MLA Format

1. MLA Format Modern Language Association

2. What you will learn… • What is MLA format? • Why should I care about it? • How do I actually use MLA format in writing? • How do I create a Works Cited Page?

3. By requiring students to format in MLA, teachers are asking you to format the page and present the content in a specific way.

4. What is MLA format? • MLA (Modern Language Association) is a writing formatting technique used in most high school and junior colleges, even some universities depending on the subject matter, across our nation and abroad. • An advantage to using MLA is it is simple (MLA xiii). “When you write in MLA style, you place in parentheses brief references to the sources you are using to make your argument,” then at the end of your paper, you create a Works Cited Page to prove your credibility (MLA xiii).

5. Why should I care about it? • MLA format allows essay to be formatted in a similar way so that papers reflect INDIVIDUALITY through writing rather than format. • MLA also shows that you, as a writer, hav CREDIBILITY. You avoid plagiarism • What is plagiarism? • Plagiarism is “to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one’s own” (Houghton 27).

6. How to avoid plagiarism video • Duration 2:51

7. How do I actually do it? • In order to format in MLA, you must follow some rules within your writing. • Here are some of the most basic rules you must follow from the source:

8. All margins (top, bottom, left, right) need to be set at 1 inch (1). • The alignment of the text needs to be left aligned and the line spacing needs to be double spaced (1). • The font type needs to be Times New Roman and the font size needs to be 12-point font (1). • In order to indent paragraphs, be sure that the TAB setting is set to one-half inch. If it is, just hit the TAB key on the keyboard (2).

9. In the header of your paper, include your last name, one space, and the page number. It is easiest to set format your paper so the computer will automatically place the page numbers for you (2-3). • At the left margin, below the header, place your name (hit enter), teacher’s name (hit enter), the course name (hit enter), and the date (day month year 01 September 2015) (3).

11. Use in-text citations when you borrow an idea or words from a source. This is when you would paraphrase. A direct citation is when you use the exact language, wording, from an author in your paper to prove your argument. • To paraphrase means that you are going to RESTATE, in your own words, another’s original point or evidence in your paper (Bean 131). • A direct quotation “inserts the words of someone else into your own text” (Bean 134).

13. In-text citations video • Duration 2:50

14. How to Paraphrase • Reread the original passage until you fully understand its meaning and the point it is trying to convey. • Set the original aside, and write your paraphrase. • Check your rendition with the original. Did you accurately paraphrase the intended meaning of the passage? • Be sure to cite your information for a paraphrase.

15. Let’s Practice Paraphrasing • Source: Lester, James D. Writing Research Papers. 2nd ed. (1976) 46-47. • Original Passage 1: “Students frequently overuse direct quotation in taking notes, and as a result they overuse quotations in the final [research] paper. Probably only about 10% of your final manuscript should appear as directly quoted matter. Therefore, you should strive to limit the amount of exact transcribing of source materials while taking notes.”

16. Paraphrase passage 1

17. Source: “Bike Helmets: Unused Lifesavers,” Consumer Reports (May 1990): 348. • Original Passage 2: “Of the more than 1000 bicycling deaths each year, three-fourths are caused by head injuries. Half of those killed are school-age children. One study concluded that wearing a bike helmet can reduce the risk of the head injury by 85 percent. In an accident, a bike helmet absorbs the shock and cushions the head.”

18. Paraphrase passage 2

19. Source: Harlan Jacobson, from “Take Me Out to the Movies.” • Original Passage 3: “Organized professional baseball was a 19th-century innovation. Its mechanics are about open fields, and its ethos is agrarian, about reaping what you sow. It lent itself to the postwar suburban frontier, where city met country and baseball was the only game in town. Now the dynamic has shifted to basketball and hockey, intensely paced urban sports played out on spaced sandwiched between buildings. Offense switches to defense in the flick of a wrist; a player about to go in for the kill is unmanned in a flash, and the action moves deep into his home turf. It makes sense on the court or rink because it makes sense in the city—and in the place of the nation, as regulated by the thermostat of television and cable TV.”

20. Paraphrase passage 3

21. How do I create a Works Cited Page? • First of all, what is a works cited page? • A works cited page is an additional page of your essay, the very last page of your essay, that indicates where you found all of your in-text citations.

22. As you can see, • the last name and • page number is in • the upper right • hand corner, along • with the page #. • The title is • centered. • There are hanging • indents to show • citations accurately. • The entire page is • double spaced. • The entire page is • set for Times New • Roman font at 12 pt. • The citations are • listed alphabetically. • On a side note, this • is the works cited • page for this • presentation so far.

23. How to set up a Works Cited Page • Your format needs to be the same for the Works Cited Page as it is for the entire essay (double spaced, Times New Roman font, etc.). Title centered, no word art or anything fancy. • You will be given a cheat guide for creating a works cited page. Different sources need different citations in a works cited page. • You need a “hanging indent” on a works cited page. Meaning, instead of indenting the first line of a citation, you TAB (indent 1/2 inch) all other lines pertaining to that citation.