MLA - Modern Language Association Format
Handling Quotations In Your Text
When using MLA format, follow the author-page method of citation. This means that the author's last name and the page number(s) from which the quotation is taken must appear in the text, and a complete reference should appear in your works-cited list (see below). The author's name may appear either in the sentence itself or in parentheses following the quotation, but the page number(s) should always appear in the parentheses, never in the text of your sentence.
| Freud
states that "a dream is the fulfillment of a wish" (154). |
| Some argue that "a dream is the fulfillment of a wish" (Freud 154). |
Sometimes more information is necessary to identify the source from which a quotation is taken. For instance, if more than one author has the same last name, it is necessary to provide the author's initials (or even her or his full name if different authors share initials) in your citation. If you cite more than one work by a particular author, it is necessary to include a shortened title for the particular work from which you are quoting.
| The Romantic poets demonstrate a concern with the fleeting nature of life: "'My name is Ozymandias, king of kinds: Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair! Nothing beside remains" (P.B. Shelley, "Ozymandias" 10-12); and "The flower that smiles to-day To-morrow dies" (P. B. Shelley, "Mutability" 1-2). |
| Some gothic novels feature a character who is in the throes of "the violence of his feelings" and "the dark tyranny of despair" (M. W. Shelley, Frankenstein 12). |
Short Quotations
To indicate short quotations (fewer than four typed lines of prose or three lines of verse) in your text, enclose the quotation within double quotation marks and incorporate it into your text. Provide the author and specific page citation (in the case of verse, provide line numbers) in the text, and include a complete reference in the works-cited list. Punctuation marks such as periods, commas, and semicolons should appear after the parenthetical citation. Question marks and exclamation points should appear within the quotation marks if they are a part of the quoted passage but after the parenthetical citation if they are a part of your text.
| According to some, dreams express "profound aspects of personality" (Foulkes 184), though others disagree. |
| According to Foulkes's study, dreams may express "profound aspects of personality" (184). |
| Is it possible that dreams may express "profound aspects of personality"? (Foulkes 184) |
| Cullen concludes, "Of all the things that happened there / That's all I remember" (11-12). |
Long Quotations
Place quotations longer than four typed lines in a free-standing block of typewritten lines, and omit quotation marks. Start the quotation on a new line, indented one inch from the left margin, and maintain double-spacing. Your parenthetical citation should come after the closing punctuation mark. When quoting verse, maintain original line breaks. (You should maintain double-spacing throughout your essay.)
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|
|
Elizabeth Bishop's "In the Waiting Room" is rich in evocative detail: It was winter. It got dark early. The waiting room was full of grown-up people, arctics and overcoats, lamps and magazines. (6-10) |
Your
Works Cited List, Sometimes Called a Bibliography
This list, alphabetized by authors' last names, should appear at the end of your essay. It provides the information necessary for a reader to locate and retrieve any sources you cite in the essay. Each source you cite in the essay must appear in your works-cited list; likewise, each entry in the works-cited list must be cited in your text.
Basic Rules
| Authors' names are inverted (last name first); if a work has more than one author, invert only the first author's name, follow it with a comma, then continue listing the rest of the authors. If you have cited more than one work by a particular author, order them alphabetically by title, and use three hyphens in place of the author's name for every entry after the first. When an author appears both as the sole author of a text and as the first author of a group, list solo-author entries first. If no author is given for a particular work, alphabetize by the title of the piece and use a shortened version of the title for parenthetical citations. |
| The first line of each entry in your list should be flush left. Subsequent lines should be indented one-half inch. This is known as a hanging indent. |
| All references should be double-spaced. |
| Capitalize each word in the titles of articles, books, etc. This rule does not apply to articles, short prepositions, or conjunctions unless one is the first word of the title or subtitle. Underline or italicize titles of books, journals, magazines, newspapers, and films. |
Basic Forms for Sources in Print
A book
| Author(s). Title
of Book. Place of Publication: Publisher, Year of Publication. |
A part of a book (such as an essay in a collection)
|
Author(s).
"Title of Article." Title of Collection. Ed. Editor's |
An article in a periodical (such as a newspaper or magazine)
|
Author(s).
"Title of Article." Title of Source Day Month Year: pages. |
When citing the date, list day before month; use a three-letter abbreviation of the month (e.g. Jan., Mar., Aug.). If there is more than one edition available for that date (as in an early and late edition of a newspaper), identify the edition following the date (e.g. 17 May 1987, late ed.).
An article in a scholarly journal
|
Author(s).
"Title of Article." Title of Journal Vol (Year): pages. |
"Vol"
indicates the volume number of the journal. If the journal uses continuous
pagination throughout a particular volume, only volume and year are needed, e.g.
Modern Fiction Studies 39 (1993): 156-174. If each issue of the journal
begins on page 1, however, you must also provide the issue number following the
volume, e.g. Mosaic 19.3 (1986): 33-49.
Basic Forms for Electronic Sources
A web page
| Author(s). Name
of Page. Date of Posting/Revision. Date of Access. <electronic address>. |
It is necessary to list your date of access because web postings are often updated, and information available at one date may no longer be available later. Be sure to include the complete address for the site. Also, note the use of angled brackets around the electronic address; MLA requires them for clarity.
An article in an online journal or magazine
| Author(s).
"Title of Article." Title of Journal Volume. Issue (Year):
Pages/Paragraphs. |
Some electronic journals and magazines provide paragraph or page numbers; include them if available. This format is also appropriate to online magazines; as with a print version, you should provide a complete publication date rather than volume and issue number.
| Author. Email
to the author. Date. |
This same format may be used for personal interviews or personal letters. You need only change the designation accordingly.
A listserv posting
|
Author.
"Title of Posting." Online posting. Date. Name of listserv. Date
of access |
An electronic database (such as NewsBank, Ethnic NewsWatch, or Broadcast News)
|
Provide the bibliographic data for the original source as for any other of its genre, then add the name of the database along with relevant retrieval data (such as version number and/or transcript or abstract number) |
Examples
The MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers and the MLA website (www.mla.org) provide extensive examples and instructions and should serve as your primary resource if you have any questions.
A book with one author
| Frye, Northrop.
Anatomy of Criticism: Four Essays. Princeton: Princeton UP, 1957. |
A book with more than one author
| Gesell, Arnold,
and Frances L. Ing. Child Development: An Introduction to the Study of Human Growth. New York: Macmillan, 1960. |
If there are four or more authors, you may list only the first author followed by the phrase "et al." (which means "et alli," Latin for "and others") in place of the other authors' names, or you may list all the authors in the order in which their names appear on the title page.
A book or article with no author named
| Encyclopedia of Photography. New York: Crown, 1984. |
| "The Decade of the Spy." Newsweek 7 Mar. 1994: 26-27. |
For parenthetical citations of sources with no author named, use a shortened version of the title instead of an author's name. Use quotation marks and underlining as appropriate. For example, parenthetical citations of the two sources above would appear as follows: (Encyclopedia 235) and ("Decade" 26).
An anthology or collection
| Rueschemeyer,
Marilyn, ed. Women in the Politics of Postcommunist Eastern Europe. |
An essay in a collection
| Krutch, Joseph
Wood. "What the Year 2000 Won't Be Like.
Finding a Voice. Ed. Jim |
Cross-referencing:
If you cite more than one essay from the same edited collection, you should cross-reference within your works cited list in order to avoid writing out the publishing information for each separate essay. To do so, include a separate entry for the entire collection listed by the editor's name. For individual essays from that collection, simply list the author's name, the title of the essay, the editor's last name, and the page numbers.
| Asante, Molefi Kete. "What is Afrocentrism?" Atwan and Roberts 11-17. |
| Atwan, Robert and Jon Roberts, eds. Left, Right, and Center: Voices from Across the Political Spectrum. Boston: Bedford, 1996. |
| Bennett, William J. "Revolt Against God: America's Spiritual Despair." Atwan and Roberts 559-71. |
An article from a reference book
| "Mandarin." Encyclopedia Americana. 1980 ed. |
An essay in a journal with continuous pagination
| Flanigan,
Beverly Olson. "Peer Tutoring and Second Language Acquisition in the |
An essay in a journal that pages each issue separately
| Barthelme, Frederick. "Architecture." Kansas Quarterly 13.3-4 (1981): 77-80. |
A magazine or newspaper article
Nimmons, David. "Sex and the Brain." Discover Mar. 1994: 26-27.
A government publication
| United States
Dept. of Labor. Bureau of Statistics. Dictionary of Occupational Titles. |
A web page
|
Schwab, Robert. Essential English Grammar. 2001. 26 Mar. 2001 <http://www.BobSchwab.com> |
An online journal article
| Inada, Kenneth.
"A Buddhist Response to the Nature of Human Rights." Journal of
|
An interview that you conducted
| Lesh, Philip. Personal Interview. 12 Nov. 1996. |
A television or radio program
|
"The
Blessing Way." The X-Files. ABS CBN, Manila. 19 Jul. 1999. |
An advertisement
| Acura. Advertisement. Rolling Stone 16 May 1996: 8-9. |
| McDonald's. Advertisement. CNN. 4 May 1998. |
Information on CD-ROM
| The CIA
World Factbook. CD-ROM. Minneapolis: Quanta, 1992. |
An article in a reference database
| "Fresco."
Britannica Online. Vers. 97.1.1. Mar. 1997. Encyclopedia Britannica.
29 |
An article in NewsBank
| Derks, Sarah A.
"Binge Drinking and College: New Pressures for an Old Mixer." |
An article in Ethnic NewsWatch
|
Reed, William. "Whites and the Entertainment Industry." Tennessee Tribune 25 Dec. 1996: 28. Ethnic NewsWatch, Vers.2.1.1. |
An article in Broadcast News
| "Condom
Distribution Does Not Increase Sexual Activity."
Newsnight. CNN. 1 Oct. 1997 10:00
pm. Broadcast News |
Footnotes and Endnotes
Because long explanatory notes can be distracting to readers, most academic style guidelines (including MLA and APA) recommend limited use of footnotes/endnotes. An exception is Chicago-style documentation, which relies on notes for all citations as well as explanatory notes. But even in that case, extensive discursive notes are discouraged. Proper use of notes would include:
Evaluative bibliographic comments
| 1 See Blackmur, especially chapters three and four, for an
insightful analysis of this trend.
|
| 2 On the problems related to repressed memory recovery, see Wollens pp. 120-35; for a contrasting view, see Pyle. |
occasional explanatory notes or other brief additional information that would seem digressive if included in the main text but might be interesting to readers, for example:
|
3 In a 1998 interview, she reiterated this point even more strongly: "I am an artist, not a politician!" (Weller 124). |
Footnotes in MLA format are indicated by consecutive superscript arabic numbers in the text. The notes themselves are listed by consecutive superscript arabic numbers and appear double-spaced in regular paragraph format (a new paragraph for each note) on a separate page under the word Notes (centered, in plain text without quotation marks).
General Format
Your essay should be typed,
double-spaced on standard-sized paper (8.5 X 11 inches) with margins of 1 inch
on all sides. Unless requested, a title page is unnecessary. Instead, you should
provide a double-spaced header in the top left corner of the first page that
lists your name, your instructor's name, the course, and the date. Then center
your title on the next line, and begin your essay immediately below the title.
Your works cited list should begin on a separate page from the text of
the essay under the label Works Cited (with no quotation marks, underlining,
etc.), centered at the top of the page. Notes, if any, should be formatted
similarly and should appear on a page before the works cited page.
Every page, including notes and works cited pages, should have a heading in the top right corner, a half inch from the top of the page, that includes your last name and the page number.
Underlining and italics are equivalent; you should select one or the other to use throughout your essay.