MLA Modern Language Association

What is MLA?  MLA is the way that disciplines within the Language Arts reference their citations.  The Language Arts include:  Art  Drama  English  History  Music  Philosophy  Religious Studies

Why use MLA?  MLA allows you to reference your citations when you quote, paraphrase, or use information that you found within a source such as a book, magazine, webpage, etc.

What happens if you don’t reference your sources?  You could be accused of PLAGIARISM  Plagiarism happens when you advertently – or even inadvertently! – use someone else’s ideas and don’t say where you got them from.  Plagiarism is not just “cutting & pasting” whole paragraphs or essays from a book or the web; it also happens when you put someone else’s ideas into your own words, but don’t give the author of those ideas credit for them.  If in doubt, make a reference!

What information do you need?  There’s a lot of information you need to include in a reference:  Author’s full name, including middle initial, if given  Date of latest publication  Title of the article, book, and/or journal in which the source is printed  Publishing company  Place of publication (include state or country if not readily recognizable)  Page numbers, if your source is printed in a compilation or journal.  Medium – such as print, website, etc.

What order do you put the information in?  Ordering the information in a reference is the trickiest part of writing your bibliography.  The order of the information and how you format it is really important. You want to provide the information in a clear manner that is standardized internationally so that anyone, anywhere can read your reference and find your source.

Books -- print:  Steinbeck, John. Of Mice and Men. Penguin Books USA, Inc.: New York,1993. Print.  Author’s last name, first name. Title of book in italics OR underlined. Place of publication: publisher, latest publication date. Medium.  Indent all lines except the first line. This is called a “hanging indent.”

Books – online:  Whitman, Walt. Leaves of Grass. Brooklyn, The Walt Whitman Archive. Web. 12 Mar  Author’s last name, first name. Title of book in italics. Place of publication, date of original publication. Name of website in italics. Medium. Date you accessed the website.

Short Story or Poem in a textbook:  O’Brien, Tim. “On the Rainy River.” Imprints 12. Ed. Joe Banel, et al. Gage Learning Corporation: Toronto, 2002, Print.  Author’s last name, first name. Title of the short story or poem in quotation marks. Editor’s name (if more than three editors, use the phrase “et al.” Publishing company: place of publication, date. Page numbers of the short story or poem. Medium.

Shakespearean Play:  Shakespeare, William, and Ken Roy. Romeo And Juliet. 2nd ed. Toronto: Harcourt Canada, Print.  Author’s last name, first name. Editor’s full name. Edition number. Place of publication: publishing company, latest publication date. Medium.  Don’t forget to use the hanging indent on all lines of your reference except the first line.

Article or entry in an encyclopedia or dictionary:  “Literature.” The Cambridge Encyclopedia ed. Print.  Title of the entry in quotation marks. Title of the encyclopedia or dictionary in italics. Date of publication. Medium.

Article in a scholarly journal:  Piper, Andrew. “Rethinking the Print Object: Goethe and the Book of Everything.” PMLA (2006): Print.  Author’s last name, first name. Title of article in quotation marks. Title of journal in italics followed by volume of journal. Number of journal then date in parentheses: page numbers of article. Medium.

A film or movie:  It’s a Wonderful Life. Dir. Frank Capra. Perf. James Stewart, Donna Reed, Lionel Barrymore, and Thomas Mitchell. RKO, Film.  Title of film in italics. Name of the director. Names of the main performers. Distributor of the film, date it was released. Medium.

Others…  There are many different works that you will consult when conducting your research. Each type of work requires a specific type of reference.  For other less common works, see a style guide, such as…

Style Guides:  MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. 7 th ed. New York: Modern Language Association of America, Print.   ce/747/01/ ce/747/01/