Lesson Topic 4: MLA Reminders and Sweet Citations

What is the Purpose of MLA Format?

text annotation indicator We use MLA format to keep everything uniform (the same). The chosen font and style make reading a paper easy, and when we all have the same look to our papers, everyone starts on equal ground. Therefore, we all set up our papers in the same way--MLA format.

What is MLA Format?

Remember that MLA stands for Modern Language Association. In English courses, you will write all of your essays in what we call MLA format. MLA format means that your paper is set up in the following manner:

Everything in MLA is double-spaced.
Your last name and the page number should appear as a header on each page, with right-side alignment.
An initial header should appear on the first page of your essay, above the title, with left-side alignment. This should include your name, instructor's name, course, and date of assignment.
Use in-text citations throughout your writing to give credit for information borrowed from other authors. This includes information you quote directly, paraphrase, and summarize.
Include a Works Cited page at the end of your paper, on a new page. The Works Cited page is also double-spaced. Use the hanging indent format for your entries.
Works cited entries are alphabetized by the author's last name. In the case of a source with no author, alphabetize by title.

Overwhelmed? Don't be! We will continue practicing this until you know how to set up each essay you will turn in.

What About the Works Cited?

Remember that the Works Cited lists all of the sources you use in your essay. Just like setting up your essay in MLA format, the Works Cited also has a certain way for set up.
The Works Cited is an alphabetized list of all sources in MLA format used in the essay. After you find all of your sources, you will be ready to set up your Works Cited. A complete Works Cited will be your final project for this module.
Again, the Works Cited is different than a Bibliography. The Works Cited is a list of all of the sources you used in your essay, and the Bibliography is all of the sources you read regarding your topic.
The Works Cited page will have several Works Cited entries. The Works Cited entry is all of the publishing information of a certain source that is set up in a certain format. There are many ways that you can format sources in MLA format.
Remember that as you select your sources make sure that the sources you choose are reliable and contain information that supports or proves your topic. If the website, article, or book you choose does not have information that supports your topic, you need to select a different source.

What Are In-Text Citations?

text annotation indicator The in-text citations refer the reader to the Works Cited page. Remember that the Works Cited is a list of all publication information about the sources where you find your information to support your claims. The Works Cited entries can be lengthy because they include so much information about the source. Therefore, in-text citations provide a short reference for the reader to then turn to the Works Cited page and find the more detailed information.

For example, if an essay uses proof from the novel To Kill a Mockingbird to support the essay's thesis statement, the writer must cite the source. Citing a source means revealing where the information comes from because writers must give credit to any author they borrow proof from. The Works Cited entry for the novel looks like this:

Lee, Harper. To Kill a Mockingbird. Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1960.

However, putting all of this information into the body paragraph of an essay can distract the reader. So, in-text citations shorten the Works Cited entries by just using the author and the page number of the proof in the body paragraphs of an essay. The in-text citation for To Kill a Mockingbird would be:

Scout feels betrayed by her brother (Harper 98).

The information comes from the author with the last name of Harper and appears on page 98 of the novel. Then, the reader can find Harper on the Works Cited page of the essay and see all publication information regarding the proof used in the essay.

The way the in-text citation looks depends on the type of source. Web source citations look different from magazine article citations or novel citations. View the links in the sidebar to see how various sources are cited within the text.

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