1. Using MLA Style 10th Edition

2. Why MLA? There are two main reasons we use MLA citation:
To have a uniform convention for documenting research
To avoid plagiarism
MLA is also a complete formatting and style guide.

3. MLA Formatting Basics No separate cover page 1” margins
Double space everything
One space after periods
12 pt. Times New Roman
Indent paragraphs .5”
Indent block quotes 1” from left margin

4. MLA Formatting Basics Names of large works are italicized.
books, periodicals, album titles, etc.
Names of works contained within larger works are placed in quotation marks.
articles, chapters, essays, poems, songs, etc.

5. (Page scanned from The Bedford Handbook, 8th ed.)
Header on first page only
Start page numbering here
Title is not bold
Do not put an extra space between paragraphs
(Page scanned from The Bedford Handbook, 8th ed.)

6. Page numbering

7. Margin settings

8. Open paragraph settings

9. Select “First line” indent
Indenting paragraphs

10. Avoiding space after paragraphs
Change default to 0 pt.

11. (Page scanned from The Bedford Handbook, 10th ed.)
Continue page numbering from first page
Block quotes: Indent 1”, no quotation marks, and period comes before citation
Block quote when quotations run over four lines
(Page scanned from The Bedford Handbook, 10th ed.)

12. Indenting block quotes

13. Citing Sources in the Text
Author’s name in text:
Robertson states that “fish sleep with their eyes open” (136).
Author’s name in reference:
It is true that “fish sleep with their eyes open” (Robertson 136).

14. Citing Sources in the Text
Paraphrasing:
In his aquatic research, John Robertson explains that sleeping fish do not close their eyes (136).
Sleeping fish do not close their eyes (Robertson 136).

15. Practice #1
The student is quoting from page 148 of the following magazine article:
Als, Hilton. “Wayward Girl.” New Yorker, Aug. 2003, pp
Als describes Cat Power as “a storyteller…[who] cares more about how she says something than about what she says.” (148)
Als describes Cat Power as “a storyteller…[who] cares more about how she says something than about what she says” (148).

16. Practice #2
The student is quoting from page 412 of the following book:
Kerman, Joseph, and Gary Tomlinson. Listen. Bedford, 2000.
“Perhaps the essential achievement of punk rockers was to broach in rock what we might call an anti-aesthetic: All expression was possible, including no expression; all musical expertise was possible, including none,” Kerman and Tomlinson point out (412).
“Perhaps the essential achievement of punk rockers was to broach in rock what we might call an anti-aesthetic: All expression was possible, including no expression; all musical expertise was possible, including none,” Kerman points out (412).

17. Practice #3
The student is quoting from page 281 of the following article:
Mead, Rebecca. “Sex, Drugs, and Fiddling.” Da Capo Best Music Writing 2000, edited by Peter Guralnick and Douglas Wolk, Da Capo, 2000, pp
One startling description of fiddler Ashley MacIssac begins, “Although wrecking a hotel room is standard rock-star behavior, it is unusual for the instrument of destruction to be a bucketful of freshly cooked lobsters” (Mead 281).
One startling description of fiddler Ashley MacIssac begins, “Although wrecking a hotel room is standard rock-star behavior, it is unusual for the instrument of destruction to be a bucketful of freshly cooked lobsters” (Guralnick and Wolk 281).

18. Practice #4
The student is quoting from page 623 of the following essay:
Bangs, Lester. “Where Were You When Elvis Died?” Rock and Roll Is Here to Stay, edited by William McKeen, Norton, 2000, pp
The paper includes another work by Bangs.
Bangs argues that he sees Elvis Presley not “as a tragic figure…[but] more like the Pentagon, a giant armored institution nobody knows anything about except that its power is legendary” (623).
Bangs argues that he sees Elvis Presley not “as a tragic figure…[but] more like the Pentagon, a giant armored institution nobody knows anything about except that its power is legendary” (“Where Were You” 623).

19. Practice #5 The student is quoting from the following online article:
Wyman, Bill. “Joey Ramone, R.I.P.” Salon, 15 Apr. 2001,
Wyman maintains that “if you were a rock-loving youth in America’s…Sun Belt in the mid-1970s, the Ramones gave you your first taste of what a sensation was.”
Wyman maintains that “if you were a rock-loving youth in America’s…Sun Belt in the mid-1970s, the Ramones gave you your first taste of what a sensation was” (“Joey Ramone”).

20. Practice #6
The student is quoting from page 12 of the following magazine article:
“U2’s Spiritual Journey Defies Categorizing.” Christian Century, 13 Feb , pp Expanded Academic ASAP,
While U2’s music is infused with religious imagery and explicitly embraces Christian themes, the band’s hard-living lifestyle makes “some pietistic Christians…question the band’s beliefs” (Christian Century 12).
While U2’s music is infused with religious imagery and explicitly embraces Christian themes, the band’s hard-living lifestyle makes “some pietistic Christians…question the band’s beliefs” (“U2’s Spiritual Journey” 12).

21. Works Cited: Making the List
Identify the source
Find a sample of citing this type of source
“Mirror” the sample

22. (Page scanned from The Bedford Handbook, 10th ed.)
Continue page numbering
Do not bold!!!
Hanging Indent
(Page scanned from The Bedford Handbook, 10th ed.)

23. Select “Hanging indent”
Indenting Works Cited

24. Basics of Works Cited
Book
Johnson, Roberta. Gender and Nation in the Spanish
Modernist Novel. Vanderbilt UP, 2003.
Work in an Anthology
Bordo, Susan. “The Moral Content of Nabokov’s
Lolita.” Aesthetic Subjects, edited by Pamela R.
Matthews and David McWhirter, U of Minnesota
P, 2003, pp

25. Basics of Works Cited Journal
Web database
Williams, Linda. “Of Kisses and Ellipses: The Long Adolescence
of American Movies.” Critical Inquiry, vol. 32, no. 2, 2006,
pp Project Muse,
In print
Williams, Linda. “Of Kisses and Ellipses: The Long Adolescence of American Movies.” Critical
Inquiry, vol. 32, no. 2, 2006, pp
Online journal
Williams, Linda. “Of Kisses and Ellipses: The Long Adolescence of American Movies.” Critical Inquiry,
vol. 32, no.2, 2006, pp ,

26. Practice #7 True/False
The works cited list is organized alphabetically by authors’ last names (or by title for a work with no author).
When a work’s author is unknown, the work is listed under “Anonymous” in the list of works cited.
The list of works cited is titled “Bibliography.”
An entry for a web source in the list of works cited includes the date the source was accessed.
In-text citations and a works cited list is only required if a professor requests it.
Adapted from:

27. Online Resources Citation generators can be wrong!
The Bedford Handbook
Writing Center website
Owl Purdue: owl.english.purdue.edu
Texas State library databases
MLA style guide

28. Practice Answers
#1: B In MLA style, an in-text citation appears after the quoted material and before the sentence period.
#2: A In MLA style for a source with two authors, both authors’ names are given in the signal phrase.
#3: A The author of the work being quoted, not the editor of the collection containing the work, is given in an MLA in-text citation.
#4: B When a paper includes two or more works by the same author, the parenthetical citation includes a short form of the source’s title along with the page number.
#5: A For an unpaginated electronic source, a signal phrase naming the author of the work is sufficient in an MLA in-text citation.

29. Practice Answers
#6: B In MLA style, a work with no author is cited with a short form of its title
#7:
1: True The alphabetical organization helps readers quickly find the source that has been cited in the text.
2. False When a work’s author is unknown, the work is listed under its title.
3. False The list is titled Works Cited
4. True/False If there is no date for the source, you may want to include an access date, but you do not have to do so.
5. False To maintain academic honesty, always cite and document your sources.