The English Corner at Richland College MLA Quick Tips and Reference Guide MLA requires that your paper include certain format specifications: 12 point font Times New Roman A heading on the left side in the body of the paper on the first page. It must include the following information in this order: Your name Your professor s name Your class The date the paper is due, formatted day Month year (e.g. 15 March 2016) Double spacing, including the heading and Works Cited page One inch margins (no more, no less) Indent the first line of all paragraphs one half inch Remove extra line space after the header, the title, and all paragraphs Use a single space after punctuation and sentences Your last name and a page number on all pages An original and creative title that reflects your essay, centered on the page and in 12 point Times New Roman font A Works Cited after your essay, using a hanging indent and alphabetizing entries Core Elements of a Citation The 8th edition of MLA style identifies certain core elements that should appear in the citations for most types of sources. These core elements can adapt to any new digital mediums that develop. In a citation, the core elements appear as: Author. Title of source. Title of container, other contributors, version, number, publisher, publication date, location. 1. Author: The author is the creator of the source. The author can be a single person, multiple people, or an organization. 2. Title of source: This is the specific source you are citing and could be a book, a journal article, a short story or poem, an article on a website, or other source type. 3. Title of container: This is the larger work that your specific source comes packaged in. For example, you might cite a book chapter as your specific source, but the book itself would be the container of that source. Some sources might have two containers, for example, a journal article that is contained in a journal, which is contained in an academic database. In that case, you would give the information for the original container and then the later container. Some sources, such as books, are self-contained and do not need a container citation. 4. Other contributors: This element includes editors, translators, and others who helped to produce a source but are not the creators of the source. 5. Version: Versions include different editions of a source, such as the second edition of a book or the director s cut of a film.
6. Number: Number refers to the volume number in a multivolume work like an encyclopedia or the issue number of a journal. Volume may be abbreviated to vol., and issue number may be abbreviated to no. 7. Publisher: The publisher is the primary organization responsible for creating a source or making it public. The publisher might be a publishing company or an organization. 8. Publication Date: The publication date refers to when a source was published. Some sources may have multiple dates, so cite the one that is most relevant to your use of the source. Dates should be given as day Month year, e.g. 10 June 2010. 9. Location: The location may refer to the page range for an article or chapter, e.g. pp. 201-223. For online sources that have no page numbers, the location could be the website URL, e.g. www.youtube.com/watch?v=nd4mscady94. The following are examples of Works Cited citations and corresponding in-text citations. Basic Book Entry Author s last name, first name. Title of Book. Publishing company, year. Downey, Katherine Brown. Perverse Midrash: Oscar Wilde, Andre Gide, and Censorship of Biblical Drama. Continuum, 2004. In-text citation: (Downey 25). In-text citation includes the author s last name and page number. Work in an Anthology (Chapter or Section in a Book) Author s last name, first name. Chapter Title. Title of Book, (editors or translators if applicable go next, followed by volume or edition,) Publishing company, year, page numbers. Butler, Octavia E. Bloodchild. Bloodchild and Other Stories, edited by Joe Smith, vol. 2, Seven Stories, 2005, pp. 1-24. In-text citation: (Butler 15). Two Authors First author s last name, first name, and second author s first name last name. Title of Book. Publishing company, year. Fisher, John, and Peter Jones. Internet Piracy. Dell, 2010. In-text citation: (Fisher and Jones 218). Three or More Authors For three or more authors, use the first author s name plus et al. Et al. stands for et alii, which is Latin for and others ; it references the larger team involved in creating the source. First author s last name, first name, et al. Title of Book. Publishing company, year. Fisher, John, et al. Internet Piracy. Dell, 2010. In-text citation: (Fisher et al. 218).
Scholarly Journal in a Database Author s last name, first name. Title of Article. Title of Journal, volume number, issue number, year, pages. Database, DOI or URL. Lunau, Kate. Altered States. Maclean s, vol. 129, no. 1, 2016, pp. 40-44. Academic Search Complete, ehis.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail/detail?vid=8&sid=5c6ca2d5-721b-4dd9-992dc4af002de8de%40sessionmgr4006&hid=4110&bdata=jnnpdgu9zwhvc3qtbgl2zq%3 d%3d#an=112010840&db=a9h. In-text citation: (Abramsky 20). Article on a Website Author s last name, first name. Title of Article. Website Title, Publisher, date published, URL address. White, Deborah. Marijuana Legalization Pros & Cons, Will Obama Legalize Marijuana? Liberal & Progressive Politics & Perspectives, New York Times, June 2011, http://usliberals.about.com/od/patriotactcivilrights/i/marijuanaprocon.htm. In-text citation: (White). More Than One Source with the Same Author Use the same formatting for the individual sources as you normally would. In place of the author s name for the second or subsequent sources, put three hyphens followed by a period: ---. American Humane Association. American Humane s Bill to Ban Gas Chambers in Animal Shelters. Animals, American Humane Association, 26 April 2010, www.americanhumane.org/position-statement/gassing-of-shelter-animals/. ---. Animal Shelter Euthanasia. Animals, American Humane Association, 2010, www.americanhumane.org/fact-sheet/animal-shelter-euthanasia-2/ In-text citations: (American American ). for the first source, OR (American Animal ). for the second source. Advertisement Online
Product name. Title of Commercial. Website Title, Publisher, date published, URL address. Chrysler. Halftime in America. YouTube, 5 Feb 2012, www.youtube.com/watch?v=fivjcghmo2e. In-text citation: (Chrysler). Posting on an Electronic Forum Username. Comment on Title of forum. Title of website, date of comment, time of comment, URL address. Bigboy485. Comment on Halftime in America. YouTube, 20 March 2012, 11:15 p.m., www.youtube.com/watch?v=fivjcghmo2e. In-text citation: (Bigboy485). No Author Listed Article Title. Website Title, Publisher, date published, URL address. Outstanding Commercial 2010. Emmys.com, Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, 2010, www.emmys.com/awards/nominees-winners/2010/outstanding-commercial. In-text citation: ( Outstanding ). Use enough words from the title to be able to clearly identify the entry on the Works Cited page. Song on a CD Artist. Song Title. Title of CD, Production company, month (if available) and year of production. The Beatles. Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds. Sgt. Pepper s Lonely Hearts Club Band, Apple Records, 1967. In-text citation: (The Beatles 12). Be sure to include the line number for the quoted material. Follow the same convention when quoting from a poem or a play. Government or Organization Website Organization Name. Article Title. Website Title, Publisher, date published, URL address. Federal Bureau of Investigation. Telemarketing Fraud. Common Fraud Schemes, U.S. Dept. of Justice, www.fbi.gov/scams-and-safety/common-fraud-schemes. In-text citation: (Federal).
Listing the Author in the Text If you refer to the author of your quote in the text, then you do not need to list him or her in the parentheses at the end of the sentence. You only need the page number. According to Professor Frederick Turner at The University of Texas at Dallas, no truly great poetry has been written in English since the Second World War (77). Turner, Frederick. Mighty Poets in their Misery Dead: A Polemic on the Contemporary Poetic Scene. The Missouri Review, vol. 4, no. 1, 1980, pp. 77-96. A Quote within a Quote If you find a quote you want to use that is quoted within another source, it is best to find the original source of the quote and cite it. If you cannot find the original source, you must give the original author credit for doing the research or interview in the body of the essay. Your Works Cited entry should only reflect the source you took the quote from, not the original source. According to First Lady Michelle Obama, the power of an artistic performance can be diplomatic: That's the beauty of arts and culture, music and dance. It's a universal voice (qtd. in Brown). Brown, Laura. Michelle Obama: America's Got Talent. Fashion Trends and Women's Fashion Shows - Harper s BAZAAR, Hearst Communications, 13 Oct. 2010, www.harpersbazaar.com/celebrity/latest/news/a591/michelle-obama-interview/. Block Quotes Block quotes are formatted differently than in-text quotes. The quote must be a minimum of five lines long. Set the quote off by a left indent (do not center), double-space the quote, do not use quotation marks, and place final punctuation before the citation. Grammarian and author Joseph Williams argues sentence length and variation are important: Those who can write individually clear and concise sentences have achieved a good deal, and much more if they can assemble them into coherent passages. But a writer who can t write clear sentences longer than twenty words or so is like a composer who can write only short jingles. No one can communicate complex ideas in short sentences alone, so you have to know how to assemble a sentence
long and complex enough to express complex ideas, but still clear enough to be read easily. You can do that, if you know some principles of sentence construction that go beyond SUBJECTS and VERBS, CHARACTERS and ACTIONS. (166) Williams, Joseph M. Style: Ten Lessons in Clarity and Grace. 6th ed.,longman, 2000. However, many block quotes are unnecessary. Ask yourself if the entire quote is necessary for understanding or clarity. If the answer is no, then reduce your quote to only the most important information. When discussing sentence length and variation, grammarian and author Joseph Williams declares that no one can communicate complex ideas in short sentences alone, so you have to know how to assemble a sentence long and complex enough to express complex ideas, but still clear enough to be read easily (166). Missing Elements If your source is missing any of the core elements with your source, such as a publication date or version, simply leave that element out of your citation. However, if your source is missing multiple elements that should exist for that type of source, you may want to reconsider the credibility of your source.