Mla format 2

MLA CitationThe Works Cited Page & In-Text Citations

The Works Cited Page

Do it as you do your research to make your in-text citations easier to format.

The easiest way to do your in-text citations, which appear in your essay itself, is to do the works cited page first.

Why?

When you do the in-text citations, you will include the first bit of information included in your works cited page in the parentheses of your in-text citation.

Here’s an example.Sumner, Thomas. "States Ranked On Climate Change

Preparation." Science News, vol. 189, no. 2, 23 Jan. 2016, pp.

5. EBSCOhost, Accessed 12 Jan. 2016.

Works Cited entry

“Report cards are out and some states are better prepared

for climate change threats than others” (Sumner 5).

In-text citatio

nThe in-text

citation uses the first item from the works cited entry!

In-Text CitationsInclude one every time you put information in your paper that you found somewhere else, i.e. somewhere other than your own

brain.

Two reasons for the in-text citation

• To show that you found the information in your paper elsewhere, i.e. to show that you are not plagiarizing.

• To tell the reader where to look on the works cited page for the resource where you found that information.

When to include an in-text citation

When you directly quote a section from another text.

Example: “The paper takes stock of the wide-ranging implications for fiscal, financial, and macroeconomic policies of coming to grips with climate change” (“IMF Releases Paper”).


When you directly quote pieces from another text.

Example: “Environmentalists chose” not to participate in state efforts to remedy the pollution at Silver Springs “and say they have no regrets” (Hiers).


When you paraphrase a section or idea from a text.

Example: In Australia, the middle class will be both the ones who lose the most from climate change and the ones with the most impact on government decisions (Bennett 16).

When NOT to include an in-text

citation• When you are including commonly known information, such as the fact that George Washington was the first president of the U.S.

• When you are including a quote that is well-known or from a very famous person, such as “I have not yet begun to fight,” by John Paul Jones.

How to Format an In-Text Citation

“In other words, the people who will figure out a response -- if not a solution -- to climate change will be working in the forests, in the waterways and in the farmland” (Trillhaase).

Use quotation marks

around the words you copy from

the source.Place the in-text citation after the

quotation marks.

Place the period

AFTER the parentheses

, not inside the

quote itself.

How to Format an In-Text Citation—the block quote

If the quote extends beyond four lines on your page, format it as a block quote.Start the quote on a new line, and

indent each

line of the

quote.

Place the end

punctuation (the

period) before the parentheses

.Continue your paper on the next line after the quote.

Basic Format for an In-Text Citation

When you know the author’s name and the page number:

Example: “The disappearance ofmammoths and giant sloths has defiedexplanation since the turn of the 19th

century” (Keats 14).

Include the author’s last name and the page number(s) where the quote appeared, no

comma.

Format for an In-Text Citation

When you know the author’s name, but there is no page number:

Example: “There is no reason free tradeand climate progress can't coexist” (Boyd).

Include the author’s last name only.


When you don’t know the author’s name, but the information comes from an organization:

Example: “The United States and the world are warming, global sea level is rising, and some types of extreme weather events are becoming more frequent and more severe” (US Global Change Research Program).

Include the name of the

organization in parentheses.

Watch out!Sometimes you have to dig to find the author’s name, especially when you are getting information from a website.

Try clicking on the “about us” link if there is one to discover the name of the author or organization.

If you can’t find an author or organization name, you might not want to use the resource in your paper.


When you don’t know the author’s or organization’s name:

Example: “I am grateful to those who reach out to me, to others, when they are clearly in need or just to nod in understanding” (“Bears Repeating”).

Include an abbreviated name of the article in quotation marks.

RememberWhatever you put in the parentheses will match the first item in the full citation. That’s why it’s a good idea to do your citation (or even the whole works cited page) first.

Full Citation:"IMF Releases Paper On Implications Of Climate Change For Fiscal, Financial, And Macroeconomic Policies."Arabia 2000, 12 Jan. 2016. Newspaper Source, Accessed 13 Jan. 2016.

Parenthetical Citation:(“IMF Releases Paper”)

The parentheti

cal citation matches the first thing in the full citation.

The Works Cited Page

Use a cheat like www.citefast.com to create the citation for you.

http://www.citefast.com/

Create your works cited entries: Use

citefast.comMost citation generators have not updated to version 8 of MLA. The only one currently that has is www.citefast.com, so USE IT!


How to use citefast.comGo to

www.citefast.com

How to use citefast.com

Choose the type of resource you want to cite.

Click “More” to see other resource types.


If you are citing a webpage, copy and paste the URL and click

the search button.


Citefast creates a citation using MLA v. 8! BUT it

doesn’t grab all

the information from

the webpage, so you have to add it.

Add the author name.

Add the publication

date.Add the date you found the article (today, usually).


Finally, save your citation.

Then, Copy/Paste it or Export to Word.

Vinas, Maria-Jose. "Climate Change: Vital Signs of the Planet: Arctic Sea Ice Annual Minimum Ties Second Lowest on Record." Climate Change: Vital Signs of the Planet, 15 Sept. 2016, climate.nasa.gov/news/2496/ arctic-sea-ice-annual-minimum-ties-second-lowest-on- record/. Accessed 26 Sept. 2016.

Create your works cited entries:

Library DatabasesYou can also get citations from most library databases, such as EBSCOhost, Student Research Center, Opposing Viewpoints in Context, CQ Researcher, and Issues and Controversies.

How to use library databases for citations.

Unfortunately, most library databases are not yet using MLA edition 8, which is the most recent version of MLA.

How to use library databases for citations.

What does this mean for you? You can either tweak the citation given to you by a library database or use www.citefast.com to create the citation.


Use citefast to create library

database citations.Citefast will not

find most content from library databases.Instead, you will

have to choose the type of source

(usually Journal).Click “Manual

Entry.”And fill in the blanks with the information from the database.

Warning!If you enter the information incorrectly into citefast, the citation will be incorrect. Always check for errors.

Warning!If you get your citation from a library database instead, be careful! Some of the information may not be formatted correctly. For example, author names should not be in all caps. Always check! Don’t take for granted that the citation is correct!

The Works Cited Page (Cont.)

Make sure you format the works cited page correctly.

Begin your works

cited page on a new page.

Center the title “Works Cited” in the middle of the page. Don’t misspell it as “Sighted” or “Sited.”

Include one blank line between the title and the first citation.Double

space the page.

How to format your works cited page.

How to format your works cited page.

Indent any subsequent line(s) of

each citation.Alphabetize the entries according to the first

word in each citation.

Left align the first

line of each citation.

Questions?• Try Googling your question, such as “How do I cite a Tweet in MLA format?”

• Refer to the OWL at Purdue: owl.english.purdue.edu

• Look in your textbook.

• Ask your professor.

Education

Mla format 2