1. Specific questions should be referenced in a MLA Style Guide.
Purdue Owl is a good one.

2. Plagiarism
The copying of someone else’s ideas or words without giving them credit.
Plagiarism results in a zero and no chances to make up the credit lost for that assignment.
Do not copy and paste from the internet, change a few words, and think you have not plagiarized.

3. Examples of plagiarism
Say that you read this piece from Michael Agar’s book Language Shock
Everyone uses the word language and everybody these days talks about culture… “Languagculture”, is a reminder, I hope, of the necessary connection between its two parts...

4. If you wrote the following sentence it would constitute plagiarism
At the intersection of language and culture lies a concept that we call “languaculture.”

5. That sentence uses a word directly taken from Agar’s work, so you must give credit to the source.
At the intersection of language and culture lies a concept that Michael Agar has called “languaculture” (60).

6. Even borrowing ideas
You must credit the source even if you do not use quotation marks.
If you paraphrase someone’s ideas or arguments without giving credit you have committed plagiarism.

7. Example
Here is a part of a book by Walter A. McDougall called Promised Land, Crusader State: The American Experience with the World since 1776
American Exceptionalism as our founders conceived it was defined by what America was, at home. Foreign policy existed to defend, not define what America was.

8. If you write a sentence changing some of the wording you have still plagiarized
For the founding fathers America’s exceptionalism was based on the country’s domestic identity, which foreign policy did not shape but merely guarded.

9. You may borrow author’s ideas but you must properly give them credit.
An argument for the founding fathers idea of America Exceptionalism is that it was based on the country’s domestic identity (McDougall 37).

10. Documentation for every source?
Common Knowledge that can be found in multiple sources does not need to be documented.
Basic biographical information and facts about people – Tolkien was British.
Dates and circumstances of major historical events = D-Day occurred during World War II.
Unless there is a dispute, this is all considered common knowledge and does not need to be credited.

11. Hanging Indent
The first line of a source should be left justified in a works cited, the second lines and lines thereafter should be indented with what is called a hanging indent.
The reason for this is very visual – it is so the reader can see the first word of the source easily since there is white space surrounding it.
Be careful, computers often go from line to line and then will not allow you to indent the second line, you must return manually if you do not know how to change that on your computer. There will be no excuse for not using the hanging indent.

12. Information for a source on Works Cited Page
Basic elements
Author.
Title of Source.
Title of Container,
Other Contributors,
Version,
Number,
Publisher,
Publication Date,
Location.

13. Note Some elements will be omitted if they do not apply.
Always consult a valid place to make sure that you have it correct (like Purdue Owl).
Some sources, like the Bible and Shakespeare, have specific ways of documenting both in-text citations and the works cited.

14. Author.
Begin with author’s last name followed by a comma and then first name followed by a period.
One author
Baron, Naomi. “Redefining Reading: The Impact of
Digital Communication Media.” PMLA, vol. 128,
no. 1, Jan. 2013, pp
If the author is an editor – you must put the word editor
Bloom, Harold, editor.

15. Author.
If you have two authors, include both and list them in the order in which they are presented in the work.
In the second name, do not put the last name first
Note there is a comma before the and after the first name.
Dorrs, Michael, and Louis Edrich. The Crown of
Columbus. HarperCollins Publishers, 1999.
If they are editors, you must put the word editor
Dorrs, Michael, and Louis Edrich, editors.

16. Author.
Three or more authors – put the first name listed and the term et al
Burdick, Anne, et al. Digital Humanities. MIT P,
2012.
If there are editors, than you must put the word editors
Baron, Sabrina Alcorn, et al., editors.

17. Author.
When a work is published without the author’s name, simply start with the title – do not list the author’s name as Anonymous
Author’s do not have to be an individual person they can be a corporation
United Nations.
When a work is published without an author but by a source, the source will be the author.
Reading at Risk: A Survey of Literary Reading in
America. National Endowment for the Arts,
June, 2004.

18. Title of Source.
After the author the next element is the title of the source.
If there is a subtitle you must put it after the main title
Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein: The Modern
Prometheus, London, 1831.

19. Title of Source.
All titles are italicized or underlined – italicized if typing, underlined if writing or if italicization if unavailable or undesirable.
Quotations marks are only for smaller items. – poems, songs, articles, television EPISODES, chapters in books, names of acts in drama, etc…
Underlining and Italicizing are for larger items. – movies, books, newspapers, television SERIES, epic poems, plays, ships, court cases, etc…

20. Title of Source.
Articles in a collection – the article would be in the title place
Grady, Jane. “Food Metaphors in Shakespeare.”
The Metaphor Use of Gastrointestinal
Issues in Literature, edited by Harold
Bloom, U. of Michigan P, 2007, pp

21. Title of Source. Same idea with a magazine or newspaper article
Samuels, Jon. “How to Beat the Summer Heat.”
New York Times, 4 July 2011,
Samuels/Heat/2011.
Note – Some programs will highlight your websites in blue – you need to get rid of that.

22. Title of Container,
When the source being documented forms a part of a larger whole, the larger whole is thought of as the container.
The title of the container is italicized followed by a comma. A primary source can be within a container if the primary source is the focus.
Example
Benedict XVI, “Caritas in veritate: Encyclical on Integral Human Development in Charity and Truth.” Vatican Website, 29 June 2009, sec. 16 , holy_father/benedict_xvi/encyclicals/documents / hf_ben- xvi_enc_ _caritas-in veritate_en.html. 

23. Title of Container, May be
A book that is a collection of essays, poems, stories, letters, or other works
A periodical – magazine, newspaper, journal
A television series (if you are discussing one episode)
a web site which contains postings
If a comic book is part of a series – italicized the title of the particular book and the series
Gaiman, Neil. Dreams and Nightmares. Sandman, No.
1, Dark Horse, 1995.

24. Other contributors,
After the title of Container, you are to put other contributors, you place them first and last name. Do not reverse the names. Follow them with a comma
Use common descriptions listed on the next slide.
Homer. The Odyssey. Translated by Robert Fitzgerald, Penguin, 1998.

25. Other Contributors, Common Descriptions Translated by Adapted by
Directed by
Edited by
Illustrated by
Introduction by
Narrated by
Performance by
NOTE – In the old MLA you could use abbreviations, you may not use them anymore.

26. Other Contributors,
If the source has many simply list one or two and et al

27. Version,
If the source has several versions, they are sometimes placed directly in the title – that is easy
The Bible. Authorized King James Version,
Oxford UP, 1998.

28. Version,
If the source does not have it in the title you will want to put it after the title
Cheyflits, Eric. The Night Rounded. Expanded ed., U of Pennsylvania P, 1997.
Other common version phrases
Updated ed.,
unabridged version,
director’s cut,
7th ed., NOTE you do not minimize the th
version 1.3.1,

29. Number,
Volumes of books may be numbered, volumes of periodicals usually are
Indicate the volume no by simply writing vol. 5 if it follows a comma and Vol. 5 if it doesn’t follow a comma
Rampersad, Arnold. The Life of Langston Hughes. 2nd ed., vol. 2, Oxford UP, 2002.

30. Number,
Some sources have a volume and issue number – you must put both.
Baron, Naomi. “Redefining Reading.” PMLA, vol.
28, no. 1, Jan. 2013, pp

31. Number, If there is no volume – simply put number
Comic books are usually numbered
Television episodes are numbered
“Hush.” Buffy, the Vampire Slayer, created by
Joss Whedon, performance by Sarah
Michelle Geller, season 4, episode 10,
Mutant Enemy, 1999.

32. Publisher,
The publisher is the one responsible for producing the source, if two publishers are listed and they are equally responsible, put all of them with a / between the names.

33. Publisher, The publisher of a book is listed on the copyright page
UP is an abbreviation for University Press
P is an abbreviation for Press
Films and television series are published by production companies – Universal, Columbia Pictures, etc…
Web sites are published by a variety of publishers – magazines, newspapers, organizations, libraries, etc...
Omit the name of the publisher of a website if it is also the container – youtube or if the website title is the same as the publisher

34. Publication date, or Publication date.
Some sources have two dates, when they were originally published and when they were republished. Go with the most recent date unless you are specifically referring to the original.
The date of a website is always placed as day month and year.
24 Dec
All months over four letters are abbreviated after the first syllable – Mar. for March

35. Location.
When specifying a sources location it depends on the medium (web, print, etc.)
For a source using pages – it is p. for one page and pp. for multiple pages or a page range.
For a website – the location is the entire URL – unless a DOI is provided.
For an episode use the disc number – disc 3.
For a physical object – use the place the object is housed. – Museum of Modern Art, New York.

36. Optional elements.
City of publication is no longer needed unless the document was published prior to 1900 or there are several offices for the publisher listed.
If the publisher is an unfamiliar one outside of North America put the place of publication.

37. In-Text Citations
In-Text citations use the first word of the works cited source
If you have an author – use their last name
For titles that begin with a, an, the, etc.. Ignore the initial word.

38. In-Text Citations
If you have more than one author with the same last name use the first initial and last name.
If the source has no numbering system just use the name
If the source is digital give the time (“Hush” 00:03:16-17).