Adapted from ppt created byCatherine Wishart,

MLA stands for Modern Language Association Provides guidelines for preparing student research papers and projects and scholarly manuscripts in the humanities. “MLA style” refers to a system of citing research sources.

Paper must be typed on standard white paper. Text of paper must be double-spaced, including the heading. Margins are set at 1 inch for left, right, top, and bottom There must be a header on the right side that has the writer’s last name and the page number.

Name 1 Stephen Drew Mrs. Wishart ENG October 2011 Edgar Allen Poe’s Manipulations in “The Cask of Amontillado” and “The Tell-Tale Heart” Edgar Allen Poe is renowned for his spooky tales and haunting plotlines. One of the reasons that his stories work so well is the manner in which Poe layers manipulation into his tales. Throughout his works, including “The Cask of Note: header to the right This is the correct order for information The title of published stories are in quotation marks, but not the title of the paper

MLA uses parenthetical citation (information about the source inside parentheses). Work the citation into a sentence that contains some of your own words. Quotations should be integrated, not just dropped into the paper. Example: Romantic poetry is characterized by the “spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings” (Wordsworth 263). Note that the period is inserted after the last parenthesis, not after the quotation mark.

Citing identifies and credits sources used in a research paper or project, acknowledging their role in shaping your research. This also allows others to follow-up on or retrieve this material. When you borrow from other sources to support your argument or research you must give proper credit. By crediting your sources, you avoid plagiarism. If you do not cite a source, you are guilty of plagiarism. Plagiarism is a form of cheating or stealing. It is the unacknowledged use or appropriation of another person’s words or ideas.

Many students plagiarize unintentionally. Remember, whenever you summarize, paraphrase or quote another author's material you must properly credit your source. If you are using another person’s idea, you must also cite your source!

A summary (aka ‘abstract’) briefly captures the main ideas of your source A paraphrase is a restatement of the text of your source in your own words Quotations can be direct (using quotation marks) or indirect (no quotation marks and often introduced by ‘that’) A noted scientist states, “A hundred years ago, the average temperature of the earth was about 13.7°C (56.5°F); today, it is closer to 14.4°C (57.9°F)” (Silver 11). A noted scientist observes that the earth’s current average temperature is 57.9°F compared to 56.5°F a hundred years ago (Silver 11).

There are two parts to citing according to MLA style: 1. Brief In-text citations (in parentheses) within the body of your essay or paper 2. List of full citations in the Works Cited page at the end of your paper Note: References cited in the text must appear in the Works Cited. Conversely, each entry in the Works Cited must be cited in the text.

Place the parenthetical reference at the end of the sentence before the punctuation mark. The average world temperature is rising at an alarming rate of 200 degrees Celsius per year (Polar 188). You must provide information that will allow the reader to locate exactly where you found information in your sources. Usually this is the author's last name and a page number, for example: (Polar 188)

If you use an author's name in a sentence (known as a “signal phrase”), do not use it again in the parenthetical citation. Simply give the page numbers: Polar argues that global warming will heat our oceans…(122). If there is no known author, use the title and page number in your citation: A single car trip from Los Angeles to San Francisco produces more pollution than a tree does in its entire lifetime (Save My Greenhouse 47).

If possible, electronic and online sources are cited just like print resources in parenthetical references. Often electronic resources will not have page numbers. In these cases omit numbers from the parenthetical reference: (Smith) – the author’s last name (“Bovine Flatulence A Major Source of Greenhouse Gases”) – if no author

Author(s), if available: Title of the document. Title of scholarly project, database, periodical, or website. Date electronic publication was last updated. Name of the organization sponsoring or associated with the site. Format descriptor. Date when you accessed the source. “Global Warming.” Stanford Solar Center Stanford University. Web. 4 Apr. 2010

Climate Change. 24 Jul U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Web. 4 Apr “Global Warming.” Stanford Solar Center Stanford University. Web. 4 Apr Date accessed Abbreviate the month Date source was last updated

Journal: Laurance, William F. "Can Carbon Trading Save Vanishing Forests?" Bioscience 58.4 (2008): ProQuest. Web. 4 Apr Volume #.Issue# (Year of publication) Access date Database, italicized

Newspaper: Ball, Jeffrey N. “Warming Program Draws Fire; Fund Designed to Spur Renewable Energy Subsidizes Gas Plants." Wall Street Journal [New York, N.Y.] 11 Jul 2008, Eastern edition: A.1. Web. 4 Apr Date article was published Format descriptor Date of access Place of publication is in brackets when it is not explicitly indicated in the publication itself

Multimedia sources can also be used and cited Media sources (examples): TV & radio broadcasts Films & video recordings Sound recordings Format descriptors: Television; Radio Film; DVD; Video Recording CD; Sound Recording

“Title of The Episode.” Title of program or series. Name(s) of director(s), performer(s), narrator(s) Name of Network. Call Letters and City of Station. DD MMM. YYYY. Format descriptor “The Yada Yada” Seinfeld Perf. Elaine Benes, George Constanza, Cosmo Kramer, and Jerry Seinfeld National Broadcasting Corp. KNBC, Los Angeles 24 Apr Television.

Badu, Eryka. “Rimshot.” Eryka Badu Live. Universal Records CD. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Dir. Niels Arden Oplev. Perf. Noomi Rapace and Michael Nyquist. Music Box Film. Joyce, James. Ulysses. Perf. Jim Norton and Marcella Riordan. Naxos Audiobooks CD. “The Yada Yada.” Seinfeld. Perf. Elaine Benes, George Constanza, Cosmo Kramer, and Jerry Seinfeld. National Broadcasting Corp. KNBC, Los Angeles, 24 Apr Television.

For the purposes of this research paper, make sure that there is an author for all sources. If no author is listed and you want to use the source, see your instructor for assistance. The lack of an author most often occurs when using an Internet source. Avoid using any Internet source with an address ending in “.com” unless approved by your instructor.

You do not need to give paragraph numbers or page numbers based on your print preview. Do not list the URL address within the text of the paper. Instead, list the author of the source.

The following are examples from Purdue OWL: MLA Format: According to some, dreams express “profound aspects of personality” (Foulkes 184), though others disagree. According to Foulkes’s study, dreams may express “profound aspects of personality” (184). Is it possible that dreams may express “profound aspects of personality” (Foulkes 184)?

You may use only 1 or 2 such quotes in your research paper. The paper should be mainly your thoughts. Nelly Dean treats Heathcliff poorly and dehumanizes him when she says: They entirely refused to have in bed with them, or even in their room, and I put it on the landing of the stairs, hoping it would be gone in the morrow. By chance, or else attracted by hearing his voice, it crept into Mr. Earnshaw’s door, and there he found it on his quitting chamber. Inquiries were made as to how it got there; I was obliged to confess, and in recompense for my cowardice and inhumanity was sent out of the house. (Bronte 78) Note placement of period with quote, lack of quotation marks, and lack of punctuation after the parenthesis.

Begins on a separate page and is labeled Words Cited (no italics or quotation marks). Double space, but do not skip spaces between entries. Indent the second and subsequent lines five spaces. List page numbers only when needed. Determine the Medium of Publication. Most will be print or web sources.

Basic Format: Last name, First name. Title of Book. Place of Publication: Publisher, Year of Publication. Medium of Publication. Work from an Anthology: Last name, First name. “Title of Story.” Title of Anthology. Ed. Editor’s Name. Place of Publication, Publisher, Year. Page range of entry. Medium. Work from a web source: Last name, First name. Title of Source. Name of Institution publishing the source. Date source was published. Web. Date you viewed source on the web.

A site that is helpful in building a Works Cited page is “Easybib.” Use of these sites is not considered plagiarism; it is considered an excellent use of resources available in the information age.

Aristotle. Poetics. Ed. S. H. Butcher. The Internet Classics Archive. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Sept Web. 23 Nov Gillespie, Paula, and Neal Lerner. The Allyn and Bacon Guide to Peer Tutoring. Boston: Allyn, Print. Wysocki. Anne Frances. Writing New Media: Theory and Applications for Expanding the Teaching of Composition. Logan, UT: Utah State UP, Print.

Write out these sources correctly: An anthology named Literature: Approaches to Fiction, Poetry and Drama. The editor is Robert DiYanni. It is published by McGraw Hill in The story you have cited is “The Rocking Horse Winner” by D. H. Lawrence, who was born in 1885 and died in The pages the story appear on are from page 100 to 110.

The Purdue OWL. Purdue U Writing Lab, Web. 4 Oct

Gibaldi, Joseph. MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. 7th ed. New York: Modern Language Association of America, Print. Trimmer, Joseph F. A Guide to MLA Documentation: with an Appendix to APA Style. 8 th ed. Boston: Wadsworth, Print. If you come across anything not mentioned in this presentation or need further information, consult the MLA Handbook in the library!