MLA Style Guide
Part One: Parenthetical References
(***Embedded References)
Parenthetical referencing is used in the body of your paper to make reference to someone else’s ideas. For example when you paraphrase someone’s ideas or use a direct quotation, you will need to include a parenthetical reference.
A. Provide the author’s last name and the page number (s) in parentheses followed following the paraphrase or quotation.
B. The author’s name can appear in the sentence itself, but the page number(s) should appear in parentheses and not in the sentence
Examples
Wordsworth stated that Romantic poetry was marked by a "spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings" (263).
Romantic poetry is characterized by the "spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings" (Wordsworth 263).
Wordsworth extensively explored the role of emotion in the creative process (263).
C. Internet sources often have no page or paragraph numbers, and Web sites often list no author. Cite the author's name whenever possible, and use the source’s title otherwise (or a shortened version of the title). If no page or paragraph number is provided, leave that portion of the citation blank. Keep in mind that the primary purpose of an in-text citation is simply to point readers to the correct entry on the “Works Cited’ page.
Examples
Butterflies are at risk of becoming extinct because of the actions of men (Butterflies at Risk).
Part Two: Bibliography/Works Cited
This is part of your report/essay where you will list all of the books that you used to help you do your research. Some teachers will want you only to list the books that you cited in the body of your paper. This would be called Works Cited.
If your teacher wants you to list all of the books you used in order to do your reach then you will be creating a Bibliography.
General Formatting Guidelines:
8 The Biography/Works Cited will be a separate page in your assignment
8 Arrange all items by the author’s last name alphabetically
8 Indent the second and following lines of each entry ½ inch (1cm)
o this is called a hanging indent in Word.
8 Use double spacing
8 If no author is available, start with the Title/topic
8 Use quotation marks, underlining and punctuation as shown in the examples
8 Dates should be in the following order – Day Month Year
8 Shorten all months except May, June and July
o Example: 14 Nov. 2008
Books
Basic Format for a Book
Examples
Gleick, James. Cars and Trucks. New York: Penguin Books, 1987.
Henley, Patricia. The Hummingbird House. Denver: MacMurray, 1999.
Book with More Than One Author
First author name is written last name first; subsequent author names are written first name, last name.
Gillespie, Paula, and Neal Lerner. The Allyn and Bacon Guide to Peer Tutoring. Boston: Allyn, 2000.
If there are more than three authors, you may list only the first author followed by the phrase et al. (the abbreviation for the Latin phrase "and others"; no period after "et") in place of the other authors' names, or you may list all the authors in the order in which their names appear on the title page.
Wysocki, Anne, et al. Learning to Write. Logan, UT: Utah State UP, 2004.
An Edition of a Book
Cite the book as you normally would, but add the number of the edition after the title.
Crowley, Sharon and Debra Hawhee. Ancient Rhetorics for Contemporary Students. 3rd ed. New York: Pearson/Longman, 2004.
A Work Prepared by an Editor
Cite the book as you normally would, but add the editor after the title.
Bronte, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. Ed. Margaret Smith. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1998.
Article in Reference Book (Dictionary or Encyclopedia)
"Ideology." The American Heritage Dictionary. 3rd ed. 1997.
Poston, John. “Radiation.” The World Book Encyclopedia. 4th ed. 2009.
Newspaper or Magazine Article
Magazine Examples
Poniewozik, James. "TV Makes a Too-Close Call." Time 20 Nov. 2000: 70-71.
Buchman, Dana. "A Special Education." Good Housekeeping Mar. 2006: 143-8.
Newspaper Examples
Brubaker, Bill. "New Health Center Targets County's Uninsured Patients." Washington Post 24 May 2007: LZ01.
Krugman, Andrew. "Fear of Eating." New York Times 21 May 2007: A1.
Web Sources
An Entire Web Site
The Purdue OWL Family of Sites. 26 Aug. 2005. The Writing Lab and OWL at Purdue and Purdue University. 23 April 2006 <http://owl.english.purdue.edu>.
Felluga, Dino. Guide to Literary and Critical Theory. 28 Nov. 2003. Purdue University. 10 May 2006 <http://www.cla.purdue.edu/english/theory>.
A Page on a Web Site
For an individual page on a Web site, list the author or alias if known, followed by the information you would use for an entire Web site. If you cannot locate some of the information it can be omitted. Make sure the URL points to the exact page you are referring to.
Stolley, Karl. "MLA Formatting and Style Guide." The OWL at Purdue. 10 May 2006. Purdue University Writing Lab. 12 May 2006 <http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/557/01/>.
"Caret." Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. 28 April 2006. Wikimedia Foundation Inc. 10 May 2006 <http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Caret&oldid=157510440>.
"How to Make Vegetarian Chili." eHow.com. 10 May 2006 <http://www.ehow.com how_10727_make-vegetarian-chili.html>.
Images and Photographs
van Gogh, Vincent. The Starry Night. 1889. Museum of Mod. Art, New York. 3 Feb. 2003 http://moma.org/collection/depts/paint_sculpt/blowups/paint_sculpt_003.html>.
brandychloe. Great Horned Owl Family. Webshots.com. 22 May 2006 <http://image46.webshots.com/47/7/17/41/347171741bgVWdN_fs.jpg>.
MLA Style Guide 1