1. English 1-2
MLA Handbook

2. Set up your handbook Front cover:
Name (first and last)
Subject: MLA Handbook
Number each page in the bottom corner (front and back: 16 total)
Page one:
Title: Table of Contents
Entry one: “MLA Format Page”…………2
Page two:
Title: MLA format Page

3. MLA Format Page MLA = Modern Language Association
Format used for liberal arts and humanities
MLA is a structure; don’t be creative!
Every paper looks the same every time

4. MLA Format Page Font: Times New Roman size 12 Double-space
1” margins on all sides
Text Align left
Paragraphs: Hit “enter” only once between paragraphs
Indent first line ½” (Hit “tab” once)
Header top right corner, ½” from top
Insert  Header
DON’T TYPE THIS ON THE FIRST LINE OF THE PAGE
Your last name [space] page number:
Angeles 1

5. MLA Format Page
4-line heading in top left (first 4 lines of FIRST page ONLY):
Your name (first and last)
Teacher’s name (title & last name – ex. Mrs. Foster)
Course name and period (ex. English 1, Period 1)
Date
Date format: Day Month Year (No punctuation or abbreviation)
Ex. 14 September 2017
Title (original – relate to topic of your essay)
Centered, on next line after heading
EXACT same type as rest of paper:
NO: Bold, underline, italic, or giant font

6. MLA Format Page

7. Textual Evidence & Parenthetical Citations
Find the next blank page in your handbook and title (above)
Add this entry to your Table of Contents on page 1

8. Textual Evidence & Parenthetical Citations
Textual Evidence: Direct quote from the text
Word for word, punctuation for punctuation – a snapshot of the text
You’re using someone else’s words: Use quotation marks around the evidence
Ex: “Competition for top-brand colleges is absurdly intense”
Using ellipses …
Never begin/end evidence with ellipses
Use an ellipses in the middle of evidence if you want to take out part of the text
Whatever remains should still make sense when you read it
Ex: “Maybe you could be a great writer … but you might not know it until after you write that English paper”
Using brackets [ ]
If you need to add or change a word for the quote to make sense how you used it, use brackets to show what’s been changed/added
Ex: President Obama uses ethos when he says that he “wasn’t always as focused as [he] should have been in school”

9. Textual Evidence & Parenthetical Citations
Parenthetical Citations: Where you give credit to the speaker/writer of the quote, in parentheses
When citing multiple sources, include author’s last name and page number, separated by one space only (no punctuation).
No author? Use the source title in the citation
Put the period of the sentence after the citation.
NO comma between last word of evidence & quotation marks
Ex: “Competition for top-brand colleges is absurdly intense” (Reich 81).
If your evidence ends with a ? Or a ! Keep it. Keep period after citation
Ex: “And what about all the people that didn’t finish college and are not at the helm of a wildly successful venture?” (Rotherham 84).
No , or No ,

10. Evidence Set-Up
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Add this entry to your Table of Contents on page 1

11. Evidence Set-Up Evidence Set-up: Three must-have elements:
Text that comes directly before textual evidence, in order to prepare the reader for the evidence
Guide reader into interpretation or opinion of evidence
Three must-have elements:
Context (where in the text does it come?)
Significance (what do you want me to see in the evidence? How does it connect to the prompt?)
Proper punctuation
Set-up is complete thought – use a colon :
Set-up uses dependent clause like “when he says” or “by saying” – use a comma ,
Evidence set-up when citing multiple texts:
Use the set-up to clarify which source you’ll cite
You must state the title

12. Evidence Set-Up Evidence set-up when citing multiple texts:
Use the set-up to clarify which source you’ll cite
You must state the title & genre of the text
Short texts like articles, poems, and short stories: Title in quotation marks
Ex: “Education Still Pays”
Long texts like books, plays, and magazines: Title italicized
Ex: To Kill a Mockingbird
You may state the author’s name (if you do, you don’t need it in the parenthetical citation)
The first time you refer to an author, use first and last names
Every time after the first time you refer to an author, use last name only
If you don’t put the author’s name in the set-up, you must put it in the parenthetical citation

13. Evidence Set-Up Example:
In his opinion article, “Actually, College Is Very Much Worth It,” Andrew J Rotherham points out the flaw in thinking that like Mark Zuckerburg or Steve Jobs, one can drop out of high school and become a millionaire: “And what about all the people that didn’t finish college and are not at the helm of a wildly successful venture?” (84).
Genre
Title
Author
Significance
Punctuation

14. Evidence Set-Up Example:
In the opinion article, “Actually, College Is Very Much Worth It,” the author points out the flaw in thinking that like Mark Zuckerburg or Steve Jobs, one can drop out of high school and become a millionaire: “And what about all the people that didn’t finish college and are not at the helm of a wildly successful venture?” (Rotherham 84).
Genre
Title
Significance
Punctuation
Author

15. Evidence Set-Up Example:
In his opinion article, “Actually, College Is Very Much Worth It,” Andrew J Rotherham points out the flaw in thinking that like Mark Zuckerburg or Steve Jobs, one can drop out of high school and become a millionaire when he asks, “And what about all the people that didn’t finish college and are not at the helm of a wildly successful venture?” (84).
Dependent clause
Punctuation

16. Deadly Sins of MLA Format
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Add this entry to your Table of Contents on page 1

17. Deadly Sins of MLA Format DON’T DO THESE!
Header and/or Title is different font than rest of paper
Extra Spaces between heading/title or title/first line of paper or between paragraphs
Text is center-aligned
Page number not properly entered in header (or period number given instead)
Wrong information in heading

18. Deadly Sins of MLA Format DON’T DO THESE!
Four-line heading on every page
Margins too large/small
Misspelling your teacher’s name (or anyone else’s name)
Forgetting quotation marks around evidence
Putting p. or pg. in your parenthetical citations