Citing Sources in MLA Style
In the MLA documentation style, a short citation in parentheses in the body of your text is used to give credit to a source. For each piece of information you use, you will need a citation in parentheses to show where it came from. This usually includes the author's last name and the page number where you found the information. Without these citations, you could be accused of plagiarism.
A "Works Cited" page will have complete information about each source listed alphabetically. If your readers want more information about a source, they can refer to your list of citations.
You will need to make your works cited page before using parenthetical citations.
The first line of each citation starts at the left margin; the second and any succeeding lines are indented five spaces. All lines are double-spaced. Each source is listed separately and is arranged alphabetically by the author's last name (use the title if there is no author). Pay attention to punctuation, capitalization, and underlining/italicizing.
In the MLA documentation style, a short citation in parentheses in the body of your text is used to give credit to a source. For each piece of information you use, you will need a citation in parentheses to show where it came from. This usually includes the author's last name and the page number where you found the information. Without these citations, you could be accused of plagiarism.
A "Works Cited" page will have complete information about each source listed alphabetically. If your readers want more information about a source, they can refer to your list of citations.
You will need to make your works cited page before using parenthetical citations.
The first line of each citation starts at the left margin; the second and any succeeding lines are indented five spaces. All lines are double-spaced. Each source is listed separately and is arranged alphabetically by the author's last name (use the title if there is no author). Pay attention to punctuation, capitalization, and underlining/italicizing.
Helpful Links on MLA style:
MLA Style
http://www.mla.org/www_mla_org/style/style_index.asp?...
Using MLA Format
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/research/r_mla.html
An online handout from the Purdue University Online Writing Lab
that provides MLA format examples for different types of potential
sources.
Citing Sources
http://www.lib.duke.edu/libguide/citing.htm
This page from Duke University Library shows the differences
between four different methods of citation: APA, Chicago, MLA, and
Turabian.
MLA: In-text Parenthetical Citations
The Modern Language Association (MLA) guidelines require that you cite the quotations, summaries, paraphrases, and other material used from sources within parentheses typically placed at the end of the sentence in which the quoted or paraphrased material appears. The parenthetical method replaces the use of citational footnotes. These in-text parenthetical citations correspond to the full bibliographic entries found in a list of references at the end of your paper.
*Author named in parentheses:
The tendency to come to terms with
difficult experiences is referred to as a "purification process" whereby
"threatening or painful dissonances are warded off to preserve intact a clear and articulated image of oneself and one's place in the world" (Sennett 11).
*Author named in a signal phrase (or introduced). This is the preferred way to cite your source.
Social historian Richard Sennett names the tendency to come to terms with difficult experiences a "purification process" whereby "threatening or painful dissonances are warded off to preserve intact a clear and articulated image of oneself and his/her place in the world" (11).
*Works with no author.
Several critics of the concept of the transparent society ask if a large society would be able to handle the complete loss of privacy("Surveillance Society" 115).
*Secondary source of a quotation (someone quoted within the text of another author).
As Erickson reminds us, the early psychoanalysts focused on a single objective: "introspective honesty in the service of self- enlightenment" (qtd. in Weiland2).
(Note: When citing from the Internet include a paragraph number
since there are no pages numbers.)
ADDITIONAL PUNCTUATION RULES FOR QUOTED PASSAGES
(1) Ellipsis:
When a portion of the quoted passage is omitted, indicate this
omission by putting three spaced periods (. . .) in place of the material which is missing. If the last part of a sentence or a whole sentence is omitted, use four periods (. . . .).
(2) Brackets:
Brackets indicate the writer's words inserted into or substituted for part of the quotation. They are also used to indicate a change in tense to match the tense of the text in which the quotation is used.
(3) End Marks:
In American usage, periods and commas always go inside quotation marks, regardless of sense. Semi-colons and colons go outside. Exclamation points and question marks are placed either inside or outside according to demands of the quoted material.
The Modern Language Association (MLA) guidelines require that you cite the quotations, summaries, paraphrases, and other material used from sources within parentheses typically placed at the end of the sentence in which the quoted or paraphrased material appears. The parenthetical method replaces the use of citational footnotes. These in-text parenthetical citations correspond to the full bibliographic entries found in a list of references at the end of your paper.
*Author named in parentheses:
The tendency to come to terms with
difficult experiences is referred to as a "purification process" whereby
"threatening or painful dissonances are warded off to preserve intact a clear and articulated image of oneself and one's place in the world" (Sennett 11).
*Author named in a signal phrase (or introduced). This is the preferred way to cite your source.
Social historian Richard Sennett names the tendency to come to terms with difficult experiences a "purification process" whereby "threatening or painful dissonances are warded off to preserve intact a clear and articulated image of oneself and his/her place in the world" (11).
*Works with no author.
Several critics of the concept of the transparent society ask if a large society would be able to handle the complete loss of privacy("Surveillance Society" 115).
*Secondary source of a quotation (someone quoted within the text of another author).
As Erickson reminds us, the early psychoanalysts focused on a single objective: "introspective honesty in the service of self- enlightenment" (qtd. in Weiland2).
(Note: When citing from the Internet include a paragraph number
since there are no pages numbers.)
ADDITIONAL PUNCTUATION RULES FOR QUOTED PASSAGES
(1) Ellipsis:
When a portion of the quoted passage is omitted, indicate this
omission by putting three spaced periods (. . .) in place of the material which is missing. If the last part of a sentence or a whole sentence is omitted, use four periods (. . . .).
(2) Brackets:
Brackets indicate the writer's words inserted into or substituted for part of the quotation. They are also used to indicate a change in tense to match the tense of the text in which the quotation is used.
(3) End Marks:
In American usage, periods and commas always go inside quotation marks, regardless of sense. Semi-colons and colons go outside. Exclamation points and question marks are placed either inside or outside according to demands of the quoted material.