The Joy* of MLA

(*And by joy, I mean torment.)

This slide show covers the following:

• What is MLA?• What to cite?• In-text citations• Short quotes and block quotes• Lead-ins• How to cite things with no author or page

number?• Works Cited page

What is MLA, anyway?

A method of academic torture?A cure for insomnia?A system for incorporating and documenting

research in your writing?All of the above?

A QUIZ!First

Which of the following things would you need to cite in an

essay? Facebook is a popular social networking site. Mark Zuckerberg was born in 1984. Facebook set a record for IPO trading volume

on the day it was released. Facebook use among teens has declined 9%

in the U.S. in the last six months. Friending your parents on Facebook can

result in embarrassment.

Cite these:

Facebook set a record for IPO trading volume on the day it was released.

Facebook use among teens has declined 9% in the U.S. in the last six months.

Cite

Any ideas that are not your own:– Quotations, paraphrases and summaries of other

people’s ideas– Facts that are not commonly known– Statistics

What do you mean by “commonly known”?

• When in doubt, cite it!

THE MECHANICS OF MLAHow does it work?

Two parts

1. The stuff you put in the essay itself 2. The stuff you put on the Works Cited page

IN-TEXT CITATIONSIn the essay itself

You found a quote.O'Neal is one of the largest men alive. He wears size-22 basketball shoes, which are made for him by a company called Starter; they are all white and finished with a shiny gloss, reminiscent, in their sheen and size, of the hull of a luxury yacht. O'Neal's cars must have their interiors ripped out and their seats moved back ten inches before he is able to drive them. – Rebecca Mead, “A Man-child in Lotusland,”

The New Yorker, p. 54

Now what do you do?

• You Google a picture of Shaq’s shoes, of course!

OK, but really, now what?

1. Use the research as a direct quote 2. Put it into your own words (paraphrase it)

Short direct quote

Lead-in or signal phrase

Quote In-text citation

Like this

According to an article in The New Yorker,

“O’Neal is one of the largest men alive”

(Mead 54)

What goes in the in-text citation?

• The author’s last name & page number

(Mead 54).

That’s it? (Mead 54)?Yes! That’s it!

• (Mead, 54)?• (Mead, p. 54)?• (Mead, 2002, p. 54)?• No, no, no.

Here’s how it looks:

According to an article in The New Yorker, “O'Neal's cars must have their interiors ripped out and their seats moved back ten inches before he is able to drive them” (Mead 54)..

Q: What if you use the author’s name in the lead-in?

According to Rebecca Mead, “O'Neal's cars must have their interiors ripped out and their seats moved back ten inches before he is able to drive them” (54).

Q: What if the quote goes over four lines of text?

A: Long quotes have a different format.

Long direct quote (block quote)

According to The New Yorker, O’Neal’s size means he requires his belongings to be custom-made:

O'Neal is one of the largest men alive. He wears size-22 basketball shoes, which are made for him by a company called Starter; they are all white and finished with a shiny gloss, reminiscent, in their sheen and size, of the hull of a luxury yacht. O'Neal's cars must have their interiors ripped out and their seats moved back ten inches before he is able to drive them. (Mead 54)

Block quotes

• If your quote is more than four lines on the page:– Introduce it with a lead-in and a colon.– Don’t use quotation marks.– Indent the whole quote on the page.– Put a period after the quote, then put the citation

in brackets.

Lead-in or signal phrase

• Use with every direct quote

• Why?– It integrates your quote into your paragraph– It can be used to tell us something about your

source

Examples

• According to Dr. Smith, author of The Neurology of Vampires, “Blah blah blah…”

• “The problem with vampires,” Dr. Smith argues, “is blah blah blah….”

• “Blah blah and blather,” Dr. Smith states in his article.

There’s more!

Q: What if there is no author?

A: “Title of Article” + page numberExample: (“Leafs Win Cup” S9)

Shorten the title to the first few words.(Full title: “Leafs Win Cup and Crazed Fans Burn City to Ground in Joy”)

Q: What if there’s no page number because it’s an online article?

A: Use the author’s last name in brackets only.

Example of online article

• According to a recent review, “Django Unchained is a like a three-hour trailer for a movie that never happens” (O’Hehir).

Q: What if there’s no page number and I already used the author’s name in the lead-in?

Andrew O’Hehir, critic for Salon, claims that “Django Unchained is a like a three-hour trailer for a movie that never happens.”

Q: What if there’s no author and no page number (i.e. a webpage)?

• Use the title of the particular page or entry:Example: According to Wikipedia, “plagiarism is not a crime per se but is disapproved more on the grounds of moral offence” (“Plagiarism”).

WORKS CITED PAGEAt the end of the essay

What is the Works Cited page?

• A list, in alphabetical order, of all the sources you cited in your essay.

In-text citation and Works Cited page...

• Have to match!

In-text citation Works Cited

(Mead 54) Mead, Rebecca. “Man-child in Lotus Land.” The New Yorker. 20 May 2002: 54-63. Print.

In-text citation Works Cited

• (“Half-Man” 32) “Half-Man, Half-Woman Makes Self Pregnant.” National Enquirer 5 Aug. 2005: 32. Print.

In-text citation Works Cited

• ( “Plagiarism”) “Plagiarism." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 22 July 2004. Web.

10 Aug. 2004.

Works Cited page

• Each type of source has its OWN rules.• Every single period, comma and colon has to

be in the right place.

Question: Are you kidding?

• Answer: No.

Weapon of Mass Construction

• http://www.calvin.edu/library/knightcite/