S OME B ASICS OF MLA Briar Cliff University Writing Center Heelan Hall bcuwritingcenter.wordpress.com

G REAT O NLINE R ESOURCES It’s more important to know where to look for information. OWL is the best place for MLA. Bookmark it! Note: The OWL doesn’t cover every special case. If a student can’t find what they’re looking for, they can always ask a Writing Center Mentor for help.

W HAT IS MLA? MLA= Modern Language Association “MLA style is most commonly used to write papers and cite sources within the liberal arts and humanities” (Russell, Brizee, and Angeli). Russell, Tony, Allen Brizee, and Elizabeth Angeli. "MLA Formatting and Style Guide." The Purdue OWL. Purdue U Writing Lab, 4 Apr Web. 20 July For Example: This would be the in-text citation that corresponds with… …this Resource listed alphabetically in your paper’s Works Cited page.

N AVIGATING OWL OWL’s MLA section is divided into the In-text citations and the Works Cited page. The Works Cited area is divided up depending on the type of source. The In-text Citations: The Basics will have most in- text citation information. Check out the sample paper on OWL

Works Cited In-text

I N - TEXT C ITATIONS In-text citations direct the reader to the Works Cited page. Common appearance: (Henley 5). Exceptions No author No page number

I N - TEXT C ITATIONS There are special rules for in-text citation for multiple authors (refer to OWL Purdue). In-text citations are part of the sentence, so the period goes after (author page number). If you are citing a quote, the in-text citation will go between the: “quotation marks” (author pg #). and the period In-text citations don’t carry over into the next paragraph.

R ESOURCE L IST FOR W ORKS C ITED PAGE The resource entry format depends on source type. Electronic versions of sources should be treated the same way. Best Practices for creating Works Cited page Start with sources of the same type Alphabetize by first word in entry Resource list is for works cited only, not works consulted.

R ESOURCE C ITATION The Resource Citation always contains the same information. Exceptions: ◦ No page number ◦ No author Lastname, Firstname. Title of Book. Place of Publication: Publisher, Year of Publication. Medium of Publication. Periods separate each section of information in the resource citation.

W HAT IS ONE - TO - ONE CORRESPONDENCE ? One-to-one correspondence means that ◦ all of the resources in your Works Cited page can be found in the paper’s body and vice versa. The citations and resources need to match, like puzzle pieces: - In your text (Henley 5). - Henley, Patricia. The Hummingbird House. Denver: MacMurray, Print. The highlighted items must match!

W HAT ABOUT C ITATION M ACHINES ? Many of these sites are not updated to the newest version of MLA These entries are easy to identify because they have empty spots If students take the time to learn the citations, they will know them for future assignments! Use these with EXTREME caution!!!

T OP M ISTAKES FOR I N - TEXT C ITATIONS AND R EFERENCES Not including in-text citations for everything that’s not common knowledge. Using the wrong format for 3-5 author sources in the in-text citation. Missing an in-text citation for a source listed in the Works Cited or vice versa. Using a citation machine and NOT correcting mistakes

I NFORMATION G ATHERED FROM OWL P URDUE O NLINE W RITING L AB Slide show adapted from resources provided by Dr. Ryan Allen