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A Guide to MLA

A Guide to Documentation, MLA Style

This is the new standard of documentation adopted by the Modern Language Association.
It replaces the practice of using footnotes to mark citations of sources. Instead, the writer
briefly identifies sources in the text itself or by author and page in parentheses. At the end
of the paper, an alphabetically arranged list titled Works Cited replaces the endnotes page
and in most cases the bibliography as well. If there are works that the writer consulted but
did not cite, they are listed alphabetically on a separate Works Consulted page.

Use the following as a guide when citing sources.

Wherever possible, include the reference as part of the text in your paper. For example,
if you were writing a paper about Seattle and its climate and you wanted to quote a
famous author who grew up in Seattle, you would cite the reference in the text this way:

In her autobiography, Memoirs of a Seattle Girlhood, Elspeth Wetly describes growing
up in Seattle as "a damp experience" (219).
Note that the punctuation (the period) follows the parentheses.

When it''s awkward to include the source as part of the text, enclose the citation in
parentheses following the relevant material. For example, if you wanted to make a
general statement about reactions to Seattle's climate, you might say:

People who grew up there complain that Seattle is a damp city to live in (Wetly 219).

Note that the author's last name is included within the parentheses when the author is
not mentioned in the text. It is not necessary to include the title within the parentheses
unless more than one work by the same author (or works by authors with the same
name) is cited in your paper.

If consecutive citations are made from the same source, only the page number is
required in the citations following the initial citation. If another work is cited between
citations from a single work, the author's name must be repeated as well.

The following passage shows examples of the preceding guidelines.

People who grew up there complain that Seattle is a damp city to live in
(Wetly, Memoirs 219). This dampness, in fact, leads to frequent minor illnesses
among the population in general (Wetly, Dripping 204). Often, these illnesses can
last through the winter, and in at least one case, a common cold "dragged on for an
entire hanky-soaked year" (274). The dark, damp autumns, winters and springs can
also lead to serious depression. In some people, the depression abates only in July and
early August, when Seattleites celebrate the presence of the usn by staging the annual
Seafair festival (Wetly, Memoirs 156).

The sources cited in your text are listed alphabetically on the Works Cited page. This
list is where detailed information such as the date and place of publication is included.
The Works Cited list should be double spaced with no extra spaces between sources.
All but the first line of each entry are indented five spaces.

SAMPLE CITATIONS OF THE MOST COMMON SOURCES

A BOOK BY A SINGLE AUTHOR

List the author's name (last name first), the title of the book (underlined), the city where
it was published (if several cities are listed, use the one in this country or the first one if
they are all in this country), and the year it was published (use the most recent year if the
work has been published more than once).

If you list more than one source by the same author, the second one begins with three
hyphens for each name of the author.

Wetly, Elspeth. Dripping Forests and Running Noses. Seattle: Evergreen Publications,
1965.

---, ---, Memoirs of a Seattle Girlhood. Portland: Pristine Press, 1970.

A BOOK BY MULTIPLE AUTHORS

If there are two authors, the second is listed by first name then last name. For more
than two authors, you need only list the first one. The Latin term "et al" refers to the
subsequent authors.


Strunk, William and E.B. White. The Elements of Style. 3rd ed. New

        York:Macmillan, 1979.



Jolley, Janina M. et al. How to Write Psychology Papers. Sarasota,

        Florida:Professional Resource Exchange. 1984.



A WORK IN ANTHOLOGY



List the author of the work, the title of the work (in quotes), the title of the book, 

the editor of the book, place of publication, publisher, date and the page(s) on

which the work appears.



Faulkner, William. "Dry September." Modern Stories in English. Ed. W.H.

        New and H.J. Rosengarten. New York: Crowell, 1975.



AN ARTICLE IN A MAGAZINE



List the author, the title of the article, the name of the magazine, the date of the

magazine (for weekly periodicals, list the day, month abbreviation, and year) and 

the pages on which the article appears.

Beedy, Kevin J., PH.D. "The Politics of Animal Rights." The Animals'

        Agenda March 1990: 17-21.

Stewart, William. "A War on Poverty." Time 30 Apr. 1990: 23-25.

Article in a Daily Newspaper.

If the title of the newspaper begins with The, omit the word. IF the newspaper is not a national newspaper (such as The Wall Street Journal or Chronicle of Higher Education) or the city of publication is not part of its title, give the name of the city in square brackets {Salem, OR} after the title. List the date in inverted order and, if the masthead indicated that the paper has more than one edition, give this information after the date

(“natl.ed.,” “final ed.,”). Follow with a colon and a space, and end with the page numbers (use the section letter before the page number if the newspaper used numbered sections). If the article does not appear in consecutive pages, write only the first page number and a plus sign (+), with no space between.

Gosselin, Peter. “Federal Investigators Focus on Hard

Drives, Workers with Access.” Seattle Times 18 June

2000: A2

AN ARTICLE WITH NO AUTHOR IS LISTED BY THE TITLE
OF THE ARTICLE.

"Some Help for Working Mom." Time 9 Apr. 1990: 39.

If you are using a source not covered in this handout (a government publication,
an interview, a film or a videotape, for example), consult MLA Style Manual,
which lists just about every conceivable source. This book is available in the
Writing Lab.

World Wide Web sites.

Provide publication information followed by the access date

and the URL in angle brackets. Place a period after the final angle bracket.

Partenheimer, David. Exercise Helps keep You Psyche Fit. 13

June 1999.Amer.Psychological Assn. 21 Nov 2000

<http:www.apa.org/releases/excersise.html>.

Email message.

Cite the sender of the message; the title (from the subject line, in quotation marks); a phrase indicating the recipient of the message; and the date of the message.

Holm, Janine. “Last-minute Revisions.” E-mail to the

author. 17 July 1999.

Work from a subscription Service.

Libraries subscribe to reference databases such as Lexis-Nexis or Info Trac. If you access a work from a subscription service, list in your citation as much of the following information as possible.