MLA Documentation

Learn how to cite sources correctly, reduce the risk of plagiarism, and produce papers that will

dazzle your instructors!Facilitator: Julie EwingCite all of your

research

Resources for MLA assistance

Plagiarism

Why do we document our sources?

Why do we document our sources?

• It gives us credibility as it illustrates we can follow the guidelines correctly.

Why do we document our sources?

• It gives us credibility as it illustrates we can follow the guidelines correctly.

• It gives our sources the credit they deserve for their own ideas.

Why do we document our sources?

• It gives us credibility as it illustrates we can follow the guidelines correctly.

• It gives our sources the credit they deserve for their own ideas.

• It guides our readers to other sources that may interest them.

Why do we document our sources?

• It gives us credibility as it illustrates we can follow the guidelines correctly.

• It gives our sources the credit they deserve for their own ideas.

• It guides our readers to other sources that may interest them.

• AND it reduces the risk of plagiarism.

When do we cite sources?

When do we cite sources?

• When quoting material directly from an original source.

When do we cite sources?

• When quoting material directly from an original source.

• When borrowing ideas from an original source, even when we express them in our own words by summarizing or paraphrasing.

When do we cite sources?

• When quoting material directly from an original source.

• When borrowing ideas from an original source, even when we express them in our own words by summarizing or paraphrasing.

• When using factual information that is not common knowledge.

When do we cite sources?

• When quoting material directly from an original source.

• When borrowing ideas from an original source, even when we express them in our own words by summarizing or paraphrasing.

• When using factual information that is not common knowledge.

In other words, if the idea did not originate in your head, you had better cite the source!

MLA stands for:

The Modern Language Association

It is the style used in most Humanities disciplines, such as

• English• Art• Modern Languages• History

MLA is actually very simple, consisting of two parts:

• In-text Parenthetical Citations• The Works Cited page

No footnotes or endnotes are needed in MLA.

In-text Parenthetical Citations

Immediately after the borrowed source material, indicate in parentheses the author’s last name and the page number on which you found the borrowed material.

Example:“We become the spirit and body of animals we

eat” (Peterson 117).Note the punctuation! The period ending the sentence comes after the

citation.

If you lead into the source material using the author’s name, cite only the page number:

According to Brenda Peterson, “We become the spirit and body of animals we eat” (117).

And remember, you must cite the source even if you paraphrase the source material into your own words:

Author Brenda Peterson suggests that eating wild game brings us closer to the animals in body and in spirit (117).

• This is easy when we draw information from print sources that list authors’ names and page numbers.

• But what if the source doesn’t list an author, doesn’t have page numbers, or both?

If the source doesn’t cite an author, then you put the title (or a shortened version of

the title) in the citation.Examples:A New York Times editorial called Ralph Ellison

“a writer of universal reach” (“Death” C3).

Simply put, public relations is “doing good and getting credit” for it (Getting Yours 3).

If you draw the material from a non-print source, then use just the author’s last name (or the title if there is no author listed).

• “The Federal Reserve’s findings, released Thursday, show the financial system, like the overall economy, is healing but not yet healed” (“Ten”).

Associated Press article online, “Ten of the largest U.S. banks need $75 billion.”

• “I know many remarkable women who have no idea how truly remarkable they are” (Ballenger).

Personal interview with author Bruce Ballenger.

Dos and Don’tsWhat you can put in a parenthetical citation:

• Author’s last name• Title of work or shorter

version if long (if no author listed)

• Page numbers• Paragraph numbers (if from

an online source that includes paragraph numbers)

What you can’t put in a parenthetical citation:

• Author first names and titles (Ms., Dr., Ph.D., etc.)

• Full title if it is long• Symbols or abbreviations for

pages: p., pg., #• Web URL’s• Other bibliographic

information that can be found in the Works Cited (editions, editors, publishers, etc.)

Works Cited

• The Works Cited page ends the paper.• It is an alphabetical listing, by author’s last name or

title, of all the sources cited in the paper.• It is double-spaced.• The first line of each entry begins flush left at the

margin; subsequent lines of a single citation are indented (use the “hanging indent” function on your word processor).

• There are no single spaces or extra spaces in the document.

There is no need to memorize!

• There are many, many types of sources whose citations are formatted differently, so trying to memorize each one would be difficult, not to mention unfair to the student!

• That’s why we have the MLA Handbook, a reference guide that lists all of the formatting rules, as well as numerous online sites that can guide you through the process.

This is all you need to construct a flawless Works Cited list:

• An MLA Handbook, a writing textbook containing a section on MLA, or access to an online MLA resource site.

• All of the relevant bibliographic information about the source.

Make sure you have a print copy handy; if not, be sure to write down all of the information when you find the source.

Sample Citations

• A book:

Brockenbrough, Martha. Things That Make Us [Sic]. New York: St. Martin’s, 2008. Print.

[Author’s last name, First name. Title. City of Publication: Publisher, copyright date.]

• A magazine:

Jones, Thom. “The Pugilist at Rest.” The New Yorker. 12 Dec. 1991: 38-47. Print.

[Last name, First name. “Article Title.” Magazine title. Date: pages.]

• A film:Saving Private Ryan. Dir. Steven Spielberg. Perf.

Tom Hanks, Tom Sizemore, and Matt Damon. Paramount, 1998. DVD.

[Title. Director. Actors. Distribution company, year. Medium. ]

An interview:

Clinton, Bill. Personal interview. 20 January, 2009.[Last name, First name. Personal interview. Date.]

A website:

“Submissions wanted for 'The Kokanee' Literary Magazine.” Lake Tahoe Community College. 11 May 2009. Web. 13 May 2009.

[“Title of article or page.” Website title. Date of pub. or update. Medium. Date you access it.]

• An article found through a library database

Brown, Lester R. “Could Food Shortages Bring Down Civilization?” Scientific American (2009): 50-57. MasterFILE Premier. Web. 13 May 2009.

[Last name, first name. “Article title.” Journal title. Publication date. Page numbers. Database. Medium. Date of access.]

This is what a Works Cited for the previous sources would look like:

Works Cited

Brockenbrough, Martha. Things That Make Us [Sic]. New York: St.

Martin’s, 2008. Print.

Brown, Lester R. “Could Food Shortages Bring Down Civilization?”

Scientific American. (2009): 50-57. MasterFILE Premier. Web.

13 May 2009.

Clinton, Bill. Personal interview. 20 January, 2009.

Jones, Thom. “The Pugilist at Rest.” The New Yorker. 12 Dec. 1991:

38-47. Print.

Saving Private Ryan. Dir. Steven Spielberg. Perf. Tom Hanks, Tom

Sizemore, and Matt Damon. Paramount, 1998. DVD.

“Submissions wanted for 'The Kokanee' Literary Magazine.” Lake

Tahoe Community College. 11 May 2009. Web. 13 May 2009.

The parenthetical citations would look like this:

(Brockenbrough 159)

(Brown)

(Clinton)

(Jones 42)

(Saving)

(“Submissions”)

*Notice how the words that show up in the parenthetical citations match up with the first words in the Works Cited.

Resources for Using MLA Style

The LTCC and TMCC Library websites have several citation maker links:

http://library.ltcc.edu/http://www.tmcc.edu/library/

You can also visit the official MLA site:http://www.mla.org

Any Questions?

MLA Quiz

1. You quote a source in your paper. In which of the following situations would you NOT have to use a parenthetical citation?a. If you mention the author’s name in the text of your essay.b. The information is common knowledge.c. You’ve cited the same source earlier in the paper.d. None of the above

The answer:

d: None of the above.(If it is quoted, it must be cited!)

2. How do you parenthetically cite a source that has no author?a. You just put the page number in parentheses.b. You just mention the title of the publication in your text.c. You don’t cite at all.d. You include the title (or part of the title if it is long) and include the page number, if there is one.

The answer:

D: You include the title (or part of the title if it is

long) and include the page number, if there is

one.

3. The following passage, taken from a book by Harold Guilbroy, is cited correctly:

Francis Bacon also weighed in on the dangers of imitation, observing that “it is hardly possible at once to admire an author and to go beyond him” (Bacon 113).

a. Trueb. False

The answer:

b: FalseThe source is written by Guilbroy,

who merely cites Bacon. In this case, the citation would look like

this: (qtd. in Guilbroy 113)

4. The date you access an Internet document is part of the citation in the Works Cited page.

a. Trueb. False

The answer:

a: True

5. Only print sources need to be cited both parenthetically and in the Works Cited page.

a. Trueb. False

The answer:

b: False(Everything must be cited parenthetically and in

the Works Cited!)

Works Cited

Ballenger, Bruce. The Curious Researcher. 6th ed. New York: Longman, 2009. Print.

Gibaldi, Joseph. MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. 6th ed. New York: Modern Language Association of America, 2003. Print.

“LTCC Library.” Lake Tahoe Community College. 11 May 2009. Web. 13 May 2009.

Maimon, Elaine P., Janice H. Peritz, and Kathleen Blake Yancey. The Brief McGraw-Hill Handbook. Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2010. Print.

“TMCC Library.” Truckee Meadows Community College. 2010. Web. 28 April, 2010.