MLA FORMAT
you’ve been asked to submit a paper using MLA format, that means your instructor is expecting you to not only include information about the sources you used in researching the paper, but also to cite that information in the text itself. This means that if you mention or refer to an idea that you found somewhere, you must cite the source where you found it. It doesn’t matter if this source is a book, a journal, a DVD, or a website, you must give credit to the creator of that idea. This worksheet will help prepare you to keep to the MLA style and offer some pointers.
Citing Sources in the Text
This is where if you use an idea or quote from a source in the text of your paper, you will direct the reader to the source where you got it from (the source’s complete information will appear in the Works Cited section of the paper). Usually, this consists of the author’s name in parentheses, followed by a page number where the specific text that you are mentioning appears. There are other ways to show this, however. For instance, a usual citation might look like this:
Towards the end of his life, Franklin “was convinced that the acceptance of his Albany Plan could have prevented the Revolution and created a harmonious empire” (Isaacson, 161)
Could also look like this:
According to Isaacson (161), Franklin felt that the entire Revolution could have been prevented if the Albany Plan had passed.
In both cases, the reader will know to look in the Works Cited list for Isaacson. When they do, they will find this:
Isaacson, Walter. Benjamin Franklin, An American Life. New York, NY: Simon and Schuster, 2003.
If there is no known author, then list the title of the article (or whatever appears first in your Works Cited section)
Works Cited list
The Works Cited list is at the end of your paper and lists all of the resources you are using ideas from in your paper. It should start on a fresh page and be alphabetical by the author’s last name. There is a specific way to write
Citing Sources in the Text
This is where if you use an idea or quote from a source in the text of your paper, you will direct the reader to the source where you got it from (the source’s complete information will appear in the Works Cited section of the paper). Usually, this consists of the author’s name in parentheses, followed by a page number where the specific text that you are mentioning appears. There are other ways to show this, however. For instance, a usual citation might look like this:
Towards the end of his life, Franklin “was convinced that the acceptance of his Albany Plan could have prevented the Revolution and created a harmonious empire” (Isaacson, 161)
Could also look like this:
According to Isaacson (161), Franklin felt that the entire Revolution could have been prevented if the Albany Plan had passed.
In both cases, the reader will know to look in the Works Cited list for Isaacson. When they do, they will find this:
Isaacson, Walter. Benjamin Franklin, An American Life. New York, NY: Simon and Schuster, 2003.
If there is no known author, then list the title of the article (or whatever appears first in your Works Cited section)
Works Cited list
The Works Cited list is at the end of your paper and lists all of the resources you are using ideas from in your paper. It should start on a fresh page and be alphabetical by the author’s last name. There is a specific way to write
Cited: American Psychological Association. Publication Manual. 4th ed. Washington, D.C.: APA, 1994. Print. Wysocki, Anne Frances, Johndan Johnson-Eilola, Cynthia L. Selfe, and Geoffrey Sirc. Writing New Media: Theory and Applications for Expanding the Teaching of Composition. Logan: Utah State UP, 2004. Print.