The Modern Language Association (MLA) process of documentation requires that you acknowledge those whose work you have:
- Summarized
- Paraphrased
- Quoted
Two different types of documentation are required when writing from outside sources:
- In-text citations
- A Works Cited page
An in-text (within the paper) citation identifies where another's words, facts or ideas are being used.
- Place the citation in parentheses.
- Only include the information that is necessary to identify the source.
- Included can be: author's last name and page number and/or title.
- Citations are usually placed at the end of a sentence, inside the final punctuation mark.
Examples of in-text citations:
Recent research on sleep and dreaming indicates that dreams move backward in time as the night progresses (Dement 72).
Example where the author's name is mentioned in the text of the paper:
Freud states that “a dream is the fulfillment of a wish” (154).
NOTE: there is no comma between the author and the page number.
A period follows the citation.
When citing two or more works by the same author use a word or words from the title of the source.
Examples:
Foulkes' investigation shows that young children's dreams are “rather simple and unemotional”
(Children's Dreams 90).
One current theory emphasizes the principle that dreams express “profound aspects of personality” (Foulkes, Sleep 144).
Citing a text by two or three authors:
Jeffrey and Milanovitch argue that the recently reported statistics for teen pregnancies are inaccurate (112).
The recently reported statistics for teen-age pregnancies are said to be inaccurate (Jeffrey and Milanovitch 112).
Citing a source by more than three authors:
If your source has more than three authors, either use the first author's last name followed by et al. (which means “and others”) or list all of the last names.
Examples:
The conclusion drawn from a survey on the growth of the Internet, conducted by Martin et al., is that global usage will double within two years (36).
Recent figures on the growth of the Internet indicate that global usage will double within two years (Martin, Ober, Mancuso, and Blum 36).
The second type of documentation needed is a Works Cited page:
- It is a list of all of the sources cited within the paper and is located at the end of the paper.
- It is on a separate page, with the title “Works Cited” ½ inch down from the center top of the page.
- The complete list of both print and electronic sources is included in the Works Cited.
- There is a hanging indent.
- The sources are arranged alphabetically by author. If there is no author, alphabetize according to the first significant word in the title of the source.
A Typical MLA Works Cited entry for a book includes:
- Author's last name, first name.
followed by a period and one space
- Title of work underlined.
followed by a period and one space
- Place of publication:
followed by a colon
- Publisher,
followed by a comma and one space
- Date of publication.
followed by a period
Example:
Harris, Muriel. Prentice Hall Reference Guide to Grammar and Usage. Upper Saddle River:
Prentice Hall, 1997.
Example of a Works Cited entry for a
selection from an anthology
(a collection of essays or stories):
Carver, Raymond. “Cathedral.”
Literature: An Introduction to
Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. 6th ed.
Eds. X.J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia.
New York: Harper Collins, 1995. 223-233.
NOTE: the title of article is in “quotations“ and the title of the collection is underlined.
NOTE: the form used for editions and editors is shown in the above example.
More examples of both in-text and reference citations are available in the College Learning Centers.
For online references see:
Using Modern Language Association (MLA) Format
Copyright ©1995-2004 by OWL at Purdue University and Purdue University.
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/research/r_mla.html
For further examples of variations of Works Cited entries consult Joseph Gilbaldi's MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. 6th ed. which can also be found in the Learning Enhancement Center.