MLA Documentation

1
MLA Documentation

• An introduction

2
What is documentation?

• If you use research in a paper, you must give
  credit for quotes and ideas you have gotten from
  other sources.
• Documenting means recording information that
  tells where your research has come from.

3
3 systems of documentation

• There are three sets of conventions (rules) that
  are used to organize documentation Chicago
  style, APA (American Psychological Association,)
  and MLA (Modern Language Association.)

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Which form?

• The form of documentation you will use in college
  depends on the conventions of your major.
• MLA form is often required in college classes in
  the humanities and the arts. It is used by
  English majors, for example.
• APA form is often used by majors in the Social
  Sciences (history, anthropology, archeology,
  psychology, etc.)

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• However, you dont need to decide a major before
  learning a documentation form. If you learn one
  form, you can more easily learn another.
  Students in freshmen classes often are told to
  use whichever system of documentation they are
  familiar with.
• The Writers Craft teaches MLA form.

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MLA style

• The two main features of MLA style are
• 1) Complete information about sources is given in
  a separate section entitled Works Cited located
  at the end of the paper.
• 2) Specific material that is quoted or borrowed
  from another source is documented within the text
  in what is called a parenthetical reference.

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Review questions

• What is the purpose of MLA documentation?
• How many systems of documentation are there?
• What are the two parts of MLA documentation?

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Learning MLA documentation

• Parenthetical references within the text of the
  paper

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Parenthetical references

• The goal of MLA form is to mention the source as
  briefly as possible within the paper. The
  parenthetical reference gives just enough
  information to refer the reader to the complete
  information on the Works Cited page at the end of
  the paper.
• There are three ways to cite a source within the
  paper.

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Option 1

• Cite the authors last name and the page
  number(s) of the source in parentheses.
• Since the invention of language, men have taken
  pleasure in following and participating in the
  imaginary adventures and imaginary experiences of
  imaginary people (Perrine 1).

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What does the reference mean?

• The parenthetical information within the paper
  refers the reader to an entry on the Works
  Cited page that gives the complete information
  for the work.
• That entry begins with the authors last name, so
  the information is easy for the reader to find.

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Sample

• (Perrine 1) in the text of the paper means the
  quote is from page 1 of Perrines book listed as
  follows on the Works Cited page
• Perrine, Laurence. Literature Structure,
  Sound, and Sense. 3rd ed. New
• York Harcourt, 1978.

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A source without an author

• If the source doesnt have an author, put a
  shortened version of the title in parenthesis.

14
Sample

• Within the paper
• News reports said that the killer was being
  sought (New slaying).
• On the Works Cited page
• New slaying in Phillips neighborhood. Star
  Tribune. 4 Oct. 2001 A 11.

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Other situations

• See The Writers Craft, p. 284, for information
  on how to cite works in the following situations
• works written by more than one author
• how to cite one of two or more works by the same
  author
• two or more works cited at the same place in your
  paper

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Option 2

• Use the authors last name in your sentence, and
  put only the page number(s) of the source in
  parenthesis.
• Perrine says plot is the easiest element in
  fiction to comprehend (42).

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Option 3

• When you are citing the entire work, use the
  authors last name in your sentence and omit any
  parenthetical reference.
• Blau believes the best approach to writing
  instruction emphasizes the writing process.

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Punctuating the parenthetical reference

• Note that a parenthetical reference appears at
  the end of a sentence but before the final
  period.
• Also note that p. or pp. (for page/s) is
  omitted.
• I always try to write on the principle of the
  iceberg. There is seven-eighths of it underwater
  for every part that shows (Hemingway 931).

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Long quotations

• For -four or more lines of prose or
• -three or more lines of poetry
• Double space the quotation and indent it ten
  spaces or one inch from the left margin of the
  text
• Do not enclose it within quotation marks
• The final period goes before rather than after
  the parenthetical reference.

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Toni Morrison, in The Site of Memory,
explains how social context shaped slave
narratives no slave society in the history
of the world wrote more or more thoughtfully
about its own enslavement. The milieu, however,
dictated the purpose and the style. The
narratives are instructive, moral, and obviously
representative. Some of them are patterned
after the sentimental novel that was in vogue at
the time. (109)
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Review questions

• Where do parenthetical references appear?
• What two pieces of information ordinarily appear
  in the parenthetical reference?
• What do you do if your source doesnt have an
  author?
• What if the authors name is mentioned in your
  sentence?

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Which version is correct?

• I always try to write on the principle of the
  iceberg. There is seven-eighths of it underwater
  for every part that shows (Hemingway 931).
• I always try to write on the principle of the
  iceberg. There is seven-eighths of it underwater
  for every part that shows. (Hemingway p. 931)