Modern Language Association MLA Modern Language Association

What is MLA? MLA stands for the Modern Language Association When we talk about MLA in class, we’re talking about 3 things: Citing sources in a works cited page (bibliography) Citing sources in-text Formatting a paper/essay

Why does it matter? Short answer: Not all of it does. Some of these rules were just made up, and enough people agreed on them to make it “the standard” or “right” way. Better answer: It matters because we want other people to understand us. MLA formatting is recognized by English-speaking people all around the world. While it may not matter much now, this prepares you for submitting papers in college and/or in a future profession. Even if you don’t go to college, MLA formatting gives you ways to organize what your writing that are clear, straight-forward, and fairly black-and-white

Works Cited: Websites 1

What is a works cited page? A works cited page is a list of the sources you have mentioned in your paper (we’ll work on how to cite them in the paper later) This list has a title at the top (Works Cited) and should list the sources in alphabetical order Use Microsoft Word OR Google Drive for Works Cited– I’ll show you how to do hanging indent on both (It’s so easy)

What about Easy Bib? Easy Bib is great… about ¾ of the time. Thing is, it makes mistakes. All Easy Bib (and other sites like it) do is try to find the website information for you and place it into the citation. But if they “find” information, and it’s clearly wrong, it will mess up the citation. Do your citations manually. It’s not hard. Titles and authors are usually at the top, and publisher information is usually at the bottom. That’s it. Don’t risk it by copying and pasting from Easy Bib. The citation could be wrong, and it could throw off your formatting. Easy Bib is like a clapper– sure, the clapper is “easier,” but you’re better of not being lazy in the first place. Also, the light switch is a whole more reliable.

Order for citing Author and/or editor (last name first) Article/page name in quotation marks Title of the website in italics Publisher name Published date (use most recent if updated) URL (without https://) Date you accessed the website

Order in citation form Author last name, first name. “Article/page name.” Name of website. Publisher name, published date, URL. Accessed day# month year. If the website does not have an author or an article/page name, leave that part blank If the publisher is the same as the website, only list it once No publisher = n.p. No publishing date = n.d. Double-space the citations

Example web citation “MLA Works Cited: Electronic Sources (Web Publications).” Purdue Online Writing Lab. The Writing Lab and OWL at Purdue and Purdue University, 2008, owl.english.purdue.edu/owl. Accessed 23 Apr. 2008. Note: Since there was no author, citation starts with article. https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/08/

Works Cited: Non-Web 2

Books Author last name, first name. Title of book. Publisher, published date. If it’s been reprinted, list original print first, then your version. Ex. Lowry, Lois. The Giver. Random House, 1993. Houghton Mifflin, 2002.

Films or movies Director last name, fist name, director. Movie title in italics. Film studio or distributor, release year. Ex: Lucas, George, director. Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. Twentieth Century Fox, 1977.

Online video “Video title.” Website, uploaded by _______, upload date, URL. Ex. “8 Hot Dog Gadgets put to the Test.” YouTube, uploaded by Crazy Russian Hacker, 6 June 2016, www.youtube.com/watch?v=WB1pjSEtELs.

Newspaper/magazine Author last name, first name. “Title of article.” Title of periodical, day month year, pp. #-#. Ex. Poniewozik, James. “TV Makes a Too-Close Call.” Time, 20 Nov. 2000, pp. 70-71. Krugman, Andrew. “Fear of Eating.” New York Times, 21 May 2007, p. A1.

In-text citations 3

When do you cite? You cite a source in-text whenever you: Quote a source directly OR Paraphrase something the author said You site a source by putting the first thing in your works cited entry (usually the last name of the author) in parenthesis after the sentence, but before the period. Ex. Whales can fly up to 200 mph (Marshall).

Website If the website you cited has an author, you’ll use the author in the in-text citation. If the website doesn’t have an author, you use the website name. If author = (Last name of author) No author = (article/page title in quotation marks) No author or article/page = (Website title italicized) Ex. According to CNN, Neil Gorsuch’s Supreme Court nomination will be voted on this week (Cilliza). Edgar Allen Poe was born in Bostom, Massachusetts (“Edgar Allen Poe”).

Books and periodicals Book = (Author’s last name and pg. #) Ex. Jonas is feeling “apprehensive” about the Ceremony of Twelve (Lowry 8). Notice there’s no commas or anything. Just last name followed by the pg. number. Because periodicals also have pg. numbers (unlike the other 3 sources we’re discussing), you cite a periodical the same way… The last name of who wrote the article, followed by what page it’s on.

Films and online videos Same as a website or book, use the first thing in the citation: Film = (Director’s last name) Online videos = (Title of video in quotation marks) Again, to review, you cite in parenthesis the first thing in your works cited, which is either the author or the title. For books and periodicals, you add the page number.

Other things to keep in mind… If you give the author’s name earlier in the sentence, you don’t have to include anything in parenthesis, except a page number Ex. Marshall states on his website that whales can fly up to 200 mph. Ex. Lowry states that Jonas is feeling “apprehensive” about the Ceremony of Twelve (8). If you’re using multiple works by the same author, give the titles instead of the author’s name for each instance (shorten the title if necessary) If you’re using information from different authors with the same last name, include in the parenthesis a first initial (or, if THAT is the same, their whole first name)

Paper formatting 4

Basics 12 pt. Times New Roman font Double-spaced Top right: Last name page number (Smith 1) Top left: Student name (First and last) Teacher name (Mr. Schock) Class (English 9) Date (11 February 2018)

Odds and Ends A paragraph should be between 5 and 8 sentences No extra spaces between paragraphs Tab new paragraphs with “tab” once One space after commas and periods If there is a quote within the quote you’re referencing, have double quotes (“) on the outside and single quotes (‘) on the inside Ex. According to Jeffries, “There are no ‘good’ options to this plan.’”