MLA FormatMLA Format

In-text Citations &

Works Cited

What’s MLA and why do we What’s MLA and why do we

need it?need it?

• MLA stands for “Modern Language Modern Language AssociationAssociation,” an organization supporting the teaching and study of language and literature. With more than 30,000 members in 100 countries, the MLA sets standards sets standards for publishing in the humanities.for publishing in the humanities.

• The Modern Language Association devised a logical system for logical system for documenting outside sourcesdocumenting outside sources. You will use this system, MLA documentation, for giving credit to outside sources in the CARP and future college papers in the humanities.

What’s MLA and why do we need it?What’s MLA and why do we need it?

What’s MLA and why do we need What’s MLA and why do we need it?it?

• If you use any information or ideas any information or ideas from an outside sourcefrom an outside source, you must either “Quote” the source exactly or rewrite the information in 100% your own words and sentence structure.

What’s MLA and why do we need What’s MLA and why do we need it?it?

• Following ALL instances of ALL instances of paraphrasing and/or quotingparaphrasing and/or quoting from sources, you must include information about where the information came from—in other words, the source.

MLA formatting has MLA formatting has 22 main functions main functions

• #1: In-text citations#1: In-text citationsFound in the body body

of the paperof the paper itself Appears in the paper

every time an outside source is either quoted or either quoted or paraphrased.paraphrased.

Parenthesis containing the author’s last name author’s last name and page numberand page number of source

Citations look like this: (Smith 25).(Smith 25).

• #2: Works Cited#2: Works Cited◙ Found at the end of the end of the

paper.paper.◙ Lists all sourcessources that

have been used and used and citedcited in the paper.

◙ .AlphabetizedAlphabetized by author’s last name.

◙ Author’s names appearing in the paper should also appear on also appear on the works citedthe works cited.

◙ All publication information must be recorded in correct correct MLA formatMLA format.

In-text citationsIn-text citationsStudent Paraphrase:

Arthur C. Clarke, author of 2001: A Space Odyssey, a 1968 novel that introduced the concept of artificial intelligence to general audiences, predicts that in a mere thirty-six years, people will no longer have to work. He predicts that a device called the “Universal Replicator” will use nanotechnology to change matter from one form to another. With the ability to create all necessities from common substances, by 2040, people will not need to work in order to survive (Clark 73).

Note the paraphrased information in blue and the in-text citation at the end. Only the author’s last name and page number are included in the in-text citation. The rest of the information will be included in the works cited.

Original Passage from book:

“In 2040, The Universal Replicator, based on nanotechnology, is perfected: any object, however complex, can be created - given the necessary raw material and the appropriate information matrix. Diamonds or gourmet meals can, literally, be made from dirt. As a result, agriculture and industry are phased out, ending that recent invention in human history - work!”

Source:

Author Arthur Clarke

Title Optimism for Tomorrow (book)

Quote found on page 73.

Published by Penguin Putnam, New York

Year 2003

In-text citationsIn-text citations important terms: important terms:

ParaphraseParaphrase

• Paraphrasing:Paraphrasing: explaining the source’s ideas in 100% 100% your own wordsyour own words.

In-text citationsIn-text citations important term: important term:

ParaphraseParaphrase

• ParaphrasingParaphrasing means that you READREAD the source first and understandunderstand what it says.

– Then, after putting the source out of sight

(closing the book, switching screens etc...) recall the recall the source’s ideassource’s ideas and write them in your own words.

In-text citationsIn-text citations important term: important term:

ParaphraseParaphrase

• Simply plugging in different wordsplugging in different words or

writing a “patchwork” paraphrase ( ½

your words & ½ source’s words) is

plagiarismplagiarism..

In-text citationsIn-text citations important term: important term:

QuoteQuote• Direct Quote: A direct quote is...Direct Quote: A direct quote is...• the source’s exact words, • copied accurately, • word for word, • and surrounded with ““quotation

marks.””

After using a direct quote from a source, you you must include an in-text citationmust include an in-text citation immediately immediately after the end of the quote .after the end of the quote .

In-text citationsIn-text citations – No Author – No Author

• When you have a source with no author listed (remember that you should always apply the evaluation criteria to all sources; assume the

examples here come from valid sources), use the TITLEuse the TITLE (or an abbreviated title) in the in-text citation.

• For example (paraphrasing information from an “article”“article” --note the quotation marks that indicate “article”“article”):

Several Wordsworth critics once encouraged people to cover their ears when Wordsworth poems were read, because they believed listeners would become depressed and whiny, just

like Wordsworth himself ("Wordsworth Is a Loser" 100).("Wordsworth Is a Loser" 100).

In-text citationsIn-text citations – No Author – No Author cont’dcont’d

(Quoting information from a websitewebsite--note the underlining that indicates websitewebsite):

• A recently published cartoon responded to the debate about genetically altered foods. It depicts the Garden of Eden, with Eve saying to the Serpent, “ I won’t take a bite if it’s been genetically altered” as he tries to tempt her (Cartoon Stock).

• Note that websites do not have page websites do not have page numbersnumbers, as pages are numbered by the printer— if we had giant paper, we may have one page; if we used tiny paper, we may have 100.

In-text citations: Some Don’tsDon’ts for “Authorless” sources...

Do not Do not ever, ever, everever, ever, ever use www.addressofwebsite.com in an in-text citation!

Do not use something weirdsomething weird such as (no author listed) or (anonymous) or (unknown) in your in-text citation.

Do not use the name of the publicationname of the publication (Newsweek or Harvard Business Journal or Expanded Academic ASAP) in your in-text citation.

• USE THE TITLEUSE THE TITLE if you do not have if you do not have an author!an author!

Works CitedWorks Cited

Ehrenreich, Barbara. Nickel & Dimed, On (Not) Getting By in America. New York: Holt Publishing, 2001.

---. Home Page. 2006. July 22, 2006. <http://www.barbaraehrenreich.com/>.

Hightower, James. “How Wal-Mart is Remaking Our World.” Hightower Lowdown. April 26, 2002. July 23, 2006<www.hightowrlowdown.com>.

Smith, John. . “Trying to Survive on Minimum Wage...can it be done?” New York Times 3 Oct. 2002: A20. Expanded Academic ASAP. Tidewater Community College Library, Portsmouth VA. 20 July, 2006 <http://www.gale.com>.

Barbara Ehrenreich’s Home Page

http://www.barbaraehrenreich.com/

Expanded Academic

ASAP Database Article

Smith, John. “Trying to

Survive on Minimum

Wage...can it be done?”

NY Times, C7+ (May

2005) Expanded Academic ASAP. Gale

Group. Info about the working

poor from a scholarly

source found on the

TCC LRC website.....

Hightower Lowdown

website

Jim Hightower

How Wal-Mart is

Remaking our World

Article about Wal-Mart

April 2002

www.hightowerlowdown.co

m

Note : the works Cited page should be double-spaced; it’s single spaced here to

save room.

Works Cited:Works Cited: Necessary Information

• Works Cited entries vary depending upon the type of source, but they follow a general pattern:

• AuthorAuthor—Last Name, First Name. (Smith, John.)• TitleTitle—either “In Quotation Marks” or Underlined. • Publication InformationPublication Information —where/how the source was

published: – City of Publication: Publisher (New York: Random House)– Database Name, Company publishing database (Opposing Viewpoints, Gale Group) – Magazine/Journal name--underlined (Newsweek) (Journal of Emergency Nurses)– Main website’s name -underlined (UCLA History Department) (NIH)

• Date of publicationDate of publication —when the source was published or accessed (23 July 2006) or 2004.

Works Cited:Works Cited: Citing Database SourcesCiting Database Sources

Whenever you use a database source, you cannot pretend as if you read you cannot pretend as if you read the original source.the original source. For example, if you find an article from the Journal of the American Medical Association on one of the TCC databases and

you use it in your paper, you cannot simply list the article you cannot simply list the article withoutwithout the Name of the Database Used, Name of the Service that publishes the Database, Library information.

» It is easy to distinguish database articles from other sources. Please use the following format when citing database sources:

Author's name. "Title of the Article." Original Source of Article Date of original

source: page numbers. Name of the Database Used. Name of the Service that

publishes the Database. Name of Library or Library System, City, State

Abbreviation. Date of access <URL of service's homepage>.

See next slide for examples...

Works Cited:Works Cited: Citing Database SourcesCiting Database Sources

Gray, Geoffrey. "An echo in the boxing ring."  Columbia Journalism Review  42.6  (March-

April 2004): 64(1). Expanded Academic ASAP. Thomson Gale.  Tidewater Community

College Library, Portsmouth, VA.  26 2006 July <http://.galegroup.com.>

Rossi, John P. "The enduring relevance of George Orwell." Contemporary

Review 283.1652 (Sept 2003): 172(5). InfoTrac OneFile. Thomson Gale. Tidewater

Community College Library, Portsmouth VA.  24 July 2006  <http://find.galegroup.com>.

Sowell, Thomas. "Increasing the Minimum Wage Is Counterproductive." Poverty. Ed. Karen

Balkin. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 2004. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center.

Thomson Gale. Tidewater Community College Library, Portsmouth VA. 26 July 2006

<http://find.galegroup.com>.

"U.S. EPA environmental justice plan falls short." World Watch. 18:6 (8). Nov-Dec 2005.

Science Resource Center. Thomson Gale. Tidewater Community College Library,

Portsmouth VA.  20 July 2006 <http://galenet.galegroup.com. >

Don’t forget to include the highlighted information:

You do not need to include the entire HUGE web address. You may stop at the “.com”

Works Cited:Works Cited: Special Circumstances Special Circumstances

UNKNOWN AUTHORUNKNOWN AUTHOR When the author of a work is unknown, begin with the work's titlebegin with the work's title.

Titles of articles and other short works, such as brief documents from Web sites, are put in quotation marks.

Your works cited entry would look like this:

“The Rich and the Rest.” Futurist 39: 4 (July/Aug. 2005): 38-43. SIRS Knowledge

Source. SIRS, Inc. Tidewater Community Coll. Lib., Portsmouth, VA. 22 Jul. 2006

<http://sksl4.sirs.com>.

Titles of books and other whole/long works, such as entire Web sites, are underlined.

Your works cited entry would look like this:

Atlas of the World. New York: Macmillan Publishing, 2005.

From: http://www.dianahacker.com/resdoc/p04_c08_o.html

Great Sources for HELP...Great Sources for HELP...

• Here is a TCC page about documenting sources...it has many great links: – http://www.tcc.edu/lrc/guides/research.htm

• Diana Hacker’s page at Bedford/St. Martins (the publisher of Patterns for College Writing) is great! – Click on “Humanities” when you arrive: – http://www.dianahacker.com/resdoc/

End of Presentation.End of Presentation.

•Be sure to read the document on “Plagiarism” for this week.

•Also, don’t forget to check out the MLA section (complete with a sample research paper) in your HANDBOOK!