MLA Format Kelly Clifford Freshmen English I

What is MLA? MLA stands for Modern Language Association Most common style for writing papers within the libral arts & humanities (i.e., English) with respect to: – Formatting & page layout – Stylistic technicalities (quotations, abbreviations) – Citing secondary sources – Creating the Works Cited page

MLA—Why do we need it? MLA makes it easy for your reader to navigate your paper/essay because a universal format is used. MLA standards allows YOU to: – Give readers structure so they can follow your ideas and topics – Keep your reader’s attention by not distracting them with unfamiliar formatting – Maintain “neatness in your paper” – Organize secondary sources & prevent plagiarism – Present sources for follow-up

Basic Guidelines Font: Times New Roman (preferred), Arial, Calibri Font Size: 12 point (always) Margins: 1” on all four sides Title: center of paper Spacing: Double space throughout body of paper Page number: beginning on page 1, upper right hand corner followed by last name Title of books: italicized always Paragraph: press TAB button to indent first line of each paragraph by.5” Title pages are forbidden

Formatting/Setting up first page On the upper left hand corner of the page type: – Student’s name – Teacher’s name – Course name (Eng 9) – Date *One space between each line *Do not stray from this order. 5 points will be deducted off your grade!

Title of Document After setting up the first four lines on the upper left hand side of your paper, press enter twice and press the center align button Type the title of your paper – No bold – No underline – No larger fonts Press enter twice and tab once to begin typing first paragraph

Your first page Name, Teacher, Class & Date title Indent 1 st line Last sentence is thesis Page # & last name 1”

In-text citations When citing sources in the text using MLA style, the Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL) notes that you must employ the author/page number format. In cases where an author exists for your source, you will cite it in one of the following ways: using the author's name as part of a sentence or enclosing the full citation in parenthesis at the end of a sentence. For example, "Jones contends that 73 percent of athletes doped prior to the event (15). Athletes reported improved recovery time 22 percent of the time (Jones 43)." Here, the page numbers are 15 and /02/ 747/02/

Works Cited Page Anderson, J. "Keats in Harlem." New Republic (8 Apr. 1991): n. pag. Online. EBSCO. 29 Dec Angier, Natalie. "Chemists Learn Why Vegetables are Good for You." New York Times 13 Apr. 1993, late ed.: C1. New York Times Ondisc. CD-ROM. UMI-Proquest. Oct Burka, Lauren P. "A Hypertext History of Multi-User Dimensions." MUD History. URL: (5 Dec. 1994). Creation vs. Evolution: "Battle of the Classroom." Videocassette. Dir. Ryall Wilson, PBS Video, (MLA) 58 min. Darling, Charles. "The Decadence: The 1890s." Humanities Division Lecture Series. Capital Community College, Hartford. 12 Sept Feinberg, Joe. "Freedom and Behavior Control." Encyclopedia of Bio-ethics, I, (MLA) New York: Free Press, Hennessy, Margot C. "Listening to the Secret Mother: Reading J.E. Wideman's Brothers and Keepers." American Women's Autobiography: Fea(s)ts of Memory. Ed. Margo Culley. Madison, WI: U. Wisconsin P,

Plagiarism Defining Plagiarism: “Plagiarism is the deliberate or negligent, copying of words, ideas and/or thoughts in whole, or in part, of another and then passing them off as original thought.”

Plagiarism The strength of the department depends on academic and personal integrity. In this course, you must be honest and truthful. Plagiarism is the use of someone else's work, words, or ideas as if they were your own.

Plagiarism Here are three reasons not to do it: By far the deepest consequence to plagiarizing is the detriment to your intellectual and moral development: you won’t learn anything, and your ethics will be corrupted.

Plagiarism Giving credit where it’s due but adding your own reflection will get you higher grades than putting your name on someone else’s work. In an academic context, it counts more to show your ideas in conversation than to try to copy another’s ideas.