Using MLA Format

1. Using MLA Format OWL—Online Writing Lab at Purdue And……… Rules of Thumb

2. Why Use MLA Format? • Allows readers to cross-reference your sources easily • Provides consistent format within a discipline (and its logic fits discipline) • Gives you credibility as a writer • Protects you from plagiarism Purdue University Writing Lab

3. Cross-Referencing Your Sources Preparing a works cited enables readers to find your original source material. If they become really interested in some of your sources and want to use them for their own research, they’ll be able to find them. Purdue University Writing Lab

4. Establishing Credibility Using MLA style shows that you are trustworthy as a writer. It requires careful attention to detail, which gives you ethos. Purdue University Writing Lab

5. Where Do I Find MLA Format? • MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, 5th ed. • Rules of Thumb, pp. 140-149 (works cited) pp.136-140 (in-text citation) • www.mla.org • OWL website: owl.english.purdue.edu Purdue University Writing Lab

6. Works Cited Page • Lists every source you use in your essay • Gives enough information to allow readers to find your sources Purdue University Writing Lab

7. Book Author (last name, first name). Title. City: Publisher, date. Print. Byatt, A. S. Babel Tower. New York: Random House, 1996. Print. Lamott, Anne. “Shitty First Drafts.” Bird By Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life. New York: Anchor, 1994. 21-27. Print Purdue University Writing Lab

8. Ryan, Katy. "Revolutionary Suicide in Toni Morrison's Fiction." African American Review 34 (2000): 389-412. Proquest. Web. 10 Oct. 2009. Wood, Michael. "Broken Dates: Fiction and the Century." Kenyon Review 22.3 (2000): 50-64. Academic Search Complete. Web. 10 Oct. 2009. Article in a journal Purdue University Writing Lab

9. Miller, Hanna. “Education Gone Awry.” Newsweek 30 Nov. 2007: 30+. Proquest. Web. 10 Oct. 2009. Blackburn, James. “Bullying on the Playground.” Psychology Today Apr. 2006. Academic Search Complete. Web 10 Oct. 2009. Magazine (general soruce) Purdue University Writing Lab

10. Handling Quotes in Your Text • Author’s last name and page number(s) of quote must appear somewhere: Romantic poetry is characterized by the “spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings” (Wordsworth 263). Wordsworth stated that Romantic poetry was marked by a “spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings” (263).

11. Sometimesmore information is necessary • More than one author with the same last name (W. Wordsworth 23); (D. Wordsworth 224) • More than one work by the same author (Joyce, Portrait 121); (Joyce, Ulysses 556) • Citing indirect sources (Johnson qtd. in Boswell 250) Handling Parenthetical Citations

12. If the source has no known author, then use an abbreviated version of the title: Full Title: “California Cigarette Tax Deters Smokers” Citation: (“California” 14) • If the source is only one page in length or is a web page with no apparent pagination: Source: Dave Poland’s “Hot Button” web column Citation: (Poland) and if you use Poland’s name in sentence, no citation at all.

13. David becomes identified and defined by James Steerforth, a young man with whom David is acquainted from his days at Salem House. Before meeting Steerforth, David accepts Steerforth’s name as an authoritative power: There was an old door in this playground, on which the boys had a custom of carving their names. . . . In my dread of the end of the vacation and their coming back, I could not read a boy’s name, without inquiring in what tone and with what emphasis he would read, “Take care of him. He bites.” There was one boy—a certain J. Steerforth—who cut his name very deep and very often, who I conceived, would read it in a rather strong voice, and afterwards pull my hair. (Dickens 68) For Steerforth, naming becomes an act of possession, as well as exploitation. Steerforth names David for his fresh look and innocence, but also uses the name Daisy to exploit David's romantic tendencies (Dyson 122). Handling Long Quotations