19

Formatting, In-Text Citations, and the Works Cited Page

19.1 MLA Style Overview

MLA style provides a format for the manuscript text and parenthetical citations, or in-text citations. It also provides the framework for the works cited area for references at the end of the essay. MLA style emphasizes brevity and clarity. This section will outline the main points of MLA as well as offer specific examples of commonly used references. Remember that your writing represents you in your absence. The correct use of a citation style demonstrates your attention to detail and ability to produce a scholarly work in an acceptable style, and in so doing benefits your overall ethos.

If you are taking an English, art history, or music appreciation class, chances are that you will be asked to write an essay in MLA format. The liberal arts and humanities often reflect works of creativity that come from individual and group effort, but they may adapt, change, or build on previous creative works. The inspiration to create something new, from a song to a music video, may contain elements of previous works. Drawing on your fellow artists and authors is part of the creative process, and so is giving credit where credit is due.

A reader interested in your subject wants not only to read what you wrote but also to be aware of the works that you used to create it. Readers want to examine your sources to see if you know your subject, to see if you missed anything, or if you offer anything new and interesting. Your new or up-to-date sources may offer the reader additional insight on the subject being considered. Your documentation and use of sources also demonstrates that you, as the author, are up-to-date on what is happening in the field or on the subject. Giving credit where it is due enhances your credibility, and the MLA style offers a clear format to use.

MLA style uses a citation in the body of the essay that links to the works cited page at the end. The in-text citation is offset with parentheses, clearly calling attention to itself for the reader. The reference to the author or title is like a signal to the reader that information was incorporated from a separate source. It also provides the reader with information to then turn to the works cited section of your essay (at the end) where they can find the complete reference. If you follow the MLA style, and indicate your source both in your essay and in the works cited section, you will prevent the possibility of plagiarism. If you follow the MLA guidelines, pay attention to detail, and clearly indicate your sources, then this approach to formatting and citation offers a proven way to demonstrate your respect for other authors and artists and has a positive effect on your ethos (+).

Before we transition to specifics, please consider one word of caution: consistency. If you are instructed to use the MLA style and need to indicate a date, you have options. For example, you could use an international or a US style:

  • International style: 18 May 1980 (day/month/year)
  • US style: May 18, 1980 (month/day/year)

If you are going to the US style, be consistent in its use. You’ll find you have the option on page 83 of the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, 7th edition. You have many options when writing in English as the language itself has several conventions, or acceptable ways of writing particular parts of speech or information.

Now you may say to yourself that you won’t write that term and it may be true, but you will come to a term or word that has more than one way it can be written. In that case, what convention is acceptable in MLA style? This is where the MLA Handbook serves as an invaluable resource. Again, your attention to detail and the professional presentation of your work are aspects of learning to write in an academic setting.

Rhetorical Effects: ethos: borrowed ethos (+), delivery (+)

19.2 Five Reasons to Use MLA Style

  1. To demonstrate your ability to present a professional, academic essay in the correct style
  2. To gain credibility and authenticity for your work
  3. To enhance the ability of the reader to locate information discussed in your essay
  4. To give credit where credit is due and prevent plagiarism
  5. To get a good grade or demonstrate excellence in your writing

Now let’s transition from a general discussion on the advantages of MLA style to what we are required to do to write a standard academic essay. We will first examine a general “to do” list, then review a few “do not” suggestions, and finally take a tour through a sample of MLA features. Links to sample MLA papers are located at the end of this section.

19.3 Formatting the Paper

19.3.1 General MLA List

  1. Use standard white paper (8.5 × 11 inches).
  2. Double space the essay and quotes.
  3. Use Times New Roman 12-point font.
  4. Use one-inch margins on all sides
  5. Indent paragraphs (five spaces or 1.5 inches).
  6. Include consecutive page numbers in the upper-right corner.
  7. Use italics to indicate a title, as in Writing for Success.
  8. On the first page, place your name, course, date, and instructor’s name in the upper-left corner.
  9. On the first page, place the title centered on the page, with no bold or italics and all words capitalized.
  10. On all pages, place the header, student’s name + one space + page number, 1.5 inches from the top, aligned on the right.

19.3.2 Title Block Format

You never get a second chance to make a first impression, and your title block (not a separate title page; just a section at the top of the first page) makes an impression on the reader. If correctly formatted with each element of information in its proper place, form, and format, it says to the reader that you mean business, that you are a professional, and that you take your work seriously, so it should, in turn, be seriously considered. Your title block in MLA style contributes to your credibility. Remember that your writing represents you in your absence, and the title block is the tailored suit or outfit that represents you best. That said, sometimes a separate title page is necessary, but it is best both to know how to properly format a title block or page in MLA style and to ask your instructor if it is included as part of the assignment.

Your name

Instructor

Course number

Date

                                                                        Title of Paper

19.3.3 Paragraphs and Indentation

Make sure you indent five spaces (from the left margin). You’ll see that the indent offsets the beginning of a new paragraph. We use paragraphs to express single ideas or topics that reinforce our central purpose or thesis statement. Paragraphs include topic sentences, supporting sentences, and conclusion or transitional sentences that link paragraphs together to support the main focus of the essay.

19.3.4 Tables and Illustrations

Place tables and illustrations as close as possible to the text they reinforce or complement. Here’s an example of a table in MLA.

Table 5.4

Sales Figures by Year Sales Amount ($)
2007 100,000
2008 125,000
2009 185,000
2010 215,000

As we can see in Table 5.4, we have experienced significant growth since 2008.

 

This example demonstrates that the words that you write and the tables, figures, illustrations, or images that you include should be next to each other in your paper.

19.4 Parenthetical Citations

You must cite your sources as you use them. In the same way that a table or figure should be located right next to the sentence that discusses it (see the previous example), parenthetical citations, or citations enclosed in parenthesis that appear in the text, are required. You need to cite all your information. If someone else wrote it, said it, drew it, demonstrated it, or otherwise expressed it, you need to cite it. The exception to this statement is common, widespread knowledge. For example, if you search online for MLA resources, and specifically MLA sample papers, you will find many similar discussions on MLA style. MLA is a style and cannot be copyrighted because it is a style, but the seventh edition of the MLA Handbook can be copyright protected. If you reference a specific page in that handbook, you need to indicate it. If you write about a general MLA style issue that is commonly covered or addressed in multiple sources, you do not. When in doubt, reference the specific resource you used to write your essay.

Your in-text, or parenthetical, citations should do the following:

  • Clearly indicate the specific sources also referenced in the works cited
  • Specifically identify the location of the information that you used
  • Keep the citation clear and concise, always confirming its accuracy

19.5 Works Cited Page

  • Every source that you quote, paraphrase, or summarize in an essay must be included in your Works Cited list
  • Your Works Cited list should always be on its own new page, after the end of the <a class="glossaryLink " href="https://pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu/csu-fyw-rhetoric/glossary/text/" data-cmtooltip="Text can refer to the written word: “Proofread your text before submitting the paper.” 
    A text refers to any form of communication, primarily written or oral, that forms a coherent unit, often as an object of study. A book can be a text, and a speech can be a text, but television commercials, magazine ads, website, and emails can also be texts: “Dieting advertisements formed one of the textswe studied in my Sociology class.”“>text of the essay
  • At the start of your list, at the top margin of the page, include a heading containing the words Work (or Works) Cited, centered, without bolding, italics, quotations marks, or all-caps
  • Works Cited entries are in the same font and double spacing as the rest of the paper
  • Unlike the <a class="glossaryLink " href="https://pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu/csu-fyw-rhetoric/glossary/text/" data-cmtooltip="Text can refer to the written word: “Proofread your text before submitting the paper.” 
    A text refers to any form of communication, primarily written or oral, that forms a coherent unit, often as an object of study. A book can be a text, and a speech can be a text, but television commercials, magazine ads, website, and emails can also be texts: “Dieting advertisements formed one of the textswe studied in my Sociology class.”“>text of the essay, works cited entries do not begin with an indentation. Rather, they use hanging (also known as reverse) indentation, in which the first line of an entry is not indented, but all successive lines are indented, by .5”.
  • <a class="glossaryLink " href="https://pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu/csu-fyw-rhetoric/glossary/sources/" data-cmtooltip="Sources are texts that may express the ideas, views, arguments, research, etc. of others. While sources can be utilized in a variety of ways, they should be carefully selected and integrated into a text using the appropriate documentation style guidelines. A source should always be cited. “>Sources need to be listed in alphabetical order by the first letter in each entry.
    • If you have a source with no author, then that source will be alphabetized according to the first letter of its title
    • The entries will not be numbered or presented as a series of bulleted points.

19.5.1 General order of content in a Works Cited Entry

MLA specifies that certain elements appear in a certain order in a work cited entry. Each element will be followed by a specific piece of punctuation. When you cite <a class="glossaryLink " href="https://pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu/csu-fyw-rhetoric/glossary/sources/" data-cmtooltip="Sources are texts that may express the ideas, views, arguments, research, etc. of others. While sources can be utilized in a variety of ways, they should be carefully selected and integrated into a text using the appropriate documentation style guidelines. A source should always be cited. “>sources, never take the information from the cover of the source; rather, always refer to title pages. Here are each of the elements and additional information about them:

Author names must be given exactly as they appear in the source, including middle initials and generational suffixes such as Jr. or III.

If there is one author, give the full name, inverted so that the last name precedes the first. Place a comma after the last name. Example: Jones, Robert.

If there are two authors, give both names; place the word “and” before the second author’s name, which will not be inverted. Example: Smith, Susanna, and John R. Johnson.

The order of the authors matters: cite them in the order in which the source names them.

If there are three or more authors, list only the first, followed by the abbreviation “et al.” which is short for the Latin et alii(meaning “and others”).Example: Williamson, Robin, et al.

If there is no author, begin the entry with the title of the source.

  • MLA has specific rules for capitalizing titles. The first and last works of a title or subtitle are always capitalized.  Capitalize all words falling in the middle of the title, except for these:
    • The articles (a, an, the)
    • Prepositions (to, at, in, for, below, beyond, beneath, etc.)
    • Coordinating conjunctions (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so)

If the source is an article, place its title within quotation marks: “Four Kinds of Thinking.” (note that the period goes inside the end quotation mark).

If the source is a book, italicize its title: Great Expectations

Containers – which are always italicized in MLA –  are larger works within which smaller works are published. Here are examples of different containers:

  • Books : Books contain chapters. If different chapters have been written by different authors, the chapter is your source, and its container is the book.
    • A specialized kind of book is an anthology, which is a collection of articles (usually previously published elsewhere), written by different authors. In this case, the article in an anthology is your source, and the book is the container.
  • Websites: An individual page at a website is a source; the website itself is a container.
  • Periodical publications (newspapers, magazines, and scholarly journals)
    • An article is the source (it should be in quotes) and the periodical in which it was published is the container.  If the name of a newspaper or magazine begins with the word “the,” omit it. Thus, write New York Times, rather than The NewYork Times.

Similarly, television shows contain episodes, and albums contain songs.

Containers are always italicized, and there will be a comma following the name of the container, except when you are citing a book whose entire contents have been written by the same author(s). In this case, the source is the book.

These can be translators or, in the case of an anthology, editors/compilers.

  • For a translator, place the translator names(s) after the words “translated by
  • For editors/compilers, place the name(s) after the words “edited by” or compiled by.” Do not invert any of these names.

Place a comma after other contributors.

A book may appear in different editions. If a book is published in a numbered edition subsequent to the first, write it as an ordinal number, followed by the abbreviation “ed.”: 2nd ed.

Other kinds of editions may be “abridged,” “expanded,” etc. Place that word before the abbreviation “ed.”

Place a comma after the version (yes, in this case there will be a comma following a period).

  • Scholarly journals are usually published according to volume and issue number. The volume and issue numbers are required for scholarly journal articles. To include them in a reference, place the volume number after the abbreviation “vol.” and the issue number after the abbreviation “no.”
  • Books may be published in multiple volumes. To cite a multivolume work, place its number after the abbreviation “vol.”

Do not cite volume and issue numbers for newspapers and magazines, even if your source gives them.

  • For books, give the name of the publisher, which will be listed on the title page of the book.
    • Do not include descriptive words such as “company,” “corporation,” or “limited” or abbreviations of them.
    • If a book has been published by a university press, shorten those words to the abbreviation UP, such as Ohio State UP. Abbreviate them even if they are separate: U Chicago P stands for the University of Chicago Press.
  • For websites, list the entity responsible for the site. To find a website’s publisher, scroll to the bottom of the page and note the copyright holder.

For periodicals, do not list a publisher, even when it is given.

  • For a book, give the year as listed on its copyright page (the reverse side of the title page). If you are citing a whole book (that is, not an anthology), place a period after the date, unless you are citing optional information, in which case you will place a comma after the date.
  • For an article in a periodical, give as much of the date as you are given, in date-month-year format.
    • Abbreviate the names of all months, exceptfor May, June, and July.
    • All abbreviations of month names are three letters (e.g. Dec.), with the exception of September, which is Sept.
  •  For a bimonthly publication, place a hyphen, nota slash, between the months. Example: July-Aug.Place a comma after the date.
  • For an online document, again give as much of the date as you are given. Often, that will be an exact date of posting or of last update.  If there is no specific date of publication given, scroll to the bottom of the page for the copyright date as use that.

Place a comma after the date.

Page numbers vary by the type of source 

  • If you are citing part of a book (for instance, an article in an anthology), give the inclusive page numbers (that is, the page the source starts on and the page it ends on), preceded by the abbreviation “pp.”
  • If you are citing an article in a periodical, again cite the inclusive page numbers, preceded by the abbreviation “pp.” If the source appears on only one page, precede the number with “p.”
    •  When the end page number is in the same hundreds as the beginning page number, omit the hundreds digit in the end page number. Do not write pp. 243-247.  Instead, write pp. 243-47.  The same goes for thousands: pp. 1147-83.  Do not omit the hundreds digit when the page numbers are in separate hundreds or are both below one hundred.  Thus, do not write pp. 84-07 for a work beginning on page 84 and ending on page 107.
  • Often, newspapers have lettered sections and numbered page within those sections. Place the section letter first, followed by the page number.  Example: B1.​​​​​​​
  • Often, magazine and newspaper articles are published on non-consecutive pages. For instance, an article may start on page 47, run to page 49, and them jump to page 104.  In such cases, print only the beginning page number, followed by a plus sign: pp. 47+.

When citing an online article NOT from a research database, give the entire Uniform Resource Locator (URL, also known as the web address) exactly as it appears in the navigation bar of your browser, except omit the http:// or https:// that precedes the URL.

  • If your word processing software changes the URLto a hyperlink, right click on it and remove the hyperlink.
  • Place a period after the URL.

If you have accessed a periodical article from a research database, such as Academic Search Complete, the Electronic Journal Center, or Lexis Nexis, you can also cite the following information.

  • The name of the database, italicized and followed by a comma.  Note: EBSCOhost is nota databaseitself; rather, it is the compiler of several different databases. Do notcite EBSCOhost; look for the name of the specific database, which will be in the banner of the page.
  • The Digital Object Identifier (DOI), which is a unique, permanent identifier.
    • Example: doi:10.1016/j.aap.2008.08.011
    • Place a comma after the DOI.

Finally, include the date you accessed the source, again in date-month-year format, and followed by a period (you can also include this information for any online source, not just those found via databases).

 

Licenses

The sections “MLA Style,” “Formatting the Paper,” and “Parenthetical Citations” contain derivative material from “MLA Formatting Conventions” in Composing Ourselves and Our World by Elizabeth Burrows, Angela Fowler, Heath Fowler, and Amy Locklear, located at https://composingourselvesandourworld.pressbooks.com/chapter/5-4-mla-formatting-conventions/ and licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

The section “Works Cited Page” contains derivative material from “Works Cited Entries” and “General Order of Content in a Works Cited Entry” from A Guide to Rhetoric, Genre, and Success in First Year Writing by John Brentnar and Emilie Zickel, located at https://pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu/csu-fyw-rhetoric/chapter/9-5-mla-citation/ and licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

 

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