CVHS English Department

MLA Documentation
Last updated: 8/2011

Table of Contents MLA Formatting.1 MLA In-text Citation..2-4 MLA Writing a Works Cited Page.5-6 Sample MLA Works Cited Page.7

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MLA Formatting
Text: Use 12 point, Times New Roman font and double-space (ALWAYS). When a cell phone rings in a classroom or at a concert, one might be irritated, but at least ones life is not endangered. Structure: Use 1 Margins
CAUTION: In the interest of saving paper, not all examples in this document are doublespaced. When using MLA formatting, ALWAYS double-space your writing.

Title Page

Consecutive Page(s)
Potter 2 And saves lives. As McCulley suggest, some studies say they [hand-free phones] would have no impact on accidents

Regulate Use of Cell Phones

(57).

Harry Potter Mr. Dumbledore College Prep English, Period 2 10 February 2011

First Page
Potter 1 Harry Potter Mr. Dumbledore College Prep English, Period 2 10 February 2011 Regulate Use of Cell Phones When a cell phone goes off in a classroom or at a concert, one might be irritated, but at least ones life in not endangered..

Your instructor may ask that you omit the number on your first page. Always follow your instructor's guidelines.

Works Cited Page

Potter 3

Works Cited Clinton, Bill. Interview by Andrew C. Revkin. Clinton on Climate Change. New York Times. New York Times, May 2007. Web. 25 May 2009. Gowdy, John. "Avoiding Self-organized Extinction: Toward a Co-evolutionary Economics of Sustainability."International Journal of Sustainable Development and World Ecology 14.1(2007): 27-36. Print. An Inconvenient Truth. Dir. Davis Guggenheim. Perf. Al Gore, Billy West. Paramount, 2006. DVD.

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MLA In-text Citation

Parenthetical Citation
Why do we cite sources? One purpose of citation is to leave a trail of clues for interested readers. When you document papers correctly, you provide others with a way to find the sources you have used. A reader will look at the authors last name and then refer to the Works Cited list at the end of your paper to obtain bibliographic information. Another purpose of citation is to promote ethical responsibility and academic consistency within a discipline. If you do not cite and document your sources carefully, you run the risk of plagiarism. What needs to be cited? 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Direct quotes, both entire sentences and phrases Paraphrases (rephrased or summarized material) Words specific or unique to the authors research, theories, or ideas Use of an authors argument or line of thinking Historical, statistical, or scientific facts Articles or studies you refer to within your text

Integrate sources into your text by using signal phrases.

Sample Signal Phrases Introduce Quotations: As (author) noted, _____ In the words of (author), ____ Conclude Evidence: _____, suggests (author) _____, claims (author)

Example: In 2000, the legislature of Santa Rosa County passed a law restricting drivers use of handheld phones. According to journalist Tina Kelly, The bill prohibits cell phone use while driving unless it is equipped with an earpiece (5).

Quotations without Signal Phrases If you choose not to introduce your author in a sentence and are quoting from two or more sources throughout your paper, you must include the authors last name as part of your in-text citation: ______ (author page). Example: Shortly after Japan made it illegal to use a handheld phone while driving, accidents caused by using the phones dropped by 75 percent (Hughes 8).

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Citing Attribution Another use of source material is to attribute it to the author within the text of your paper. Incorporate the authors name into your use of the quotation or information you are using and put only the page number in parentheses at the end of the sentence. Example: Barbara Smith reminds us in her well-known article, Toward a Black Feminist Criticism, that when speaking about the current situation of Black women writers, it is important to remember that the existence of a feminist movement was an essential precondition to the growth of feminist literature, criticism, and women's studies (170).

Citing Paraphrasing You can also paraphrase material by summarizing in your own words or using it to talk about your own material. Examples: The feminist movement had to occur before the establishment of feminist literature and criticism, as well as womens studies (Smith 170). Feminist literature and criticism, and womens studies as well, originally centered on literature (Smith 170).

More Parenthetical Citation 1. No Author: If you are given no author at all, use a shortened title of the work instead of an author name in the parentheses and underline or punctuate it appropriately: ("Impact of Global Warming" 6), for an article, for instance in which the full title of the source is The Impact of Global Warming in North America. Web Sources: If you use electronic sources, you must work with whatever information is provided at the online site. When possible use: (Author page#) or (Shortened Title page#). If no page numbers are provided, use paragraph numbers instead: (Author par.#) or (Shortened Title par.#). Same Last Name: When using two authors with the same last name, you must indicate the initial of the first name in the parentheses: (B. Smith 170). Same Author, Multiple Works: When using more than one work by the same author, the author's name must be accompanied by a word from the title of the source you are referring to: (Smith, "Toward" 170). Citing Indirect Sources: Sometimes you may have to use an indirect source. For such indirect quotations, use qtd. in to indicate the source you actually consulted. For example: Ravitch argues that high schools are pressured to act as social service centers, and they dont do that well (qtd. in Weisman 259).

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Cite your paraphrase and quotations by using the correct punctuation.

Work Title: When naming a text, italicize long works such as books, newspapers, and movies (The Giver) and use quotation marks around short works such as short stories, poems, and articles (Sympathy). Short Quotations: Cite the page number in parentheses after the quotation (and before the period). To indicate short quotations (fewer than four typed lines of prose or three lines of verse) in your text, enclose the quotation within double quotation marks. Provide the author and specific page citation (in the case of verse, provide line numbers) in the text, and include a complete reference on the Works Cited page. Punctuation marks such as periods, commas, and semicolons should appear after the parenthetical citation. Question marks and exclamation points should appear within the quotation marks if they are a part of the quoted passage but after the parenthetical citation if they are a part of your text. Examples: 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)? Quotations within a Quotation: Use single quotation marks to enclose quotes or dialogue within another quotation. Examples: The reporter told me, "When I interviewed the quarterback, he said they simply 'played a better game.'" As Atticus disagrees with his sister, There [is] a faint starchiness in his voice when he [says], Anything fit to say at the tables fit to say in front of Calpurnia(157). Verse (plays and poems): In the parentheses following the quotation, cite verse by divisions (act, scene, cant, book, part) and lines; use periods to separate various parts. Use a forward slash to show where each new line of verse begins (a space should precede and follow the slash). Examples: When she learns that Romeo is a Montague, Juliet exclaims, My only love, sprung from my only hate! / Too early seen unknown, and know too late! (1.5.138-139). Cullen concludes, "Of all the things that happened there / That's all I remember" (11-12).

Long Quotations: When you are quoting prose that takes more than four typed lines or verse that takes more than three typed lines, indent each line of the quotation one inch and keep it double-spaced. Do not use quotation marks. Cite the page number in the same manner shown above. When citing two or more paragraphs, use the same format, even if the passage from the paragraphs is less than four lines. Indent the first line of each quoted paragraph an extra quarter inch. Examples are included on the following page.
Please note that this is discouraged in shorter papers. Consult your instructor for specific expectations.

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Examples: Ray Bradburys visual diction helps readers to sense death and destruction as Montag enters his dark bedroom: It was like coming into the cold marbled room of a mausoleum after the moon had set. Complete darkness, not a hint of the silver world outside, the windows tightly shut, the chamber a tomb world where no sound from the great city could penetrate. The room was not empty. (11)

Please note that long quotations are discouraged in shorter papers. Consult your instructor for specific expectations.

In "American Origins of the Writing-across-the-Curriculum Movement," David Russell argues: Writing has been an issue in American secondary and higher education since papers and examinations came into wide use in the 1870s, eventually driving out formal recitation and oral examination. . . . From its birth in the late nineteenth century, progressive education has wrestled with the conflict within industrial society between pressure to increase specialization of knowledge and of professional work (upholding disciplinary standards) and pressure to integrate more fully an ever-widening number of citizens into intellectually meaningful activity within mass society (promoting social equity). (3)

Dramatic Dialogue Quotation When you quote dialogue between two or more characters in a play, the quotation should be in block format. Each part of the dialogue should begin with the character's name indented ten spaces or an inch from the left margin. A period should follow the name. The subsequent lines in the character's speech should be indented an additional three spaces or a quarter of an inch from the left margin. With the new speech of each character, this format should be repeated. Example: When Hamlet asks the gravedigger whose grave he is digging, the gravedigger jestingly claims that it is his own, prompting a witty dialogue organized around a pun on "lie": HAMLET. I think that it be thine indeed, for thou liest in 't. GRAVEDIGGER. You lie out on 't, sir, and therefore 'tis not yours. For my part, I do not lie in 't, yet it is mine. HAMLET. Thou dost lie in 't, to be in 't and say it is thine. 'Tis for the dead, not for the quick; therefore thou liest. GRAVEDIGGER. 'Tis a quick lie, sir; 'twill away again from me to you. (5.1.124-132)

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Novel Dialogue Quotation with More Than One Character When you quote dialogue between two or more characters in a novel, the quotation should be in block format. The dialogue should appear as it is in the book. Write each person's spoken words, however brief, as a separate paragraph. Use commas to set off dialogue tags such as "she said" or "he explained." If one person's speech goes on for more than one paragraph, use quotation marks to open the dialogue at the beginning of each paragraph. However, do not use closing quotation marks until the end of the final paragraph where that character is speaking. Example: Clarisse and Montag are so dramatically different that each considers the other odd. One day they meet on the sidewalk and carry on a conversation that leads them to express their feelings about each other 's peculiarities: "You're [Clarisse] peculiar, you're aggravating, yet you're easy to forgive. You say you're seventeen?" "Well--next month." "How odd. How strange. And my wife thirty and yet you seems so much older at times" . . . "You're peculiar yourself, Mr. Montag" . . . "How did it start? How did you get into it? . . . You're not like the others." (23)

Making Changes within your Quotation 1. If you omit a word or words from a quotation, you should indicate the deleted word or words by using ellipsis marks, which are three periods ( . . . ) preceded and followed by a space. For example: In an essay on urban legends, Jan Harold Brunvand notes that some individuals make a point of learning every recent rumor . . . and in a short time a lively exchange of details occurs (78). 2. If you add a word or words in a quotation, you should put brackets around the words to indicate that they are not part of the original text. This is done in order to insert words for clarity and/or to keep your sentence grammatically correct. Jan Harold Brunvand, in an essay on urban legends, states: some individuals [who retell urban legends] make a point of learning every rumor (78).

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MLA Writing a Works Cited Page

Works Cited Page Basic Format:

Begin your Works Cited page on a separated page at the end of your research paper. It should have the same margins and last name, page number header as the rest of the paper. Label the page Works Cited (Do NOT italicize, underline, put in quotation marks, change the font, use bold or make any other changes to the words Works Cited) and center the words Works Cited at the top of the page. Use 12 point, Times New Roman font. Double space all citations, but do not skip spaces between entries. Write sources down alphabetically. If author is unknown, alphabetize by the title, ignoring any A, An or The. Indent all lines five spaces after the first line of source. Follow the punctuation EXACTLY as noted below. If two authors write a text, use the last name, first name format for the first author, follow with a and; then state the second authors first name and last name. Write the date [day month year]. You may abbreviate any month except for May, June, or July. Remember to use n.p. if no publisher is listed and n.d. if no publishing date is listed. For every entry, you must determine the Medium of Publication. Most entries will likely be listed as Print or Web sources, but other possibilities may include Film, CD-ROM, or DVD.

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Book Author. Title of Book. City of Publication: Publisher, Year. Print. Borg, Jim. Tigers of the Sea. Honolulu: Mutual, 1993. Print. Magazine Article Author. Title of Article. Title of Magazine Date: Page(s). Print. McCully, Jeff. On the Mark. Hawaii Business Feb. 1998: 20+. Print. Self Conducted Interview Name of interviewee. Personal interview. Date of interview. Purdue, Pete. Personal Interview. 1 Dec. 2011.

Internet Resource: Citing an entire web site Creators Name. Web Page Title. Institution or Organization. Date of publication. Web. Date of access. Shulte, Bret. "Putting a Price on Pollution." Usnews.com. US News & World Report, 6 May 2007. Web. 24 May 2009.
Remember to use n.p. if no publisher is listed and n.d. if no publishing date is listed.

Online Published Interviews Name of interviewee. Title of interview. Name of website. Date of publication. Web. Date of access. Zinkievich, Craig. Interview by Gareth Von Kallenbach. Skewed & Reviewed. Skewed & Reviewed, 2009. Web. 15 Mar. 2009. Films or Movies Title of Film. Dir. Name of Director. Film studio or distributor, and year of release. Film. The Usual Suspects. Dir. Bryan Singer. Polygram, 1995. Film.

*Follow film/movie guidelines when citing Television program or DVD.

For additional information visit the Owl Purdue Online Writing Lab:

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/

Sample Works Cited Page

Falcon 9 Works Cited

Clinton, Bill. Interview by Andrew C. Revkin. Clinton on Climate Change. New York Times. New York Times, May 2007. Web. 25 May 2009. Gowdy, John. "Avoiding Self-organized Extinction: Toward a Co-evolutionary Economics of Sustainability." International Journal of Sustainable Development and World Ecology 14.1 (2007): 27-36. Print. An Inconvenient Truth. Dir. Davis Guggenheim. Perf. Al Gore, Billy West. Paramount, 2006. DVD. Leroux, Marcel. Global Warming: Myth Or Reality?: The Erring Ways of Climatology. New York: Springer, 2005. Print. Shulte, Bret. "Putting a Price on Pollution." Usnews.com. US News & World Rept., 6 May 2007. Web. 24 May 2009.