MLA 101 Part One Part Two Part Three

MLA 101 Part One: Part Two: Part Three: Formatting an MLA Paper In-Text Citations Works Cited Courtesy of: Varonika Hardman College of Online and Continuing Education

Part I: Formatting an MLA paper Open a new Microsoft Word document. I am using Microsoft Word 2010. College of Online and Continuing Education

I like to start by setting the format for the body of the paper, so I type my name, the professor’s name, the course name, and the date (day/month/year). College of Online and Continuing Education

I then Select All by highlighting with my mouse or by using the Control + A command. Next, I change the font to Times New Roman, size 12. College of Online and Continuing Education

To ensure that the entire paper is double-spaced, I click on the little arrow in the Paragraph menu. College of Online and Continuing Education

Once you click on the little arrow in the Paragraph menu, this box will appear. College of Online and Continuing Education

Ensure the box for line spacing is set to Double. Ensure that the box for Before and After are both set to 0 pt. College of Online and Continuing Education

Microsoft Word is usually set to move a ½ inch each time you press the tab key. Pressing the tab key once is appropriate for an indent of each paragraph. College of Online and Continuing Education

When you know your title, type it above your first paragraph and center it. College of Online and Continuing Education

Create a header with page number at the top of your page by clicking Insert and selecting Page Number from the menu *OR*… College of Online and Continuing Education

You can also add a header by double-clicking above your name. The light blue dotted line should appear. College of Online and Continuing Education

Click Page Number, Top of Page, and Plain Number 1. (If you don’t select Page Number, Microsoft will not number your pages. ) College of Online and Continuing Education

Type your last name. Change your font to Times New Roman, size 12. Align the text to right. College of Online and Continuing Education

Double-click under the blue-dotted line. Congratulations! You have formatted your paper. College of Online and Continuing Education

Part II: In-Text Citations A great resource determining how to cite your sources is Purdue University’s Online Writing Lab. http: //owl. english. purdue. edu/ College of Online and Continuing Education

In-Text Citations Books are perhaps the simplest to cite within the body of your paper. The author name(s) and the page number go inside the parentheses. Or, if you use the author’s name in the signal phrase, simply type the page number in parentheses. Sentence Example 1: In order to present a true characterization of a woman, a female writer “must examine, assimilate, and transcend the extreme images of 'angel' and 'monster' which male authors have generated for her” (Gilbert and Gubar 596). Sentence Example 2: Gilbert and Gubar contend that men have written females at either ends of a spectrum (597). College of Online and Continuing Education

In-Text Citations – No Page Number Optimally, you want to type the author and the page number in parentheses, but sometimes you will not have an author and/or page numbers, especially when citing websites. If your source has no page number, type the author’s name in parentheses. Here, I quoted my professor’s course website. Example: (Di. Sabato) Sentence Example: As a result, feminist writers since have worked to include multifaceted considerations of nationhood, race, class, and sexual orientation in considering constructions of gender identity (Di. Sabato). College of Online and Continuing Education

In-Text Citations – No Author If your source has no author, type the title and page number in parentheses. It is acceptable to shorten the title if the title is very long. (Rarely will you have no author if you are using credible sources) Example: (“Linguists at War” 75) Sentence Example: According to an article in Wilson Quarterly, Chomsky's theory of universal grammar contends there is a single underlying structure for all human languages (“Linguists at War” 75). College of Online and Continuing Education

In-Text Citations – No Author or Page Number If your source has no author or page number, type the title in parentheses. It is acceptable to shorten the title if the title is very long. (Rarely will there be no author if you are using credible sources) Example: (“The Importance of Grammar”) Sentence Example: Learning grammar is a natural phenomenon which occurs when we start to speak (“The Importance of Grammar”). College of Online and Continuing Education

Part III: Works Cited College of Online and Continuing Education

**Note about Works Cited entries** The source information that you provided for the in-text citations must correspond to the source information on the Works Cited page. In 1. 2. 3. 4. this Power. Point, I cited: A book by Gilbert and Gubar A quote from SNHU course taught by Di. Sabato An article called “Linguists at War” An article called “The Importance of Grammar” College of Online and Continuing Education

Works Cited Entry Citing a Book Lastname, Firstname. Title of Book. City of Publication: Publisher, Year of Publication. Medium of Publication. *This one happened to be a second edition. Corresponding Entry for Gilbert and Gubar Gilbert, Sandra, and Susan Gubar. The Madwoman in the Attic: The Woman Writer and the Nineteenth. Century Literary Imagination. 2 nd ed. New Haven: Nota Bene, 2000. Print. College of Online and Continuing Education

Works Cited Entry Citing SNHU course website Corresponding entry for my professor’s lecture: Di. Sabato, Diane. “Feminism. ” Graduate Studies in English Language. Southern New Hampshire University, Jan. 2012. Web. 16 Jan. 2012. College of Online and Continuing Education

Works Cited Entry Citing article with no author *found through a Shapiro Library database Author’s Name (if available). The article title in quotation marks. The title of the publication in italics. All volume and issue numbers. The year of publication in parenthesis followed by a colon. The page numbers or n. pag. The database. The medium. Date of access. Corresponding entry for “Linguists at War” “Linguists At War. " Wilson Quarterly 36. 3 (2012): 75. Literary Reference Center. Web. 31 July 2012. College of Online and Continuing Education

Works Cited Entry Citing the article that had no author and no page *found on the internet Professors usually frown upon internet articles for scholarly papers unless you find a poem, or short story, or even an entire book online. You may also find appropriate internet articles if you are using a news story about a current event. Citing a government agency website would also be acceptable. *The following is an example that would be questioned by a professor because there are definitely more scholarly choices available than A to Z English which was created by an individual. Corresponding Entry for “The Importance of Grammar” “The Importance of Grammar. ” atozofenglish. com. A to Z English. n. d. Web. 30 July 2012. College of Online and Continuing Education

Works Cited Entry Additional example: Citing an entire website Editor, author, or compiler name (if available). Name of Site. Version number. Name of institution/organization affiliated with the site (sponsor or publisher), date of resource creation (if available). Medium of publication. Date of access. Felluga, Dino. Guide to Literary and Critical Theory. Purdue U, 28 Nov. 2003. Web. 10 May 2006. College of Online and Continuing Education

Works Cited Entry Additional example: Citing a short story/article/essay found on a website For an individual page on a website, list the author or alias if known, followed by the information covered above for entire websites. Remember to use n. p. if no publisher name is available and n. d. if no publishing date is given. Mann, Thomas. “Death in Venice and Seven Other Stories. ” literaturesave 2. files. wordpress. com. Word. Press, n. d. Web. 18 Jun. 2012. College of Online and Continuing Education

Work Cited The Purdue OWL Family of Sites. The Writing Lab and OWL at Purdue and Purdue U, 2012. Web. 31 Jul. 2012. College of Online and Continuing Education