Miami-Dade College, North Campus Library

GUIDE SERIES

Using MLA Style

 

MLA (Modern Language Association) style is one of several documentation styles used to prepare research papers. The most recent MLA style publication is the 6th edition of the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. The Handbook is shelved at the reference desk. In addition to the Handbook, there is an excellent web site to help you understand MLA Style: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/research/r_mla.html.

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Writing the Paper: In-text author-page citation is used in MLA style, which means that while writing the paper you are expected to include a reference to each source that does not reflect your own original ideas. Otherwise you are committing plagiarism. Here are two ways the same in-text author-page citation could be written:

 

▪ Some argue that “a dream is the fulfillment of a wish” (Freud 154).

▪ Freud states that “a dream is the fulfillment of a wish” (154).

 

Other examples of in-text author-page citation are:

 

▪ More than one author:  (Rearden and Smith 19-27)

▪ More than one work by the same author:  Author’s last name, title of work, and page number

 (Kelley, Mastering WordPerfect 84)

▪ Unsigned work: Use title of the work and page number  (Electricity 250)

                  

Quotations in the text are handled differently, depending on their length.  Be selective when using quotes; overuse of quotes can bore your readers. Short quotations of fewer than four typed lines (or three lines of poetry) are enclosed in double quotation marks in the text of your paper. For example: According to some, dreams express “profound aspects of personality” (Foulkes 110).  Punctuation marks are included within the quotations marks if they are part of the quoted passage.  Long quotations (four or more typed lines) are placed in an indented block, without quotation marks. 

 

Works Cited: The Works Cited list, on a separate page at the end of your paper, includes all the resources you cited or mentioned in the text. The entries are doubled-spaced, with hanging indent format, and alphabetized using the author’s last name first.  If there is no author, alphabetize by the title of the work. Each source you name in your paper must be included in the works cited list and only those sources.  Some sample formats follow. See the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers Sixth Edition, kept at the Reference Desk, for other formats.

▪ Book: 

 

Hairston, Maxine, John Ruszkiewicz, and Christy Friend.  The Scott, Foresman Handbook for

 

Writers.  5th ed. New York:  Longman, 1999.

 

▪ Signed article in a reference book:

 

Sagoff, Mark.  “Environmental Policy and Law.” Encyclopedia of Bioethics. Rev. ed. 5 vols. New York:  Macmillan-Simon, 1995.   (Do not include the editor of the reference book or series.)

▪ Article in a periodical (general readership magazine, not scholarly):

                                                                                                                                      ▼Pages

Murphy, Cullen.  “Women and the Bible.”  Atlantic Monthly Aug. 1993:  39-64.

 


 

▪ Article in a scholarly journal with continuous page numbers: 

Goodblatt, Chanita, and Joseph Glickson. “Cognitive Psychology and Whitman’s ‘Song of Myself’.” Mosaic: A

                                                                                           ▼ Journal Volume Number

Journal for the Interdisciplinary Study of Literature 19 (1986):  83-90.

                                                                                                               

▪ Article in a scholarly journal in which each issue has its own page numbers:  include the issue number.

Abada, Kelly F. “The Public and Private Dialogue about the American Family on Television.” Journal of

 

Communication 50.4 (2000): 79-110.                     

                                             ▲ Issue Number                                    

     

Article in a newspaper:

   Do not use “A, An, or The” at the beginning of the newspaper’s name.  Example: New York Times, not The New York Times.   If each section of the newspaper is paginated separately, note the section number or letter. When a newspaper article is not printed on consecutive pages, write only the first page number and a plus sign, with no spaces between them. For example: C3+.

 

Alaton, Salem. “So, Did They Live Happily Ever After?” Globe and Mail [Toronto] 27 Dec. 1997: D1+.

 

▪ Electronic Publications:

 Include the same information you would for a print reference with the addition of the title of the website (underlined), the date of electronic publication or the latest update, and the name of the sponsoring organization. If there is a corresponding print document, indicate the publication dates of both documents, because the Internet publication may differ from the print version. You must include the date you accessed the information. Include the URL in angle brackets.

 

Electronic Journal Article on the web (free):

                                                                                Print magazine title                         Name of  Website  Website’s Date                                                                                                          ▼                                            ▼               ▼

Zeki, Semir. “Artistic Creativity and the Brain.” Science 6 July 2001: 51-52. Science Magazine. 2002.

               

Sponsoring Org.   ▼                                                              ▼ Date of access

     American Association for the Advancement of Science. 24 September 2003  

 

     <http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/293/5527/51>.

                                       

▪  Article in a database  (subscription), such as a “library database”: 

    Include the name of the service and the name of the library or library system (with a city and state abbreviation),      the date of access, and the URL of the service’s homepage.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 Pages         Name of Database

                                                                                                                                            ▼                                ▼                           

Petit, Charles W. “Arctic Thaw.” U.S. News & World Report 8 November 2004: 66-89. Academic Search Premier.

  

    Name of Service or Company Providing the Database

         ▼

     EBSCO. Miami-Dade College North Campus Lib., Miami, FL. 12 November 2004 <http://www.epnet.com/>.

 

▪  An Entire Internet Site: 

 

History Channel.com. 2002. History Channel. 14  May 2002 <http://historychannel.com/> .

Part of an Online Book:                                                                                                                   include editor

                                                                                                                                                                            ▼

Keats, John. “Ode on a Grecian Urn.” Poetical Works. 1884. Bartleby.com: Great Books Online. Ed. Steven van

 

     Leeuwen. 2002. 5 May 2002 < http://www.bartleby.com/126/41.html>.