1301 Spring 2016 Day 16 Lessons

What to expect today: Questions over the reading? Check Attendance About MLA Signal Phrases & Standard MLA MLA in-text variations Literary Works & The Bible “Second hand” quoting Block quotes Practice

About MLA Documentation standard of the Modern Language Association of America Part of a newer system of documentation using parentheses instead of footnotes or endnotes (like older forms—Chicago). Important as a systematized way to let readers know where you got your research. Consists of two parts: MLA format (the way the document looks) and MLA documentation (research). The research part acts much like an index with in-text citations via parentheses referencing listed sources in a Works Cited.

Signal Phrases vs. Standard MLA A standard MLA parentheses consists of the author’s last name and page number with the period following the parentheses. ▫Ex: (McCullough 18). If you provide the author’s name in a signal phrase in the sentence, then only the page number in the parentheses at the end of the sentence. ▫Ex McCullough rest of sentence (18). There are some exceptions where sources don’t have page numbers or an author (use the title) and so may not have a parenthetical reference at all.

Variations Multiple authors ▫Up to three, list all author’s last names in the parentheses with the page number. ▫Four or more, put the first author’s last name and then the latin phrase et al Authors with the same last name, use the first initial too. More than one work by the same author, include the title. Organizations can be authors. If no author is given, list the title.

Literary works & the Bible For a novel, list the page number and chapter in parentheses. ▫Ex: (105; ch. 12) For a verse play, list act, scene, and line numbers. ▫Ex: (Shakespeare, Macbeth ). For a poem, list line numbers. ▫Single line= (l. 1372) ▫Multiple lines = (ll ) For the Bible, list the book, chapter, and verse. ▫Ex: (Gen ).

Secondhand Quote You have a ‘secondhand’ quote if you are quoting someone who is quoting someone else. Only use a ‘secondhand’ quote if it would be very difficult to find the original source. Ex: John Doe says “Hello” (qtd in James 57). James appears as a last name in the Works Cited and the author James essentially quoted Doe. You may use this more extensively from newspaper articles.

Block Quotes Use a block quote if the original is four or more lines. Block quotes are set off from the margin 1.5” instead of 1” Block quotes do not use quotation marks (the increase in margin acts as quotation marks). No more than one block quote per brief academic essay. In block quotes, period comes before the parentheses.

What to do for next time: REVIEW “MLA” ( ) in your Little Viking Handbook.