MLA

+Using

MLA Style7th Edition

writingcenter.txstate.edu

+Why MLA?

There are two main reasons we use MLA citation: To have a uniformed convention for documenting research To avoid plagiarism

MLA is also a complete formatting and style guide.

+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

+MLA Formatting Basics

Names of large works are italicized books, periodicals, album titles, etc.

Names of works within larger works are placed in quotation marks articles, chapters, essays, poems, songs, etc.

+ Header on first

page only

(Page scanned from The Bedford Handbook, 8th ed.)

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Select “First line” indent

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Change default to 0 pt.

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(Page scanned from The Bedford Handbook, 8th ed.)

Block quote when quotations run over four lines

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Indent 1”

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+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).

+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).

+Practice

+Practice

+Practice

+Practice

+Practice

+Practice

+Works Cited: Making the List

Identify the source

Find a sample of citing this type of source

“Mirror” the sample

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(Page scanned from The Bedford Handbook, 8th ed.)

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Select “Hanging indent”

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+Basics of Works Cited

Book

Johnson, Roberta. Gender and Nation in the Spanish Modernist Novel. Nashville: Vanderbilt UP, 2003. Print.

Work in an Anthology

Bordo, Susan. “The Moral Content of Nabokov’s Lolita.” Aesthetic Subjects. Ed. Pamela R. Matthews and David McWhirter. Minneapolis: U of Minnesota P, 2003. 125-52. Print.

+Basics of Works Cited

Journal Web database

Williams, Linda. “Of Kisses and Ellipses: The Long Adolescence of American Movies.” Critical Inquiry 32.2 (2006): 288-340. Project Muse. Web. 8 Feb. 2009.

In print

Williams, Linda. “Of Kisses and Ellipses: The Long Adolescence of American Movies.” Critical Inquiry 32.2 (2006): 288-340. Print.

Online journal

Williams, Linda. “Of Kisses and Ellipses: The Long Adolescence of American Movies.” Critical Inquiry 32.2 (2006): 288-340. Web. 8 Feb. 2009.

+Practice:True/False

Adapted from:

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.

+Online Resources

Citation generators???

The Bedford Handbook

Writing Center website

Owl Purdue: owl.english.purdue.edu

www.worldcat.org

Texas State library databases

MLA style guide