English 2 MLA Handbook

MLA Format Page Font: Times New Roman size 12 Double-space 1” margins on all sides Text Align left Paragraphs: Hit “enter” only once between paragraphs Indent first line ½” (Hit “tab” once) Header top right corner, ½” from top Insert  Header DON’T TYPE THIS ON THE FIRST LINE OF THE PAGE Your last name [space] page number: Angeles 1

MLA Format Page 4-line heading in top left (first 4 lines of FIRST page ONLY): Your name (first and last) Teacher’s name (title & last name – ex. Mrs. Foster) Course name and period (ex. English 1, Period 1) Date Date format: Day Month Year (No punctuation or abbreviation) Ex. 14 September 2017 Title (original – relate to topic of your essay) Centered, on next line after heading EXACT same type as rest of paper: NO: Bold, underline, italic, or giant font

MLA Format Page

Textual Evidence & Parenthetical Citations Textual Evidence: Direct quote from the text Word for word, punctuation for punctuation – a snapshot of the text You’re using someone else’s words: Use quotation marks around the evidence Ex: “Competition for top-brand colleges is absurdly intense” Using ellipses … Never begin/end evidence with ellipses Use an ellipses in the middle of evidence if you want to take out part of the text Whatever remains should still make sense when you read it Ex: “Maybe you could be a great writer … but you might not know it until after you write that English paper” Using brackets [ ] If you need to add or change a word for the quote to make sense how you used it, use brackets to show what’s been changed/added Ex: President Obama uses ethos when he says that he “wasn’t always as focused as [he] should have been in school”

Textual Evidence & Parenthetical Citations Parenthetical Citations: Where you give credit to the speaker/writer of the quote, in parentheses When citing multiple sources, include author’s last name and page number, separated by one space only (no punctuation). No author? Use the source title in the citation Put the period of the sentence after the citation. NO comma between last word of evidence & quotation marks Ex: “Competition for top-brand colleges is absurdly intense” (Reich 81). If your evidence ends with a ? Or a ! Keep it. Keep period after citation Ex: “And what about all the people that didn’t finish college and are not at the helm of a wildly successful venture?” (Rotherham 84). No , or . No ,

Evidence Set-Up Evidence Set-up: Three must-have elements: Text that comes directly before textual evidence, in order to prepare the reader for the evidence Guide reader into interpretation or opinion of evidence Three must-have elements: Context (where in the text does it come?) Significance (what do you want me to see in the evidence? How does it connect to the prompt?) Proper punctuation Set-up is complete thought – use a colon : Set-up uses dependent clause like “when he says” or “by saying” – use a comma , Evidence set-up when citing multiple texts: Use the set-up to clarify which source you’ll cite You must state the title

Evidence Set-Up Evidence set-up when citing multiple texts: Use the set-up to clarify which source you’ll cite You must state the title & genre of the text Short texts like articles, poems, and short stories: Title in quotation marks Ex: “Education Still Pays” Long texts like books, plays, and magazines: Title italicized Ex: To Kill a Mockingbird You may state the author’s name (if you do, you don’t need it in the parenthetical citation) The first time you refer to an author, use first and last names Every time after the first time you refer to an author, use last name only If you don’t put the author’s name in the set-up, you must put it in the parenthetical citation

Evidence Set-Up Example: In his opinion article, “Actually, College Is Very Much Worth It,” Andrew J Rotherham points out the flaw in thinking that like Mark Zuckerburg or Steve Jobs, one can drop out of high school and become a millionaire: “And what about all the people that didn’t finish college and are not at the helm of a wildly successful venture?” (84). Genre Title Author Significance Punctuation

Evidence Set-Up Example: In the opinion article, “Actually, College Is Very Much Worth It,” the author points out the flaw in thinking that like Mark Zuckerburg or Steve Jobs, one can drop out of high school and become a millionaire: “And what about all the people that didn’t finish college and are not at the helm of a wildly successful venture?” (Rotherham 84). Genre Title Significance Punctuation Author

Evidence Set-Up Example: In his opinion article, “Actually, College Is Very Much Worth It,” Andrew J Rotherham points out the flaw in thinking that like Mark Zuckerburg or Steve Jobs, one can drop out of high school and become a millionaire when he asks, “And what about all the people that didn’t finish college and are not at the helm of a wildly successful venture?” (84). Dependent clause Punctuation

Deadly Sins of MLA Format DON’T DO THESE! Header and/or Title is different font than rest of paper Extra Spaces between heading/title or title/first line of paper or between paragraphs Text is center-aligned Page number not properly entered in header (or period number given instead) Wrong information in heading

Deadly Sins of MLA Format DON’T DO THESE! Four-line heading on every page Margins too large/small Misspelling your teacher’s name (or anyone else’s name) Forgetting quotation marks around evidence Putting p. or pg. in your parenthetical citations