MLA Citation Style

General guidelines for writing research papers

Citation Styles for Research Papers APA: psychology, education, and other social

sciences. MLA: literature, arts, and humanities. AMA: medicine, health, and biological sciences. Turabian: designed for college students to use with

all subjects. Chicago: used with all subjects in the "real world"

by books, magazines, newspapers, and other non-scholarly publications.

Modern Language Association Citation Style General format of research papers

Works Cited

In-text citations

Endnotes / Footnotes

General Format

Double space

Font: Times New Roman

Font size: 11 or 12

In-text citation as a free-standing block of text: single space / font size: 10 / indented

Works Cited. General Guidelines- Location of works cited: at the end of the paper, starting

on a separate piece of paper- Double space + centering Works Cited as title Listing entries: in alphabetical order by authors' last

names (surnames), or by title for sources without authors.

Titles of shorter works (articles, poems or short stories) – between quotation marks / titles of longer works (books, magazines, reviews, journals) – in italics or underlined

Capitalize the first word and all other principle words of the titles and subtitles of cited works listed. (Do not capitalize articles, prepositions, coordinating conjunctions, or the "to" in infinitives.)

Works Cited. General Guidelines (cont.) When multiple publishers are listed, include all of

them, placing a semicolon between each. Use the conjunction "and," not an ampersand [&],

when listing multiple authors of a single work. When more than one city is listed for the same

publisher, use only the first city. Pagination: Do not use the abbreviations p. or pp. to

designate page numbers. Indentation: Align the first line of the entry flush with

the left margin, and indent all subsequent lines (5 to 7 spaces) to form a "hanging indent."

BooksNo author or editorOne author / Another work, same author One author as both solo author and co-authorTwo or three authorsMore than three authorsCorporate authorAnthology or collection / cross-referencingMultivolume work Article in a bookReprinted articleTranslated article Introduction / Preface / Foreword / Afterword

Periodicals Articles in Journals, Magazines, Newspapers

Journal article, one author or two authors

Journal article, continuous or non- continuous pagination

Magazine article

Newspaper article, no author

Newspaper article, one author, discontinuous pages

Electronic sourcesMLA style requires electronic addresses to be listed between carets (<, >). Always include as much information as is available/applicable: Author and/or editor names Name of the database, or title of project, book, article Any version numbers available Date of version, revision, or posting Publisher information Date you accessed the material Electronic address, printed between carets (<, >).

Basic format:Name of Site / project/ book. Date of Posting/Revision. Name of

institution/organization affiliated with the site (sometimes found in copyright statements). Date you accessed the site <electronic address>.

An Article in a Web MagazineAuthor(s). "Title of Article." Title of Online Publication. Date of Publication.

Date of Access <electronic address>.

In-text CitationParenthetical citation. E.g.: (author’s last name page number). The

citation, both (263) and (Wordsworth 263), tells readers that the information in the sentence can be located on page 263 of a work by an author named Wordsworth. If readers want more information about this source, they can turn to the Works Cited page, where, under the name of Wordsworth.

Citing authors with the same last name: provide initials or full name in case initials are identical. E.g.: (R Miller 32) ; (A. Miller 176)

Citing multiple works by the same author – 2 possibilities consistent with the ending Works Cited list:

- (Last name, shortened title page number) : (Elkins, "Visual Studies" 63).

- (Last name a page number); (Last name b page number) – (Sollors a 12), (Sollors b 478)

Citing anonymous work / unknown author: If the work you are citing to has no author, use an abbreviated version of the work's title.

("Wordsworth’s Universe" 100).

In-text Citation (Cont.)

Citing indirect sources: An indirect source is a source cited in another source. For such indirect quotations, use "qtd. in" to indicate the source you actually consulted: "social service centers, and they don't do that well" (qtd. in Weisman 259).

Added word in quotation: in square parentheses: some individuals [who retell urban legends] make a point of learning every rumor or tale" (78).

Formatting quotation – on the criterion of lengthShort quotations (fewer than four typed lines of prose or three lines of verse) – in text,

inclosed in quotation marks followed by parenthetical citation and punctuation marks.

Long quotations (of 4+ lines) are used in a free-standing block of text, starting after a free line from the rest of the text, followed by another free line, no quotation marks, usually using single spacing / paragraph indentation / font size: 10.

Footnotes / Endnotes

MLA discourages extensive use of explanatory or digressive notes. MLA style does, however, allow you to use endnotes or footnotes for evaluative bibliographic comments, for example:

1 See Blackmur, especially chapters three and four, for an insightful analysis of this trend.

Numbering: Footnotes in MLA format are indicated by consecutively-numbered superscript arabic numbers in the main text after the punctuation of the phrase or clause the note refers to

Endnotes are preferably present on a separate piece of paper, before the Works Cited, single space inside the note and double space between notes

Further details

Books: MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers (6th ed.)

Sites:<http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/557/02/><http://www.library.cornell.edu/newhelp/res_strategy/citing/mla.html><http://www.english.uiuc.edu/cws/wworkshop/mlamenu.htm><http://www.liu.edu/CWIS/CWP/library/workshop/citmla.htm><http://library.uww.edu/GUIDES/MLACITE.htm#net>

In case of having any further queries:Contact Dana Mihailescu dmihailes@yahoo.com