The Modern Language Association (MLA) Provides Guidelines for Documentation Style. This

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The Modern Language Association (MLA) provides guidelines for documentation style. This template is based on commonly used guidelines from the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers (7th edition) and the MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing (2nd edition). For more information about MLA style and publications, go to the MLA website at: www.mla.org or go to http://owl.english.purdue.edu.

For example, quotations with fewer than four lines of prose or three lines of verse are quoted directly in the sentence. Enclose them in quotation marks, followed by the author’s last name and the page or pages of the source from which you are quoting in parenthesis, for example: “inline quotation here” (Author’s Surname 31).

Quotations that are longer than four lines of prose or three lines of verse follow different guidelines. Introduce these quotations with a colon:

Start long quotations on a new line. Indent the quote one inch from the left margin. Double-space the lines and omit quotation marks. Reference the source as you would for a shorter quotation.To quickly format a quotationof over four lines or three lines of verse, use the Long quotation style provided in this Microsoft Word template.

Per MLA guidelines, all sources must be listed on a Works Cited page at the end of the paper. Center the title, Works Cited, and then list sources in alphabetical order by author’s last name. To format sources, refer to the MLA publications listed above for complete formatting guidelines.

How to format a works cited page:

·  Begin your Works Cited page on a separate page at the end of your research paper. It should have the same one-inch margins and last name, page number header as the rest of your paper.

·  Label the page Works Cited (do not italicize the words Works Cited or put them in quotation marks) and center the words Works Cited at the top of the page.

·  Double space all citations, but do not skip spaces between entries.

·  Indent the second and subsequent lines of citations five spaces so that you create a hanging indent.

·  List page numbers of sources efficiently, when needed. If you refer to a journal article that appeared on pages 225 through 250, list the page numbers on your Works Cited page as 225-50.

Works Cited

Books

Single Author

Perle, George. Serial Composition and Atonality: an Introduction to the Music of Schoenberg, Berg, and Webern. 6th ed. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1991. Print.

Multiple Authors

Higonnet, Margaret R., and Joan Templeton, eds. Reconfigured Spheres: Feminist Explorations of Literary Space. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1994. Print.

Chapter or Essay in Book

Calvino, Italo. "Cybernetics and Ghosts."The Uses of Literature: Essays. Trans. Patrick Creagh. San Diego: Harcourt, 1982. 3-27. Print.

Article in a Magazine/Newspaper

Kennedy, Louise. "Same Old Song."Boston Globe 9 March 2003, late ed.: N1+. Print.

Web Page

Pilgrim, David. "The Brute Caricature."Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia.Ferris State University. Nov. 2000. (Date of resource creation (if available)). Web. 20 May 2009. (Date of access)

Note: If your instructor requires it, include the URL immediately following the date of access, a period, and a space. Enclose the URL in angle brackets (>), and follow it with a period. For more details on citing works on the Web, see section 5.6 of the MLA Handbook.