MLA Rules for Parenthetical Documentation

1. MLA Rules for Parenthetical Documentation The current edition of the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Paperssuggests giving credit in the text of the paper rather than in footnotes or endnotes. This can be done by inserting the appropriate information (in parentheses) after the words or ideas borrowed from another source. The references should be kept as brief as possible, listing only the information needed to identify the source. Usually, the reference will need to include the author's last name and the page number(s) or a shortened version of the title if that is how the source is entered in the bibliography. Place the parenthetical reference where a pause would naturally occur, usually at the end of the sentence. Use your Writers’ Incbooks for reference help. For example: "We live, increasingly, in a society in which poor students arenot flunked, and bad workers cannot be fired. We should not wonder that we are drowning in shoddiness” (Will 89).

2. Continued "In the time it takes to answer the phone, an untended babycan drown in one inch of bath water” ("Protecting Your Child" 13). If the author's name is already included in the text, you need not repeat it in the reference; simply list the page number(s): William Hazlitt says in his work, Roundtable, “The greatest offense against good is to speak evil of it”(18). If the quoted material is lengthy (four lines or more of prose and three lines or more of poetry) and set off from the rest of the text by ten spaces from the left margin, place the appropriate endmark at the end of the final sentence. No quotation marks are used. Then leave two spaces before adding your reference in parentheses.

3. Continued Note: No abbreviation (p. or pp.) is needed before the page number(s) in a note; however, if there is some doubt as to which of several numbers is the page number, use p. or pp. to avoid confusion.  Finally, don't document a whole paragraph of paraphrased material. You might acknowledge your source at the beginning of the paragraph. Otherwise, don't attempt to "change the words a little" for whole paragraphs. Avoid writing any paragraph so that the last sentence ends with a parenthetic citation. The reader will be unable to tell whether the citation refers to the sentence or to the entire paragraph. It is better that every sentence have a citation than that large blocks of information look undocumented except for a single note at the end.

4. MANUSCRIPT FORM FOR RESEARCH PAPER 1. This research paper must be typed. If you can't type it yourself, have someone else do it for you, but make sure that he/she knows that there are specific instructions on how the final draft must be done. 2. The length of the paper should be six to eight pages typed using a standard font (Helvetica, Arial, Times New Roman) and a 10 or 12 point size. 3. Title page should include the title of the paper, the student's name, the class title, and the due date. All of this should be centered and balanced on the title page. 4. Use one inch side and top margins on every page but the first. On the first page use a two inch top margin. Restate the title of the paper first. Then quadruple space before beginning the text of the essay. 5. Number the pages that make up each page of the final draft in the upper right hand corner and include your last name preceding the page number (i.e. Smith 1, Smith 2, Smith 3, and etc.). Continue the sequence through the Work Cited pages.

5. The title and outline pages are sequenced also. The title page is considered page “i” but is not marked. Then the outline pages are sequenced beginning with “Smith ii… Smith iii…etc.” • Parenthetical documentation is necessary. Use the MLA style sheet provided for directions. • A Works Cited page is needed. Use the MLA style sheet provided for directions. This page is titled Works Cited. These pages continue the sequence of page numbers. NOTE: THESE PAGES DO NOT COUNT AS PART OF THE 6 TO 8 PAGES REQUIRED FOR THE PAPER. • A formal outline is also required. Use the directions and model below. NOTE: THIS MUST BE A SENTENCE OUTLINE.

6. The Model Sentence Outline • 2”½” Smith ii • Outline • Thesis: The spirit of the school and the government of the school makes Arcanum High School a good place to attend. • The spirit of the school is friendly, democratic, and loyal. • A. Students are friendly to one another and to visitors. 1” • B. Students do not tolerate undemocratic cliques and exclusive social clubs. • C. Students show their loyalty by their good behavior as well as by supporting the school. • The government of the school is democratic and respected. • A. The students elect their own officers and governing bodies. • B. The elected officers are respected because they have real power to govern. • Conclusion: Because students are friendly, democratic, and loyal, and because student government is democratic and respected, Arcanum High School is a good school to attend. • 1” 1” DOUBLE SPACE ALL LINES.

7.  Paper’s edge  Page # ½” *   Start here on all pages but the first. 1” line   Start here on the first page with the title 2” line   Begin first page of text here  1” left margin Space one inch between centered heading and the first line of the paper. Double space all parts of the paper, including the work cited page. Quoted prose of four lines or more and poetry of three lines or more are indented ten spaces from the left margin.  1 ½” left margin If bound down the left side, use 1½” left margin. If bound across the top, use 1½” top margin. If bound at the upper left hand corner, use 1” left margin. Center Page * Marks the page # locations.  1” bottom margin  Page # ½” * 

8. Model: Work Cited Page Directions for creating a work cited page: 1. The title, "Works Cited," appears on the 2 inch line. The first citation appears on the three inch line. 2. All lines are double spaced. 3. Items are arranged alphabetically, mixing "no author" titles with those arranged by author's last name. (i.e. Understanding Arthroscopy is followed by Xanth.) 4. After a line is used up, line two for each citation is indented five spaces. 5. The dashes followed by a period in the fifth citation is the process that is used when you have one author who wrote two or more of your sources. In this example, Schaefer wrote both "Risking Arthroscopic Surgery" and "Scoping Out Injured Knees." 6. See MLA for any other questions about the "Work Cited" page.

9. NOTE: 2” line Smith 8 • Maintain 1” margins on three sides. • Double space all lines • Arrange in alphabetical order by author’s last name or by title if there is no author. • Exhaust each line before beginning a new one. • Use proper pagination. • See MLA for other questions about the Work Cited page. Works Cited Friefeiled, John. "Weakness in the Knees." Forbes 12 Aug. 1995: 93-94. Print. Guiliotti, Joe. "Dave Henderson Undergoes Arthroscopic Surgery." Sporting News 9 Feb. 1989: 38-43. Print. Haines, Robert. Arthroscopic Surgery: The Laser Has Come. New York: Kramer Publ. Co., 1993. Print. Schaefer, Charles. "Risking Arthroscopic Surgery." Men's Health 22 May 1993: 26-29. Print. ----------. "Scoping Out Injured Knees." Changing Times Feb. 1998: 100-101. Print. Understanding Arthroscopy. Dublin, Ohio: World Press International, 1994. Print. Xanth, Samuel, and GordenBradon. "New Ideas in Arthroscipic Surgery." Health Today 15 Mar. 1994: 63. Print.