Senior Project: MLA Formatting Guidelines

1
Senior Project MLA Formatting Guidelines

• Feraco
• SFHP Myth/Sci-Fi
• 13 April 2009

2
Why Bother?

• Formatting easily differentiates research from
  original thought
• Allows me to double-check your studies
• Standardizes papers across classes, especially in
  college
• Different disciplines different formats, so
  learn as many as you can!
• Demonstrates care and attention to detail
• Looks attractive, polished, and finalized

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The Basics

• Submit via turnitin.com and hard copy
• Turnitin Due Date April 17th, 730am
• 2691158 and D1D1 for SFHP 2009
• 2691159 and H12H12 for Myth/Science Fiction 2009
• Upload to Senior Professional Project Paper
• MUST UPLOAD IN .DOC or .DOCX NO EXCEPTIONS
• If you dont have Word, upload a
  properly-formatted copy of your paper from school
• E-mail yourself the text and build the file in my
  room or in the library in advance or go to a
  friends house
• If you arent here on the 17th, make appropriate
  plans to finish early

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The Page Itself

• This goes into the Conventions part of your
  grade
• Print your hard copies on white computer paper
  with black ink!
• Create a cover page that includes a creative
  title for your research paper, your name, my
  name, your period and subject, and the due date
  you may use color or images here
• Times New Roman, 12-point font
• Set your line-spacing to Double and your
  spacing to 0 pt on both Before and After

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The Page Itself II

• Margins are 1 on all sides (the handouts I give
  you have .7 on all sides)
• Page numbers should be a header a half-inch from
  the top in the upper-right hand corner, and
  include your last name (Feraco 1)
• You should only hit the space bar once after each
  sentence. See? Not like this. ?And definitely
  not like this. ?Boo.
• Indent each paragraph by hitting Tab once

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In-Text Citations

• A parenthetical citation includes two
  parentheses, the authors last name, and the page
  number
• When the quote acts as the last part of your
  sentence, write the quote, follow it with the
  parenthetical, and finish with the end mark.
• Orwell states that everything is hopeless
  (Orwell 6).
• When the quote lies in the middle of your
  sentence, you still put the punctuation after
  your citation.
• Orwell states that everything is hopeless
  (Orwell 6), but Winstons experiences in the
  Prole Quarter contradict him.
• If youre citing the same work twice in a row,
  you dont have to write the name again

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In-Text Citations II

• If youre using multiple sources in the same
  sentence, you may combine the parentheticals
  (Orwell 6 Fromm 315)
• If theres no obvious author, you may use a
  shortened version of the works title instead of
  the authors last name
• Do the same thing if youre citing two works from
  the same author
• Use the first initial and last name of authors if
  youre citing different writers with the same
  last name (M. Feraco 17) (S. Feraco 23)
• Italicize the titles of longer works, and place
  the titles of songs, poems, films, articles, and
  other shorter pieces in quotation marks.

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In-Text Citations III

• If youre citing an Internet resource, its
  probably a scholarly journal
• If it is, the last name/page number still applies
• If its not, use the authors last name
• If youre citing a religious text, cite whatever
  is appropriate version, book, chapter, verse,
  etc.
• Ezekiel saw "what seemed to be four living
  creatures," each with faces of a man, a lion, an
  ox, and an eagle (New Jerusalem Bible, Ezek.
  1.5-10).

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In-Text Citations IV

• For quotes that are longer than three full lines
  of your page, youll use a block quote
• The entire block quote is indented one inch (two
  Tabs) from the left margin, and is still
  double-spaced
• You dont use quotation marks, and you put your
  citation after the period
• If youre cutting words out of a quote
  (especially in a block quote), use (an
  ellipsis) to show that youve made the change

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Works Cited

• You still have a page number on your separate
  Works Cited page although this does not count
  towards your page limit
• Center the title of the page on the first line
• Double-space all citations here, and do not hit
  Enter between citations
• Indent the second and third lines of citations by
  a half-inch (just like a paragraph)
• Appropriately capitalize your titles (The Art of
  War)

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Works Cited II

• An authors name is listed Last, First Middle
• When listing your citations, alphabetize them by
  last name
• If citing multiple works by the same author,
  substitute three hyphens for the name the second
  time
• After writing the authors name, place a period
  after the name and the works title
• Lee, Harper. To Kill a Mockingbird.

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Works Cited III

• Books Last, First. Title of Book. Place of
  Publication Publisher, Year Published. Print.
• If more than one author, then the format
  includes Last, First and First Last.
• If more than two authors, then the format
  includes Last, First, et al.
• Corporations, firms, and foundations count as
  authors
• If youre citing an article from a reference
  book, the format is Article. Name of Book.
  Publication Date. Print.

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Works Cited IV

• Periodical Author. Title. Title of Periodical
  Date Page Numbers. Publication Method.
• Scholarly Journal Author. Title. Title of
  Periodical Volume.Issue (Date) Page Numbers.
  Publication Method.
• Website Author. Name of Site. Date Posted.
  Institution or Organization. Publication Method.
  Date You Checked the Site.
• Interview Interviewee. Personal interview. Date
  interviewed (in MLA format - ex. 2 April 2009)

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• Works Cited
• "Business Coalition for Climate Action Doubles."
  Environmental Defense. 8 May 2007.
• Environmental Defense Organization. 24 May
  2007. Web.
• Clinton, Bill. Interview. New York Times on the
  Web. May 2007. 25 May 2007. Keyword Climate.
• Web.
• Dean, Cornelia. "Executive on a Mission Saving
  the Planet." New York Times on the Web 22
• May 2007. Web. 25 May 2007.
• Ebert, Roger. "An Inconvenient Truth." Rev. of An
  Inconvenient Truth, dir. Davis Guggenheim.
• rogerebert.com. 2 June 2006. Web. 24 May 2007.
• Global Warming. 2007. Cooler Heads Coalition. 24
  May 2007. Web.
• Gowdy, John. "Avoiding Self-organized Extinction
  Toward a Co-evolutionary Economics of
• Sustainability." International Journal of
  Sustainable Development and World Ecology 14.1
  (2007) 27-36. Print.
• An Inconvenient Truth. Dir. Davis Guggenheim.
  Perf. Al Gore. Lawrence Bender, 2006. Film.
• Leroux, Marcel. Global Warming Myth Or Reality?
  The Erring Ways of Climatology. New York
• Springer, 2005. Print.
• Milken, Michael, Gary Becker, Myron Scholes, and
  Daniel Kahneman. "On Global Warming and
• Financial Imbalances." New Perspectives
  Quarterly 23.4 (2006) 63. Print.
• Nordhaus, William D. "After Kyoto Alternative
  Mechanisms to Control Global Warming."

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Thats It!

• Go to Purdues Online Writing Lab if you have any
  further questions they are the authorities on
  MLA formatting!
• Notice, however, that some of their entries
  havent been updated to comply with the MLA 2009
  changes so read things over carefully.
• Good luck!