Guide to MLA Documentation Style

 

This is the standard of documentation adopted by the Modern Language Association. It replaces the practice of using footnotes to mark citations of sources. Instead, the writer briefly identifies sources in the text itself or by author and page in parentheses. For electronic sources, the page number may be omitted. At the end of the paper, an alphabetically arranged list titled Works Cited replaces the endnotes page and in many cases the bibliography as well. If there are works that the writer consulted but did not cite, they are listed alphabetically on a separate Works Consulted page.

 

Use the following as a guide when citing sources.

 

Wherever possible, include the reference as part of the text in your paper. For example, if you were writing

a paper about Seattle and its climate and you wanted to quote a famous author who grew up in Seattle,

you would cite the reference in the text this way:

 

             In her autobiography, Memoirs of a Seattle Girlhood, Elspeth Wetly describes growing up in

                

             Seattle as “a damp experience” (219).

               

            Note that the punctuation (the period) follows the parentheses.

 

When it’s awkward to include the source as part of the text, enclose the citation in parentheses following the relevant material. For example, if you wanted to make a general statement about reactions to Seattle’s climate, you might say:

 

             People who grew up there frequently point out that Seattle is an extremely damp city to live

                

             in (Wetly 219).

 

The author’s last name is included within the parentheses when the author is not mentioned in the text. It is not necessary to include the title within the parentheses unless more than one work by the same author (or works by authors with the same name) is cited in your paper.

 

If consecutive citations are made from the same source, only the page number is required in the citations following the initial citation. If another work is cited between citations from a single work, the author’s name must be repeated as well.

 

The following passage shows examples of the preceding guidelines.

 

In Memoirs of a Seattle Girlhood, the author says that people who grew up there complain that Seattle is a damp city to live in (Wetly, 219). This dampness, in fact, leads to frequent minor illnesses among the population in general (Wetly, Dripping 204). Often, these illnesses can last through the winter, and in at least one case, a common cold “dragged on for an entire hanky-soaked year” (274). The dark, damp autumns, winters and springs can also lead to serious depression. In some people, the depression abates only in July and early August, when Seattleites celebrate the presence of the sun by staging the annual Seafair festival (Wetly, Memoirs 156).

 

The sources cited in your text are listed alphabetically on the Works Cited page. This list is where detailed information such as the date and place of publication is included. The Works Cited list should be double spaced with no extra spaces between sources. All but the first line of each entry are indented five spaces.

 

Sample Citations on the Reverse of This Page

 

 

 

 

Italic or Underline?

In all cases, italic is the correct form for titles of journals, magazines, work of art, etc. Underlining is used as a way to tell print shops to set type in italics and became common in non-published materials such as college essays when most students used typewriters to write their papers. Now that we have the ability to italicize using word processing software, underlining is no longer necessary, but if your instructor prefers underlining, by all means, underline.

 

A BOOK BY ONE AUTHOR

 

List the author’s name (last name first), the title of the book (in italics), the city where it was published (if several cities are listed, use the one in this country or the first one if they are all in this country), and the year it was published (use the most recent year if more than one is listed). For more than one source by the same author, list the author in the first entry only; all others begin with three hyphens, as illustrated below.

 

    Wetly, Elspeth. Dripping Forests and Running Noses. Seattle: Evergreen Publications, 1995.

 

     Memoirs of a Seattle Girlhood. Portland: Pristine Press, 1999.

 

A BOOK BY MULTIPLE AUTHORS

 

If there are two authors, the second is listed by first name then last name. For more than two authors, you need only list the first one. The Latin term “et al” refers to the subsequent authors.

 

     Strunk, William and E. B. White. The Elements of Style. 3rd ed. New York: Macmillan, 19797.

 

A WORK IN AN ANTHOLOGY

 

List the author of the work, the title of the work (in quotes), the title of the book, the editor of the book, place of publication, publisher, date, and the page(s) on which the work appears.

 

                Faulkner, William. “Dry September.” Modern Stories in English. Ed. W.H. New and Hj. Rosengarten.

 

                New York: Crowell, 1975.46-56.

 

AN ARTICLE IN A MAGAZINE

 

List the author, the title of the article, the name of the magazine, the date of the magazine (for weekly periodicals, list the day, month abbreviation, and year) and the pages on which the article appears.

 

                Beedy, Kevin J., Ph.D. “The Politics of Animal Rights.” The Animals’ Agenda Mar. 1990: 17-21.

 

An article with no author is listed by the title of the article.

 

                “Some Help for Working Moms.” Time 9 Apr. 1990:39.

 

AN ELECTRONIC SOURCE

 

Follow the model for a magazine, except for page numbers. Give the date of electronic publication, the latest update, or posting. Then give the date you retrieved the source and the electronic address. Such addresses may be divided at slash marks (I), with the slash coming at the end of the line.

 

                Landsburg, Steven B. “Who Shall Inherit the Earth?” Slate 1 May 1997. 23 May 1997          <http://wwwslate.com/Economics/97-05-01/EconOmicS.aSp>.

 

If you are using a source not covered in this handout (a government publication, an interview, a film or a videotape, for example), consult The MLA Style Manual, which lists just about every conceivable source.