MLA%20Format

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MLA Format

• In-text Citations
• Works Cited

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Whats MLA and why do we need it?

• MLA stands for Modern Language Association, an
  organization supporting the teaching and study of
  language and literature. With more than 30,000
  members in 100 countries, the MLA sets standards
  for publishing in the humanities.

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Whats MLA and why do we need it?

• The Modern Language Association devised a logical
  system for documenting outside sources. You will
  use this system, MLA documentation, for giving
  credit to outside sources in the CARP and future
  college papers in the humanities.

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Whats MLA and why do we need it?

• If you use any information or ideas from an
  outside source, you must either Quote the
  source exactly or rewrite the information in 100
  your own words and sentence structure.

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Whats MLA and why do we need it?

• Following ALL instances of paraphrasing and/or
  quoting from sources, you must include
  information about where the information came
  fromin other words, the source.

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MLA formatting has 2 main functions

• 1 In-text citations
• Found in the body of the paper itself
• Appears in the paper every time an outside source
  is either quoted or paraphrased.
• Parenthesis containing the authors last name and
  page number of source
• Citations look like this (Smith 25).

• 2 Works Cited
• Found at the end of the paper.
• Lists all sources that have been used and cited
  in the paper.
• .Alphabetized by authors last name.
• Authors names appearing in the paper should also
  appear on the works cited.
• All publication information must be recorded in
  correct MLA format.

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In-text citations

• Student Paraphrase
• Arthur C. Clarke, author of 2001 A Space
  Odyssey, a 1968 novel that introduced the concept
  of artificial intelligence to general audiences,
  predicts that in a mere thirty-six years, people
  will no longer have to work. He predicts that a
  device called the Universal Replicator will use
  nanotechnology to change matter from one form to
  another. With the ability to create all
  necessities from common substances, by 2040,
  people will not need to work in order to survive
  (Clark 73).
• Note the paraphrased information in blue and the
  in-text citation at the end. Only the authors
  last name and page number are included in the
  in-text citation. The rest of the information
  will be included in the works cited.

• Original Passage from book
• In 2040, The Universal Replicator, based on
  nanotechnology, is perfected any object, however
  complex, can be created - given the necessary raw
  material and the appropriate information matrix.
  Diamonds or gourmet meals can, literally, be made
  from dirt. As a result, agriculture and industry
  are phased out, ending that recent invention in
  human history - work!
• Source
• Author? Arthur Clarke
• Title? Optimism for Tomorrow (book)
• Quote found on page 73.
• Published by? Penguin Putnam, New York
• Year? 2003

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In-text citations important terms Paraphrase

• Paraphrasing explaining the sources ideas in
  100 your own words.

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In-text citations important term Paraphrase

• Paraphrasing means that you READ the source first
  and understand what it says.
• Then, after putting the source out of sight
  (closing the book, switching screens etc...)
  recall the sources ideas and write them in your
  own words.

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In-text citations important term Paraphrase

• Simply plugging in different words or writing a
  patchwork paraphrase ( ½ your words ½
  sources words) is plagiarism.

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In-text citations important term Quote

• Direct Quote A direct quote is...
• the sources exact words,
• copied accurately,
• word for word,
• and surrounded with quotation marks.
• After using a direct quote from a source, you
  must include an in-text citation immediately
  after the end of the quote .

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In-text citations No Author

• When you have a source with no author listed
  (remember that you should always apply the
  evaluation criteria to all sources assume the
  examples here come from valid sources), use the
  TITLE (or an abbreviated title) in the in-text
  citation.
• For example
• (paraphrasing information from an article
  --note the quotation marks that indicate
  article)
• Several Wordsworth critics once encouraged people
  to cover their ears when Wordsworth poems were
  read, because they believed listeners would
  become depressed and whiny, just like Wordsworth
  himself ("Wordsworth Is a Loser" 100).

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In-text citations No Author contd

• (Quoting information from a website--note the
  underlining that indicates website)
• A recently published cartoon responded to the
  debate about genetically altered foods. It
  depicts the Garden of Eden, with Eve saying to
  the Serpent, I wont take a bite if its been
  genetically altered as he tries to tempt her
  (Cartoon Stock).
• Note that websites do not have page numbers, as
  pages are numbered by the printer if we had
  giant paper, we may have one page if we used
  tiny paper, we may have 100.

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In-text citations Some Donts for Authorless
sources...

• Do not ever, ever, ever use www.addressofwebsite.c
  om in an in-text citation!
• Do not use something weird such as (no author
  listed) or (anonymous) or (unknown) in your
  in-text citation.
• Do not use the name of the publication (Newsweek
  or Harvard Business Journal or Expanded Academic
  ASAP) in your in-text citation.
• USE THE TITLE if you do not have an author!

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Works Cited
Note the works Cited page should be
double-spaced its single spaced here to save
room.

• Works Cited
• Ehrenreich, Barbara. Nickel Dimed, On (Not)
  Getting By in America. New York Holt Publishing,
  2001.
• ---. Home Page. 2006. July 22, 2006.
  lthttp//www.barbaraehrenreich.com/gt.
• Hightower, James. How Wal-Mart is Remaking Our
  World. Hightower Lowdown. April 26, 2002. July
  23, 2006ltwww.hightowrlowdown.comgt.
• Smith, John. . Trying to Survive on Minimum
  Wage...can it be done? New York Times 3 Oct.
  2002 A20. Expanded Academic ASAP. Tidewater
  Community College Library, Portsmouth VA. 20
  July, 2006 lthttp//www.gale.comgt.

Barbara Ehrenreichs Home Page http//www.barbara
ehrenreich.com/
Hightower Lowdown website Jim Hightower How
Wal-Mart is Remaking our World Article about
Wal-Mart April 2002 www.hightowerlowdown.com
Expanded Academic ASAP Database Article Smith,
John. Trying to Survive on Minimum Wage...can it
be done? NY Times, C7 (May 2005) Expanded
Academic ASAP. Gale Group. Info about the
working poor from a scholarly source found on the
TCC LRC website.....
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Works Cited Necessary Information

• Works Cited entries vary depending upon the type
  of source, but they follow a general pattern
• AuthorLast Name, First Name. (Smith, John.)
• Titleeither In Quotation Marks or Underlined.
• Publication Information where/how the source was
  published
• City of Publication Publisher (New York Random
  House)
• Database Name, Company publishing database
  (Opposing Viewpoints, Gale Group)
• Magazine/Journal name--underlined (Newsweek)
  (Journal of Emergency Nurses)
• Main websites name -underlined (UCLA History
  Department) (NIH)
• Date of publication when the source was
  published or accessed (23 July 2006) or 2004.

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Works Cited Citing Database Sources

• Whenever you use a database source, you cannot
  pretend as if you read the original source. For
  example, if you find an article from the Journal
  of the American Medical Association on one of the
  TCC databases and you use it in your paper, you
  cannot simply list the article without the Name
  of the Database Used, Name of the Service that
  publishes the Database, Library information.
• It is easy to distinguish database articles from
  other sources. Please use the following format
  when citing database sources
• Author's name. "Title of the Article." Original
  Source of Article Date of original source page
  numbers. Name of the Database Used. Name of the
  Service that publishes the Database. Name of
  Library or Library System, City, State
  Abbreviation. Date of access ltURL of service's
  homepagegt.

See next slide for examples...
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Works Cited Citing Database Sources
Dont forget to include the highlighted
information

• Gray, Geoffrey. "An echo in the boxing ring." 
  Columbia Journalism Review  42.6  (March-April
  2004) 64(1). Expanded Academic ASAP. Thomson
  Gale.  Tidewater Community College Library,
  Portsmouth, VA.  26 2006 July
  lthttp//.galegroup.com.gt
• Rossi, John P. "The enduring relevance of George
  Orwell." Contemporary Review 283.1652 (Sept
  2003) 172(5). InfoTrac OneFile. Thomson
  Gale. Tidewater Community College Library,
  Portsmouth VA.  24 July 2006  lthttp//find.galegro
  up.comgt.
• Sowell, Thomas. "Increasing the Minimum Wage Is
  Counterproductive." Poverty. Ed. Karen Balkin.
  San Diego Greenhaven Press, 2004. Opposing
  Viewpoints Resource Center. Thomson Gale.
  Tidewater Community College Library, Portsmouth
  VA. 26 July 2006 lthttp//find.galegroup.comgt.
• "U.S. EPA environmental justice plan falls
  short." World Watch. 186 (8). Nov-Dec 2005.
  Science Resource Center. Thomson Gale. Tidewater
  Community College Library, Portsmouth VA.  20
  July 2006 lthttp//galenet.galegroup.com. gt

You do not need to include the entire HUGE web
address. You may stop at the .com
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Works Cited Special Circumstances

• UNKNOWN AUTHOR
• When the author of a work is unknown, begin with
  the work's title.
• Titles of articles and other short works, such as
  brief documents from Web sites, are put in
  quotation marks.
• Your works cited entry would look like this
• The Rich and the Rest. Futurist 39 4
  (July/Aug. 2005) 38-43. SIRS Knowledge Source.
  SIRS, Inc. Tidewater Community Coll. Lib.,
  Portsmouth, VA. 22 Jul. 2006 lthttp//sksl4.sirs.co
  mgt.
• Titles of books and other whole/long works, such
  as entire Web sites, are underlined.
• Your works cited entry would look like this
• Atlas of the World. New York Macmillan
  Publishing, 2005.
• From http//www.dianahacker.com/resdoc/p04_c08_o.
  html

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Great Sources for HELP...

• Here is a TCC page about documenting sources...it
  has many great links
• http//www.tcc.edu/lrc/guides/research.htm
• Diana Hackers page at Bedford/St. Martins (the
  publisher of Patterns for College Writing) is
  great!
• Click on Humanities when you arrive
• http//www.dianahacker.com/resdoc/

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End of Presentation.

• Be sure to read the document on Plagiarism for
  this week.
• Also, dont forget to check out the MLA section
  (complete with a sample research paper) in your
  HANDBOOK!