cited in your essay, it needs to be on
your works cited page.
If it is on your works cited page, it needs to
be cited in your essay.
Provides the information necessary for a
reader to locate and retrieve any sources
cited in your essay.
Works Cited Page Rules
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Alphabetically organized by author’s last
name or title (if no author is given for a
source)
For each source entry, all lines AFTER the
first are indented. (This can be
accomplished by using Tab on the
keyboard or using the hanging indent
feature on the margin ruler)
1/2”
1”
Last name page number
Center Title
1”
1”
(Double space between the title and first entry)
Begin each entry flush with the left margin.
Indent
1/2” or
5 spaces
If an entry runs more than one line, indent.
Double space entire list, both between and within
entries.
1”
A Sample Works Cited Page
Smith 12
Works Cited
Dickens, Charles. Bleak House. 1852-1853. New York: Penguin,
1985.
---. David Copperfield. 1849-1850. New York: Houghton Mifflin
Company, 1958.
Miller, J. Hillis. Charles Dickens: The World and His Novels.
Bloomington: U of Indiana P, 1958.
Zwerdling, Alex. “Esther Summerson Rehabilitated.” PMLA 88 (May
1973): 429-439.