FOR YOUR POETRY ANTHOLOGY PROJECT, YOU WILL BE REQUIRED TO SELECT THREE PUBLISHED POEMS AND CITE THOSE POEMS IN MLA FORMAT. Fun Fact: MLA = Modern Language Association Introduction to MLA Citations

The Basics Double Spaced Times New Roman, 12 pt. font Indent every line after the first Major Publications italicized if typed or underlined if written  Novels, Anthologies, Textbooks, Magazines, Newspapers Minor Works “in quotation marks”  Short Stories, Poems, Chapters, Articles Punctuation inside of quotation marks Periods after ever item in the citations

The Basics Most citations contain the same basic information with the same basic order and punctuation.  Name of the Author. Title of the Work. Place of Publication: Publisher, Year. Medium of Publication.  Some citations have entries that are specific to that type of source.  Example: Anthologies and encyclopedias have editors that must be included in the citation.  When a work has more than two editors, cite the first and use “et al” which is Latin for “and all the rest”  When a source does not have a certain piece of information, simply remove it from the citation.  Example: Some sources do not name an author; therefore, you would simply start with the next part of the citation.

Finding the Bibliographic Information

Citing Books Lamott, Ann. Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life. New York: Anchor Books, Print. Author’s Name (Last, First) Author’s Name (Last, First) Title of the Book (italicized) City of Publication (followed by a colon) Name of Publisher (followed by a comma) Year of Publication Medium of Publication (Print, Web)

Your Turn Cite the following book in MLA format:

A Work in an Anthology or Textbook Clifton, Lucille. “Homage to My Hips.” Literature and Composition: Reading – Writing – Thinking. Eds. Carol Jago, et al. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, Print. Author’s Name (Last, First) Author’s Name (Last, First) Title of the Anthology or Textbook (italicized) City of Publication (followed by a colon) Name of Publisher (followed by a comma) Date of Publication Medium of Publication (Print, Web) Page Range of Entry Editors (if more than two, use latin phrase et al.) Editors (if more than two, use latin phrase et al.) “Title of the Poem, Short Story, Article, or Chapter” (in quotations) “Title of the Poem, Short Story, Article, or Chapter” (in quotations)

Your Turn: Cite the poem “Birches” by Robert Frost which appears on p of this book:

Check Your Answers Albom, Mitch. Have a Little Faith: A True Story. New York: Hyperion, Print. Frost, Robert. “Birches.” The Bedford Introduction to Literature: Reading – Thinking – Writing. 10th ed. Ed. Michael Meyer. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, Print.

Citing from the SpringBoard Book

SpringBoard Hints The actual title of your SpringBoard book is:  SpringBoard: English Textual Power, Level 4. The bibliographic information does not provide a city for publishing (it only says United States of America). For your citation, put:  USA: The College Board, The main editor is:  Betty Barnett

Only the Beginning… There are many other types of sources, and they all have specific rules for citations. Use The Owl at Purdue when citing sources! Learn to use a Style Manual to check your sources! DO NOT TRUST ONLINE CITATION MACHINES TO DO ALL THE WORK FOR YOU!  Like calculators, the citations are only as accurate as the person inserting the information! If you don’t know/understand the formula of an equation, then a calculator can’t give you the right answer. The same is true for internet citation machines.