MLA Guidelines

The Modern Language Association establishes parameters for proper documentation of sources for writing in the humanities. It is your task as a writer to use these rules correctly, both to avoid plagiarism and to allow the reader to investigate the validity of your sources. This handout has an overview, but if you have any questions, you should look further in any good English handbook or online at <http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/557/01/> Whats a citation ?Its a place in your text that you name, or cite, the author whose information you are using. The citation is done in a pair of parentheses right in your paragraph.

When do you cite a source? 1. When you quote directly. But use direct quotations sparinglyuse only if the wording is so eloquent that you cannot say it more vividly the name of the author lends credibility to your point you wish to highlight the authors opinion or phrasing 2. When you paraphrasereword someone elses idea in your own words 3. When you summarizeexplain just the main point(s) of someones idea 4. When you use ideas from an author that are not common knowledge 5. When you cite statistics
The important element to use is the last name of the author, because it tells the reader how to find the author in the Works Cited page, which lists authors youve cited alphabetically. The works cited page gives full publication information at the end of your essay. (This used to be called the Bibliography, but since the word means books, and today we use other kinds of texts, the term changed to works cited.) Here are samples of how to work citations into youre the paragraphs in your essay.

Quoting a source that you introduce. Generally, it is better to attribute, or mention in your own sentence, the author you are citing. It is stronger to tell who the author is and why readers should value their reference. Example: The distinguished herbalist Catherine McDonald concludes: My research suggests that herbs have the power of medicine (47). (Notice that the name is not repeated in the parenthesis, and the period is not inside the quotation mark, but outside the closing parenthesis at the end of your sentence.)

Example: In conclusion to her research, Catherine McDonald claims that herbs make

Paraphrasing a source that you introduce:

effective medicinal remedies (45).

Paraphrasing a source that you do not introduce. If you dont work the authors name into your sentence, put the last name and page number in the parentheses (with no comma between): Example: One botanist concludes that herbs are medicinally effective (McDonald

47).

Quoting a source that you do not introduce Example: Expert botanists assert that herbs have the power of medicine

(McDonald 47).

Remember that Works Cited pages are listed alphabetically by authors cited. In whatever way you word the citation in your text, you must give the first letter of the last name of the author (if you dont know the authors name, then use the title of the article). In the above four examples, the reader would look under the letter M in the Works Cited. Below are some tricky cases: If you have two sources by the same author, use the first word of the title:

McDonald asserts that herbs are medicinal (Herbs 47). McDonald notes that herbs must be used correctly to be effective (Power 325).
Note that the first title indicates a book (in italics) and the second an essay (in quotes).

If you have a quote within a quote, use a single quotation mark for the inner one:
Original in an article by Nielsen: Organic

farming produces superior quality because it is natural. Example: Others disagree with Nielsen who says that organics is a method that produces superior quality because it is natural. (Note that the period goes inside both
quotes.)

Sometimes you need to alter a quote to fit the flow and structure of your sentence. Use brackets [like this] to show your changes to the original: Original: Gingko biloba taken regularly for two months establishes noticeable results. Yours: Research has shown that when gingko biloba [is] taken regularly for two months results can then be documented (Bowers 617).

If the quote fills more than three lines of your paper, then you must follow the rules for using block quotes. There are no quotation marks needed because a double indentation on the left margin (hit TAB twice) indicates the use of a quotation. The right margin is not indented, and the block is double spaced. The period at the end of a long quote does go after the sentence, not the parenthesis: McDonalds argument becomes clear near the end of her essay: Herbs are natures medicine. They are powerful and effective, but only when used correctly and in adequate amounts. Most people who do not buy quality brands or take the herbs in proper dosages do not experience the full efficacy of the botanicals. My own research verifies what the majority of trustworthy work in the field of botanical medicine has also concluded: herbs have the power of medicine.(50) Note: Use block quotes very rarely. Since you have to explain/analyze the ideas in a quote in your own writing, to have long stretches of quoted words can weaken your analysis.

If in one paragraph, you quote several times from the same page, do not keep repeating the same page number in parenthesis after all of your sentences. Clearly attribute the author in the first sentence and put the page number after the last citation. Herbalist Catherine McDonald notes the medicinal power of herbs, although she notes that not all herbs are created equally: My research shows that organically crafted herbs that are grown and processed under strict conditions are most powerful. She goes on to claim that quality control used by the manufacturer makes the differences in herbs that work and those that dont(215).

Finding credible sources often means using academic library databases instead of or in addition to Web searches. Although much scholarly work is published on the Web, so are a lot of websites by fifth-graders. The ending letters of the URL/address can help you evaluate a Web site because <.edu> indicates an educational domain, but even that doesnt guarantee academic rigor. It is up to you to evaluate any textual source you find. Bottom line means that you must become familiar and skillful at finding, evaluating, and citing outside sources.

MLA errors to avoid Place the period at the very end of your sentence, which means that it goes outside of the parenthesis. (Exception: block quotessee rule above) Type the following last word, end quote, space, left parenthesis, page number, right parenthesis, period. Looks like this last word (72).

Once you attribute the authors name, you do not repeat it in the parenthesis. Not: Cecilia Bowers claims that herbs are not toxic (Bowers 344). But: Cecilia Bowers claims that herbs are not toxic (344). There is no comma between the authors name and the page number. Not: (Clark, 72). But: (Clark 72). Usually a colon is used after the formal introduction of a quote. Media critic Kevin Nielsen claims: The fact is that pictures in advertisements are often air brushed to a level of human impossibility (72). If you quote words that make a complete sentence, treat it as if it were a new sentence, and that means start it with a capital. If the original didnt have a capital, use brackets to show your insertion of the new letter. Original words by Kevin Nielsen, who is a media analyst: The fact is that pictures in advertisements are often air brushed to a level of human impossibility. Your sentence: Media critic Kevin Nielsen claims: [P]ictures in advertisements are often air brushed to a level of human impossibility (72). You would not use an ellipsis (3 dots) Not: Media critic Kevin Nielsen claims: pictures in advertisements are often air brushed. If you quote only a phrase or partial sentence from a source, do not start with a capital letter or punctuate before the quoted words. The word that is the cue that you are partially quoting. Media critic Kevin Nielsen explains that images in ads are air brushed to a level of human impossibility (72). However you incorporate the quoted material, the syntax (sentence structure) of your own sentence must be grammatically correct. Fragments or jumbled wording must be avoided. Not: Media critic Kevin Nielsen claims: While advertisers air brush the pictures (32).