Copyright 2011 by Angela M. Gulick, Parkland College

Purpose of This Workshop This workshop is designed for people who want a discussion of Modern Language Association (MLA) documentation that they can go through at their own pace. If you want a more thorough discussion, please click here to find a video with audio commentary of this same PowerPoint presentation.video with audio commentary A list of all Writing Lab video and PowerPoint workshops is available on the Writing Lab Portal Page as well. Please note that you will need to log in to access any of our presentations. For two additional terrific sources on MLA documentation, please consult these websites: Purdue University Online Writing Lab Diana Hacker’s Online Writing Handbook Copyright 2011 by Angela M. Gulick, Parkland College

Definition of a Works Cited List A Works Cited list is an alphabetized listing of all the sources you directly mentioned in your paper. If a source is not mentioned directly in your paper, leave it off the Works Cited list. A Works Cited list is like a treasure map which lets readers find the sources in your paper out in the “real world.” Source for image: starstore.com Copyright 2011 by Angela M. Gulick, Parkland College

Sample Works Cited List This handoutThis handout is also available on the Writing Lab portal page. Copyright 2011 by Angela M. Gulick, Parkland College

Formatting of a Works Cited List A Works Cited list follows these five guidelines. Each guideline will be discussed separately in the next five slides. Guideline One: Alphabetize all sources; do not number them. Guideline Two: Double-space within and between sources, and use a “hanging” indent. Guideline Three: Follow the day month year pattern for dates (such as 28 Nov. 2010, not November 28, 2010). Guideline Four: Use proper formatting for document titles. Guideline Five: Use title capitalization for all sources. Copyright 2011 by Angela M. Gulick, Parkland College

Guideline One: Alphabetize all sources. Sources are alphabetized (not numbered) based on one of the following: The last name of the author. If several authors are listed, select the first author listed on the original text and list source by his/her last name. The name of the group (such as a government agency, educational institution, business or association) if document is clearly written by a group. The first major word of the document’s title not counting the words “A,” “An,” and “The” if there is no clearly named author. The last name of communicator. In the case of a survey you wrote and administered, you would list it by your own last name as you are the author. The last name of the creator of the media source (such as a director, producer, artist, group). Source for Image: aboundlessworld.com Copyright 2011 by Angela M. Gulick, Parkland College

Guideline Two: Double-space and use a “hanging” indent. There should be one line of white space in between every line of your Works Cited list, both within and between entries. A hanging indentation means that the first line of each source extends all the way to the left-hand margin. Each additional line is indented ½ inch from the left margin. Here is an example: For a short video showing you how to set a hanging indentation and double-space a Microsoft Word document, please click here.click here Works Cited First line of entry…………………………………….… ………………………………………………….……… …………………………………………… …. First line of next entry…………….……………….… ………………………………………………….……… …………………………………………………………. First line of next entry…………………………….… ………………………………………………….……… …………………………………………………………. Copyright 2011 by Angela M. Gulick, Parkland College

Guideline Three: Follow a day-month-year pattern for all dates. Dates follow a day-month-year pattern like this: 18 Jan (not January 18, 2010) 11 June 2009 (not June 11, 2009) Abbreviate all months other than May, June, and July. Source for image: c-changetogether.org Copyright 2011 by Angela M. Gulick, Parkland College

Guideline Four: Use proper formatting for document titles. Use “quotation marks” around the titles of short articles or chapters from websites, databases, books, magazines, newspapers, and journals. Also put quotation marks around individual titles of songs and single episodes of television programs. bookshelvesofdoom.blogs.com Copyright 2011 by Angela M. Gulick, Parkland College

Guideline Four: Use proper formatting for document titles. Italicize titles of websites, books, magazines, newspapers, and journals. Also italicize names of entire CDs, DVDs, television programs, and films. Source for image: funnypicturesofcats.info Copyright 2011 by Angela M. Gulick, Parkland College

Guideline Five: Use title capitalization for titles of all sources Title capitalization means that you capitalize all major words in a title other than articles (a, an, the), coordinating conjunctions (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so), and prepositions (on, off, with, during, if, about, etc.). You will also capitalize all proper nouns. Capitalize any word that immediately follows a colon in a title (American Privacy under Fire: Is Facebook a Danger or a Delight?) Source for image: offthemark.com Copyright 2011 by Angela M. Gulick, Parkland College

What To Do if You Still Have Questions If you still have questions, please stop by the Writing Lab (D120). We are here to help. The librarians in the Parkland College Library are also here to provide assistance. Finally, please check out our list of writing workshops on the Writing Lab Portal Page. Thank you for your time today. Good luck with all of your writing projects.Writing Lab Portal Page Copyright 2011 by Angela M. Gulick, Parkland College