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The MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers,
sixth edition, is located in the reference area of the library
and in the stacks (LB2369.G53 2003) and is for sale at bookstores.
The MLA Handbook is used in the humanities, such as literature,
languages, religion, and the arts - check with your professor
if you're not sure which style format to use for a particular
class. MLA format uses an author/page, in-text citation. This
means that the author's last name and the page number from
which you are quoting appears in the text, and a complete
reference appears in the Works Cited list at the end of your
paper.
This handout is intended to be a brief overview of
basic MLA style. MLA has very specific rules about punctuation,
quotation marks, etc. - please refer to the handbook for details
not covered here!
DOCUMENTING SOURCES IN THE TEXT
Following are a few examples of parenthetical citations. These
citations will lead the reader to a complete citation in the
Works Cited page. Every in-text citation must correspond to
an entry in the Works Cited list. Precise punctuation and
abbreviations are important! Please consult the handbook,
Chapter 6, for details and further examples.
When quoting or paraphrasing a specific passage in
a book or article, cite the relevant page number(s) and author's
name, if necessary:
- Tannen has argued this point (178-85).
- This point has already been argued (Tannen 178-85).
- It may be true that "in the appreciation of medieval
art the attitude of the observer is of primary importance..."
(Robertson 136).
If you cite an entire work, or an electronic publication
that has no pagination or other type of reference, MLA prefers
a reference in the text, rather than in a parenthetical reference,
to the name of the person that begins the corresponding Works
Cited entry:
- William J. Mitchell's City of Bits discusses architecture....
(Mitchell will be the Works Cited entry)
- Fukuyama's Our Posthuman Future includes many examples
of this trend. (Fukuyama will be the Works Cited entry)
the WORKS CITED page
The list of works cited appears at the end of your paper.
It is alphabetized by author's last name or by title, if author
is unknown. Refer to the MLA handbook, Chapter 5, for details
and examples.
- Each entry begins flush left, with subsequent
lines indented 5 spaces (i.e., hanging indent).
- The entire list, both between and within entries,
is double-spaced.
- The page number continues after the last page
of your paper (if your paper ends on page 10, Works Cited
begins on page 11; page numbers go in the top right corner
of the page.
EXAMPLES (hanging indent not shown):
BOOK WITH ONE AUTHOR
Fukuyama, Francis. Our Posthuman Future: Consequences
of the Biotechnology Revolution. New York: Farrar,
2002. |
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ARTICLE IN A SCHOLARLY JOURNAL WITH
CONTINOUS PAGINATION
Trumpener, Katie. "Memories Carved in Granite: Great
War Memorials and Everyday Life." PMLA 115
(2000): 1096-103. |
BOOK BY TWO OR MORE AUTHORS
Eggins, Suzanne, and Diane Slade. Analyzing Casual
Conversation. London: Cassell, 1997. |
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ARTICLE IN A MAGAZINE
Mehta, Pratap Bhanu. "Exploding Myths." New
Republic 6 June 1998: 17-19. |
EDITED BOOK
Feldman, Paula R., ed. British Women Poets of the Romantic
Era. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, 1997. |
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GOVERNMENT PUBLICATION
United States Department of Labor. Child Care: A Workforce
Issue. Washington: GPO, 1988. |
| LECTURE, SPEECH, ADDRESS, or READING
Atwood, Margaret. "Silencing the Scream."
Boundaries of the Imagination Forum. MLA Convention.
Royal York Hotel, Toronto. 29 Dec. 1993. |
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INTERVIEWS
For purposes of documentation, there are
three kinds of interviews: 1) published or recorded,
2) broadcast on TV or radio, 3) conducted by the researcher
Gordimer, Nadine. Interview. New York Times
10 Oct. 1991, late ed.: C25.
Breslin, Jimmy. Interview with Neal Conan. Talk
of the Nation. Nat'l Public Radio. WBUR, Boston.
26 Mar. 2002
Rowling, J.K. E-mail interview. 8-12 May 2002.
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WORK IN AN ANTHOLOGY or CHAPTER IN A BOOK
IF the work was originally published independently
Hansberry, Lorraine. A Raisin in the Sun.
Black Theater: A Twentieth-Century Collection
of the Work of Its Best Playwrights. Ed. Lindsay
Patterson. New York: Dodd, 1971. 221-76.
IF the work appears in an anthology or
collection
Allende, Isabel. "Toad's Mouth." Trans.
Margaret Sayers Peden. A Hammock beneath the
Mangoes: Stories from Latin America. Ed. Thomas
Colchie. New York: Plume, 1992. 83-88.
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PUBLISHED DISSERTATION
IF the dissertation was published by UMI,
you may add the order number as supplementary information
Fullerton, Matilda. Women's Leadership in the Public
Schools: Towards a Feminist Educational Leadership Model.
Diss. Washington State U, 2001. Ann Arbor: UMI. ATT
3023579
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CITING ELECTRONIC SOURCES
For more details, see additional examples in Chapters 5 &
6 of the MLA Handbook. Also see Frequently
Asked Questions About MLA Style, Sources,
and Online!
for more examples.
PERSONAL SITE
Lancashire, Ian. Home Page. 28 Mar. 2002. 15 May 2002
<http://www.chass.utoronto.ca:8080/~ian/>.
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E-MAIL COMMUNICATION
Boyle, Anthony T. "Re: Utopia." E-mail to Daniel
J. Cahill. 21 June 1997.
Harner, James L. E-mail to the author. 20 Aug. 2002. |
ARTICLE FROM AN ONLINE JOURNAL DATABASE
" Cooling Trend in Antarctica." Futurist
May-June 2002:15. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO.
City U of New York, Graduate Center Lib. 22 May 2002 <http://www.epnet.com/>.
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ENTIRE INTERNET SITE
CNN.com. 2002. Cable News Network. 15 May 2002
<http://www..cnn.com>. |
ARTICLE IN AN ONLINE JOURNAL
Zeki, Semir. "Artistic Creativity and the Brain."
Science 6 July 2001: 51-52. Science Magazine.
2002. Amer. Assn. for the Advancement of Science. 24 Sept.
2002 <http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content
/full/293/5527/51>. |
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INTERVIEW
Ackroyd, Peter. Interview. Bold Type. Nov. 2001.
25 June 2002 <http://www.randomhouse.com/boldtype/1101
/ackroyd/interview.html>. |
ONLINE GOVERNMENT PUBLICATION
United States. Dept. of Justice. Office of Juvenile Justice
and Delinquency Prevention. Law Enforcement and Juvenile
Crime. By Howard N. Snyder. Dec. 2001. 29 June 2002.
<http://www.ncjrs.org/
pdffiles1/ojjdp/191031.pdf>.
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ADDITIONAL EXAMPLES
" City
Profile: San Francisco." CNN.com 2002. Cable
News Network. 14 May 2002 <http://www.cnn.com/TRAVEL/atevo/city/
SanFrancisco/intro.html>.
" Fresco Painting." Encyclopedia Britannica
Online. 2002. Encyclopedia Britannica. 8 May2002.
<http://search.eb.com/>. |
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