MLA Format:

The Important Things to Know

When you report on research, you must explain where you got your information, so that

your reader can check to see if you are right.

On the last page of your paper, you list all your sources of information. In APA format, this page is titled “References.”

In MLA format, this is called your “Works Cited” page.

Then, in the body of your paper, you provide in-text

citations.

The in-text citations show the reader where to look for the source on your “Works

Cited” list.

The important thing is to make it easy for your reader to find the source on the “Works Cited” list.

For this reason, your in-text citation must begin with the same words that begin your entry on the “Works Cited” list.

Now we will look at some basic models for the entries on your “Works Cited” list.

Here is the model for a book:

Lastname, Firstname. Title of Book. Place of Publication: Publisher, Year of Publication. Medium of Publication.

You will find this information inside the title page.

Here is the title page:

Now turnThe page …

Tan, Amy. The Hundred Secret Senses. New York: Random House, 1995. Print.

Here is the model for an article or essay from a collection. You would use this model to cite a reading from our text, Quest 3:

Lastname, First name. "Title of Essay." Title of

Collection. Ed. Editor's Name(s). Place of Publication: Publisher, Year. Page range of entry. Medium of Publication.

Anderson, Jack. “Going to Norway." Quest 3 Reading

and Writing. Ed. Pamela Hartmann and Laurie

Blass. New York: Mcgraw-Hill, 2007. 172-173. Print.

Tips to remember:

*Copy the punctuation exactly.

*If information is missing, leave it out and go on to the next thing.

Here is the model for periodical (a newspaper or magazine):

Author(s). "Title of Article." Title of Periodical Day Month Year: pages. Medium of publication.

"Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi.” Time 30 June 1947:1. Print.

(Note that there is no author given, so the title of the article comes first.)

Notice that:

*All dates are in MLA format.

*If you don’t know the author, you omit it and go to the title.

Here is the model for a page on a Web site:

Editor, author, or compiler name (if available). “Title of Web Page.” Name of Site. Name of institution/organization affiliated with the site (sponsor or publisher), date of resource creation (if available). Medium of publication. Date of access.

Now, let’s try it:

O’Brien, Barbara. “What Do Buddhists Believe?” Name of Site. Name of institution/organization affiliated with the site (sponsor or publisher), date of resource creation (if available). Medium of publication. Date of access.

Now, you need to find the name of the main website:

Remember that pages of a website are like the pages in a book.

The name of the main website is like the title of a book.

To find the main website, erase the URL back to the first single / :

http://buddhism.about.com/od/introductiontobuddhism/a/budbeliefs.htm

O’Brien, Barbara. “What Do Buddhists Believe?” About.com. Buddhism. Name of institution/organization affiliated with the site (sponsor or publisher), date of resource creation (if available). Medium of publication. Date of access.

Next, you need to figure out who is responsible for this website. It may be an institution or organization. The a name may or may not be the same as the name of the website.

In this case, we see it atthe bottom of the page.

O’Brien, Barbara. “What Do Buddhists Believe?” About.com. Buddhism. The New York Times Company, date of resource creation (if available). Medium of publication. Date of access.

Next, you need to find the date that the page your are citing was created.

To do this, go back to your original long URL:

http://buddhism.about.com/od/introductiontobuddhism/a/budbeliefs.htm

The date may not be there. If it is not, use “n.d.”

O’Brien, Barbara. “What Do Buddhists Believe?” About.com. Buddhism. The New York Times Company, n.d. Medium of publication. Date of access.

The medium of publication is “Web.” The date of access is the date that you found the page on the Internet.

O’Brien, Barbara. “What Do Buddhists Believe?” About.com. Buddhism. The New York Times Company, n.d. Web. 28 March 2011.

When do you need to cite?

*any direct quotation

*Any idea that you got from

another author.

*Any figures or statistics.

If you paraphrase another author,

provide a citation!

If you use another author’s

exact words,

use quotation marks and

provide a citation!