MLA Style for College Students

1. MLA Style for College Students Xi Shi Sarah Levy Rockland Community College November 2008

2. Paper • Margins • Spacing, typing and printing • Heading and title • Page numbers • Citing sources Key Elements of MLA Style

3. No title page is required • Use 8 ½ -by- 11 inch paper • Leave margins of one inch at the top, bottom and both sides of the text • Indent the first line of a paragraph one tab (or half-inch) • Double-space, use a legible font such as Times New Roman Format of the Paper

4. Type your name, your instructor's name, the course, and the date, in the upper left-hand corner of the first page. • Double space, center the title in upper case and lower case. • Double space between the title and the first line of the text. • Create a header in the upper right-hand corner that includes your last name, followed by a space with a page number. Formatting the First Page

5. Example See: http://www.bedfordstmartins.com/hacker/pdf/mla.pdf

6. Cite after a quotation or paraphrase the author's last name and the page number(s) in parentheses. • A complete reference must appear in the Works Cited page. • The author's name may appear either in the sentence or in parentheses following the quotation or paraphrase. • The page number(s) should always appear in the parentheses, not in the text of your sentence. In-Text Citations

7. Wordsworth stated that romantic poetry was marked by a "spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings" (263). • Romantic poetry is characterized by the "spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings" (Wordsworth 263). • Wordsworth extensively explored the role of emotion in the creative process (263). In-Text Citationsexamples

8. Citing Indirect Sources, use "qtd. in" to indicate the source you actually consulted. • Ravitch argues that high schools are pressured to act as "social service centers, and they don't do that well" (qtd. in Weisman 259). • When more than one author have the same last name, add the first initial. • (A. Patterson 183-85). In-Text Citations

9. When the work has two or three authors, cite last name of each person in the order as they appear on the publication. • (Rabkin, Greenberg, and Olander 196). • When citing more than three authors, use last name of the first author followed by “et al.”). • (Lauter et al. 2415-33). • When citing corporate author, use its full name, or abbreviated name if indicated in the text. • (Rockland Community College 2). • Rockland Community College (RCC) offers Associate in Arts (AA) and the Associate in Science (AS) degree programs that enable students to prepare for transfer and the eventual completion of a Bachelor of Arts or a Bachelor of Science degree (RCC 2). In-Text Citations

10. The Works Cited list contains all works cited in your text. • At the end of your paper, begin the list on a new page and continue the page numbering of the text. • Center the title Works Cited and double space before the first entry. • Begin each entry flush left. Any subsequent lines of that entry should be indented ½ inch (hanging indention). • Double space the entire list. • Alphabetize the list by the author’s last name. • If the author is unknown, alphabetize by title. Works Cited Page

11.  A Book by a single author: •       Author's last name, first name. Title of the book.  Place of Publication: Publisher, Year of Publication. •  Two or more books by the same author: • Give the name in the first entry only, and in subsequent entries in place of the name type three hyphens (---). • A book with more than one author: • Give the names in the order as they appear on the title page. Reverse only the name of the first author, place a comma and give the other names in their normal form. If there are more than three authors, you may name only the first author followed by "et al.". Works Cited Page

12. An articlein a journal: • Author(s). “Title of Article.” Title of Journal Volume. Issue (Year):  pages. • For an article in a weekly magazine: • Give the complete date, e.g. 6 June 2003. • For an article in a newspaper: • Specify the edition when applicable, as well as the section e.g. New York Times 2 May 2007, late ed.: C1+. Works Cited Page

13. An article from an electronic database: • Author. “Title of the Article.” Publication Name. Publication date: • page numbers. Database name. Provider. Library name, City, State. Date of access <electronic address of the database>. • For other miscellaneous print and nonprint sources, see guidelines provided in: • Gibaldi, Joseph. MLA handbook for writers of research papers. New York: Modern language Association of America, 2003. Works Cited Page

14. Citation tools from databases: • Ebsco • Gale • ProQuest • Wilson • Other suggested citation tools: • Microsoft Office2007 Word • http://www.calvin.edu/library/knightcite/ Works Cited