DOCUMENTING SOURCES USING MLA FORMAT MLA Documentation

MLA Paper Format *In MLA, there are five sections of special formatting for a paper: 1. Document Settings 2. Page Header 3. Title Block 4. Citations 5. Works Cited List

Document Settings In MLA, make sure that...  --1 inch margins  --Double space each line.  --Make sure the font is 12 point, Times New Roman or Ariel  Note: MLA does not require a title page.

Page Header and Title Block The header is the information that is present at the upper right side of each page.  --Number and page number The title block is the course information on the left hand side.  Remember YMCA—Your name, My name (instructor’s name), Class name, and Age (date).

Example Page Header and Title Block Jane Smith Smith 1 Professor Jones ENGL 102 June 15, 2011 Title of Article

Citations Citations are the way the writer lets the reader know which information is not the writer’s original work.  --In MLA, the author’s last name and page number is included in the parenthesis. If there is no author, the title of the article is usually used.  -- Punctuation comes after the citation in the sentence.  --Quotation marks come before the citation.  All quotes should be introduced. Never leave them freestanding.  --Quotes more than four lines long should be in block quotes.  --The in-text citation must match the information on the Works Cited page.

Examples of MLA Citations A quote using a source with an author: The experience of the wife of a pilot was an isolated one. According to Wolfe, “Sometimes, when the young wife of a fighter pilot would have a little reunion with the girls she went to school with, an odd fact would dawn on her; they had not been going to funerals” (22). Note: If the author’s name had not been used in the sentence, the citation would look like this: (Wolfe 22). A website without an author:  -- The website title will be the identifying information of the source.  In 1908, over 16,000 children were lost in New York City alone (The Margaret Sanger Papers Project).

Examples of MLA Citations A government website: The U.S. business of telecommunications equipment now has more than 1500 companies (“Telecommunications Equipment”). A database article: --The source is listed by the author of the database article. According to Barrera, bilingual education leads to higher test scores in other subjects (72).

Works Cited Book with one author: Wolfe, Tom. The Right Stuff. New York: Farrar, Print. A website without an author:  The website title will be the identifying information of the source.  Website title. Sponsor of site. Last updated. Medium. Access date.  Example: Margaret Sanger Papers Project. History Dept., New York U, 18 Oct Web. 15 June 2011.

Works Cited A Government Website: Title of article>Website title>Updated>sponsor>Source>Access Date. "Telecommunications Equipment FY99: IMI " STAT-USA STAT USA. Web. 15 June Database Article Author (last name first)>Title of article>Journal title>Volume, Issue>Year> Page numbers>Database name>Medium>Date of access (inverted). Barrera, Rebeca María. “A Case for Bilingual Education.” Scholastic Parent and Child Nov.- Dec. 2004: Academic Search Premier. Web. 15 June 2011.

More Great Sources for MLA Information Hacker, Diana and Barbara Fister. “ MLA List of Works Cited.” Research and Documentation Online: Fifth Edition. n.d. Web. June 14 th, html html “MLA Formatting and Style Guide.” OWL: Purdue Online Writing Lab Web. June 14 th,